Taking a moment

I can’t believe it’s 2 p.m.!  WHERE did my day go?  Ok, so I slept until 10:30.  I’ll grant you that.  But that was like… an hour ago!  I swear!  So I’ve been doing laundry, and the other day, we were talking about getting in that trip to Goodwill, and I said I would get Syd and Bec some pants, but Shabree didn’t need any, she had plenty.  He said she didn’t, she was always looking for pants in the morning (it would seriously help if she didn’t wear one pair to school then change into another pair when she got home) so I said, fine, I’ll get her some pants.  Well, as I said the other day, I’ve been doing a buttload of laundry, and I’ve found at LEAST 8 pairs of pants for her, that doesn’t count overalls, shorts, skirts, or dresses.  Now, some of them DO have holes in them, so they’ll be "weekend only" pants (yea, RIGHT) but she did have plenty.  Part of the problem is her, with not having a system for getting her clothes into the wash and letting her clean clothes get on the floor, so she thinks everything is clean, and part of the problem is me, because I don’t do the neutral colors or the whites often enough, and at least 3 pairs of her pants are tan.  So I’ve got to find a better system for knowing when I should wash the neutrals.  And she needs to get me her dirty clothes on more of a consistent basis.  It’s like Becca telling me the other day that she needs towels, but they were all in her room, buried under all the crap on her floor. 

Speaking of Becca, I do want to make it clear that for the most part, she’s a really good kid.  She doesn’t give us a lot of trouble like some kids.  But the disrespectfulness, and the attitude that she doesn’t have to do SQUAT, oh and the implication somehow that her mother treats her better than we do, because her mother doesn’t have to put up with her CRAP 24/7 is what gets me… not to mention how she treats her sisters.  Now, I could live with not doing squat, eventually she’ll do it.  But the disrespectful attitude, and the meanness really upset me a lot.  Part of me wonders if it’s part of living where we do… are kids just generally disrespectful of their parents around here?  Gees, part of why she’s in karate is to teach her respect, but she comes home and is disrespectful to her instructors.  We don’t tolerate it, I have to say.  But it continues nonetheless.  And yes, it’s HARDER in this day and age to back yourself up as a parent.  About the only tool I have is yelling, and lecturing  And she gets SO bitchy about that.  I’m sure there is a boundary thing going on.  She pushes to see how far she can go… can I get away with telling them to get the HELL out of my room?  Eh, no.  Crying ensues.  I KNOW part of the crying was remorse for her attitude.  She made her daddy MAD.  It’s hard to say I’m sorry when you’ve screwed up royally.  As a parent, we just kind of have to keep hammering on her.  Don’t put up with it, don’t let her get away with it, don’t let her wear US down.  I don’t know how single parents DO it.  You have to be pretty tough to be a single parent.  Because parenting a teenager is hard when you have TWO people who back each other up.  It’s got to be near impossible when you have to be that tough by yourself.  Oh, and let me just say another thought that could very well keep me up at night: One almost down, FOUR to go.  Oh God.  Help me!  Just when we get Becca into a stage where she’s liveable, Sydni will be coming up behind her.  Then Shabree, who swears she’s not going to be a typical teenager… you just WATCH her.  Oh…

We’re in serious discussions about home schooling and how to make it work.  Shabree and Syd are begging us to home school them, too.  So I guess I’d better look into it.  It definitely seems like a good idea.  It’s just the math that scares me.  I want to give a half hearted laugh there… Shabree says she wants to be a vet when she grows up.  I really think she could be, too.  She’s got compassion, she’s smart, she’s good in math so far, she loves animals, she’s got quite a bit of stick-to-it attitude when she wants something.  I think, why not?  

I MUST get back to the laundry, and I’ve most certainly rambled on enough.  I’ll try to fit another entry in later though.  The day’s not over yet.