Friday, October 12, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Yet another amazing quote
Being 12 and in high school, Rebi is fully into the music scene. Certainly, music these days is full of more land mines than it was 20 years ago (although I recently downloaded some of my music at her request and was a bit appalled to hear what I was actually listening to in high school. . .). Because I don't know the bands very well and so much adult subject matter is addressed, I have gotten in the habit of checking the lyrics on everything before I download it for her.
She asked about a specific band tonight- one I'm more familiar with, and I started browsing songs. The clips on itunes were fairly upbeat, and the lyrics are somewhat muffled, so I wasn't too worried. Of course, just before I hit download, there was a little prompting to check the lyrics anyway. After reading through several songs, I thought I was going to vomit. These cheerful, up-tempo songs were full of suicide, death wishes, violence, revenge. Seriously Emo. OK, I knew they were Emo, but I'm ashamed to admit I had no idea how bad it is. I really can't imagine how fully a disturbing message can get ingrained when someone listens to it over and over and over cuz it has a good beat!
For Example:
Let's play this game called
“when you catch fire”.
I wouldn't piss
to put you out.
Stop burning bridges
and drive off of them.
So I can forget about you
So uplifting, I can hardly stand it.
After sharing a few of the less violent messages (isn't it scary that the quote I posted qualified as less violent?) with Rebi, I told her she needed to find another band to download.
In typical Rebi fashion she said, "It's like. . . it's like the dark side has candy!"
She asked about a specific band tonight- one I'm more familiar with, and I started browsing songs. The clips on itunes were fairly upbeat, and the lyrics are somewhat muffled, so I wasn't too worried. Of course, just before I hit download, there was a little prompting to check the lyrics anyway. After reading through several songs, I thought I was going to vomit. These cheerful, up-tempo songs were full of suicide, death wishes, violence, revenge. Seriously Emo. OK, I knew they were Emo, but I'm ashamed to admit I had no idea how bad it is. I really can't imagine how fully a disturbing message can get ingrained when someone listens to it over and over and over cuz it has a good beat!
For Example:
Let's play this game called
“when you catch fire”.
I wouldn't piss
to put you out.
Stop burning bridges
and drive off of them.
So I can forget about you
So uplifting, I can hardly stand it.
After sharing a few of the less violent messages (isn't it scary that the quote I posted qualified as less violent?) with Rebi, I told her she needed to find another band to download.
In typical Rebi fashion she said, "It's like. . . it's like the dark side has candy!"
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Chatterbox
SO. . .
As you can imagine, trying to work full time, home school 2+ kids, hold 2+ church callings, helping the other kids with homework, running everyone to activities and keeping up with the laundry, I am always behind. Always. I go to bed at night with a long list of things that I need to do, some of which will never see their fruition. Sometimes it gets rather overwhelming. Especially hard is Rebi and her need to talk. On one hand, I hate to discourage it. After all, she could be the child who answers "nothing" to every inquiry. On the other hand, there are times when my brain just needs the quiet so I can accomplish some urgent or otherwise pressing task and roll myself into bed before I have a stroke. Just an hour or so. Is it too much to ask? Don't answer that.
About 10 pm, I had all the other kids upstairs pretending to sleep (until I became involved in not monitoring them, at which point- every night- they play musical beds for an hour or so, becoming so exhausted from the strain that they drop off where they stand, sleeping the entire night on various floors. Appalling really) and I was just diving into a fairly complex quote for a customer. Naturally this quote is due tomorrow and way more work than the commission I will make on it justifies, but OK. SO. . . I get all involved and concentrated and Rebi sits down and launches into a story. At this point, I probably could have pulled the "Grandma Maizy" (I think I just spelled my grandma's name wrong) trick and nodded and umhmmed every few minutes or so, but I decided to make it a "learning opportunity".
"Rebi, I am totally behind with work and with the house. I have at least 4 major things to get finished before I go to bed tonight and tomorrow we have to start packing and getting the house clean and ready and organized for us to be gone 3 days. I would love to knock out a bunch of this work so that I can leave the laptop home and not work all weekend. But, in order to do this, I need you to be helpful. You could load the dishwasher, start laundry, clean the counters, get rid of old food in the fridge. Anything really, but if we're going to be ready for San Francisco, I really need you to stop talking to me and let me get this work done."
She's nodding along, so clearly we have had a very grown up discussion and she is sympathetic to my needs. Right. She paused at least 12 seconds- just long enough for me to be sinking into the quote again- and said, "So I just have to tell you one more thing. . ." I was laughing too hard to yell at her to go away, so she rambled on for 5 more minutes or so and then wandered off to her room.
Quite the "learning opportunity" for me.
As you can imagine, trying to work full time, home school 2+ kids, hold 2+ church callings, helping the other kids with homework, running everyone to activities and keeping up with the laundry, I am always behind. Always. I go to bed at night with a long list of things that I need to do, some of which will never see their fruition. Sometimes it gets rather overwhelming. Especially hard is Rebi and her need to talk. On one hand, I hate to discourage it. After all, she could be the child who answers "nothing" to every inquiry. On the other hand, there are times when my brain just needs the quiet so I can accomplish some urgent or otherwise pressing task and roll myself into bed before I have a stroke. Just an hour or so. Is it too much to ask? Don't answer that.
About 10 pm, I had all the other kids upstairs pretending to sleep (until I became involved in not monitoring them, at which point- every night- they play musical beds for an hour or so, becoming so exhausted from the strain that they drop off where they stand, sleeping the entire night on various floors. Appalling really) and I was just diving into a fairly complex quote for a customer. Naturally this quote is due tomorrow and way more work than the commission I will make on it justifies, but OK. SO. . . I get all involved and concentrated and Rebi sits down and launches into a story. At this point, I probably could have pulled the "Grandma Maizy" (I think I just spelled my grandma's name wrong) trick and nodded and umhmmed every few minutes or so, but I decided to make it a "learning opportunity".
"Rebi, I am totally behind with work and with the house. I have at least 4 major things to get finished before I go to bed tonight and tomorrow we have to start packing and getting the house clean and ready and organized for us to be gone 3 days. I would love to knock out a bunch of this work so that I can leave the laptop home and not work all weekend. But, in order to do this, I need you to be helpful. You could load the dishwasher, start laundry, clean the counters, get rid of old food in the fridge. Anything really, but if we're going to be ready for San Francisco, I really need you to stop talking to me and let me get this work done."
She's nodding along, so clearly we have had a very grown up discussion and she is sympathetic to my needs. Right. She paused at least 12 seconds- just long enough for me to be sinking into the quote again- and said, "So I just have to tell you one more thing. . ." I was laughing too hard to yell at her to go away, so she rambled on for 5 more minutes or so and then wandered off to her room.
Quite the "learning opportunity" for me.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Orthodontist
Much to my surprise, all of my children (sans Nate who is not old enough to know yet) are in need of braces. I could go into all of the details of what is wrong with their mouths, and some of you would nod along sagely totaling the astronomical charges as you read. Rather, I'll just say the total dollar amount I need in order to finance beautiful- and healthy- smiles.
You might want to sit down. I keep pinching myself in an attempt to wake up.
$17,000-$20,000. Yes, it hurts. The good news is that Rebi is $5000 of that, so by selling her I can pay for the remaining kids and reduce the total bill to $12-15,000.
You might want to sit down. I keep pinching myself in an attempt to wake up.
$17,000-$20,000. Yes, it hurts. The good news is that Rebi is $5000 of that, so by selling her I can pay for the remaining kids and reduce the total bill to $12-15,000.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Better quote of the day
I got back from taking Rebi to school and started towards the fridge. Nate placed himself in front of it and said, "Mom, do you know what vampires hate? They hate garlic."
"Yes Nate, I've heard that."
"So, you know why there's a chocolate chip mess in the fridge?"
"No Nate, I haven't opened the fridge yet today and you're standing in front of it."
"Well, there was a chocolate chip vampire and he got out some chocolate chips but then he saw the garlic and he melted and that left chocolate chips all over."
"Is there any chance this vampire's name started with an N?"
"I do not know. He never told me his name. . ."
"Yes Nate, I've heard that."
"So, you know why there's a chocolate chip mess in the fridge?"
"No Nate, I haven't opened the fridge yet today and you're standing in front of it."
"Well, there was a chocolate chip vampire and he got out some chocolate chips but then he saw the garlic and he melted and that left chocolate chips all over."
"Is there any chance this vampire's name started with an N?"
"I do not know. He never told me his name. . ."
Quote of the Day
While walking through the kitchen today, I stepped on a towel and something underneath it cracked. To no one in particular, I said, "I wonder what I just crushed."
Evan quickly replied with, "My hopes and dreams."
For the sake of mommy guilt, he had better be joking!
Evan quickly replied with, "My hopes and dreams."
For the sake of mommy guilt, he had better be joking!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Road rash face
Last night, about an hour after the fall
This morning. Again, thank goodness he had his helmet on, since he bounced it off of the ground, saving massive injury to his face and head.
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