"I WISH THE WORD 'GROUNDED' WAS NEVER INVENTED!"

Those were the words my daughter muttered on her way to bed -- at 11:00!!! (That's our little darling,  my little firecracker!  Isn't she beautiful!  She is 8 in this picture, taken last fall.  Picture #2 is our handsome young man, 15) 

She had kept putting off doing an assignment all week that is due tomorrow, therefore the late night.  And while I was trying to help her AND do her hair at the same time I got a little bit of attitude.  The attitude didn't improve after a warning, but got worse, therefore the grounding.  Now that the hair is done, the assignment complete and in the backpack, and frayed nerves have been smoothed somewhat, regret has set in.  Suddenly someone remembers what she's going to be missing out on tomorrow evening if she is grounded.  And now she wishes the word had never been invented.

I don't ever remember being grounded when I was a kid.  I can remember being spanked, made to stand in the corner, or denied some treat, but I don't think my parents were ever aware of the term "grounded".  I was born in 1966, the youngest of seven children, to parents in their forties.  I honestly don't think "grounded" was in their vocabulary.   And if I had ever been grounded, what would I have been grounded from?  Reading?  That's all I ever did.   We didn't have video games back then.  No computer.  We lived out in the country, so it wasn't as if neighborhood kids would be knocking on the door to see if we could come out to play.  I guess in my teens I could have been grounded off the phone.  Come to think of it that would have been really bad!  Or denied going to a friend's house, having a friend over, or using the car.  Yes, I guess there were a few things I could have been grounded from.  But I never was.  I was a good girl.  No drinking, smoking, partying, running around, breaking curfews or sneaking out!  Wow, I must have been boring.  I don't think being boring has scarred me, however!  

These kids of ours have so many things we didn't have, and so many opportunities that weren't open to us, that I actually feel guilty when I DO have to take something away from them.  And I really shouldn't because it isn't going to hurt them in the long run.  It is going to make them more appreciative of the things they have.  Yeah, that's right.  So, here's to the person who "invented" the word "grounded"!  All hail!!  Long live groundings! 

Tags: Grounding

Any Nanny Lovers Out There?

My nine-year old daughter is addicted to these nanny shows!  I have to admit, they are kind of fun to watch.  For me they're fun because I can watch in fascination and say to myself, "Wow, glad my kids aren't that bad."  My daughter watches in a kind of fascinated horror.  She makes comments like, "That kid is a brat!  I'm glad I don't act like that!"  Occasionally, though, she slides me a side-long look with a little half-smile on her face that says, "oh, oh, I kinda do that, too."  But today she apologised to me for something and after the "I'm sorry, mom," she went on to state exactly what she'd done to be sorry for.  Then she said, "Notice what I did?  I did what the Super Nanny says to do.  I said what I was sorry for."  Way to go Super Nanny!  We saw so many previews of Super Nanny on ABC that we eagerly awaited the first episode.  I thought it was cute, but not necessarily something I would stay up every Monday night til 11:00 to watch.  But my daughter has me tape it every Monday so she can watch it the next day.  Then two weeks ago we accidently stumbled upon Nanny 911 on FOX.  This one comes on on Monday, too, but at 8:00.  So she has a dose of nanny at eight, then gets her next nanny fix the next day sometime before bedtime.  I don't mind.  I have a great respect for nannies.  I don't know how real these shows are.  Some of these families seem pretty way out, but then, wait, I do actually know some families like this.  But the families I know would NEVER let anyone come in to tape them, much less try to FIX them!  It makes for a clean, entertaining hour for my daughter, and, hey, now she states what she's sorry for, so more power to them.

I am feeling better, but not ready to go back to work tomorrow.  It is one of my 10-hour days, and I don't relish sitting in front of a computer for ten hours if I'm still feeling like I do right now.  The cold in my chest is much better, very loose.  My headace finally subsided sometime this afternoon.  But now I have itchy eyes and nose, and I have to blow my nose every 15 minutes.  I took something, so hopefully it will help, but not make me sleepy tomorrow.  I did go to Eler Beth's school to have lunch with her today, because I had promised that I would.  Sure hope I didn't give anyone anything.  Not that I haven't caught enough things from those schoolkids myself!

It rained all night last night, flood watches everywhere, and it rained most of the day today.  I'm not sure about tomorrow, but Wednesday is supposed to be warm and dry.  Hope So!  My sister, Maxine, got safely to my Mom's house this afternoon.  She is up from St. Augustine for the week.  We will go down to Mom's on Friday for dinner and will get to see her.  Guess I'll wrap this up for now.  I really must try to get a little bit of sleep tonight.

Tags: Super Nanny

Crud, Crud and More Crud

Well, I'm sick!!  I finally got what the kids had.  Here I sit, with my cup of hot tea in front of me, early, EARLY, Sunday morning, at the end of the kids' Spring Break, and what a cruddy week it's been!  It rained and was mostly cold, and windy all week long, so the kids couldn't really get out to do anything.  Two of Andrew's best friends were grounded for most of the time.  (He still managed to get to two parties, one last weekend, one this weekend!)  Eler Beth's friend across the street was sick, and so was Eler Beth.  She had a chest cold, not too bad, made her feel just bad enough.  I doctored her all week long, determined that she'd be ready for school next week.  I had taken off the Friday of their Spring Break and the Monday that they go back, thinking I'd do something with them on Friday, and then have a nice Monday to do things for me.  Well I started feeling bad Thursday.  I noticed I was getting hoarse last night.  I took Thera-flu that night, but by Friday morning, there it was -- Crud!  I woke up with my eyes red, watering, my ears stopped up, my sinuses draining, sneezing a little and coughing a lot!  So for the past two days I've had Thera-flu, Sudefed, Vick's Vapor Rub, Hall's cough drops, hot tea, orange juice and lots of chicken soup.  Tonight I thought I was going to get a regular night sleep, but for one thing I slept too much this afternoon to be very sleepy right now, and for another thing I can't lie down without coughing!  So I decided to get up, have something hot to drink and sleep propped up on the sofa.  But first, I'm catching up on my journal.  

The good things that happened this week:  Our four puppies born March 10th opened their eyes Thursday, March 24;  Monday was the first day of Spring; I talked to my Mom on the phone and everyone is fine at home; didn't have to call from work to make sure the kids were up because it was Spring Break; I have grape hyacinths coming up in my front plant bed; I was off work Friday,so I was able to be sick at home without wasting any PTO time; Thomas hasn't caught the bug yet!

The bad things that happened this week:  It rained every day except Saturday; Eler Beth was fighting off chest congestion all week; I finally succumbed to the bug she's had; couldn't really get out and do anything with the kids on Friday; couldn't start my Spring Cleaning on Saturday; STARTED something else instead, if you know what I mean!

I'm a little loopy from the medicine I've taken.  I'm determined to someday talk about books in this blog!  Afterall, that's part of my "All About Me" introduction, and part of the reason I started this.  But maybe tomorrow when I'm not so loopy.  Or rather, later on today.  I don't think I could be very coherent tonight.  I'll be back later today, if I get some rest.  Til later, then.

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Weigh to Go! The Thin Me Inside

This Ohio Valley weather is affecting me today.  Anyone else out there in the Ohio Valley?  Things are starting to bloom and I've had sinus pressure and itchy eyes all day.  I was in bed but decided to get up and take something, and I thought it would be a good time to journal.  I have the teakettle on, and everyone else is in bed and (supposedly) asleep.

Today at work one of the girls came around taking everyone's picture.  I'm not sure what it's for, something her committee is working on.  We had ample warning, so I went in in full make-up!  Most of the time I just wear mascara and powder, but today I did the works.  Didn't look too bad.  I got to preview and approve the picture, and I figured it was as good as it would get!  I really hate to see pictures of myself now.  Inside I look like I did at 18 or 21, pre-kids, you know!  It's always a shock to see how I really look!

I've been walking and trying to watch what I eat, and I have lost 6 pounds in the past 8 weeks.  That's good, but boy do I have a way (weigh!) to go! I was always so thin and petite.  I weighed 98 lbs when I got married at age 21, and even after my son was born two years later I weighed only 111.  But I led a verrrrry sedentary life, and that'll getcha!  I'm really paying for it now.  At my age and height, my weight is very unhealthy.  I'm not obese, but I need to lose 20 lbs to be where I should be!  I don't know, maybe that IS obese!  Anyway, picture day really brought it home to me again!

I've always been irritated when people you've known for years "bind" you to your past.  You know, expect certain behaviors from you because they don't realize you've changed or grown.  But today I realized that in a way we bind ourselves to our past as well.  At least as far as this person inside of me goes, I'm "bound" to the past.  I still can't believe I'm 38 instead of 18.  I can't believe I'm  ??8 lbs. instead of 98 lbs.  And though I really wouldn't want to be 18 years old again, or 98 lbs for that matter, I do want to look a LITTLE more like the picture of me inside my head.  It will take a lot of hard work and a lot of time, and I'm just beginning.  Six pounds down (and gone for good, hopefully!) and a whole bunch to go!

Potatoes are Nice, too!

My daughter, who is 9, read my first journal entry from yesterday, and I just read her comment, "I think you should plant patatos(potatoes)."  We planted potatoes two years ago in our garden, and she had the most fun digging them up.  They yielded more than I thought they would.  My daughter is such an exuberant little thing.  She is up for anything, happy just to be "doing"!  I wish I had that energy.  It isn't just energy, though.  She has such pure joy in everything, and when she has a "particular" interest in something she goes all out to learn everything she can about it and to participate fully in the enjoyment of it. 

She has a particular love of fossils and is her class' authority on the subject!  She also loves to fish, garden, take care of her dog (who just had puppies) and a number of other things.  When she grows up she says she is going to be a paleontologist, an archaeologist, a geologist, a farmer, a teacher, an artist, and, according to her, in her spare time she will raise horses.  Oh to be a nine year old girl again!  Anyone else out there with a daughter like this?  I hope nothing ever happens to dim her enjoyment of life.  She has the persistance, toughness, the never-say-die attitude that can see her through a lot, but she is also sweet, kind-hearted and trusting.  But she has us, her father, brother and me, as well as a lot of extended family and close friends who can help her as she matures.

Anyway, I just may have to plant potatoes, even if I don't put in a full garden! 

 

This is my first entry

I have just started this page, and I really have nothing important to say right now.  It's late, and I really should be in bed.  It has been a quiet day, cold and windy here in Southern Indiana.  I am really looking forward to Spring.  Have been planning my flower beds and trying to decide whether I want to try a garden again this year.  I don't really think I'll have the time to fool with it, but I may just plant a few tomatoes or something in a small bed.  It is time for Spring to come! 

Tags: First entry