Showing posts with label teenagers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teenagers. Show all posts

Why I Hate December 16th | Missing My Dad

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December 16th is my second least favorite day.  Thirteen years ago today, I lost my dad to a sudden heart attack.  He was only 60 years old, and had no major heart problems.  Ten years later (my least favorite day), I lost my mom, so I am truly a middle-age orphan.  Being only 47 and having both parents gone is something I never imagined.  I also never imagined that my kids would not have
Dad with all three of my bio kids
grandparents alive as long as I did (mine all lived into their 80's).

1981. I'm in the back
My dad, I've come to realize since his passing, was my hero, and my greatest protector. Sure, he was my biggest nemesis when I was a teenager, but after I became an adult, he and I had a lot in common, and most of all, he protected me. He always protected me.

My parents divorced when I was 11, and my dad had custody of my sister and me.  He moved us from Illinois to Texas smack dab in the middle of fifth grade, for me.  It was tough. My dad had an agenda, though, about moving us.  He wanted us away from my mom, mostly out of anger and spite toward her.  Eventually, she ended up moving to Texas, too, so it all worked out in the end, but I spent most of my adolescence and teen years with my dad (and step-mom, who was and still in a huge influence in who I am). My dad was really strict, growing up.  He was always on top of our school-work, and would give his last breath to keep mine and my sister's reputations intact (and, as far as he knew, he succeeded!) ;) .  He was hard on our boyfriends, yet to this day, each one of them, now fathers themselves, tells me how much they admired him.  You definitely couldn't have convince me of that in high school!

Dad was always there with advice though.  He was quirky guy, having strong opinions on things that didn't bother most people, but he backed up his reasons thoroughly, most of the time, and he was pretty smart.  As a teen, I resented him a lot, but as a young adult, I realized that the things he did for us, and the reasons behind it all made a lot of sense.

I am truly envious of my friends who still spend time with their daddies.  Not being able to share the ups and downs with either one of my parents is hard on the heart.  Luckily for me, I have a large family of my own, so being lonely is never an option.

I still will never like December 16th.  I love you, Dad.





1995

Circa 1972























My Kids Are Mean, aka Why I'm Skipping "Rudolph"

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Being afraid of things when you are a 47 year old mother is kind of embarrassing, especially when your teenage children learn of these fears, and use them to torment you.  Last night, my kids were watching Rudolph, for the millionth time.  They know that I have always been afraid of the Abominable Snowman.  Seriously.  I always hated that part of the movie when I was little, and I'm not too impressed that now they make stuffed animals of the thing, and pass them off as "cute."  I mean, look at him!  He has those big, huge eyes, he doesn't talk, and he's just...scary.  Ok, maybe not that scary any more, but I'm not a fan. 

Last night, as I was sitting in my bedroom, I get a Facebook message from three of my darling children.  This is what they sent:

Yes, that's ME with the Rudolph body.  They are SO not right.

So yes, I'll be skipping Rudolph again this year, and plotting revenge against my kids.  That's the Christmas spirit!















Thanksgiving and Teenagers

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Here's I sit, getting ready for Thanksgiving (and by "getting ready," I mean watching "Friends" on DVD, eating my 2nd Lunchable, and tweaking my blog), I am thinking about what I am thankful for
this holiday season.  Some of the things aren't very traditional, but I am thankful for them, nonetheless.

(for quick reference:)
D - 17 yr old autistic son
C- 16 year old son (junior)
A -15 yr old daughter (sophomore)
J - 15 yr old daughter (freshman)


  1. I am thankful that the kids are going to be off of school tomorrow, because their bathroom is really disgusting, and they need to clean it.  
  2. I am thankful that for the next three days, I don't have to 
    1. Get up at 5:30 am to wake up A, then go back to bed
    2. Get up again at 6 to wake up D and J, and wake C up for what will be the first of three to four more times
    3. Turn on the coffee pot, turn on the radio
    4. Start doing dishes that I left in the sink last night after I was too exhausted from making dinner
    5. Make J's lunch, because she can't be bothered with standing in the lunch line at school, even though all we have is stuff for a PBJ sandwich, and maybe 3 grapes. 
    6. Wake up C again, because evidently the first two times were just warning shots
    7. Supervise D, and answer the question of "Where are all of my clothes I put in the washer last night?"  To which I reply: "They are still there because you didn't tell anyone that you needed them washed." Dig out a pair of jeans that are only a day old, and start the washer, full of his clothes
    8. Go into C's room and lecture him about the fact that EVERY DAY I have to wake him up 3 or 4 times, and that I'm going to stop doing that (wait..that's what he'd want), and to "GET UP!"! To this, he rolls over and says "Did you wake me up before?"  
    9. Help solve A's "issue of the day," usually something that hurts. 
    10. Hug J, who has just gotten up and told me she's exhausted (yes, that happens every day), and gently nudge her back into her room to "get freakin' ready," to which she replies "But, I'm soooooo tiredddddd" 
    11. See C walking around the house looking for a towel (there are 14 on the floor of his room...from the last 2 days), tell him there are some in his bathroom (where he never looked)
    12. Finish dishes
    13. Tell both girls that they look beautiful, because they ask.  And compliment them on their hair, because even though it looks mostly the same each day, TODAY it "makes them crazy," and "it looks like crap" and they "can't even" 
    14. Remind D that since he is ready 45 minutes before everyone else, to please take the trashes out of the can (yes, I have to remind him every day, even though he does it every day) and get them ready to take out.  No need to remind him to put new bags in the trash, since nobody every does that but me.  
    15. Tell C to stop walking around in his towel after his shower, barely covering everything from his belly down, because "the girls don't want to see that nonsense..." and to "get dressed, since we have 10 minutes before we have to leave," to which he yells "I AM!!!"
    16. Hear J tell me again that she's tired, her hair looks like crap, and she has a big zit. 
    17. Finally have everyone ready, except C, when it's time to leave.  Go ahead and start walking out, telling C we're leaving, to which he replies, "I'm COMING!!!"  He's not coming.  
    18. Finally leave the house at 7 am, and head to the high school. 
    19. Chat - or not- with the kids, depending on their moods, about topics on the radio
    20. Arrive at school, only to have them sit in the vehicle until I am EXACTLY where they want to be let off, instead of them getting out farther back.  
    21. Come back home, fully intending to get something done around the house, but taking a nap instead because....I have four teenagers.  
  3. I am thankful that someone else is cooking most of the dinner I will be eating, and there are enough options that I don't have to deal with "I don't want that AGAIN!!"
  4. Most of all, I'm thankful that I have a family to love and complain about, and that we all get to spend Thanksgiving together.  I love them all.  
Happy Thanksgiving, friends!




"You Don't Understand High School Talk"

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I've been tweaking and networking my blog. HEY!  Is that where they got the word "twerking?" Well, in my mommy world, that's what it's going to mean.

Speaking of slang, the other day, my 16 year old son sent me a picture on SnapChat (I hate that app, but will not soapbox it just yet!), with the caption "Chem squad feat bae and teach."

What the ever-loving hell was that?

It was a picture of him, a cute girl, and a teacher.  I really had no idea what he was trying to say, but as a mom, we learn to decipher spelling-impared-and-or-lazy kids' writing.  I gathered that it broke down as follows:

chem = chemistry class.  Pretty self-explanatory
squad = I see no cheerleaders nor football players, so this must not mean the typical "squad." This son never proofreads anything, so I thought maybe he meant another word.  "Squat?" No, nobody was squatting. "Square?" I suppose there might be a thing called chemistry square.  I don't know...it's been a few years. I finally gave up, and moved onto context clues for the next words.
feat = Ok, again, he can't spell.  I assumed he meant "feet," yet didn't see anything except torsos, since they are either sitting at, or standing up near a desk.  Then I wondered if the cheerleaders' feet were there.  Could there possibly be a "chemistry squad?"  And where were their feet?  I knew this son did not belong on any kind of academic squad (remember this description?), so I was baffled.
bae = I unfortunately know what this means.  I have been properly schooled on that fact that "bae" refers to one's boyfriend, girlfriend, celeb crush, or any person the speakers finds attractive.  In this case, I'm going to assume he meant the pretty girl, whose name I have never heard speak of in my house.
teach = Well, there's another girl standing at the table.  I see a name badge, yet all of the high school kids wear one.  She's looks a TAD bit older than the girl sitting down (previously assumed to be "Bae.")  I'm going to assume this means teacher.

Now it's all as clear as mud.

Finally, when he got home, I said "What in God's Green Acres did you send me?"
He responded "WHAT?? It was me and my bae in Chemistry."
I said, "First of all, I wasn't aware that you had a "bae," and second, why didn't you just write that on the picture."

At this point, I must have become the most under-educated, un-hip, out-of-touch parent in my son's eyes.  He gave me the most annoyed look and said "Because that's how we talk in HIGH SCHOOL, MOM! SORRY THAT YOU DON'T KNOW HIGH SCHOOL PEOPLE TALK!"  

The nerve of me.

Grated, growing up in the 80's, we had our own "high school slang."  I can remember cringing any time my dad tried to be "hip" and used "peachy-keen" and "groovy" in place of the "awesome" and "bad" we used then.  He had no idea how HIGH SCHOOL PEOPLE TALK!

My son informed me that his caption meant "This hot girl, me and [featuring]the teacher in Chemistry."
Ah, I see now.  "Chem squad feat bae and teach."
THAT clears it up.

Things are totally hizzy up in the jizzy, my friends.  Be cool with yo bad self, and hug all your "squad" tightly tonight.  ;)


PS: Being the "hip" mother that I am, I decided to look up "squad" in Urban Dictionary.  I'm telling you, if you need to know ANY kind of slang term, it's in there.  Grated, it's written mostly by the people who use the terms, so the definitions are quite...colorful, but it works.  Here is the definition of "squad:"


..but why would they need to score "paper?" We have plenty left in the homework bucket at home?  Oh...

Word. 















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