Tidy Tidy Time...

Image

The Silver Fox is away and for some reason this spurs me into action to clean, tidy, fix, move and rearrange.

Nothing is safe. I have sugar soaped walls, cleaned bathroom cupboards, sorted linen, fixed photo frames. Even the washing and ironing is up to date!

Nothing is safe.

I have threatened the Teenagers with death should they leave dirty dishes lying around. That they need to pick up after themselves and keep their rooms c-l-e-a-n. A foreign concept to Master T apparently.

Nag, nag, nag

I'm not sure why? I think taking 1 person out of the everyday mix changes the dynamics of things. I feel the responsibility of being in charge.

I am sleeping better though compared to when the Silver Fox usually goes away. I speak to him nightly to catch each other up.

I appreciate the tidy bug though. I think it de-clutters my house and mind and organizes both. Not a bad thing really.

Tonight after I take Miss T to work I will sort my wardrobe, sugar soap the walls and take my cast offs to a charity shop before I can sneak items back to the 'maybe one day' part of my wardrobe.

So, it is tidy tidy time here. Then what I wonder?



ciao for now
just Martha xx
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Bliss...

I'm here sitting at the hairdressers. Chilling

On a Friday

Legally too.

I've changed my work hours to suit both work and me

I had done the gym, walked the dog, cleaned up and put the washing on all by 9am! On fire. Now I'm treating myself to a hairdo then a coffee with a friend.

Sound good? Yep, I think so too. Next week I'm taking Master T to visit my sister and the Silver Fox is coming back to be with Miss T and step into the parenting shoes. We will see each other fleetingly in the handover but, hey, that is the way it is.

I've given Master T a talk about being nice to his cousins. The age gap, even though it is only 2 years with his male cousin and 5 years with the gorgeous girl cousin, is quite large. I've asked him not to be a turd. He looked at me innocently but he knows what I mean. They get so cool when they go to high school.

A bit too cool at times

So, I am feeling like I should be doing something else, but I guess that will wear off so enough

ciao for now

just Martha. Xxx


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

just Reality....

I have taken a few days off work during the school holidays to spend time with my children. I thought they deserved time as a family to just hang out.

Only

I didn't realize that they don't want to hang out with me
They want to do their own thing

Oh, I do come in handy to drive them here or there

But

They sort of begrudgingly 'fit me in'. With a sigh

Miss T says she has spent time with me and she needs time with her friends
I sat them down on the first day with offers of theme parks, movies, lunch out...

Nope. Nothing. Zip.

I ended up spending 3 hours sugar soaping the walls upstairs
I have to admit I was sulking a little. Well, a lot really

I knew this would happen but I didn't realize it had happened already. Where was the memo?

So, I've walked the dog every day, read a book, cleaned, organized, rearranged.

And

I have some nice clean walls.


ciao for now


just Martha xxx
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wilful Deception...

Image

Ahhh, youth.

We had an incident with Miss T on the weekend that led her to being grounded for a whole week and her phone taken off her. Plus sleepovers cancelled until further notice. It is the phone bit that hurts the most. Just fulfilling my parental obligation to make a point as memorable as possible and for her it mean sans modern communication!

To cut a long story short she had 3 friends stay over and they went out to a neighbour's place for a movie with a 10pm curfew. Multiple texts assured me the movie was going well and could they stay out until 11pm, then 11.30 pm?....

Needless to say at midnight I jumped in the car to pick them up (in my pyjamas for maximum embarrassment) only to find no girls. They were never there.

Bit cross by now. Phoned Miss T who said they were home already.

Hmmm, I don't watch all those detective shows for nothing. I took her for a chat the next day and asked her about the movie.

"The Anchorman" was the reply.

"Oh" I said. "Was it good?"

"Yes" she said

"Is that the one with Will Ferrel?"

"Yes. Jess got it for her birthday"

"Oh" I said. "That's funny because Jess's Mum said you were never there. Never there"

"Oh" she said

We then discussed personal integrity, wilful deception (aka lying but I think it sounds a bit more sinister this way), trust and  independence.

She was shocked that I knew so much

I told her she was turning me into a detective and damaging our relationship.

Where were they? Apparently sitting in the cold at the local footy fields and talking for hours. Not sure if I r-e-a-l-l-y believe that. I told her parents are not put on this earth to stop teenagers from having fun, contrary to popular belief. I told her that as adults we weigh up the situation, look at it from many angles and then make decisions. At 15 she is not privy to all the factors that go into this process but as she matures, she will have more input. I then asked her to look at it from another point of view. That I was responsible for 3 extra girls. They were in my care and it was up to me to ensure the outcome was good.

I then grounded her for 1 week, asked her friends to contact me to apologise, ask the girls to discuss this with their parents and also apologise to Jess's mother for using them as an alibi.

Consequences, consequences, consequences. Bit uncomfortable for all but a great opportunity to learn. The girls got the same talk about personal integrity and good decision making and trust. They will have to build that up again. I also spoke to some of the parents too. The more interested ones that is.

Did any of this sink in? Not sure. Only time will tell.



Ciao for now...





 

Man Test...

I've come home today after work to find one angry 13 year old son

Snitchy, stinky, filthy

Why?

"There is no food in this house Mum" was the terse reply

He has failed the genetic hunter test. Man vs food

He was unable to find food in the kitchen. I had fried rice, cold meat sandwiches, the makings for pizza, nachos, frozen pies... The list goes on

He is also having a course of special herbal Chinese tea but didn't have it today because I hadn't poured it for him. Literally. It was ready in the fridge, he just had to pour a cup.

After I fed him sushi, I told him that if he was a lion, he would be the one in the tree clicking his fingers for service and would soon starve to death.

I also told him that if he couldn't do something as simple as feeding himself, I would have to have him babysat.

That includes doing his chores as requested and start to act like a pre-adult

Or, maybe he is




ciao for now
just Martha
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad