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19624. arkymalarky - 6/13/2006 3:56:45 AM I've found piles of stuff (pun intended) on that website, and I am now completely motivated and full of ideas for the week. I'll link it in the Good Life thread later.
I'm glad I came in here for advice and a pep talk--
Thanks Mote! 19625. webfeet - 6/13/2006 5:11:38 AM Another scary saturday at a children's birthday. This one had a basketball theme, pitting the children against one another. Things got ugly when 2 older girl cousins of the birthday boy, who were taller than the kindergarden small fries, grabbed the ball from the little ones and used their natural advantage to shoot a few hoops while the others scrambled after in vain. One of the mothers was practically in tears. She got up and started to yell at the 'coach' (who was also the unctuous and wildly patriotic owner of the scary fitness complex) through the mesh net. Some of the other mothers were also up in arms.
Sports bring out the beast in parents. I wished, as I sat there, that I gave a shit. 19626. arkymalarky - 6/13/2006 6:12:46 AM Though I enjoyed a few of them, I was very glad when the competitive birthday party stage ended, somewhere around junior high. Not competitive activities, from which we were thankfully spared, but competitive parties.
One of the first Mose went to was a sleepover, and she was so excited about going to a "bumpkin" party (for those who may not be familiar, "bunkin'" is a Southern idiom for a sleepover). She had no idea how right she was. That was when Bob had gone back to college and we were driving a ratty Nissan Stanza that would die if it idled at all. Needless to say, the whole neighborhood knew when Mose arrived. 19627. Macnas - 6/13/2006 9:55:28 AM I enjoy watching my kids do the sports thing. Joe is never going to be a star at anything, but he throws himself into things with a joie de vivre that makes me feel good to watch.
Eve, on the other hand, is athletic and competitive. Don't know where she gets it from, as neither myself of the Missus particularly care about sports other than to encourage Eve and Joe to at least have a go at everything and do the best they can.
Rough and tumble, well that's all part of it. We watched as Joe had his front tooth knocked out for him by a classmate last week, while they played hurley.
It was due to come out anyway, so no harm done. Joe was a bit put out about things for a few seconds, but after spitting the blood out of his mouth and being told the tooth was going to be worth a few shillings to him, he grabbed the hurley and went off again as wild as ever.
If anything, sport learns them that things aren't always fair or Barney the Dinosaur nice.
19628. PsychProf - 6/13/2006 12:40:59 PM Arky and Webfeet...I have made your posts "Post of the Day" at my place. Thanks.
http://worldcrossing.com/WebX?14@@.1de0af68/710
19629. PsychProf - 6/13/2006 12:41:56 PM Mac...yours too. 19630. arkymalarky - 6/13/2006 3:21:30 PM Thanks, PP! I'll check it out. I haven't been there since I got my web accelerator.
Mac, I agree with you, and it's best if parents will take that approach and not try to micromanage their kids' social and sporting interactions. Although, I'm a nervous ninny about stuff like four-wheelers and trampolines and I'd have had a hard time with an active kid out here. I agree with Web that parents can be awful. The kids are usually the good sportsmen.
Mose used to tickle me because she always called herself a tomboy but rarely went outside. Physically, she seems to be a slug like her mother. I wish she'd gotten active because I think she'd be much better off health-wise (as would I), but she just never had the interest. She got a bike, learned to ride it, then never rode it again. She learned to swim, grandparents got a pool (for different reasons, not for her), she never swims in it. She even learned to ride a unicycle and quit after she learned how. We nudged once with softball after she wanted to join a team for the summer. We wouldn't let her quit in the middle and it was okay, but that was it. Season ended, she was done. 19631. judithathome - 6/13/2006 4:23:57 PM Magos, sorry to learn about Flexi's fall...that sounds like a good title for a novel...and I can see why you might be apprehensive over his driving. I'd be worried that Keoni might have a dizzy spell if he had the carotid problem Flexi has...and trying to drive with only half a good wrist? It would be easier for me to just do the driving rather than worry myself sick every time he went out in the car alone. 19632. judithathome - 6/13/2006 4:32:03 PM Arky, I'm in the midst of cleaning this week for guests who are coming on Friday...the thing I've found most useful is to do one room at a time and to start high and work my way down...the floors and baseboards are always last to be done. That way, any dust that is stirred up in the room settles to the floor and is the last to go...
As for having storage for things you need to get to readily, I use trunks for tables...end and coffee...and covered baskets for decor...those hold a lot of stuff. I don't know if that is what you meant but there's nothing like an old trunk turned on its side (with a sheet of glass over it if you wish) to use as a coffee table in front of a couch and with a whip of the trunk lid open, you have books, writing paper, envelopes, stamps, manicure set, handi-wipes, just about anything you would need within reach...AND if someone pulls up in the driveway, anything you need to throw in there is easily dumped...quickly. 19633. arkymalarky - 6/13/2006 6:20:14 PM Thanks Judith! That helps a lot, and knowing ahead of time where I'm going to put things is a major hurdle, because we've been short on space for important papers, etc, since we've been in the house. Now that I'm in school it's just too much, and I don't have time to keep order with our current arrangement.
I'm going to have to buy a second file cabinet, another bookshelf, and something larger than what I have now to keep cd's and dvd's in.
You may not have seen my question in all my other stuff, but how's your leg? 19634. arkymalarky - 6/13/2006 6:20:56 PM The weather's great today and I just washed my car. I wish it would be like this all summer. 19635. judithathome - 6/13/2006 7:43:55 PM Oh, my leg is doing GREAT...not even limping any more. I think the muscle the swimming is building is supporting my leg so much better. No aches in the break, and my knee doesn't hurt at all.
The doctor said he was impressed with the muscle I'd built up in my legs. I may even be able to maintain it by walking during the winter, when I don't have the pool to use. But I may also join the Y for using their pool...it depends. It would take 2 hours out of my day and considerable hassle finding parking since the Y is in the middle of downtown...so I'll have to check on it. 19636. wonkers2 - 6/13/2006 8:14:08 PM Good news, judith! I've been dealing with back problems, and have had several sessions with a chiropracter which I think are helping, at least to the extent of educating me on how to take care of my back. Up to now I've been skeptical of chiropracters, but I'm becoming a believer. One helpful thing I've done is to get a good lumbar support cushion for my car. Also, I'm trying to improve my sitting posture. 19637. arkymalarky - 6/13/2006 9:39:15 PM That's really great, Judith!
Wonk, I hope you are able to manage your back pain. A friend of mine at work just had surgery after trying a chiropractor for a while, which he had good experience with, but he had two discs near his neck that they had to fuse together. He was in pain for weeks before seeing anyone because one of the idiot quacks out here told him he had shingles. Bob's best friend broke his neck when he was young and also suffered lower back pain from long-haul trucking, and he also swears by chiropractors. As long as it works, I'm trying not to be skeptical of them, but I'm still leery. I've never had it to deal with, though. 19638. Magoseph - 6/14/2006 12:20:10 PM Hello, everyone--I spent time talking with the family this morning and I'm irritated with everyone, except my brother and my sister-in-law, (the one in the hospital.) Web joked that I must have some regal blood in me, but I know now that I have tribal blood, probably coming to me way of Droit du seigneur, naturally.
Anyway, this family fights to have access to Jeanine, for goodness’ sakes!
Although Jeanine is getting better everyday and everyone should wait until she’s home, no, they come and want to say something to her. My brother talked to the Chef of Service and now only the grandchildren are allowed because that is her wish. She’s a grandmother now and only THEY can make her feel good—so my brother told them. My brother is the big financial success in the family, passing over even the professional cousins. Therefore, over the years, there were many jealousies and things were said for which now they want to absolve themselves in seeing Jeanine.
Tell me, do you have such people in your families?
19639. judithathome - 6/14/2006 12:50:33 PM Everyone has people like that in their families, Magos. 19640. arkymalarky - 6/17/2006 12:33:09 AM Our downstairs a/c went out today, but I was able to get everything in the house in good shape before it crashed except my study, which is downstairs. I'm not sweating it, though (so to speak), because I have the stuff I need to get things in order there, including several large black garbage bags that I plan to fill up.
Thanks for the helpful advice, Judith. I'm not a great housekeeper and my house has been messy--incredibly messy and dirty--on numerous occasions, but this is the first time it ever got to a point that I literally couldn't figure out where to start.
Hopefully I won't let it get to that point this coming school year. Bob also needs to take up more slack, but I'm not going to go there. He does a lot more than I do, but sometimes it seems to me it's not what most needs doing. And we've been having an unspoken power struggle over plant watering and emptying trash which pretty much reached the level of MAD by the end of school. Plant casualties were significant. But like I said, I don't need to go there. For one thing, I don't have a leg to stand on in that debate. 19641. Ulgine Barrows - 6/17/2006 4:47:32 AM 19621. arkymalarky - 6/13/2006 1:36:11 AM and the ones following
larky, that's retarded. You're too busy to clean. So don't. Or hire it out, if you have the money. Forget it, if you don't, and so the minimum to keep bugs and pests and mold away.
Some folks came to surprise visit us from Arkansas a few months ago, folks I'd never met on my husband's side. I had the paper piles all over the tables, vacuum in the middle of the floor, kid what-not scattered everywhere.
I said, welcome to my messy home. Can I get you anything?
They said, no. we're fine, looks familiar, and we went from there. Not so difficult. One uncle leaned on the vacuum as an armrest. We didn't have enough chairs. It was a passel of visitors.
And what was funny, later, the local family were asking my husband if I was angry about it. I guess some of the other in-laws would pitch a fit. Whatever.
I was glad to meet those AR folk, they had some good stories. That is going to be one of my 'gracious hostess' memories. We all had a great time.
Housework isn't a top priority for me, yeah, you can't live in hovel, either, but really, if the floor doesn't crunch underfoot & bugs don't come, you'll be OK. 19642. arkymalarky - 6/17/2006 6:37:30 AM This is for me, not company. I'm not having company until the end of July. I don't worry about what other people think of my house day to day, but we built the home that I wanted and I love, and when it's chronically in bad shape as it has been this past couple of years, it affects my mood--it depresses me. My home is my haven. I want a comfortable place I enjoy, not a place where I can't sit at the table or in my study without shoving a pile into the floor. I will never be a very good housekeeper. I never have been. But I like to get my house like I like it at least once a year, and maintain a level of comfort in it the rest of the year.
It also relates to the cyclical nature of school teaching, which is one of the best parts of the job. You start every year new, with new school supplies, new ideas, and enthusiasm. Getting my house in order is a huge part of that for me, in addition to the practical necessity of getting organized. It would be disastrous if I lost some of the stuff I've had strewn all over the place.
If I've learned anything over the last few years, it's that I know what I need for my own emotional comfort, and I don't give a rat's ass what anyone thinks about it one way or another--and that pertains to much more than the house. When I'm in the middle of a lot of stuff and people come over to a messy house, no one thinks anything of it (or seems to), least of all me. When I've got a week to get things manageable again, I'm going to take it. You can't hire that out. No one would have the first clue what to do with my stuff. I have too much in too many categories right now. 19643. Ulgine Barrows - 6/17/2006 7:02:44 AM It is for you, so you can be gracious.
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