parenting

We are going through a tough time with one of my kids right now.
Our 16 year old son is really pushing boundaries and wants to be taken care of, but wants everything his way at the same time.  Sound familiar to anyone?

 

Word of the Week

Because the world is too serious (and because I work in corporate America and I don't necessarily fit in here) I try to add a splash of color and fun to our offices and now I'm sharing that with you.

Feel free to print and share.

everybody needs a Mom...including Miley

Granted, some more than others.
I have a code with some of my friends and our teen girls... "don't do crack" or "DDC" but we aren't talking about the drug kind.  We mean the fashion I wanna be a plummer when I grow up kind.  It's a nice way to say something in public to get the point across without causing too much embarrassment.

So, seeing the posts about Miley I will share what I heard on the radio (Dennis Miller thank you) on the subject.  He said that the closest we get to a Normal Rockwell image in this entertainment saturated world is this...
A family taking in a concert together and they are sharing the same experience.


Appropriate reactions to what they've seen bring a smile to my heart.

So, what else is out there worth reading about Miley The Sexual Adult?

Here is a particular favorite: 
http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com/2013/08/10-tips-for-proving-youre-grown-up-for.html

I'm sure there are more!  This girl just needs to and realize all this isn't what is necessary to get to where she's going.  There are much better paths.

My heart is sad for her.

miss my son

My son is 15 years old and acting every moment of those 15 years on a daily basis.
 He is A T T I T U D E in spades and it's been quite a difficult summer for me.

He just left to go to England.  He flew alone and his grandparents met him on the other end.
I came home early to pick him up and he was not happy.  He was angry and more than anything stressed.  OK, I can appreciate that, but still I'm tired of his mouth.  Having to decide between keeping the lines of communication open and holding the line on the respect I need and desire as his mother.  We finally make it into the care and his stress level increases.  We left the house later than he would have liked (mind you we have a maybe 2 hour drive in bad circumstances ahead of us, but the rest is 10 mins of check in, security clearance and then just waiting around for 2-3 hours with your head leaning on a wall because there's too many people and not enough seats.  joy.

And we want to eat because everyone knows you can't bring food through security.
Eating outside of the airport didn't happen.  We found ourselves there and parking then realized food was initially on the agenda.  UG... I realize I will now have to sign over a kidney as a down payment on 3 day old sandwiches and a drink for the 3 of us.  $25 later with 1 sandwich, 1 drink, 1 pack of crisps and 1 muffin...I find a chair to recover from what I've just spend on "food" for my son.  I have chosen not to partake at this point hopeful that I can wait a little while and then leave him to sort it out.

What's that?  On overhead announcement.  Something about a delay with maintenance and they will give us another update at 7:50 - when the flight was initially scheduled to take off.
Long story short... They start boarding at 7:10 and nobody is listening to anything the gate agents are saying about how to line up and who can line up first etc.  They are all but rushing these few people.   I was actually surprised there was so little respect for those in control of the situation. 

Alex got on OK and I appropriately embarrassed him with photos.  I then asked the gate agent if this flight would actually take off tonight or was there a possibility it would not and how long would I have to wait to find out? I live an hour away and if I'm going to have to come back up, I'd like to know.
His suggestion was to ensure the flight had physically take off.  OK... 20 mins later we had our confirmation and I could make the journey home.

Start next day.  I don't know what's wrong with me.  I am so teary eyed.  I feel like any minute I am going to start crying.  Not the most professional behavior so I tried to keep it in check; which kind of exhausted me,  today, I am a bit weepy and now I've added cranky.

I guess I just miss my son!

bra rant

warning... any men reading this will want to skip this week.

OMG!  There is a spider right next to me!!!!!
OK, now it is outside.  Disaster averted.  Whew.  I didn't even scream!  I'm so proud of myself.


I have been blessed/cursed with a formidable breast size.  I don't know why the makers of such things are so convinced that the only thing I want to wear is black, white, or nude colored bra's.

I go to stores like Lane Bryant and shop their bra's which, I will admit, I've had better success with than other places.  Do you know what bra's I own?  White, nude (I think they try to dress up the color by calling it "sugar"), black.

I recent found the most comfortable bra ever and for someone with a large chest this is on par with a miracle.  Most of the time by lunch I have to start talking myself out of whipping my bra off because it's just not socially acceptable.  They become so uncomfortable (bras that is).  I don't always even make it home before the sigh of relief known by every woman in America escapes from me the moment that bra is off! 

Then I found these Cushion Comfort Bra's and I am barely aware of wearing them!  Some genius added padding all around the under wire so they are way more comfortable and I don't hurt at the end of the day.  This is now the only bra I will wear.  They seem to offer colors, but they don't offer many and they sell out so quickly it's obvious they need to have more inventory on them.  The distributors probably make 5 in my size and they sell out before I even know they are there.  Plus, since they only offer a few in my size, they are never on sale which means I'm stuck paying a boat load of money for all my bras.  I'm a bargain shopper, this irks me.

At the end of the day, I suppose it doesn't "matter" what color bra I'm wearing.  Nobody but me really knows it's there.  But still! 

So my other rant is concerning my daughter.  WHY IS EVERY BRA OUT THERE A PUSH UP BRA?  I mean really?!!  Have we become such a ridiculous culture that even C or D cups are push up now?  and I don't mean lined or support I mean like "hey girls we can increase you by 2 cup sizes with this little baby, come on over and let's crank that chest up to porn star status in a jiffy."  (Do porn stars wear bras?  I guess for a minute they do.  hmmm, you know what I mean.) 

My daughter just wants a pretty bra that doesn't add to what she already has.  Support, coverage, something pretty.  Not a huge list of things needed for an undergarment.  Perhaps the makers of these bras are all overachievers and they can't stop adding features until there is nothing else they can really add.  Maybe the creators of bras actually need a support group to work on their self esteem so they can stop adding more and more and more.  Because sometimes, less is enough.

Sigh...
Maybe I should become a bra designer and then I will realize that the capitalism behind everything makes pleasing everyone a fiscal impossibility.

Any suggestions?
What is your bra rant?

My life, am I actually going to say more isn't more?  I don't think that's ever come out of my mouth before.  Not seriously anyway.

I'm officially cool

Because I now know:
how to spell shawty (vs. shorty which is the decidedly less cool spelling)
and what it actually means (term of endearment for your "bro" or your necessarily hot/sexy girlfriend.)

you're welcome.

handicapped bathrooms

So, am I the only one who wonders about the layout of these stalls?  It's like the designers have to have all these things checked off on their list but they don't think about how best to make it work.

I understand the larger stall, I understand the bar and the higher seat.
But seriously?  If I, as a mostly able bodied person, struggle to reach toilet paper that is basically hanging on the ground, how on earth is a handicapped person supposed to be able to easily reach that?  Shouldn't it be higher?  In fact, why are so many of the toilet paper dispensers so low?  I'm not even tall and I find them too low in general. 

Is it because they have to have that bar in there?  But then who decided that the toilet paper had to be super low?  If they are sitting on the higher seat, wouldn't it be easier to reach?

Just wondering.

when is it too much?

What does it say about me that this bugs me?

Stars and Their Pricey Cars

I have a problem with someone affording a $200,000 car.  It seems...excessive! 
Am I wrong? 
I have to ask myself "Where is the line?"
"At what point does something cross over from OK to greedy?" 
I don't know.  But this feels wrong somehow. 
You know what comes to mind?  There are children starving in the world and he's driving a $200,000 car.  That's not (wait for it...) fair.

Yet, I tell my kids daily that life isn't fair.  We were never promised fair.  Even in the Constitution, we are given the right to the PURSUIT of happiness.  There's nothing about fairness or even a promise of happiness itself. 

So is this just jealousy on my part because I want something better?  Except, I don't personally buy things that are expensive (at least not to me).  Perhaps someone who makes significantly less money than I do thinks my spending habits are out of control.  That my living in Irvine is excessive. Where I see that I've worked hard to live someplace I like.

Yeah, I do think people should be free to pursue their dreams and work hard and earn a fair wage.  Perhaps my issue is that certain industries don't seem to have a fair wage?  Entertainment and professional sports seem out of control to me.  Yet, people are willing to pay and who am I to say they cannot spend their money on that?  I'm willing to say I love movies and TV.  I appreciate a really well written and produced show and those people should be rewarded for their talent and work.

It is interesting to me how many topics ultimately come back to God for me.  Perhaps because so many topics ultimately come back to some kind of morality and how does one measure morality without a standard?  That standard comes from God for me. 

Then I wonder, how do we fix these things?  How do we fix extreme poverty?  Why, when we know that on a global scale we have enough food for everyone do people still starve to death?  I believe it is because people can be evil, selfish, greedy, self-serving.  Because they seek to further themselves vs helping those around them.  Corruption in the countries suffering the most where there are extreme differences in what the have's have and the have not's don't.  That corruption ultimately kills.  Greed is bad.  (sorry Michael Douglas)  There is such thing as enough. (?)

However, I don't ultimately believe in socialism because people are not basically good.  We have the same problems with socialism because greedy, power hungry people want to be in charge and often are.  Those who are more motivated by such things often make their way to the top.  Which would be OK with me if they were "fair."

I don't ultimately believe in capitalism because people are not basically good.  (same argument as above with the exception that there is perhaps more opportunity for the have not's to rise)

hmmmm



I think this one is going to take some more thinking.

(don't even get me started on Congress...)

Stuff You Should Do

Never be afraid to dart around in public humming the mission impossible theme song.