I've gone to the dark side

In hair color, of course. I love having my hair highlighted and such, but it's so much maintenance that I just don't have time for....or the money! So last night, my girl, Bobbie, came over with little Jaxon and off we went to the beauty supply store. We bought color that matches my natural hair color, and then after she colored me, she cut all my hair off! I actually like it a lot, but don't have a picture yet to post. In the next few weeks (before Thanksgiving, huh Bobbie, can I can I can I?) I'm hoping to get a FEW highlights up front, but nothing more. And then maybe I won't do a doubletake everytime I walk by a mirror!

Turning 5!

My baby will be 5, yes 5, in two days. I can't really believe it. We had a combined girls vs. boys bowling party today (Zac didn't get to have a friend party in August, so we invited the boys today too!) and it was so cute! The family showed up, our good friends and neighbors were there, and the kids had lots of fun! Lillie got more Littlest Petshop things than I knew existed. Even her "boy" friends, Nicholas and Alex got her petshop stuff! She is in heaven though!

Her birthday is actually on Tuesday, so I'm is taking the day off work, letting her sleep in and taking her to school, taking mini cupcakes to her classroom and then spending the day just being with her and letting her dazzle me with her humorous personality. Five years has flown by........

Amazement

I am in utter amazement of the lack of education and lack of consideration of kids today. I see all ages throughout my day and it makes me wonder where have we gone wrong? Each day on the bus and in school a new problem arises and each day it makes me wish we were back in the 80's and early 90's....when I was their age. Things were so different back then. Kids actually had to behave. Kids didn't speak out of turn in class, didn't curse on the school bus, didn't just sit and let everyone else give them all the answers in class. I actually asked one of my classes today what they planned on doing when they grew up. They sat there and wouldn't even try to learn what I was teaching them. They just wanted the answers so they could move onto the next problem. Since when did everything get handed to kids on a platter? And how do they expect to live in the real world without the answers, when they are expected to come up with them on their own? These are 7th graders I'm talking about. One kid told everyone else that if you are on an IEP (Individual Education Plan--Lillie is on one for speech therapy) you will graduate no matter how bad you do in school. You need not even pass the Ohio Graduation Tests in High School...you'll just graduate like everyone else because you've been given a free pass. If this is true (I haven't researched it yet) this really really pisses me off. I know for a fact that kids on an IEP are treated differently, I have been told to do so. Kids on an IEP can only fail a grade one time. Once that happens, they are pushed through the system no matter what they do, when they show up, or how they act. Some of the kids actually NEED the IEP, others are just floating along, putting on a show so they don't have to participate or behave, because after all they have a label that seperates them from everyone else, making them untouchable. It makes me wonder what the world will be like in 30 years when these kids are running it.

What really gets me is "back in my day," which again, wasn't that long ago, my parents had control over what I did. My teachers had control over what I did. And by goodness, I did what I was asked to do, whether I liked it or not. Today, kids walk into class late, no excuse, and are allowed to do so. WHY? Why aren't we serving more discipline to these kids? And why aren't they getting it at home? I'll tell you why. We live in a society where everything is to be made easy for us, or just plain be done for us. That includes raising our children. We don't want to do it, so we are just going to leave it up to TV, video games, and the neighborhood rascals to do so for us. There is no reason that a parent shouldn't have control over their child, especially one in elementary school or middle school. For crying out loud, YOU ARE THE PARENT! You don't need to be their friend right now! I find it completely unacceptable that a child in elementary school has been KICKED OUT of public school and is bussed a few towns over to an "alternative" school. These kids curse, fight, have most likely seen the inside of juvie and we are giving them chance after chance after chance. What they need is a good ass-whooping and to be told who's boss. They certainly aren'tthe boss....until they are old enough to make it on their own, parents are the bosses, and that means work. I'm sorry, you had them, you raise them.

We are going to live in a world of liars, cheaters, and fighters if we don't turn this country around. And it's going to be sad that I will be expecting these kids to change my bedpan when I'm in the nursing home...most of them won't even be intelligent enough to do that! Instead of automating everything from your household to your parenting, you need to step in, think about the world without cell phones, computers, handheld video games, and start running your family and their lives again. Take interest in your kids, help them with their homework (it's so much nicer than letting Google do it), know where they are and how they are acting, and by goodness, discipline them and teach them to be good citizens both in school and out of school. PLEASE!

Zac

Let me just say that my Zac is getting quite like his Mommy. He loves math, loves reading, and loves music. We listen to music (my music, not kiddy music) in the car all the time. He and Lillie have both gotten into some songs. So today, Zac tells me, and I quote, "I'm going to a bowling party, yo!"---coming from Timbaland, I would expect a little yo at the end of the sentence, but coming from Zac, it almost made me spit through my nose. I'm still chuckling, and since it's so funny, everyone around me that's under the age of 10 is saying "yo" to end every sentence. I'm gonna need Depends by the end of the evening if this continues.

When you call home sick from school.....

When you call home sick from school, demanding to be picked up, please know that you will NOT be playing outside later that day. That's a rule. Really, I'm not joking. When you call home sick from school and I pick you up, feel that you have no fever, see you aren't vomiting, and you can walk, talk and chew gum, then you will be going to work with me. No rest for the "half sick". When you call home sick from school, go on my route with me in the afternoon, find a few friends on the route and horse around the whole ride long, know that you will be coming home, going to your room and cleaning it, and then getting started on your homework, because, as stated in the rule above, you will not be outside playing, ever, until today is over. And once we get home and you figure out that calling home sick from school isn't so fun, you can't change your mind and say you magically feel better....this Mommy doesn't care. And alas, when you have tried everything in your repertoire, and you still haven't gone outside, your room looks as is did this morning, and dinner is over, you can't pull out the "I don't feel good" card so that you don't have to finish your homework. Wow, life as a first grader is a bitch, isn't it?