Sunday 10-28-07

Today I'm going to a family birthday party at my parent's house, and I'm trying to get my positive attitude in gear, which is difficult. We have these get-togethers frequently for the kiddies' birthdays since my sister has so many kids. Too bad she and my brother-in-law can't be bothered to make them behave. Oops... that's not positive.

I'll tell you how it went when I get back even though I know how it will all turn out.

If I counted right your parents have 13 grandchildren...that IS a lot of get togethers. Have fun! Take the vodka, lol.

We have an appointment at 2:30 to have a family picture made. It's no big deal - a fundraiser for the elementary school. There was a reasonable sitting fee and no obligation to buy. The pictures are being taken outside at a nearby park and it's pretty today. We are dressing casual. If they turn out at least halfway decent (and that's a big IF) I'll send them out with Christmas cards this year. We haven't had a family portrait done in about 5 years and that was the only one since kid2 was born.

I hate having my picture taken.

Oh, and I have Tammy Faye Baker levels of makeup on I think. That should look FABULOUS in the bright sunshine, lol.

I love physics homework!

I love Milk Duds....of which I'm partaking of as I type.

I aced physics 1 and then physics 2 kicked my ass because we didn't cover enough material in 1.

Your ass always has something or someone pursuing it.

More often than physics 2 it was cal 3.

Sassenach wrote:

I aced physics 1 and then physics 2 kicked my ass because we didn't cover enough material in 1.

Really? That good huh? I've gotten above average on all the tests so far, but no where near acing it.

It was the teacher's 1st time - I think maybe he was a grad student. All the tests were multiple choice and we really didn't learn much and were ill prepared for physics 2. And of course, when you make an A in a class you can't take it over. It really screwed a lot of us over.

Physics, schmysics... that's one class I skipped taking in HS and I still don't regret it.

Oh yeah... 13 grandkids is a lot, but I survived another family birthday party!

Actually, the food was delicious. Mom made chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes and crescent rolls. My sister brought a tossed salad, my sister-in-law brought corn she had frozen a couple of months ago and I brought broccoli in cheese sauce. The birthday cake was banana, which was great. I've got most of a banana cake sitting here that I made yesterday for t.o.m.'s birthday - lol.

As we were sitting downstairs, just after all the gift unwrapping, my brother's daughter came down and said to my sister: "I don't mean to be rude, but you might want to control your kids a little. They are up there eating sugar out of the sugar bowl." Bless her heart! We all want to tell my sister to control her kids, but we are too nice to say so.

Just then the two culprits came downstairs and all she did was ask if they had done that... and, to their credit, they did admit to it. She said "I told you not to do that," to which the 9 year old said, "You didn't tell me not to." So, of course, now I'm wondering if she specifically told the 11 year old not to eat out of the sugar bowl.

Those kids would be hurtin' if they were mine. I hate how some people don't discipline their kids enough. Kids don't magically "fix" themselves if you know what I'm sayin, which you all probably do.

I don't think my kids would ever have done anything like that, especially at age 9 and 11. I think they would have known better at about 6.

Obviously you're a better parent than she is. There, I said it so you don't have to.

I never could discipline other people's kids at my house, even family. When kid1 was younger and had unruly friends over I just nixed having them over again. In hindsight, I should have made our house rules clear (no spitting chewed gum out on the floor, trash goes in the garbage can not the floor or the yard, intentionally breaking toys is frowned upon, etc) - I think kids appreciate boundaries and structure.

On the other hand, when my girls were little I always directed their behavior when we were out (no food in the den, no climbing on the furniture, wipe your feet, stay in your seat at the table) and my mom and sister would say I was a nag. I may have been strict but now I don't have to say anything - they know what behavior is expected of them.

What I hate is when kids aren't told how to act and are let run wild until the parent has enough and then applies corporal punishment. We decided before we had kids that we wouldn't spank.....ah, never say never, lol. We did use time outs for the most part but kid1 was a trial at times - doing things where she could have hurt herself. We didn't do it much but we did resort to spanking in desperate times. I think I've spanked kid2 once - she just never pushes the envelope.