Change of Title: Naughty Boy and Girl

   Oh, my God!  I baby sat a 4 year old boy and an 18 month old girl yesterday while my friend, Sylvia's family went to her father's funeral.  Those kids were the worst behaved children I have ever been exposed to.  Who would think two children could wreak such havoc?  Every time the phone would ring, the boy would open the front door to ring the door chimes, then two poodles and the little girl would escape outside.  I'd get off the phone and have to chase the girl and the dogs and fight with the girl to get her back in the house, screaming her little head off the whole way in.  The neighbors probably thought I was beating her.  The last time it happened, I scrapped my arm on the side of the house and scrapped the skin off a 4" x 2" patch just below the elbow.  I was bleeding and the kids were crying when their mom came back.  LOL

  "Oh, god what happened?"  Their grandmother asked.

  "I was wounded in battle."  I answered.

   The children's mother just looked at me and I told her, "Your children a quite a handful.  I don't think they hear the word 'no' very often, do they?"

    She was baffled.  I guess no one has the guts to tell her to her face how awful her kids behave.  They were all complaining about them after they got back (You notice, they didn't warn me before hand) but no one will say anything to her.

    Even their own grandmother, Sylvia's sister, told me how bad they were.  "I had them for 2 weeks!"  She exclaimed.

   "And you still have all your hair!?!"  I replied.

   I surely would have pulled all of mine out if I had to spend 2 weeks with those little monsters.

   I had to put them in dress up clothes so their mom could take them to the reception after the funeral.  The little boy wasn't too bad, but the 18 month old girl screamed the whole time I took off thedress she was wearing.  When I laid it down to pick up the new  dress, of course she took off running.  I chased her down and brought her back, kicking and crying.  I got the dress on her and then she took off again before I could get the tights on her chubby little legs.  Have you ever tried to put tights on a child who was not cooperating?  It's like trying to dress a bear cub.  LOL  Anyway, I finally managed to get her dressed and then it was time to do her hair.  Naturally, she is very tendered headed and every comb thru of her beautiful auburn hair  brought cries of "Ouchie, ouchie."  I did the best I could and bribed her with chocolate covered raisins.  Oh, what we do to shut up those  heathens.

   Anyway, I survived and got paid $50 for my efforts.  I think I deserved 4 or 5 times that amount but I won't complain.  Last night about 8:45, Sylvia called and jokingly asked if I would baby sit today,  I faked an Asian accent and told her she had the wrong number.  LOL

   And you think you had a rough day.

 

(p.s.  I feel very sorry for these two beautiful children.  It's not their fault.  It's their parents' fault for not teaching them to behave.  It's such a shame because they are getting all the negative vibes from people and they just don't know any better.  Both are very bright, extremely good looking, and with a little structure and guidence, I'm sure they would be delightful children.  I hope Mom and Dad wake up soon before these two are so out of control that it's too late.  I don't want to come off sounding cold hearted and uncaring.  I was as kind as I could be.  I never raised my voice or did anything to hurt them, I swear! LOL  I was just very firm and did not let them get away with anything my own grandchildren would not be allowed to do. )

(pps:  My original title was Spawn of Satan.... perhaps a bit harsh.  LOL ).

A pow wow, resolved feelings and a favor done lovingly

I don't have a lot of time to do a long entry this morning but I wanted to jot down a few things before the day gets away from me. 

The PowWow:

I made an appointment with my son and his wife for this past Thursday night.  I went down to their house around 6:30 so I could spend an hour with the kids before they went to bed and then I sat with Bryan and Shannon and talked to them about my feelings surrounding Christmas.

It wasn't totally about their being irresponsible at Christmas, it was also about them keeping their commitments and treating me with the same respect that I treat them.  It was a very low key, loving conversation.  I explained how they have always known me to be very kick back about things.  I used to make everything, even bad behavior, OK.   I won't be doing that anymore.  I want to be treated respectfully and if they tell me they will do something they better do it or let me know they can't so I can make other arrangements.  They were surprised that it bothered me so much but after they thought about it, understood and agreed that they wouldn't let it happen again.

We talked about a lot of other things, too, so they would know the changes and the other places that I am focusing on to change.  I told them that I need their support and encouragement and I think I will get it.

I've had several conversations over the phone with both of them since and they have been very warm and nice.  I sure feel a lot better getting it off my chest.  It wasn't, in the grand scope of things, a huge deal but it was something that needed to be settled between us.  My feelings have been resolved.

My dear friend, Sylvia's father passed away last Monday.  Today is his funeral.  When I asked what I could do she said 'nothing', everything was handled.  A few days later she called and asked if my offer was still open and I told her 'of course!'.  She asked me to babysit her niece's 3 yr. old son and 1 yr. old daughter so she and her husband wouldn't have to take them to the services.  So, that is what I'm doing today.  I'm going to Syl's mom's home and I will stay with the little ones so their parents can go to the funeral.  My son will be dropping off Andrew and he will be staying with me during the chapel service.  Bryan isn't going to the cemetery after the chapel so Andrew will only be with me for about 2 hours.  I will get to pay my respects to the family after the services and to do something special for them and for my friend.  My heart is happy today.

It's 38 degrees at 8:45 a.m.  Sky is clear, a little breezy but otherwise beautiful outside.  The heater has been cranking out warm air all night.  Thank God for heaters.  LOL

Psssst.....  rest in peace Ted.  You were a wonderful man and a terrific father and grandfather.

 

Snow? Here?

It was 37 degrees with a wind chill of 29 this morning, perfect conditions to turn a light rain into a little dusting of snow.  Around 7:30, I came down stairs and noticed the brown mat outside the patio door was white.  I walked to the door and looked down to see little flakes of snow landing on it.  WOW....  Our patio chairs were icy and the bottoms were turning white.  Around the time, the phone rang.  My neighbor asked, "Are you up?"    I told her I'd just come downstairs.  She said her Aussie, Lasey had gone outside for a potty break and when she came back in her black coat was white on back.  "When I dusted her off, I realized it was snow!"

I went outside and could see the ruts in her roof had snow built up so I got the camera and took this picture.  No one would believe it snowed in Riverside without a picture to prove it.  This is the same place that recorded 116 degrees last August.  I prefer this!

Tags: Snow, Riverside CA

What a plan!

 

 

Is it a bad thing to send a picture like this to my son in an attempt to get him to quit riding dirt bikes?  Is it manipulative and transparent?  Of course it is, but I'm sending it anyway.  LOL

Sorry the image is blurry.  I'm just learning to add pictures from Photobucket.  I'll get the hang of it.

If You Need A Lift Today

Take a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Z6pWhM6TA

 

Love,  Kathy

Good News

My dad was released from the hospital late yesterday afternoon.  His doctor decided he was strong enough to take care of his basic needs and let him go.  Dad was one happy guy to sleep in his own bed last night.  His doctor is researching a new medical proceedure where a surgeon injects a compound into or between the effected spinal disk(s) and it usually provides immediate relief.  Dr. C is checking with several other doctors that do this proceedure to see if my dad is a good candidate.  That would be great if he is. 

Thanks to everyone for the prayers and concern.  You're wonderful!

Sew What

I sewed the borders on the Mother Goose quilt top this weekend.  I bought the kit last February when I was in Wyoming taking care of my parents.  It's been in the sewing room closet just waiting for a special reason to sew it together.  My special reason is about 9 weeks away from being born so I thought I'd better get busy and get this project going.

The Mother Goose and characters comes as a single panel of fabric.  I just added the red, blue and yellow borders.  Now I will make an appointment to take the quilt top and the backing fabric to a lady who will add the batting, sew on the backing and then machine quilt the design onto the quilt.  She does an excellent job and because my quilting talents only go so far, I trust her to do this part.  When I get it back, I will add the final binding which will be the blue stripe fabric.  I will post pictures of the final product...hopefully with my granddaughter (or grandson) sleeping peacefully on it.  I'm still hoping and praying for another granddaughter but if she is a he I will be over the top with joy and love.

My dad is doing much better today.  I didn't know this but he had such bad hand tremors that he was unable to feed himself until today.  He is also sleeping more peacefully.  The pain is less and he has been up walking more today.  Tomorrow he is being moved to long term care which is a unit in the hospital where patients go for rehab and physical therapy before going home.  He will only be there a few days if things go as planned.  My mom is getting good rest and sounds good, too.  Thank you for all the prayers!  They work.

Ta Ta for Now.