Sinner's Alley Happy Hour (Part 1)

Parent Cafe Parent Cafe
3201

<p>He took a hoody? I think that's off the charts on the practical, sensible behavior meter :p. For a boy. And, don't bother to try and call any of them on their cell phones. I'm sure they have them. But undoubtedly not charged since a couple days ago. Better yet, they may have taken their chargers with them, planning to plug them in to the side of the mountain somewhere. </p>

<p>I wouldn't say "I told you so" within earshot of the hospital personnel. The only folks who will realize that you are not a cold-hearted Mean Mom will be us here in SA. And maybe the rescue personnel who have to go drag their sorry behinds off the mountain. :D</p>

<p>LOL, Moominmama.</p>

3202

<p>I'll tell you where I've been. Mostly in the car, taking the two kids still at home this summer to their various work & volunteer activities, which of course are on oppsites sides of the planet. And of course my DH is out of town...</p>

<p>Well, in the fall I'll be down to one kid at home and one school to keep track of. Oh the freedom! Oh the gasoline & time saved!</p>

3203

<p>Yes, he took the phone, and I know it's got some juice because he got a "I'm on the way to pick you up" call from one of the other kids this morning. I told him to call when they get back to the highway so I'd have an idea of when he'll be home. If they stick it out, the hike is 5-7 hours round trip, plus an hour's drive to the trailhead.</p>

<p>Wonder of wonders, he was up by 7:40 AM to get ready for this! Yes, there's a girl going, plus another guy.</p>

3204

<p>D finally came home on monday, ended up staying after finals for senior week mind you she is not a senior but all of the other friends were staying. D is leaving next week to go back to Hanover for sophmore summer (I love her with a passion, but I could use the rest). </p>

<p>Spent the past couple of weeks singing to her the top 2 songs on my hit parade:</p>

<p>Chicky, have you arranged to move your stuff into your summer housing before you leave?</p>

<p>Chicky, did you get a plane ticket yet?</p>

<p>Her response: Mom, it's not that serious, calm down, it will be ok. Nag, nag, nag.</p>

<p>Friends, friends friends, now ya'll have been holding out on some valuable information; you did not tell me about the mood swings that come with the hot flashes (even though it took me a few weeks to figure out what they actually were because I started out getting them the same time every morning and blamed it on all of the people on the train during rush hour). I was breaking out in a sweat (not glistening, not glowing, not flush but sweat) throwing open my jacket and shooting those don't mess with me looks at anyone who looked my way (and I am usually not like that).</p>

<p>Stupid me, starts to sing the chorus again to the child and I get the same response. I am in rare form now and I tell her "ok, do you." I deposit exactly $125 which will more than pay for $35 each way jet blue ticket from Boston to NYC and she'll just have to add a few dollars on for the Dartmouth coach.</p>

<p>She's like Maizie bird from Horton hears a Who, off having a great old time. </p>

<p>Calls saturday morning and wails, mommmm, do you know the airfare is now $125 to come home and $90 to go back? I am in the middle of a flash, got the air conditioner set to 68 and it seems like the air is not kicking in. I'm grabbing the mail fanning my self and ask this dear child of mine, "Do you have any money?" Yeah, but I'm just a broke college student and I don't want to charge anything. I'll bite, are you maxed out? No, I have a zero balance, I 'm not charging anything until I go shopping in Europe.</p>

<p>I tell her ok, moving on. She says, I haven't moved my stuff yet, I may need the storage company to pick it up and bring it back when I get back her. (not falling for that one again as last year I paid to store her stuff and the stuff of 4 of her friends, I still don't think I got all of my money back). </p>

<p>My response, find one of your friends to see if they can drive your stuff over to your new housing. By the way, I thought you were suppose to check out? Her response, they haven't come to check the dorms yet so they don't know we're here. We're trying to keep a low profile so that we don't get fined for not signing up for interim housing. I eally just don't care any more and say to her you'll figure it out.</p>

<p>Child calls monday, she's in a cab in Jamaica (took the airtrain from the airport) and wants to know if I have any money? Don't you have money? Mom, you know I never need to carry money at school. Chicky, you are not at school. Is it me or do these hot flashes make you crazy?</p>

<p>I meet and pay the cab at the door, the cab driver pulls this huge suitcase out of the trunk? I ask, what's all this? My winter stuff? Did you have to pay for overweight luggage? Nope, because they got busy and weighed my stuff with some one elses and they both came to 102 lbs. I saw when they put her stuff on and the scale said 27 pounds.</p>

<p>Since then it has been one non-stop chourus of I need. I need to get my passport renewed. I need to get a suit, a couple of pairs of dress slacks and a few shirts, because they are starting open houses and internship interviews when I get back. I need to get my hair trimmed. I need some money to do all of this stuff. Is there some unwritten law that our kids can only spend our money?</p>

<p>So she has been sleeping her days away, chit-chatting with her friends all night (she just left them on monday). Why am I getting her up at 6 in the morning to walk the dog since I am already up? Because it's your dog.</p>

<p>Can you believe that we cried when they left for college?</p>

<p>Could some one please explain to me why 4 days later, there is still a suitcase with 75 punds of clothes still sitting in my living room? My D can hold her own against any of your son's.</p>

<p>Pour me something cold with a lot of ice .</p>

3205

<p>moominmama-
Pg 2? Mine says we're on pg 81!</p>

3206

<p>I meant page 2 on the Parent Cafe thread listings -- I show page 214 in Sinner's Alley pages!</p>

3207

<p>Okay, we've had the drizzle, the pouring rain, and now it's the balmy sunshine here in the lowlands, but the <em>reeeelly</em> black clouds are off the east, where the hike is. Does he have sense enough to come in out of the rain? Stay tuned . . .</p>

<p>Sybbie, how about a nice mango daiquiri? Goes down mighty easy, and good for those hot flashes, too. :)</p>

3208

<p>
[quote]
My D can hold her own against any of your son's.

[/quote]
Until I got to your punch line, sybbie, these were my thoughts exactly. "This is a <em>D</em>?", I'm thinking as I hurtle through your saga. A <em>D</em>? :confused: I don't think so. Welcome to the purgatory that is the MOS (moms of sons). We have now become an equal opportunity employer. :rolleyes:</p>

3209

<p>It's Day Four since the sluggmen left for the Bonnaroo concert, and...well, I still don't miss them! :D Things I've been doing:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Singing, "I'm In Heaven," to my dog. She enjoys it because she gets a cookie afterwards. ;)</p></li>
<li><p>Pretending that I can hear as well as my dog, e.g. "Did you hear THAT?" which causes the pint-sized Hound of the Baskervilles to jump off the bed and run like a maniac to the front door. </p></li>
<li><p>Adding my personal thank-you's to SluggJr's grad money thank-you notes, which he signed before he left for Nashville. They stopped by Farmer McNutt's fainting goat farm yesterday and saw some adorable baby goats. On Wednesday, they met the cousins in Chattanooga and went to the Tennessee Aquarium. They took the River Walk along the Tennessee River. That night, they watched the sunset from the top of Lookout Mountain. Chattanooga is a groovy town. </p></li>
<li><p>I've been goofing off in Second Life. I got some new flexi hair for my avatar and spent a few lindens on a couple of tatoos and some kickin' new outfits. :)</p></li>
<li><p>I drove my Sluggmobile down to the high school to pick up SluggJr's memory board. I was hoping to sneak in there and grab his frame off the counter, but noooooo...I ran into his guidance counselor at the door and then the principal inside of the office. Y'know, I tried to thank the counselor, speaking as an experienced, mature parent who had survived two high school grads. But, I think I came off as an escapee from the J Ward. I meant to thank him for all of his help last year when SluggJr took the GED and wanted to drop out of school. But, I think it came out sounding something like this... </p></li>
</ol>

<p>"THANK GOD, YOU KEPT MY SON IN SCHOOL FOR ANOTHER YEAR! HE GRADUATED, AND I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO THANK YOU ENOUGH!!!" </p>

<p>He laughed and said, "I don't know who it was harder on...you or your son." (I'm using an Awkward Grammar Pass, sort of like a No Weigh-In pass at Weight Watchers. There's a stack on the bar, for anyone who wants one.)</p>

<p>With the little dignity I had left, I blurted out, "It was harder on ME!" Then, I flashed on my life as a high school parent and all of the times I stood before school personnel trying to decipher a chain of cryptic codes and puzzles that would unlock the mystery of my kid's behavior. Every week, it was another pentagram and a Fibonacci number sequence, especially during Junior Year. There weren't many nights when I didn't feel like a crazy albino monk was lurking behind the water heater. It started to sink in that I should just shut up and get the damn memory board before I humiliated myself any further.</p>

<p>Before I could get through the office door, I heard his counselor say, "Yeah, when he didn't show up for his Gov final, I was wondering if he really wanted to go to Davis!" Jeezus. SluggJr's ability to make his teacher, his counselor, and his parents apoplectic the day before graduation had left a mark on his counselor, a trained professional with over 20 years of experience working with teenagers. He shot me a look like our whole damn family should be tested for Rabies and Alzheimer's.</p>

<p>At that point, I was like a Meerkat mother who had just spotted an eagle circling overhead. I lurched toward the office door, yanked it open, and came face-to-face with Big Daddy himself. El Principal. </p>

<p>"Nice graduation!" I twittered, trying not to nervously oversalivate and accidentally squirt spit on the guy.</p>

<p>Whah-whah-whah-whah.</p>

<p>"Good job on the new stadium."</p>

<p>Whah-whah-whah-whah-whah.</p>

<p>"Well, my kids have graduated, so we're all finished." This was the wrong thing to say. </p>

<p>No, you're never finished with this place! You will always stay connected to your kids' high school."</p>

<p>I was thinking, "Not if I can help it, dude!" But, I turned into bowl of tapioca pudding and vowed my allegiance to the high school forever and ever. I'm pretty sure the crazy albino monk moonlights for the alumni association. :)</p>

3210

<p>It's literally freezing here, sybs. Need a meno-break with snow? C'mon down!</p>

<p>Bring on the stories of the absentminded girls, please. Makes mudders of boys feel SOOO much better.</p>

3211

<p>Hey moominmama-
Now I get it. Pg 2 of the list of threads. My bad. Also, I have my setting set to put the maximum number of posts on one pg. That's why I am on pg 81, not pg 214.</p>

<p>Sybbie-
I am not sure what happened to our "menopausal moms" thread... it is a few pgs back. Maybe we should bump it. All commisserating about our "personal summers" and general weirdness. Interesting thing though... I tried a whold bunch of stuff at once-- some OTC combo vitamin mixed with other "womens" stuff from Samsclub, buying wicking nighties and t-shirst, and turning hte A/C down.. And I haven't woken up with nite sweats in more than a week!! Hot flashes are gone too!! I suspect its merely because I have passed what would have been the proverbial "time of the month", and that they will return all too soon. But for now I am enjoying the hormone holiday!! Bought a nice bottle of Rodney Strong Chalk Hill Chardonnay today. Time to open it. Anybody want a glass??</p>

3212

<p>Okay, the drowned rat is home safe and sound. Wet through and through, but cheerful. They made it to the lake AND the waterfall, and it didn't start raining until they were on their way back down the trail. Sample comments: "Well, if I'd had a rainjacket, my pants would still have gotten wet." "Well, at least I still have pants ON!" (The others drove home wrapped in towels. Is this more than I want to know? Maybe.)</p>

<p>The clothes are hanging in the bathroom, and not in a soon-to-be-mildewed heap on the bedroom floor. He does think sometimes :)</p>

<p>sluggbugg, if I see any crazy albino monks, I'll send them your way.</p>

3213

<p>Sybb, LOL. It is nice when they fly back to the flock.</p>

3214

<p>Cheers and Sluggbugg, your posts are making me have flashbacks to when my sons were still living here. LOL. I can say LOL because I am not currently going through this stuff. It wasn't very LOL a couple of years ago. Slugg you put it so eloquently, what it felt like. Yes, it DID feel like there was an albino monk lurking behind the water heater. It did feel like trying to solve an impossible puzzle trying to understand what was going on in their minds when they did what they did (never did solve it, BTW). Absolutely.</p>

<p>Things are so much calmer in general here with just the three girls. Hah, people ask me every once in awhile, which is easier, having boys or girls. They say something like, girls are so much harder to raise than boys, aren't they? To which I reply, uh, no, not in our case at least.</p>

<p>How about it, folks? In your experience, are girls or boys harder to raise???</p>

3215

<p>IMO:</p>

<p>Girls are harder during ages 7-15. Somewhere in grammar school, the mean girls kick into action. They love to be exclusive and nasty, kids come home in tears, etc. At about 15, a critical mass of girls begins to become capable of loyalty and friendship and things settle down.</p>

<p>Boys are a cinch up till 12/13. They get along with all the other boys, they are guileless; with mud, speed, wheels and noise, they are easily made happy. Boys get very difficult from the moment the first hairs sprout, as they are riding a tsunami wave of testosterone and can barely keep away from the rocks even when they decide to try.</p>

<p>In a twist on Oedipus, my blind love for my son is the only thing keeping me from killing him!</p>

3216

<p>I agree about the girls 7-15 from my observations at school. And the boys are rambuctious at a young age, but actually as pointed out "guileless." Mine was guileless and happy throughout his growing up. Just an easy guy. I am watching the two night football matches in his honor today since I know he is at the I-house and has been all week when not at his job and has been engrossed in World Cup madness. So I am pretending right now: enjoyed the Ghana match! Yeah, Ghana...and now onwards to the USA and Italy confrontation....</p>

3217

<p>In their defense, I must say my sons have been puppy dogs compared to my brothers. Their naughties have been garden variety. Knock on wood. </p>

<p>I know what you mean about 'boy logic'. Though I won't pretend to understand it, I can predict it with some accuracy. </p>

<p>For example, when the nice man called me to tell me that my son broke into his house to eat pizza and watch a sports game--that just didn't ring true for me. I mean, I believed the essence of the story--that my son entered the house without permission--but I didn't buy the back story that he was driving through tony suburbs looking for empty houses to enter so that he could eat a pizza and watch a sports game.</p>

<p>When my son told me the goofy story about his best friend putting them in the back yard with blankets to watch a sports game through the family room window (winter time, mind you)--that sounded like completely believable 'boy logic'. Not coming home to watch the game because the other boy was drunk--that was 'boy logic' too. We had to spell it out for him: "We don't approve of drinking, but if it comes down to breaking into someone's house OR bringing a drunk home--please bring the drunk home." Sheer astonishment in his eyes. </p>

<p>Of course, the boy wanted to know how many drunks would be tolerated in that particular situation; ie What if it were 5 drunks? What if there were 10 drunks? What if, what if, what if.....</p>

<p>He didn't get up for the end of the US game but we did. Unlike the first game, they actually looked like a World Cup team. Hooray!</p>

3218

<p>Was it me or was that match the most bizarre......?</p>

3219

<p>SBMom - Nice post!!!! Poetry almost. </p>

<p>Just sending a huge thank you to you all for keeping this thread going as it keeps me laughing even when I am back in China..</p>

<p>Here's what I mostly think when I am here. All of you in some part of the world with clean air and water, right now go and kiss the sky, as Jimi Hendrix would say. And all of us, even those who do not believe, pray for the leaders here to start paying attention to cleaning up their corner of the world.</p>

3220

<p>alu, joining you in heathen's prayer...</p>