It's a Family Affair

Massey just got her driver's permit (another blog altogether) and in going through box after box after box in the hovel that is my garage looking for her birth certificate I stumbled upon four photo albums I thought were gone for good.

When my Diddy was alive he had the huge box of family photos we have had since long before I was born. They were all kept loose in a Busch beer box that belonged to my uncle. One year for Christmas I sneaked the box out of his house and bought four nice photo albums and filled them with all the photos putting them in somewhat chronological order. Some pictures dated back to the Great Depression and were a compilation of our life history. After Diddy died the boxes of his stuff were shuffled between my house and my sister's house when she moved. We have been looking for them for them for years. Thanks to the new complicated procedures to obtain a simple driving permit I was forced to  go through every box in my garage looking for Massey's birth certificate. The last box I dug through held the treasure...AND her birth certificate!

I spent hours going through  these albums. I laughed, I teared up and often times cracked up...hence the above photo. It was at a family reunion before Tim and I were married. Tim was there but we had only been dating for a few months.

This picture SCREAMS "The Leach Family."

 

I also came across this picture of my Momma at her wedding shower.  I love all the hats!
All three women to her right are my aunts. People just don't dress for the occasion these days like they used to.

I even came across  this picture of me and Diddy at the Valentine Dance my senior year in high school. It was right after Momma had died and he was one of the chaperones. We were Jitterbugging, he and Momma had shown us all how to as kids, playing those thick 78 RPM records on the turn table in our dining room. I can still remember the words..."Mopping up soda pop rickies to our hearts delight, dancing to a swingeroo quickie, juke box Saturday night."

My family has always been a crazy eclectic mix and I have followed tradition raising my own family. When I was little, our house was the one where everyone wanted to hang out and they were always welcome.

When my own kids were young it was full of sometimes ten kids on any given day...and they were always welcome (til  they broke something important and then they scattered like the wind.)

It's nice to have that house where everyone wants to be. My house has never been a mansion, far from it. But it's not one of those houses where you  can't eat in the living room. It's a house where you are welcome to eat or drink anything out of my humble kitchen. It's a house you  can spend the night in and a house you  can come to if you have nowhere else to go. One of Zach's friends got kicked out of his house after a fight with his father his senior year and finished school living in our spare bedroom. At least I knew he went to school every day and we even got him a cap and gown to walk in at graduation.

When I was little there were some friend's houses  that had strict rules. You  couldn't walk through the living room ...it was always vacuumed and if you  tried they  could see your footprints in  the carpet  that showed the fresh vacuum marks. Some kids had bedrooms that looked more like a room in a hotel than a kid's room.  I remember one house in our neighborhood whose mother had a sign taped to her refrigerator "If you don't live here, don't open this door."

My house has always been open for any kid. Adults not so much, but kids should always have a place to go and my house was usually it. I'd rather have them all here than worry  about where they were.

It's a different world than I was lucky enough to grow up in. It's full of temptations that weren't around in the sixties and seventies...or even the eighties or nineties. It's a world that is full of hate and world that tempt kids every day to do the wrong thing. If they feel comfortable and safe in my modest humble home, I welcome them with open arms and an open heart.

I'm not the greatest mother, but I'm not the worst. I aspire to be the best but often fall short. Most of the kids that hang at my house know me well enough that they know I have been through the wringer the past few years. They still come here.

I'm no "Ann Leach" (my own Momma) but I am Kelly Leach and learned from the best.

My kids make mistakes, so do I. Who am I to judge?

My youngest is a senior so I suppose this is my last year of "Open House."

Being honest, I'll miss it but also feel like these past sixteen years have been awesome.  I've seen all these kids grow up in my house along with my own kids.

True to the times, one of them has already been killed in a senseless shooting.

It breaks my heart for the kids of today.

"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one."

Teens tend to think they are invincible and nothing can stop them. One bullet stopped my neighbor's son. I wish he had been at my house that night instead of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

You want to hold your kids close, but you can't. They wrestle themselves away  from you in an attempt to grow up. Sometimes they do and unfortunately sometimes they don't.

My kids call me paranoid. I take that as a compliment.

My house is a mess and I know it. It's not a rats nest or filthy but simply a place where any kid is welcome. I think we need more places like my house!

I am worried about the world. I am worried about our kids. Heck I am worried about that $86 check I wrote at the grocery store yesterday.

The grand scheme of life in my mind is this... Live your life so that when you are gone a bunch of people will show up and say that you made a difference in their life.

What greater compliment could a person hope for?

Til next  time...COTTON

Five, Four, Three, Two...

Counting down the days is hard to do with your fingers crossed but I am doing it. Massey has six days left, Zach has three. It's the three that worry me but I think his teacher's want him to graduate more than I do so perhaps he'll make it after all.

The picture to the left is truly "old school." It is one of my brother's class photos from the early sixties. Notice the trouble kid who's desk is pulled up by the chalk board. Dang...don't you know his mom was proud as pop when he brought home THIS class picture? Was he SO bad that they wouldn't even let him join the rest of the class for a picture?

Then we move into the swinging seventies with a "Groovy" class picture from the same school but with my class. I still remember that sweater dress...one of the two I owned that my Mom didn't make. I think the white knee socks and chucka boots are a nice touch. They scream "You won't have a boyfriend til you are twenty."

Life was so simple back then...so was school. Once a week you had square dancing class, I still know how to do the Virginia Reel and know all the words to "Oh Johnny Oh Johnny Oh." Our Spanish lessons were watching Senora Del Ray on PBS on a huge black and white TV they rolled into the class room. The biggest scandal I can recall about any of the girls was the time Charlene came to school with her hair dyed jet black instead of her snow white blond. I think we all thought "Her mother must be lady of the night" because I can guarantee none of OUR Mother's would have ever given the go ahead for something like THAT!

From the time of Kindergarten I walked home from school...with no cell phone, beeper or tracking device and I lived to tell the story. We went trick or treating with our friends and our parents stayed home and gave out candy while we went to every house in a four block radius wearing our totally flammable costumes with the cheap plastic mask that cut into your eyes and made you drool after trying to breathe through that tiny slit in the mouth. Those were the days!

We didn't feel the need to count down the days at the end of the school year. Heck, we didn't start until the Monday after Labor Day and got out in May. When I was a kid there was no "School List." They gave you every thing you needed the first day, notebooks, tablets and pencils. All you had to do was show up!

By the time I have grand kids they will be expected to show up for pre-K with a lap top and iPhone.

I went to the last banquet tonight. Concerts are all done, awards given out and Luke warm food scarfed down off a paper plate...CHECK!

Thank goodness I only have one child that is crazy about extra curricular activities. TJ started out strong in ninth grade playing basket ball, football and running track. By the time he turned fifteen he started working and discovered pay day was better than a win on the field and made him a lot happier. (Smart boy)

All kidding aside it has been fun being involved with Massey and her flurry of activities...it keeps you young and in touch and teaches you what the words "Epic...Beast and Chill" mean in 2011.

Got a call from Zach's teacher today.

I don't know if caller ID is a good thing or a bad thing at our house, tough call. The principal called him out at lunch for his pants being too low. The "Principal"...loosely translated by Zach "The Anarchist that oppresses and tries to control and take over the minds of teens, sucking the life out of them and demanding the ridiculous...RESPECT."

His teacher said the principal demanded they write Zach up or he would suspend him...in which case he wouldn't graduate. The teacher almost seemed to be whispering, I think she was hiding in a custodian's closet. She said "Mrs. Cotton, I know pants seem to be trivial at this point but could you ask Zach to pull them up a bit...we just want these kids to graduate."

Dang...I've never bought a TEACHER a gift for graduation but this lady may deserve one. She refrained from saying "We're trying to get Zach outta here for Pete's sake, can he JUST pull his pants up for three more days?'

I let Tim field this one. He had made the mistake of getting up to go to the bathroom while he was sleeping for work tonight and I handed him the phone and went upstairs.

I could tell she put Zach on the phone...Tim's voice rose about 2000 decibels and I could hear every word as if I was in the custodian's closet with the teacher. Tim came back upstairs to hang up the phone shaking his head and said "Zach's got an answer for everything...wonder where he gets THAT?"

If I consider my personality type 'Fiery' let's just say Zach's initials are TNT... Guess he really IS an overachiever!

The boy is going down fighting. Tim reamed him a new one...easy to do since his pants hang down to his upper thighs. I told Tim the pants he has are 28's. I don't think they make 27's for men. He's a skinny kid that eats like a horse and has a mouth like a screaming Hyena when cornered.

I have a belt ready for him to wear tomorrow. I'd like to use it on him first.

Massey has decided not to do Guard for a season. I think she feels guilty about how much it costs. In her defense she needs to get much needed therapy for her knee and we're still waiting for Tim's insurance to kick in. Heck, we're waiting for all the promises they gave Tim when they hired him to kick in.

He had two interviews with a new company this week and they are going to let him know tomorrow. It's a great job with many opportunities to advance. We may have to relocate but at this point I say "Let's go." Could be Ohio or Illinois or Florida. My vote's for Florida. If it's Ohio, he can come home Thanksgiving and Christmas. If it's Chicago I'll go. If it's Orlando I'll beat him there.

If it's Orlando my brother will have to be put on suicide watch...he is transferring back to the Orlando area. He is single and never had kids. That's a good thing because he has been helping to raise mine for years. He and my sister have been the forces that have seen us through. My sister still likes me, I make her laugh...she thinks I should be a stand up comic.

My brother is three times funnier than me and four times tireder of taking care of a fifty one year old sister...but he does it anyway. He may not like me...but he loves me.

In nine days Zach will graduate. I've heard rumours that out of the 650 graduates they are going to call his name first and escort him out...that boy knows how to make Mama proud!

When he was in third grade he came home one day and announced he wanted to go to Clown College. When I laughed he said "There are some really good ones."

He already dresses like a clown...

Till next time, counting down the days...COTTON

I Hope the "Sleepover" Involves Some Sleep

I'm not sure what I have gotten myself into...

Of course that is what I have said to myself on a daily basis for the past year and so far I have made it!

I crammed ten shifts into six days and have a day and a half off for Massey's home competition at her high school. I bullied my boss into donating his wonderful baked Ziti for the hospitality room. That's where all the Guard coaches sit around and get fat eating tons of food and cramming down brownies like it's their last meal on death row the day of execution.

I got off from my lunch shift in time to pick Massey up, go by and pay on Tim's car in the shop, buy her a Happy Meal and dump her off back at the school to help set up for the big competition this weekend. Stopped by my house (that looks like a commercial for DFACS removing children from an unfit home) and sat on my couch for ten minutes with my head back and eyes closed...it was the sweetest ten minutes of my life.

Screamed back to work in my "Next door husband's son's car" he graciously loaned me for the weekend and started my tenth shift. I am not sure if I still have feet on the end of my toothpick legs but managed to make it through another shift.

Screamed back to the high school in my loaned ride after my eleven hour shift (or maybe it was ME screaming) and picked Massey up.

I am not only working the competition tomorrow and Sunday but chaperoning the Guard while they spend the night on the luxurious floor of a classroom at the school.

I've always wanted to be a chaperone...well looks like I got my wish!

I've worked over a month straight with two days off and both days were spent at competitions...not really days off.

I have been SO sucked into this Guard world and crazy as it sounds almost look forward to being the chaperone.

We'll start out with Benadryl cocktails and work our way through "Truth or Dare."

Being with teens is invigorating and frustrating but always motivating. These kids have worked their butts off and are all "Champs" in my book. I am sure they will knock it out of the park this weekend and feel lucky that I will finally be there to see and experience it all.

For once I will be the one sending the texts. For once I will be the Mom that is there. For once I will be the Mom they hug first.

It will be my first sleep over in over forty years. Not expecting to get much sleep but excited to be an actual part of the Guard.

Finally earning that "Guard Mom" shirt I never bought.

I think earning it is more important than owning it!

Massey said I need to bring big marsh mellows...I think I need to bring a big pillow to put over my head.

This should be interesting and if nothing else...a GREAT blog!

Til next time...COTTON/Guard Mom (has a nice ring to it)

A Most "IN-JOY"able Day

The sweetest bunch of Drama Queens you'll ever meet...The ECHS Guard. They can exasperate you to no end but pull it together when it counts and make it worth every tear...They are an awesome bunch of teens. The pic to the left is them saying The Lord's Prayer before a performance. I absolutely LOVE this picture!


I spent a lot of time with them at band camp this summer and made a lot of new friends..and a lot of those new friends have been so wonderful to Massey, which makes them "Wonderful" to me!




I'm finally beginning to feel like I fit in. I miss a lot of things because of work, but have spent more time this year with the Guard than ever before...and have thoroughly
"In-Joyed" every second.



The name of their show this season is "In-Joy." It's about when life was simpler and sweeter. The music is Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" and it is one awesome show.

Today was Atlanta Regional...a huge competition at a high school in a neighboring county.

I worked the past fourteen days with only one day off so I could spend the day helping with the props at Regional.

Their tarp is painted like a Monet painting...at least that's what it resembles to me and is beautifully done.

We have less than three minutes to assemble and place four huge swing sets made of two by fours, braces and huge steel pins and set up five sliding boards after unrolling the tarp and clear the floor to keep from getting penalized.

I was very nervous about helping...the other parents (and two teens) have been practicing for weeks setting it all up and taking it all down while timing the entire process.

This morning was the first time I have even touched one of the swing sets or seen how they were assembled.

I had to have Massey at the school by 6:30 this morning and came back home to shower and get back there before 8:00.

When I went into the gym the guys were rebuilding one of the swings that had broken apart during a run through (while Massey and another girl were swinging on it.)

Drama...always a factor!

They threw up the fixed swing in no time and were painting it as the Guard loaded the bus to head to Regional.

I was nervous for the Guards performance but more nervous about stepping in as Props help having never done it before.

The guy who built the swings and sliding boards walked me through how they went up, how to put the pins in and where to place them on the tarp...by this time I had thrown up a little bit in my mouth twice and was sweating like Mel Gibson at the Apollo.

The swings are bulky and the slides are heavy...and I had never touched one of them until we loaded them in the trailer, much less tried to assemble them in under 3 minutes in front of a gym full of people that thought I knew what I was doing and were most likely looking at the ninety pound weakling trying to carry a ninety pound swing across a gym floor and set it up properly so that one of our kid's wouldn't get maimed or the entire thing collapse (my biggest worry.)

GO TIME!!

I just listened to them and moved left when they said left and moved right when they said right...Or did they mean I was right about moving left?

My heart was pumping full volume and I was shaking when I sat down to watch them perform.

Oops...six minutes later we had to move the "Play ground" off the tarp as quickly as we moved it on.

By this point I was a total nervous wreck. I think I like the competitions better that I go to when I scream into the parking lot on two wheels with one minute to go...at least I get to sit down and watch and can get my heart rate back to normal while in a sitting position knowing I don't have to get up again unless I want to.

Not the case today! After prelims we of course :) made finals... and headed back to ECHS for lunch and more practice.

You know you are tired when you can fall asleep on a hard plastic bleacher in a high school gym, and I did just that while they practiced....I've been informed pictures were taken of me sawing logs but it was the best thirty minute nap I have had in a while.

Woke up somewhat refreshed and we headed back for Finals.

When we got there I was all "Are we doing it the same way, do I carry out the same swing, does it face this way or that and who's gonna tell me when to go?"

Before we left the prop room they came up and handed me two steel pins to go in either side of the swing set.

I began to panic again and said "I don't think I was a pin-pusher-in er" this morning, who should I give these to?

They informed me that I indeed WAS a "Pin-pusher-in er" that morning and was obviously expected to do it again.

More bile rose in my throat, somehow getting past the pounding in my teeny weeny chest .

No time to panic..."WE'RE ON...Let's move!"

I scrambled under the set and weaved and snaked ...I worked that swing set around the poles and somehow got it into place with three other people dragging my 90 some odd pounds quickly through the process.

I ran back to the bleachers to see those kids give a performance that almost took what little breath I had left away!

They had huge smiles on their faces and in Guard speak "HIT IT." The crowd loved it and my heart melted to hear the response the show got.

No time to dawdle...it was time to run out on the tarp and carry off what seemed like a "Home Edition Extreme Makeover" off the floor in two minutes.

After we loaded the props back on the trailer I went back in to sit with Massey's best friend and her Mom. No less than four people stopped me to comment on our show.

I went to concessions to get a coke and three more people spoke to me about the extravagance and showmanship of our Guards show.

I wanted to say "I was the skinny one dry heaving beside the swing set on the far left."

It was great to finally feel like "One of the Guard."

I have bruises on both my hands and my legs got beaten to death when I "Snaked" the wrong way coming off the tarp...but I DID IT!

No penalties for taking too long setting up or taking down and hands down we were a "Crowd Favorite."

I worked fourteen days to "In-Joy" one day with some of the most amazing people I have ever been blessed to know.

It ended up to be fun...we had a million laughs and saw our kids give a priceless performance.

Life should always be this good.

At least today I started to earn my wings, spent the day with my daughter and learned what a "Pin- pusher- in er" is... It's ME when I can take time to "In-Joy" what my girl loves.

I am beginning to love it too!!

Til next time "Cotton with a Cause"

Just When You Start To Resent Teens, They "Represent"

Massey had two of the guard girls spend the night Saturday. By the time I got home from work the living room was a wreck and three girls were having a blast. I brought them home a pizza from work (we got some GOOD pizza) and it was gone in thirty seconds. They were on the Wii...with a dance party game. I hadn't heard MC Hammer since the eighties but they were all about some "Don't touch this" and I was instructed to sit and watch. They had already taped themselves on my cam corder (video below) and as I watched it I realized Massey knew how to center herself in a frame quite well, giving semi generous glimpses of her friend with a cast on her arm trying her best to keep up.

They went to bed at a decent hour and all got up to go to church with Tim while I got ready for work.

I am blessed to have a girl who is sweet...sloppy but friendly. Messy but will throw on a cute outfit in a heartbeat to go to church with her Dad. As filled with drama as she is with love and has the biggest heart I have ever been witness to in a young woman.

Fast forward to Tuesday..my day off. I worked in the yard til I picked her up from school. She went with me to kite my check at EMC and we scooted by the grocery store to pick up some milk and bologna to make sandwiches before guard practice.

It was in the upper eighties when practice started. I dropped her off and went home to make myself somewhat presentable and went back to the school to chaperone practice. I was sweating just sitting in a chair. When you attend a guard practice, four words stick in your brain "FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT."

Every step and every movement is set to counting off the drill. They don't rely on the music, they rely on their ability to know their drill and count it off.

Over and over again they went through their work and it made me realize once again why they are so good.

The last video is of them in the waning hours of sunlight...still pounding the pavement still counting "FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT" and taking more heat from Teddy (their coach) than probably any of them take from their own mother.

HEY! If you wanna be champions don't expect to be babied or coddled. Expect to be pushed and then pushed some more.

It is a lesson I have learned recently..."To Succeed, you gotta Proceed."

It felt good to take a few hours off and spend them with the guard.

Enjoy the videos...and guess what??

Tomorrow is my 20th wedding anniversary. Although Tim says it feels like 50, it has only been 20. We have been together 22 years, married for 20 and struggled for one. I think that's a pretty good record...

You just wait....Blog to follow!

Til next time...COTTON

What a Weekend...

I don't want to say this past weekend aged me...but what do you think? At least I still have a smile on my face and my lipstick still looks fresh.

It all began Friday morning after my precious eighteen year old caused me to have three hours of sleep before getting up to work a morning shift.

I came home from work to go work a funnel cake stand at the football game and got home a little before midnight. Saturday was okay, slept late and didn't have to be at work til 5:00.

Sunday rolled around and I was scheduled for another double shift. Lunch was good, two women (twin sisters) that read my silly little blog came in to eat with me and gave me a great way to end a shift. They even got to meet "Dr. Evil" AKA the owner of the restaurant.

I had an hour before I was due back and Dr. Evil told me I could come back a little later than I was scheduled.

Zoomed home and picked up Massey and headed to Wal Mart to pick up a couple of things I needed...BIG MISTAKE.

I bought five items. We checked out through the garden department, usually an easy escape. The guy checking us out immediately said "I remember you from when you worked for Johnny's Pizza on Virginia Ave."

Not to date myself but that was 1982.

He was just chatting us up and going back and forth between my five items like I had rolled up with a cart full of things. I was kinda wondering about it but for once in my life just kept quiet and rolled my eyes at Massey when he wasn't looking.
He said "That'll be $82.50."

I thought that sounded high but he had stopped twice while ringing up items to check his tape to see what he had rung up.

We didn't even get past the guy who takes out his yellow highlighter and marks your receipt before Massey said "He rang up the bed sheet twice."

My nerves were already rattled...trips to Wal Mart tend to do that to me.

I told the man with the highlighter that the cashier had charged me twice for the fitted sheet I had bought.

He looked at my receipt and said "Well there ain't nothin' we can do out here now, he done moved on to another customer."

I was instructed by the highlighter holder to go inside to customer service for my $15.00 refund.

GREAT!

How hard is it to scan an item , put it in the bag and move on to the next item? Thank the Lord they didn't give this cashier free reign with the yellow highlighter pen. I guess you have to take a special class to hold the yellow highlighter.

I had already eaten up most of my break by this point but wasn't leaving without my $15.00.

Into the store we went and headed for customer service.

We waited in line for ten minutes while the woman behind the counter waited on one lady with one item to return. The woman in front of us finally gave up and left without getting a return.

Massey wanted to leave but I refused. It only took me twenty minutes to get my $15.00 back and I reminded myself why I never go to Wal Mart in the daytime. The only good time to go to Wal Mart is after work, preferably after midnight when the idiots have dwindled to a minimum.

Got back to work with two minutes to spare.

The owner commented to me when I got back how great it was that my blog had brought him two new customers and I said "Aren't you glad I got fired from Longhorn?" He came back with "What took you so long?"

Had an excellent dinner shift but I was so tired by the time I got off that it reminded me that I was indeed fifty and feeling every year of it.

It was a long weekend. Got a lot done, left a lot undone but am finally home. Took an extra strength Advil for my aching legs and sat on my duff to blog..."Priorities."

Tomorrow starts another week. The days tend to tumble together, the nights seem shorter but I keep on keeping on.

The football team doesn't have a game this next weekend so things are already looking up for me.

The kids are out of school tomorrow and I don't have to be at work til 5:30. No guard practice, no school pick ups...YIPPEE !

Massey and I are going to the cemetery to do some work around the family plot. Can't let my parents think they are forgotten and it always makes me feel good to make sure it looks nice.

My Labor Day will be a labor of love. Putting fresh flowers out...raking , weed eating and letting my parents know they aren't forgotten.

Another exhausting week...but aren't they all when you have teens?

They say kids keep you young...I tend more to believe "Survive or Succumb."

Til next time...Non Succumbing Cotton"

Kids...The Ultimate "Catch 22"

Here's a picture of Massey dumping out her pocket book onto her bedroom floor. I'm going to have to speak to her about all the birds...I'm not a fan of birds in the house but everything else seems to be hers.

So she is a slob...she is also one of the sweetest girls on the planet. She does well in school without me having to stay on her about assignments or grades...I know she does her school work because I find a trail of papers wherever she goes.

She has a ton of friends and has no problem with taking them up to her hovel of a room and amazingly enough it doesn't seem to bother them either.

She eats healthy...I can tell by the apple cores and banana peels I throw away on a daily basis. She keeps herself hydrated...I bet there are at LEAST ten empty water bottles under her bed at any given time.

On the other hand...

Zach's room is nice and neat. It's easy to spot him in HIS room, whereas I have to stop at Massey's door and focus to actually pick her out amidst all the debris.

Then again I have had to ride Zach like a Bronco Bull just to get him to his senior year in high school.

KIDS...What are ya gonna do?

Do you let the room get to you or let the grades get to you? Do you worry because they live like a hoarder or worry because they live like a hermit? Do you push them more when their grades are suffering or push them more when their room is a catastrophe? I guess that should be a no brain er but I don't know Zach's grades are slipping til I check them online. I see Massey's room every time I walk up the stairs to my bedroom.

I think I'll give her a Haz/Mat suit for Christmas this year just so she'll be safe while she sleeps or is on her laptop in her room.

I have asked her if it bothers her at all that her room is a dump and the reply is always the same "Not really."

Zach had my car while I was at work tonight and picked Massey up at a friend's house before they came to pick me up from work. I had told Massey on the way to work that she WAS cleaning her room when she got home and as usual she cheerfully replied "Yes Ma'am."

I guess she makes the old saying "Happy as a pig in slop" words to live by.

I went upstairs a few minutes ago and Massey was fast asleep but believe it or not I could actually see her carpet. Of course that just means her closet is now full to capacity. At least I don't see in her closet as I walk by her room...the door opens towards her bed and not towards the door of the bedroom. Guess I got lucky with the design of THAT room!

I'm going to clean the living room now...maybe when she comes downstairs in the morning the smell of "Clean" will inspire her to want HER room to smell the same way.

Not counting on it...But you never know with teens, sometimes they will amaze you.

What is This World Coming To?

I was at work tonight...thirty minutes before we closed the phone rang and I answered it. A woman on the other end paused and then asked if we were hiring.

What kind of person decides at nine o'clock at night to CALL about a job?

I told her we were always accepting applications. She paused again and finally said "Well, can I talk to her?" I asked "Talk to who?" I wasn't going to help with her very lame attempt at getting a job.

She said "You know, the owner." I told her the owner wasn't in at the moment. She asked if I could maybe have the owner call her tomorrow about a job. I said that sure I could do that. She said "Okay, thank you" and then hung up.

What part is missing here...or are there just so many that it is obvious?

She left no name...didn't KNOW the owner's name...left no phone number. I guess during the commercial break in her show she was watching on TV she thought she would fill the two minute break with a job hunt.
Do people actually think that someone is going to say "SURE we're hiring! So glad you called. Can you be here in ten minutes? We have a training class starting at ten tonight."

We laughed about that one for the rest of the night!

When I got home from work, Zach had a pile of paper work the school had given him on August 9th to bring home, have filled out and returned the next day. For Pete's sake tomorrow is August 31. He said he wasn't allowed back unless he brought the papers in all filled out and signed.

I felt like saying "No @#*& Sherlock."

I filled out the mountain of forms and corrected all his mis spellings and wrong cell phone numbers. Tim came through the kitchen to leave for work when I was on the 'dress code' sheet I had to sign. It had all the obvious "no no's. " No camouflage, no trench coats, no baggy pants. All things that would have never been included when I was in high school.

Then the last two blew me away. "No pajama tops or bottoms allowed." "No bedroom slippers allowed."

OMG...would kids go to school in their PAJAMAS? The bedroom slippers part made me laugh until Tim reminded me that Zach wore his to school last year one day. Tim crawled all over him when he saw Zach slumping off the bus in his bedroom slippers. Zach had gotten them for Christmas and defended his actions with " 'They're brand new and REALLY comfortable."

The teens of today would have NEVER made it in the seventies. They would be lost sheep wandering aimlessly, searching for a cell phone or ipod ... wondering how to use a phone booth and trying to figure out how to text with a rotary dial phone.

I guess all this modern technology is for the best and benefits us all. It just seems to me it has taken the "Thinking part" out of life and replaced it with shortcuts and acronyms.

I'd like to see a teen try and empty an metal ice tray or cook popcorn on a stove top. When I was a teen you had one transistor radio you carried with you listening to the AM radio station...and that was the extent of your personal music.

Maybe I need to get Zach some bedroom slippers with a texting device built into the soles so he can text with his toes as he slumps from class to class while trying to keep his pants up. I am worried he may be over worked and stressed out having to wear pants that fit AND hard bottomed shoes. Those horrible dictators at the high school are just TRYING to smother our kids with all these rules and regulations...I hope they can survive. NO...Wait a minute, I meant I hope "I" survive!

Til next time "The mom of two oppressed teens" COTTON

Summer In The Sun

What a stinking long day...and I mean literally "Stinking." Today was my day off and I spent it on and off at the school with Massey.

The picture to the left is of their coach perched in the tower drilling the troops.

I didn't get there til after noon and the asphalt was already smoking hot and the guard had already been hard at work since 9AM.
I stayed for a while and went home to let the dogs out and go vote for the person I thought would lie to us the least ...boy, talk about a hard decision!

I'll have to hand it to these kids, it was hot...no breeze no shade just the sun pounding down on them and their coach pounding from up above as well.


They broke for dinner at five and it seemed to be getting hotter by every minute.

They eat inside the school (with no air conditioning) sitting in the hallway outside the band room.

If you've never sat in an un air conditioned hallway with 30 kids who have been out in the heat for 8 hours all eating different smelling foods and all having sweaty bodies and even worse smelling feet, I'm here to tell you it is an aromatic delight(NOT.)

Somehow they keep their spirits up. They laugh and joke and are an eclectic bunch that all have a common goal..."To be the best."

I hate that I have had to miss so much of it due to our circumstances but enjoyed being back a part of them today.

I think it meant the world to Massey for me to be there today. I thought it was hot working in the yard (I did sneak home for an hour and cut the back yard ) but just watching them drill, twirl and spin out on the hot pavement of the parking lot was excruciating for me. I felt like I was melting just sitting on the sidelines. I am more a "Doer" than a "Watcher" and I could see the toll the heat was taking on many of the kids...who were all "Doing" while I just "Watched."

After my long day (which I am SURE was MUCH longer to the kids) I have a whole new respect for what these kids are doing. They are pushed hard by a coach that was hired to make them the best guard...not to be their best friend. He is brutal at times and on occasion is ridiculous...PERFECT for dealing with teens in my book.

Life around my house is slowly (very slowly) getting back to normal...well as normal as it gets for us.

I wish I had more time to commit but as we forge ahead on the path to recovery I am finding little snippets of time to spend with the guard and my off days to re connect with this wonderful program my daughter has chosen to be a part of. I sometimes feel awkward because I can't be at every practice and every event but the parents that ARE at every function seem to genuinely care for Massey in my absence and have all taken wonderful care of her when I couldn't be there.

What a great thing it is to have a young teen want to be part of such a hard but rewarding organization. She could be sitting on her duff texting all day or on the computer but she chooses to "get out there" and be a part of something bigger and more challenging than she has ever done in her almost 15 years on this Earth.

It's called motivation. It's called commitment. It's called teamwork. It's called a lesson in life.

I couldn't be prouder of these kids and I admire every one of them for their dedication and desire to be the best they can be.

No wonder they win so many competitions. To win you have to compete. To be a competitor you have to have dedication and determination .

To me these are the greatest life skills these kids will ever learn and seeing them do it at such a young age gives me hope for our future.

The teens we are raising are our future, pure and simple.

Below is a short video of them learning the first movement of their new show. Only two days into camp and I think they look pretty good .

Have a day off tomorrow because I work a double shift at work but I will be back on the asphalt on Thursday. Being around these kids is an incredible feeling .

Til next time...COTTON

Be sure to click on the pics and video...

How OLD am I Getting ??

My husband is on the computer in the dining room and I got stuck with my daughter's lap top.



Had to wake her up when I got home just to get her password, which she obviously changes on a daily basis or a "whim."



It took me thirty minutes to just get online and then I realized that she has cluttered up the thing so much I had to restart, delete all temporary files, passwords and cookies and begin again.



It took me thirty more minutes to set up "cc cleaner" so that some of this will be done automatically for her. REMIND ME TO NEVER BUY A LAP TOP FOR A TWELVE YEAR OLD.



My husband went to a career management counselor today and I begrudgingly went with him. After two hours I began to agree with my husband that this could be a good move. The guy has an MBA from Harvard and made some really good points. So we have invested in this man investing in my husband.



We are at a breaking point and considered our options...go it alone or pay someone to help him find the job that I know he deserves. If it works out the money will be well spent...if we don't try how will we ever know? There is an "out" in the contract that says after the third meeting if we don't feel like it is a workable option we can walk away and get all of our money back except $300.00.



After much thought and discussion...and after I made the guy bring up the BBB site about his company (which had an A plus rating) we signed the deal. I feel this is the best way to go and given the current state of the economy. I feel better having this professionally taken care of and they are obligated to help us for a year from today. If they find him a job and he doesn't feel comfortable after a couple of months, we can go back to them and they will start the entire process over.





Besides that weighing on my mind, when have I become sooo old that using a lap top throws me off so much? I can't remember how to move the cursor over the sentence I am working on, I am constantly having to correct typos that I never had to before and pretty much killing myself just to make a simple post. I am so honed into my PC that when I have to get on the lap top it is like having to fly a Boeing 747 without the instruction manual or one day of training.



GIVE ME BACK MY MOUSE!!



This lap top gig has me correcting my mistakes more than writing what I want.



At least now that I have been forced to use it I have cleaned up my daughter's computer and installed some tools that will keep her current and virus free. I am just so used to my PC that when I have to use this "new fangled contraption" I find it is almost a chore to use the internet.



HOW OLD AM I ANYWAY ??



This isn't helping my confidence but at least I have cleaned up the mess that my kid has made with the most expensive toy I have ever been stupid enough to buy her. Heck, I should have just bought her a tank and said "Now you be CAREFUL WITH THIS...YA HEAR?"



Thank the Lord Tim is off the PC and I can go check this post...that I have had to make at least 50 corrections on, and go back to using a mouse (HEY at least I use a wireless mouse) and get back to some semblance of the "ole fart" that I enjoy being.,

BTW...just hit a button and thought that I lost this entire post!

This was the most excruciating post I have ever made... and the most eye opening experience that I am "still OLD school".

CALGON...TAKE ME AWAY!!!

Since when is a PC considered"OLDSCHOOL"....and as I said "When did I turn into such a fuddy buddy?"

After one in the morning, started posting at eleven, Let's at least hope this makes it online.

DANG...I AM getting old!!

The Guard Girls

Congratulations to these girls being honored at the banquet tonight. That is Massey on the bottom right