Five on Friday: Disagreements We've Had With the Teens Recently

1. If we are "literally the only parents in the world" that make their teens leave their phones outside of their bedrooms overnight on weeknights. (Note to kid: have we ever cared about being like the other parents?)

2. Whether or not this room is clean:

3. If the hermit crabs deserve to be fed every day even though the novelty of owning them has worn off (who ever could have predicted that?)

Here are some actual conversations for your reading pleasure:

4. (Time: approximately 3:00 pm) 

Us: You have to brush your teeth at least twice a day.

Him (annoyed): Yeah I know.

Us: Okay but you just admitted that you didn't brush your teeth last night or this morning.

Him (totally and absolutely disgusted and annoyed with us): Ugh, yeah, I know.

(End scene)

  

5. (Time: approximately 3:00 pm) 

Him: What's for dinner?*

Me: Leftovers.

Him (groaning): Leftovers are so mid.

Me: Well, they're what's for dinner.

Him (whining): But whhhhy though?

Me: We have leftovers because we didn't finish it the first time.

Him (without even knowing what tonight's leftovers will be): I didn't finish it because I didn't like it.

*This child has been asking me this question almost every day of his life. He has, on occasion, been even known to ask "What's for dinner tomorrow?"

Five on Friday: Funemployment to Full-Time Employment in a Flash

One of the great things about funemployment was the ability to travel without having to take time off from work, so that's what I did. The youngest and I spent a beautiful long weekend visiting the alleged adults, going out to eat, sightseeing, seeing a show, spending time with loved ones. 

And also getting a phone call with a job offer. I accepted and said yes, I'd jump right in. So that's how I went from funemployment to full time employment in a flash.

Lessons & take-aways from this first nearly-full week of full-time work:

1. I still hate doing supermarket shopping online and really don't think I'm going to use it.

2. I somehow bought bologna??? So maybe I should reconsider #1.  (In my defense, I think it was in the wrong grab & go slot. I know I was in the right section so I was only looking at the weight, not the name.)

3. Sitting at a desk for many hours for many days in a row makes my old bones ache. (I'm going to have to remember to take more frequent breaks!)

4. I really do have an amazingly wonderful, supportive and appreciative husband.

5. Starting a new job where you already know so many of the staff and volunteers is a wonderful feeling.

Gee but it's great to be back home

 

Five on Friday: Guess the Costume

 These are the items the 13-year-old has asked me to pick up for her Halloween costume this year:

1. White sheet

2. Neon work vest

3. Plain black sunglasses

4. Fluorescent pink shirt

5. Hard hat

What sort of costume will this be? I am not sure. I don't even think it's just one costume but I am honestly not sure. However, being the funemployed, costume-loving Mom that I am, I gathered the supplies for her. She has since changed her mind on needing half of them. Cool.

Not sure what she was being then, not sure now.

Five on Friday: In Which Gina Attempts to be a Lady of Leisure

Taking it easy is not easy for me. What is that I always say? I always say I'll rest when I'm dead (this excludes the frequent mid-day naps). As a person who thrives on multi-tasking and no longer has five little children at home needing constant care, one might think I wouldn't voluntarily leave my job with nothing else lined up.

But this time, one would be wrong.

At the end of my first day of being home, I told my husband I was going to spend the evening looking at job listings. He said maybe I should just take a breather so then I started to cry. I have compared quitting this job to leaving an unhealthy relationship and I agree that I wouldn't advise someone else to jump right into a new relationship. So even though I had five listings bookmarked, I decided to just give it a few days. 

So how am I occupying myself in this first week home? Some highlights:

1. Laundry, cooking, shopping for family's needs   Ha, ha, those don't count, I've always done that even while working outside the home.

1. Two coffee outings, one walk with husband, one walk with friend and one lunch with a friend. While I did always try to do these things while I was working, it's never been this many in one week before.

2. About the cooking: yes, I did most of the cooking even while working outside of the home but even with attempting to meal plan it usually all went to hell by Tuesday or Wednesday. Not this week! Let me tell you how excited they are to have stuffed poblano peppers and black bean soup instead of frozen pizza. So. Excited.

3. Two weeknight dates with my husband: local documentary screening and art reception. Basically instead of just saying "interested" on facebook events, I am actually attending. Wild.

4. All the home games, both field hockey and soccer! So many of them tend to be on Thursday afternoons which were my late shifts so I'd have to miss. 

5. Working! Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be enjoying my "funemployment" but I am actually still working a little bit. The day job may be over, but the little gigs are still occupying me this month. That means I also spent time writing my script for the next Story Slam, leading Eerie Easton walking tours (tonight and next Friday 10/20 at 7:30) and figuring out a potential rain date for Graveyard Tours.

All in all, it's been a pretty fun and productive week, but it's the idea of sustaining this long term that scares me a little. So I think I will look at job listings again today.

Five on Friday: Teens Say the Darndest Things

I realize I've been complaining about the teens a lot, but since I find stuff like this on the regular:

 . . . you can hardly blame me.

I thought it'd only be fair to also share the ways they've charmed me lately with the cute and funny things they've said (apparently toddlers haven't got the market cornered on that one!)

1. I was having an early morning argument discussion with my 13-year-old daughter over whether "I haven't ate" or "I haven't eaten" was correct. She finally told me that "I haven't eaten" just isn't the vibe.

2. Daddy-O was away overnight and I treated the teens to Chinese food (they're always asking for it). I told them that while I was picking it up, they had to get the dishes and drinks ready and I wanted them to pick out a movie for us to watch so we could have a fun special Chinese-food-eating movie-watching dinner. There was no eye rolling and I was pleased with the movie the 17-year-old chose: Pixar's Monsters University.

As if that wasn't cute enough, he then commented: "If college isn't like this, I don't want to go."

3. "Mom, can I wear one of Dad's sweatshirts? None of my sweatshirts are sweat-shirting."

4. "Can you get Babybel cheese?"

    "I will when they're on sale. I don't know why they're so expensive."

    "It's 'cuz they got that high quality wax!"

5.  Texted the boys before bed on the first school night after a holiday weekend, reminding them it was back to school the next day and that they should turn in soon. (Yes I texted them even though we were in the same house, doesn't everyone do that?) I then put my phone down and went to brush my teeth and read. I didn't realize until the next morning I got this from the 15-year-old:

Five on Friday: AITA?

 If you're not familiar:

What Does AITA Mean?

AITA means "Am I The Asshole?." The abbreviation AITA is widely used on social media with the meaning "Am I The Asshole?".  AITA is used as a question (often rhetorically) when someone is asking for an opinion on whether or not they have behaved badly towards another person.

So, dear reader, I ask . . . AITA because I:

1. Didn't purchase cheese sticks after I asked her in the morning if she wanted anything from the supermarket and she said no.

2. Asked him if he was wearing his brand-new specialty sports socks outside after fifteen years of  trying to instill "shoes off or socks on," purchased the socks he requested and saw him walking around outside in them.

3. Didn't register the injured teen for soccer after asking, "Do you think you might need to be registered anyway if you're still going to go to all the practices and games, like for insurance or something?" and being told, "Coach said no."

4. Suggested that transporting honey in a lunchbox like this might be a bad idea:

5. Cannot even remotely understand her feelings of "secondary embarrassment" when she sees things like a daughter hugging a father in a show she's watching.

Five on Friday: This Summer Was Brought to You by the Letter

. . . as it was made up of:

1. Sports

2. Surgery

3. Sightseeing

4. Story Slams:

5. Salads & Soft Serve

. . . but now it's September. Sigh.

Five on Friday: Win-Win (Win-Win-Win)

It's no secret that I've been needing a break from the home kids lately. (Remember my last post? It hadn't gotten much better since then.) 

I think the combination of summer + a lull in the sports (as much as they make our schedule crazy, they did occupy the kids) + typical teenage disrespect x 3 teens + our son's surgery making it so he can't drive or participate in much all added up to my husband taking them aside and saying, "You guys do realize that Mommy is losing it, right?"

So their trip to Cape Cod with their Aunt & Uncle really could not have come at a better time. It wasn't just a win for me, it was a win all around, providing:

1. A MUCH needed break from the daily demands of parenting three teens (see above).

2. The opportunity for my husband and I to get away for the weekend without them.

What did we do when we were kid-free? Visit our other kids, of course!

It was really nice having a visit with our adult kids, just us adults. We got to have dinner and drinks with them without anyone rolling their eyes at me or telling me how cringey I am. They used manners!

Also, we were able to go to the museum where our oldest daughter gives tours (something that the younger kids would have complained about and ruined for me). She was wonderful and I got to hear her coworkers gush about how amazing she is. It was lovely.

3. We had ice cream for dinner. I had a lovely impromptu birthday party for a friend. I got a nice ride in on the practically neglected Vespa.

4. In the meantime, the kids had a lovely vacation without us, enjoying the beach, kayaking, fishing, mini-golfing, shopping, a shark conservancy visit, a pedicure and lots of dessert.

5. But wait, what do Aunt & Uncle get out of all this? Time with the kids who were surely much nicer to them than they are to me and their father. Our son even cooked on more than one occasion (boot and all).

And that, my friends, is what I call a win-win-win-win-win.