Michele’s Musings

It’s been awhile since I posted…. been a little busy and stressful around home the last few weeks.  James has been working a lot… and volunteering a lot…. leaving me home alone with the kids every evening with soccer season started…  which I did NOT sign up for.  I had a bit of a breakdown this week about that, plus our wee Rowan went missing for an hour Thurs night which put me over the edge.  He decided it would be a good idea to go to a convenience store with a friend, which he is NOT allowed to do and did NOT ask permission to do.  James just found him by chance while doing a drive around the neighbourhood, I was about 5 minutes away from calling the police. Not a good feeling!  This “friend” of his is not a good influence… he comes around every once in awhile, plays with Rowan for a month or so until he gets Rowan in a huge mess of trouble, then Rowan is banned from playing with him…. another 6 months or so rolls around and this “friend” starts showing up again and the cycle starts all over.  So Rowan is now grounded for a month and the “friend” issue is being taken care of because their house is for sale so he’ll be moving, and Rowan won’t have a chance to play with him again.  Rowan gets in trouble with this kid because he is a follower, he pretty much does whatever his friends want him to do even if he knows it’s wrong *sigh*  My other two are not like this, Arran is a non-conformist, and Keely is a leader, so I’m struggling with parenting this last child of mine…..  what I don’t get is if he’ll do whatever his FRIENDS want him to do, why does he never do anything *I* want him to do??????  We have spent some time talking this weekend, about thinking for himself…. he said he told his friend he wanted to go home while they were at the store, but the friend didn’t want to go so he wouldn’t take him home.  Rowan knows he’s not allowed to go anywhere alone (safety in numbers) so he wouldn’t leave his friend and come home alone. Points for following one rule at least…. although I would have preferred him following the “don’t go anywhere without asking persmission first” rule…. which would have saved everyone a lot of worry and stress and tears.

Friday night James and I were able to go out to dinner alone and talk about everything bothering me, it’s hard to find time to do that at home.  Our only chance is after the kids are in bed, then he’s too tired and doesn’t want to listen, which gets me more upset….  anyway, we seem to have settled things.  He needs to work on balance and the word NO with his volunteering.  He’s also going to do more work from home so he’s not at the office till all hours.  I am going to work on getting the kids doing more around the house so I am not so overwhelmed.  Not that I do everything for them….. but they tend to whine and complain and ignore when I DO tell them to pick up after themselves, which I am now taking a zero tolerance policy with.  They are perfectly capable of putting their dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and getting their dirty laundry in hampers etc….

So with everyone tip toeing around me …. I got a pretty good Mother’s Day ;)  Flowers, chocolates, breakfast and dinner made for me.  Plus we spent time today working on a CSI mystery puzzle and watching TV while I cross stitched.  The only “work” I did today was folding the laundry I washed yesterday!  James even cleaned up the kitchen after supper!  Oh and I called my mom in Ontario to wish her a happy Mother’s Day, I ordered her flowers which should arrive tomorrow.  With all the crud going on lately I didn’t get around to ordering them in time to arrive for Mother’s Day.

So I am hoping for a better week….. relaxing tonight, watching the season finale of Survivor :)  Do a little reading before bed, back into the Outlander series by Gabaldon.

I honestly can’t believe I’m old enough to say that James and I have been together for 20 years…. it just seems like SUCH a long time, when really…. it flew by!    Maybe later this weekend I’ll post our “how we met” story

Tonight our Community League is holding a ‘Tween Dance at the hall, so James will be volunteering at it, Rowan wants to go, Keely says she doesn’t but I’m sure that will change. It willmost likely be a night for Arran and I to hang out at home, he’ll rook me into a game of Payday I’m sure, he’s been bugging me every night this week to play, but he asks at like 9 pm when you really need an hour or two to play and at that time of night, I’m wanting to relax, watch a little TV, do some stitching….

Saturday the 12th is our 17th wedding anniversary, 20th first date anniversary.  Usually we get a sitter, go out to dinner alone, sometimes we make an overnight of it, this year not much thought has gone into it.  I asked James if we should just make a family night of it, take the kids out to dinner and a movie, they are after all…. part of our marriage lol  He seems keen on the idea.  We also have a bunch of 2 for 1 movie passes that expire at the end of the month!  i have been talking to James about making big plans for our 20th wedding anniversary though, I want a cruise!

Other than that, with the nice weather we are expecting, I am hoping to get the yard cleaned up and some stuff done around the house.  It’s supposd to get to 17 on Sunday!

I was stuck in a reading rut this week….  I have shelves of books and nothing that interested me!  I did pick up an old Nora Roberts 3 in 1 book that I bought for $5 who knows when… I read the first story to get me through and it was ok… nothing really fabulous.  I am currently reading a book my boss leant me, Last Breath by Mariah Stewart, so far it’s pretty good!  I have read a few of hers before that my mother sent me and I enjoyed them as well.

James is off in Calgary for work for 3-4 days and I am completely out of sorts!  I do not function well as a pseudo-single parent, even for a few days.  The first night is usually ok, it’s a novelty to be on my own with the kids.  But by night two I am ready for him to be home!  I miss talking to him, cooking supper with him, hanging out in the evening with him, even laying in bed next to him sleeping while I read *sigh*  It really hits me how much I depend on him to help around the house and with the kids.  Tonight is night two…… At least I have Survivor to occupy me after the kids are in bed!  Tomorrow is Friday so I’ll have to think of something fun to do with the kids in the evening to keep us busy.  Saturday I’ll get housework done and he should be home by Saturday evening, he has apparently invited our friends over (I heard from them lol)  He wants them to bring their Rockband thing over to play on the new TV.  He told her that’s for the kids, while we play Rummoli, I’m thinking there will be somegrown ups playing RB too lol  Well at least I know he misses us as much as we miss him, he hates to be away from us and always tries to bring some of us with him when he travels for work

 Another thing that has me out of sorts is the time of year.  I used to LOVE spring when I lived in Ontario, everything was green and fresh… here in Alberta I HATE this part of spring, everything is brown and dirty and dusty and there is garbage everywhere now that the snow has melted and revealed the trash the litter bugs left behind all winter.  It seems to stay like this for weeks before true spring hits, so it leaves me kind of gloomy.  I won’t be able to plant any flowers until at least the long weekend in May, although I do have some bulbs sprouting a wee bit, that will hopefully get me through.