Veteran's Memorial Park

I went and took pictures at Veteran's Memorial Park today. I have wanted to go and get a closer view (as opposed to just driving by ) since it was built. I was moved to tears, honestly. It's a beautiful spot, and a wonderful way to honor our veteran's.

No Thanks!

Me to Julia (after she walked right past me this morning without so much as a glance): "Please come here for a minute...I need a "good morning" hug!"

Julia: "Um, no thanks, I don't need one."

Foliage

I spent Columbus Day weekend with my sisters in North Andover. On Saturday, we took a drive through Peterborough, NH. This is some of what we saw.

Perspective

Julia to me (after Ryun and I were discussing the yucky, cold weather): "Mom, I am glad summer is over. The sun was always getting in my eyes and it hurt." Perspective is everything!

Busy Much

Just for the fun of it, here is what I have on tap this year for activities etc.

-Three girls in 3 separate dance classes.

-Two girls in 2 separate Girl Scout Troops.

-one girl playing basketball.

-one girl involved with the Art Club and Student Council at school.

-one Mom (ME!) President of the PTA

-one Mom (me again!) chairing the PTA Advocacy Committee

-one Mom (guess who?) being active members of the following PTA subcommittees: the Green Team, Bake Sale, and Teacher Appreciation.

-one Mom(three guesses): member of the middle school PTSA.

-one Mom (still me!) volunteering every Monday afternoon in Kindergarten.

-one Mom (uh huh) being the Room Parent to a 4th grade classroom.

-one mom (yes) serving on the Kindergarten School Council.

-one Mom (you guessed it) serving on the MA State PTA Legislative Advocacy Committee.

-one Mom (enough already!) working 20 hours per week.

Busy much?!?!? I am not complaining really. These PTA/Advocacy/Volunteer type things? Are what I was put on this earth to do and I love it.

So...

...I was going to sort through winter clothes today; washing what will still fit the girls and bagging up for donation the rest. Then, I thought, "Hmmm, Emily would love to help me with this massive undertaking (three kids=a lot of clothes). Maybe we can work on it when she gets home from school. Wouldn't it be a great mother-daughter bonding experience?" Yes, clearly I am looking for any excuse to get out of doing it right now, though I do think Emily would really enjoy helping (imagine that...a tween actually enjoying helping her mother with a chore). The boxes have been down from the attic for weeks now, just waiting to be sorted through and Emily has asked a number of times when I would be going through them.

Speaking of Emily, tonight is parent teacher conferences. Of course I am going to go but basically? Every parent teacher conference I have ever had for Emily has gone like this: "She is so bright, she is doing well, and she participates in class but she really needs to get organized. She doesn't always have what she needs and sometimes can't find things." I doubt these will be any different. So tonight, even though I have all of three minutes to chat with each teacher, I am going to see if they have any suggestions for her and I to take in to consideration. It might require a separate meeting to discuss at length, which is fine. I just don't have any more ideas.

Responsibility...Where Does Mine End?

How much responsibility do I need to take for Emily's school work and lack of organization skills? How much reminding do I need to do? How much correcting do I need to do? How much is too much? How much is too little?

She's 12. She has ADHD. She's not hyper...just disorganized (more so than the average kid) and slightly impulsive. And, the poor child has a mother who has OCD when it comes to these kinds of things. Nothing is ever in it's correct folder, her locker looks like a tornado blew through and she is frequently missing things she needs for class or homework. Still, to her credit, she's quite smart...perhaps in ways that go beyond her years. Her grades don't generally reflect her disorganization. Most of the time (with Math being the exception) she gets all A's and B's. Disorganization aside, Math is hard for her and if anyone can relate to that, it's me. So my line of thinking is two fold; if she was organized and "together" would she be getting all A's (and really in the scheme of life how important is that?) and, if she can be a disorganized mess and still be successful, does it even matter to begin with?

The bottom line is that I am thinking that it is time for the responsibility to shift a bit. Clearly my nagging and reminding do nothing to help the situation and all suggestions and accommodations we have tried don't appear to work. Trying to get her organized and together causes more arguments and stress than I think is worth it, especially given the fact that the it doesn't appear to be helping get her organized. Emily is old enough to understand consequences. Maybe it's time for me to step back, and just let the natural consequences of her situation take the spotlight? Thoughts?

Karma

So, after all of the hemming and hawing I did about jury duty, a sick child got me out of it...until next Tuesday that is. Emily is home with me today with various complaints of pain, and a cough to go with it. She definitely seems a bit off and is fairly mellow. Is it terrible for me to say that she is much easier to deal with when she is sick? Probably, but it's true. She's too mellow to be the dramatic preteen that she usually is, too tired to be fresh, and too blah to give that famous eye roll. of course, I do hope she feels better soon!


As much as I hated the idea of jury duty, I was sort of looking forward to getting it over with. I am also not sure what to do with myself today now that I have the day off. Work is always an option, as are PTA things, fall decorating, laundry, housecleaning etc. I am pretty spontaneous but I do have to say when my plan or the day is changed, it kind of throws me off kilter. I am sure I will figure something out.

Anyway, off to it...whatever it is!

Tap, Tap, Tap. Is This Thing On?

Yes, I am back. Yes it has been close to four months since the last update here. Yes, I am ashamed. And yes, I am listening to the Fray, which has absolutely nothing to do with anything but somehow seemed to fit in to this paragraph.

So, clearly this would be the longest blog post ever if I were to update you all on what has gone on in my life over the past four months. We can just sum it up in two words: nothing major. Life has just gone on, you know? It makes sense, at least to me, to start from here, this moment right now and go forward.

Or perhaps we could fast forward a day or two until Monday when I officially have to report for jury duty. In making every effort to get out of this, I have indicated on the jury questionnaire that I am of the opinion that if the police have arrested someone, they are more than likely guilty. I don't really think that of course but, it seems like it will be one heck of a good reason for me not to serve. Civic duty be darned. Let's face it people; jury duty sucks.

I sat on a jury once. It was some silly personal injury case in which the pizza delivery dude who slipped on ice while making a delivery was suing for some crazy amount of money. I remember thinking that the monetary compensation he ended up receiving was so dramatically less than what he was asking for, that the whole court procedure was a wast of his time. There's no question that it was a waste of mine.