We don't do catty here

My stepdaughter, TomGirl doesn't like girls. Or so she says.

"I just get along better with guys" she remarks "they don't seem to have all the...you know issues girls have"

And while I told her that making a blanket statement that she's doesn't like girls is ridiculous. I kind of get it. Sometimes teenage girls are catty.

It takes some maturity to realize we shouldn't be in competition with one another but instead respect, understand and appreciate one another as females.

I don't do catty. Or at least I try not to. Sure I've been gossipy and maybe even said some things I've regretted before but generally cattiness doesn't serve any real purpose. So when I see that behavior in another female I tend to run screaming for the hills.

Kind of like last night as I sat chatting with a group of moms while at a birthday party with my kids. I'd met and conversed with these moms several times before so we chatted comfortably and easily about one thing or another.

As all the kids stood salivating around the cake, one of the moms,Rochelle, made a comment about one of the boys being on the smaller side. It wasn't said maliciously. It was simply an observation.

But then Janet, who was sitting next to me says "Well, we all know that everybody comes in different shapes and sizes don't we ?" (and even though it shouldn't matter, keep in mind that the boy in question was not her kid )

Her statement was made with emphasis on the words "know, shapes and sizes" while glaring at Rochelle who just happens to be a larger woman.

Cue record scratching as I mentally run screaming for the hills.

Silence hung in the air for what seemed like hours but in actuality was probably only seconds.

Her remark was rude, it was catty and unecessary. And frankly it wasn't the first time she'd said this kind of thing.

So I turned to her and said "Wow, what a bitchy thing to say."

Ok no I didn't really. But I wanted to. Sure her statement was true, but the manner in which it was said was just nasty.

Kinda like when she called me out for not inviting her kid to a party before we really even knew their family. Or when we did finally invite her kid to a party and my husband asked the kids to be careful with juice on the carpet she remarked "well you shouldn't have had juice if you didn't want kids to spill it."

What.the.eff ?

Awesome right ? I guess she skipped out on that maturity piece.

Love for Anissa

I haven't yet met Anissa in real life. I say "yet" because I fully intend on meeting her. Soon. (hear that Anissa ?...be very afraid!)

I mean after all who wouldn't want to meet one of the kindest, FUNNIEST, genuine down ass chicks on the planet in real life.

Anissa with out knowing me offered up a place to stay when I thought I'd be in her town and well much of my daily laughter comes from her Twitter stream. She's just good people and I adore her!

Sadly, yesterday, Anissa suffered a stroke and is currently in ICU. I've been praying for her speedy recovery and I'm asking that you pray, send good health vibes, whatever you can to get our Anissa back to us.

Anissa has three darling children, one of whom Peyton is a cancer survivor. I can only imagine how scary this much be for them.

To find out more about how you can help click here (also check out this site because it's displays even more of Anissa's awesomeness)

Thanks friends. It makes me proud to be a part of such a community that reaches out to help when one of our own is in need.

Venting...

I should rename this blog: Because I'm good at venting.
The ranting. The bitching. The stuff I need a release for, well, this has been the receptacle for those emotions of late.

These last few months... have been challenging to say the least. In my son, we have seen some behaviors that as a good parent I'd be remiss if I didn't try and address.

Sorry for the lack of detail. I'm just not sure how much I want to say. Rest assured he's a generally happy healthy six year old little boy but as his mother I feel compelled to address these other "things".

That said, the point of this post is not to vent about my son. I love him so much it's indescribable and only want to do what's right for him.

No, the point of this is to vent about commentary made about my son.

When we received his report card his PE teacher basically had nothing nice to say. He simply gave him a grade and made comments that were, well, antagonistic at best.

And this was the first communication I've ever had with this man. If you can call it that.

I'm pissed frankly that he didn't reach out to me earlier to make me aware of the problems my son was having in his class but instead categorized him as a problem child in the brief paragraph he'd written.

I tried to understand that teacher's logic by making excuses for him.

He's the sole PE teacher for 300 plus kids and he only has a limited time to complete all these analysis, I tried to reason.

But the thing is, he's been a teacher for several years and he should know better. How can I try and change that which I'm unaware of.

And yes I know that report can be used as an opportunity to try to turn things around and I will. But frankly I take issue with his style... utter lack of communication.

It hurts me as a parent to know that a teacher wouldn't take the time to understand, much like we have, that perhaps something else is going on. It disturbs me that he wouldn't try and dig any further. At a minimum I expect a call or an email to discuss the situation. This is a team effort between the teachers my husband and I. I'm trying to do my part. Is it wrong to expect him to do his ?

And so we have our parent teacher conference tonight.
Rest assured. The school will know how I feel.

Swine flu vaccine inducing crazy and the house o'suck

I have been living in the house o'sick. Or the house o'suck as I've come to call it in the last week. When you have a husband laid up with a bad back and twins who give the Tasmanian devil a run for his money,let me tell you, it definitely rates high on the suckage meter.

This all began about one week ago, when hubby threw his back out. He has this thing, doctors have diagnosed as an "arthritic twinge" which is doctor speak for you may be doing the most basic thing and your back that you rely on to stand erect will say fuck you and give out.
Usually when this happens the hubby is out of commission for 2 days and then he's fine. But to hear him tell it, this pain was unlike the other times. It was to the point where he couldn't even get up to pee and I really did offer him a cup. His pride wouldn't allow him to do it but it did prompt a trip to the ER. So a bunch of drugs and a whole lot of cotton mouth later he was back home and unbeknownst to me would claim a place on our bed for the WHOLE week.
So that was that.

Except for mid week, when my daughter got a fever and begun throwing up. The little neighbor girl,whom my daughter adores and plays with frequently, had been diagnosed with swine flu recently so I just knew those evil piggies had invaded my little girl's innards. The thought that my daughter had gotten swine flu that particular day was messing with my head in the worst way because I'd intended to get her and her brother vaccinated that weekend after struggling with whether or not to actually get them vaccinated.

Fortunately, J, was back to normal the next day and since she'd been better for a full 24 hours I proceeded with the vaccination plan.

Vaccination day was rainy, windy AND bitterly cold and of course there was a line which could rival any Miley Cyrus concert ticket sales line. But I was determined not to leave regardless of how many times my children asked me to do so.

All I can say is thank goodness for the wonderful women that saved our place in line and allowed us to go defrost in our car for a bit. After a couple of hours and a level 5 freakout from my daughter about the needle, vaccinations were completed and we were able to resume our regularly scheduled day.

The regularly scheduled day was traveling 1 hour north to go pick up my 14 year old stepdaughter and then take her and the twins to see Disney on Ice.

All was well until the ride home when my son complained of a tummy ache and later threw up everywhere. Clean up was crazy because really who's prepared for having to clean up a ton of vomit while on the road. I wasn't but I'll tell you one thing. I will be from now on.

And in our hour long ride home there was ...2 more vomiting episodes. While my sane mind knew this was probably just the bug his sister had earlier in the week, my insane , worrywart mind told me that this was a reaction to the swine flu vaccine and that we were going to wind up in the emergency room again. For the second time that week.
And the thing was I couldn't talk my mind out of that crazy.

But it's the next morning and while not completely out of the woods he hasn't thrown up in several hours.

BUT...my husband has. He woke up this morning and promptly threw up.

And I'm. Crossing.my.fingers.

I'll be damned if the house of sick/suck will get me.