Points to Ponder

Words from a friend that really resonated with me as we spoke of parenting our children:

Friend: "Sometimes I see my chile for who she really is-and I wince! ...but then I remember that sweet, innocent baby that I held, too."

Aren't those beautiful words that really touch on the poignant wonder and frustration of being parents???

On another note: Lil brother is upstairs all swoled up and mad at Jesus for making us go to church today... It is so nice to have someone to blame that on...

Party of Five

Mr B & I ended up taking 5 boys out to eat at a burger joint on Friday night and were approached by 2 old lady sisters who wanted to know if all those boys were ours. OH, HELL NO!!! I can assure you

Coupon Lady

I wish I were one of those crazy@ss-coupon-cutting-ladies. Really. But honestly, the thoughts of actually having to rifle through dirty newspaper (SO GRODY!), then clipping slips of paper while keeping them alphabetized in a cutesy mini-folder that's gonna get dumped out in my purse all the while keeping track of those microscopic dates at the bottom and hurrying across town to elbow strangers in the face for my free bottle of roach killer...well, let's just say I'm not emotionally stable enough for the task. So yes, my grocery bill is astronomical. I will never get to brag that I got $5,342 of groceries for just .39 cents! I am a full paying customer-much to my Jewish neighbor's dismay. So this weekend she sends her daughter down to deliver some goodies....doggie chew strips. She doesn't even have a dog. But she did have a coupon. And it is written in the crazy@ss-coupon-cutting-lady-manual that no good coupon shall ever expire unused...HERESY!

Btw-The Good Child had a field day...all on our good neighbor's dime-literally!

Homework Drama

Lil brother forgot his math book which meant that the homework did not get done (...duh)-which of course resulted in lost TV/recess time. C'est la vie... take your licks and move on. However the math teacher calls me and leaves a message on the voice mail about the "importance of doing math." Ok. Fine. I f*cked up. Sh*t happens. Nominate me for Careless-Mother-of-the-Year-Puh-leeezze. Anyhoo...! So of course I get on lil brother's case for making me look bad (not for the missed math...duh...). His job is to not embarrass me. I'm not even asking that he make me look good. I feel like my standards are appropriately low in this area, and the least he can do is comply...somewhat. So I tell him he IS going to do the missed math. And he adamantly kicks up a fuss about NOT doing it. "But dat was for Monday! Now it's Tuesday! All dat old stuff is dus swept way!" So I assure him that the day of the week doesn't mean hootin-holler and indeed there is no such phenomena as "Swept Away" in the educational system-or life in general. ...???... Why not??? Uh,...I'm not sure... And the more I think about it, the idea is kinda rubbing off on me. Why shouldn't each day be a tabula rasa and all that old, annoying stuff simply be wiped off the slate??? Why are we dragging around yesterday's dirty laundry anyway??? Maybe there is something we adults could learn from the simplicity of this kid friendly philosophy. Adults really know how to screw up a good thing....duhhhh!

Southern Tradition

Lil brother reminded me recently of the good ol days when he used to get in trouble in kindergarten and ride the bus to my school instead of going home directly to report his misadventures to his awaiting dad, Mr B. "Why'd you do that?" I ironically ask, brows raised. "Cause dad was gonna beat my butt!" And I have to say, I felt a moment of pride at that statement. My commitment to Southern Tradition is paying off. My chile will seek out his mama first for some good ol fashioned, Southern fried shame & guilt & mortification before taking his whipping in the front yard from a daddy who could care less about his circumstances. Mr B is teaching our sons the SOUTHERN MORAL CODE: "Don't EVER embarrass your mama...!" And right from wrong really has nuthin much to do with it...

Ahhhh, the good ol' days...!

Heathens

I live with a bunch of heathens. And clearly we need some more bible thumpin' going on over here at blither blather headquarters (as in the up-side-de-head-kind).

Case in point:
The preacher's kid comes to spend the night. And since big kid is our resident Puritan & Jesus freak-this is no real surprise. But clearly this does not bode well for the rest of us who are prone to potty language and low brow humor and poor taste in TV... Honestly, I'm just worried about potentially flashing the poor kid as I lounge around my house in my granny gown and ol' bathrobe-God forbid. But lil brother who's trying to win points (& attention) from the older crowd gives them a piece of advice: "Hey! It's Saturday night! But don't tell mom cause she'll make us go to church if she remembers tomorrow's Sunday!" Great...just great, lil brother...please announce to the world our slovenly attendance record. Next morning Mr B is getting ready for church and grumbling: "No more having the preacher's kid over on a Saturday night. Now we gotta go...!"

Trust me: Mr B & lil brother were exactly where they needed to be. God sure does work in mysterious ways...

FYI