Yes, I know, it's been too long! Contrary to popular belief, I do occasionally work and last week was full of work related things.
Anyway, my kids are still driving me nuts! I swear I spend every morning just yelling at them to get moving. Is it really too much to ask that you get dressed and brush your teeth without me having to tell you 67 (hello Drew) times?! I mean you are 17, 9 and 8......is time for you to move out yet?! And of course, there's the constant issue of "the dog". Every morning it becomes a fight about who will take her out and feed her. The moment I start to say. "Will someone...." Abby and Tommy both scream "Nose goes!" I could be saying, "Will someone please come here so we can get in the car to get ice cream," but NO....it's always "nose goes" because my kids are sarcastic little punks (no idea where that comes from!). Tommy 99% of the time ends up taking the dog out and feeding her, because Abby locks herself in the bathroom about this time of the morning to "do her hair". She always seems to be "doing her hair" when it's time to do something productive. I can hardly imagine what she will be like when she's 15.....gives me nightmares!
Last week we had journal-gate 2011. One night, Tommy was in the shower just singing away (he's got a very nice voice) when Abby bursts into the bathroom and yells, "And what you read isn't true anymore!" She then ran into her room and slammed the door (she can slam a door with the best of them). This peaked my curiosity, so I called her to the living room. The following is a transcript of the conversation that happened:
Me: "Abby, what are you yelling at Tommy about now?"
Abby (starts sobbing): 'He read my journal and I wanted him to know what he read isn't true anymore."
Me: "Okay, but why are you crying?"
Abby (sobbing harder): "I can't tell you."
Me: "It's ok, you can tell me anything"
Abby (sobbing almost uncontrollably): "Not this, it's bad."
Me: (starting to get freaked out): "It's ok, just tell me what's going on so I can help you."
Abby: "It's so bad mom, so, so bad. It's the worst thing ever!" (Sobbing to the point where she can barely breathe now)
**At this point, my mind is going to a dark place.....worried that someone has hurt her or someone she knows I don't let up.**
Me: "Honey, I have to know what's going on. You're scaring me."
Abby (HYSTERICAL is an understatement at this point): "Tommy read my journal and I wrote in there about who I had a crush on!" (SOBBING!)
Me (relieved and trying not to laugh): "Abby, it's normal to have a crush on someone. That's not a bad thing."
Abby: "YES IT IS! Tommy will go to school and tell everyone who I like and my life will be ruined!" (I've been trying to tell you she's a drama queen!)
Me: "I will talk to Tommy. He won't tell anyone, I promise."
**About this time, Tommy is out of the shower and back upstairs. He's caught on to what's happening.**
Tommy: "I only read her journal because she read mine first!" (the plot thickens!)
Abby" "Well you left it out!" (yep...she's got an answer for EVERYTHING)
Me: "Abby! Did you read his journal first?"
Abby: "No!"
Me: "Abby! Did you read Tommy's journal?"
Abby: "Just one page."
Me:: "So you DID read his journal!?"
Abby: "Not really."
Me: "ABBY....did you read Bubba's journal?!"
Abby: "Sort of"
Me: "ABIGAIL ANN ZEETS, did you read Tommy's journal?" (yep, I'm pretty much screaming at this point)
Abby: "I guess so"
Me: ABBY, yes or no, DID YOU READ HIS JOURNAL?"
Abby: "Yes!"
Me: "Was that so hard to say? I wish you would just tell the truth!"
Abby: "But it was only one page"
AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!! yes....the queen of getting the last word did it again!
So I sat them both down. Told Tommy if he told anyone what he read in her journal he was out of martial arts. This got him crying. Abby was smiling because she thought she had won. But her smile faded when I told her if she ever read his journal again, she would be out of voice and dance. Then I gave them the necessary mom speech about respecting each others privacy and then made them sit on the couch and hug each other for 5 minutes! (Abby says the hugging is worse than my usual punishment of standing holding a piece of paper to the wall with your nose......come to think of it, I STILL have not received my mother of the year award. Probably delayed because of all the problems with the postal service these days!) Both sat there crying and about this time Brian walked in. He had no clue what had just gone down and he wondered what was going on. I started to explain, but then I started crying! (I might be a tad dramatic as well.....) He rolled his eyes and went off to watch something sports related on TV. We all got settled down, hugged it out, and then Danny came in, called Abby something along the lines of a snot and we're back to square one! Can't we all just get along?!
Side note......Abby locked the boys out of the house the other day. Tommy starts kicking the door, I start yelling to stop kicking the door (had NO idea the little princess had them locked out), she opens the door, heads back outside, Danny throws a frisbee at her leg (he did throw it hard and it did leave a massive bruise). She comes in screaming (shocking, I know). Everyone comes inside as a punishment and I yell at Danny, reminding him he's 17 and really should not try to hurt his baby sister. A few hours later Abby comes over to me smiling. She tells me she locked the boys out of the house on purpose because she knew THEY would end up in trouble for kicking the door. She's definitely in touch with her dark gifts this one. Can't we all just get along?!
Side, side note: last weekend we were having dinner at my parents. Danny was going to join us later but wasn't showing up. Called him and he informs me that he cannot find his car keys or wallet (crap). I tell him to look for a few more minutes. In the meantime, Abby says, "I might know where his stuff is." (shocking!). She calls Tommy over and says, "Tommy, do you know where Danny's keys and wallet are?" Tommy says no....but then he says, "Wait.." (really?) "Tell him to look in my dresser." I call Danny back, tell him to look in Tommy's dresser and guess what...there they are! I ask Tommy why they were in his dresser....he simply says, "I hid them there."
CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?!
Here's hoping your family is getting along better than mine! Cheers!
OMG....I almost forgot...hi Anderson! Tweet me @anniezeets or find me on facebook :-)
Annie
