The New Water Cooler
Replies
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I agree I don’t/didn’t overly enjoy the toddler age. A little bit is plenty.
I’m not sure I could handle the alligator farm. Sounds like turtles are the only thing I would be able to handle looking at. I bet the kids enjoyed. Hopefully some physical exertion too. 😉
By now you may be all together. Getting over the travel disruptions and starting to settle in. Hopefully. Taking breaks will be necessary too.
Hey to Rory and Hannah! Is he enjoying his electrician journey?
Friyay0 -
The alligator farm was stinky but otherwise safe. Tall fences with viewing of the enclosures of the animals. The Lemurs were cute and there was a sloth in a tree trunk. I wish he had come out. So cute! It's funny how alligators are always colored green in books but all the alligators were dark brown/black unless they were albino. Lazy creatures when well fed. They can move fast though so if see one loose, stay away.
We all went to the farmer's market this morning. Due to heavy rains last night and rain this morning, not all vendors were there. The farmer's with the great fruit did not show up so I was bummed. I did splurge and buy a ceramic basket and a bowl from an artist. They can hold fruit and veggies on the counter, be bread baskets, or be used to bake bread in the oven. I bought cobalt blue pieces. I also found pepper jelly so I bought spicy strawberry and spicy pepper jelly. I love it on bagels and cream cheese.
We listened to the musicians play and Halen and Miles did a little dancing. Then Jeff and Karah went home to get the kids to nap. Russ, Rory, Hannah and I went to a fish camp for lunch, and David and family drove south to Flagler Beach so Halen would sleep in the car. They found an arts and craft fair to explore I think. They aren't home yet. We are home and Hannah and Rory rode our bikes to the historic downtown St. Augustine to explore. Russ and I still need to do that and other sight seeing after all leave. Too hard with littles. Another heavy thunderstorm is headed our way in a few hours. Tomorrow is suppose to be nice. I would like to walk the beach and maybe even settle in on a blanket and watch the people and waves, get some rays.
House is quiet, Russ is just returning from walking Charlie and I am going to read until Halen arrives home and house gets loud.
Have a nice evening.0 -
I think I would enjoy all those things. The farmers markets and arts and crafts shops. The historic area. Bike rides. All sounds great fun.
I hope you get your nice weather tomorrow and have a beach day.
I would like to watch the Chiefs play but all the hoopla gets annoying. We’ll see.
Saturyay0 -
Heavy rain yesterday off and on. Low 60's today. High winds predicted with gusts up to 40mph. Kids are talking mini golf later on. Hannah and Rory leave early tomorrow morning and my brother from AZ arrives at 1pm tomorrow. He is in for a noisy visit! All the kids are over at Jeff and Karah's for play time and breakfast this morning. Russ and I stayed back, vacuumed and swept the house, and are relaxing. I thought the kids should have their sibling/family time without me hovering and worrying about the littles getting into things. I'm sure I annoy them to a point, LOL!
It's too bad the weather didn't cooperate for Rory and Hannah. At least they got warmer temps than MN. If they were here longer, they would have nice weather starting tomorrow through the week. It seems it always works that way.
What is new with you?0 -
Nothing much. Just wandering through another weekend. Go Red Kingdom.0
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Are you okay? You seem a little down. Hope all is well in your household. Any news from C at school? How about Z's scholarship?
Rory and Hannah left this morning and are back in Mpls. Russ drove them to Orlando in the middle of the night to be at airport by 5am for 7am flight. My brother arrives soon. I have spent the morning washing sheets and towels, making his bed, cleaning the bathroom and floors of his bedroom and bathroom and vacuuming and sweeping the main areas. The boys and their families have gone to the beach to run and play. It isn't warm today (low 60's) but I'm sure Halen will run into the ocean. The sun is out and I may go out on the deck for some Vitamin D soon. Brad thought he would be here by 1pm but no sign of him yet.
My sister Becky arrived in Costa Rica for her vacation with a tour group last night. She has already had her Iphone stolen from a pocket on her backpack. She admits she was stupid putting it in the pocket where it is visible. She has her Ipad and has been able to disable her phone. Hopefully it was password protected. Either way, I'm sure it has been sold already. Ignorant tourists are targeted...
Charlie is stressed out. The Benadryl we have been giving him for his itching has not helped. We are waiting for a prescription of Apoquil to arrive via Fed EX. The vet wrote a prescription and Russ ordered off of Chewy.com Hopefully tomorrow... He is stressed with Halen. She is loud, always in his face no matter what we say, and on the move constantly. He just tries to hide and be invisible. I bet he will be glad to get home in a couple of weeks.
Well my peace and quiet is going to end in a bit. Hope you are getting the 40 degree temps that MN and MI are getting.0 -
That’s too bad your sister lost her phone that way. That would be so sucky. Hopefully it goes better.
Aww poor pupper. I hope the rx helps and he can be separated from his “stress “ Our dogs were always pretty content when we crated them. It was a safe space for them. Does that work for him?
I’m just still struggling with Bernie. I said some things to him on Friday that have been weighing but as usual he just brushed it off. It’s just hard.
Waving bye to R and H and hi to brother. Enjoy this next visit!0 -
and I am so mad, hurt and disappointed in Zach. I thought all the lying was in the past. I kept bragging BRAGGING about how he blossomed in college and was killing it. All he had to do was be honest. I don't care if it's embarrassing. If you don't want to admit you are getting D's. Then don't get D's. If there is a problem contributing to it - talk about it. After everything I have tried to do be the supportive parent (I'm the one who sat by his side and prayed my knees bloody and fought him through his high school slide) I thought I had showed him you can trust me to support you. But he's not a 'child'. Yes, he's young and going to make mistakes. But the LYING! How am I supposed to feel any confidence that he's going to make it as an adult. I'm just so..... mad, sad, exhausted by it.0
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I'm sorry you are going through the stress of Z and his grades, scholarship, etc. Personally, I find parenting to be pretty stressful and our kids don't want to hear what we have to say nor do they believe we know what we are talking about. Lying is so frustrating! I hate being lied to and I don't understand why people lie rather than tell the truth and face the issue. I don't know what to tell you about how to handle that. Tough issue and you can't make someone else tell the truth.
I'm sorry you can't get through to Bernie and he won't meet you half way on things. Right now I'm not excited about my spouse either and if I was 30 again, divorced, and had a choice to date, I would pass. Men are so different than women. Listening to my sons talk or dismiss their wives concerns, Russ does the same to me too, I am not fond of the male gender right now. Why do they think they know all and women aren't as smart or capable? They are so wrong!
I have had it with visitors at our rental. I always feel so responsible to keep the rental in good condition, not break anything, treat it like our own home, etc. Having the toddlers together over here has been a challenge to say the least. Halen is wild and very busy. She has a lot of free reign to do what she wants, climbing, running, walking around with food, etc. She has been very whiny and Miles has begun to whine to get his way too. David and I just had a huge argument about setting limits for toddlers and preschoolers for safety and predictability. He accused me of saying he doesn't care about his kids and that they are bad parents. I didn't say that. I emphasized that each generation parents differently based on the beliefs of that time. My parents did, I did, my sons are doing it differently than us, and parents younger than them have different parenting styles. David is very hard to have a discussion with. He twists words, interrupts, doesn't listen, internalizes what you say and gets defensive, puts words in my mouth I did not say, etc. They leave at 5am and I'm sure my ears will be burning and catching fire when he and Jeff talk about me all the way to the airport. He even told me I said I didn't want the kids in the house. I never said that. Then Russ comes in and interrupts and tries to referee our argument and it is none of his business but he is a busy body and thinks he should fix everything. I could scream and pull my hair out about now. So my guess is no one will want to visit us, they think I'm judging them, and I'm not anxious to have anyone visit for awhile. It's too bad the week ended this way and David and I will part with hard feelings. I guess I won't try to have a discussion with my sons in the future. We can't see issues the same way and they don't want to hear things based on my experience with young children.
Vent over. I hope your week gets better.
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Isn’t that the truth. Nobody wants to hear anything unless it is in inline with their personal practices. I always feel that way. If someone asks me what I think I always say are you sure you want to know and then they still get mad. So hard. I’m sorry the visit is ending on a bad note. Hopefully after some distance things will recover.0
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I agree. I'm too tired to write anything in depth this morning. Maybe later...0
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Very lazy day for me. Russ did some cleaning but I've only washed towels and blankets. More to do...
I sat on the deck most of the day reading in the sun. The warmth felt good. 83 tomorrow so maybe go to the beach...
We got up at 5 and said good bye to David and family. I went back to bed and slept until 8:30. Russ took Charlie for a walk and ran into Jeff and Karah out walking. They took both kids to daycare this morning. Layney had gone most days to stay in her routine. Miles skipped several to play with Halen and hang out with all of us. Each day he became more tired and ornery (Halen too), but Miles is fairly sweet and cooperative. He turned in to a monster by last night. They were both so over tired. When they dropped him at daycare today he threw a fit. He usually loves going there. Hope he is back on schedule within a couple of days.
I am so talked out that I'm not speaking much today. Just reading and relaxing...0 -
Kids really do the best staying in their routines. (If that's the type of thing they are used to) Bernie never understood why it was so stressful for me doing things outside of their routines when they were little. It wasn't him who had to try to adjust their behavior to a different setting or to how they acted out or to get them back on track. Or to being the one who would get side-eyed when they acted out. Anyway, I don't miss that. It was just one of a million things that made me anxious.
Soak in that vitamin d and try to get re-centered. I think if it were me, I would be so sad that it felt like my son couldn't just listen and appreciate that I have experience as a parent and that I am just trying to support him with some 'wisdom' from years of being in the trenches. And that like anything with parenting advice it is not all going to work for all parents, but to sort through 'the best practices.' And I'm sure they just don't want to feel like someone is criticizing (even though that wasn't it). It's such a landmine topic.
Maybe a good bottle of wine with dinner tonight.
Got a snow storm in parts of Nebraska last night. The big cities Omaha and Lincoln got hammered pretty good. I watched the news and the poor commuters had a bad, bad morning. Glad it wasn't here. I sent Caleb a text that I bet he was happy to get a snow day (UNL closed campus), but to make good choices. He replies he still had Zooms. I replied, just doing the mom thing and that I knew it wouldn't be long before someone has a brilliant idea to drive around and see how bad it is. (Yes, I once went to college). He didn't reply, but again I couldn't help myself.
Hugs my friend.0 -
David has always been the type that thinks he knows it all. He doesn't listen and interrupts because he assumes he knows what you are saying. Drives me nuts because it is rude and he misses the mark. He doesn't think so and there is no reasoning with him.
Russ, Charlie and I went to the beach to walk this morning. It was windy and sunny. I am getting a good tan for Mexico. Who knows, they may tell me they don't want me to come now. Luckily I bought a refundable ticket! David may or may not be going so Chantrelle would need my help if she is alone.
Relaxed on the deck when we got home until wind got to be too strong. Rain coming this evening but suppose to be nice tomorrow.
The plow was in our driveway at home last night so we know they got snow. Russ has cameras that he can see on his phone. He likes to keep an eye on things.
Have you talked to Z?0 -
I haven't really communicated with any of them aside from generic texts. I sent them both minion memes on Valentines day and got a reply of the 'love you too' in response. It's normal of the pretending there is nothing emotional going on. Just wish it away. I mean once again, last night Bernie walks in to me reading, grabs my legs and does the 'what you doing reading?" I say yes reading and move my legs away. In his mind I am ignoring him. Well, that's true. He refuses to broach any of the issues I want to hammer into, I'm not willing to talk about the weather. Caleb needs his ssn card because he wants to get set up to donate plasma so we'll have to figure that out. They got a lot of snow so we'll have to see how the roads end up. Bernie will freak out since he believes everything has to be locked up in his fire proof safe. I think Caleb thinks I will drive it down by myself, but I don't love driving especially in Lincoln in good weather with them having 10 inches of snow I don't think I am making that trip.
Hope you had a nice relaxing day.
Friyay0 -
Today is cooler, high of 62, and we are laying low at home. There will be a 5K run outside our neighborhood today that goes in to downtown so roads will be closed and bad traffic. If we tried to go down the coast we would have bad traffic and road closure to get home. Russ went to the grocery to pick up options for dinner and I'm relaxing on the couch, washing sheets and being lazy. My arthritis in my wrists and shoulder started acting up yesterday so I took a prescription arthritis pill but it doesn't really do much. It helped my shoulder but not my wrist.
David and Rory both gave plasma in college for extra money. I was worried about them getting run down but it all worked out.
Is this Z's junior or senior year of college? I know I've asked this before but don't want to go back through all our posts, LOL! My memory is failing...0 -
It is Zach’s senior year. If he can be believed (which sounds b word but is what it is) he is set to graduate in May. It’s now also hard to be excited for graduation. I know I have to get over it but I’m still trying. He should be applying for jobs by now but I’m sure he’s not. Oh Zachy. I feel like I failed you. It feels like a fundamental parenting failure. It will be what it will be. Just doesn’t feel like success right now.
Caleb called off the card being needed yet. He must have had something else to do. Which is cool.
Sunyay0 -
It is not your failure. We raise our kids with our values and they navigate the world making mistakes. We all did. I made many stupid decisions in my late teens and early 20's. I'm sure Z has lied to you because he can't handle your disappointment but he also doesn't know how to fix it either. He will have a college degree and that counts for something. Many jobs require on the job training so as he matures he will figure out what he wants to do. Try to stay hopeful. He will mature and hopefully things will fall into place for him. Z is old enough to figure out the consequences if he doesn't apply himself in class that he will get a bad grade. He also knows that grades are needed for his scholarship. This is how he grows up, learning from his mistakes. These are not your mistakes!!! You are a good, caring and loving Mom and have raised them to be good people. We can all move forward from our mistakes and do well in life.
We went to the beach for a morning walk with Jeff and family. The waves were large and there were lots of surfers. Miles loved walking in to the water and got pretty wet. They were smart and brought a change of clothes. Russ, Charlie and I drove down the coast. Busy!! It is the weekend of the Daytona 500 so many people on this side of the state for the races and parties.
Tomorrow we are all taking a boat cruise on the Matanzas River that separates downtown St. Augustine from the barrier island Jeff and Karah live on. This is our last week. We leave a week from Tuesday to go home:(
President's Weekend...do you have to work tomorrow?0 -
Yeah - today is not a holiday for most of us in manufacturing. My stress echo is Wednesday and I have to be caffeine free for 12 hours, food free for four hours and none of my beta blocker for 48. Mfffttt. I am going to be hangry, uncaffeinated and unmedicated. Can't wait. Oh, and they were supposed to give me the results of the previous two tests (the holter and the first echo) prior to this appointment per the nurse that we don't want you to have to wait over two weeks to hear the results. Mffffttt.
Is Charlie feeling more relaxed?
Going through my insurance website trying to find options for counseling that can be telehealth. There aren't a ton of options locally (the lady I saw years ago moved) and I don't really want to 'go' locally. So all the options are from quite a ways away, which probably doesn't matter. But also, just looking at names I don't know how to pick. It's just easy to keep putting it off. I kind of wish there were yelp reviews.
Hi ho another week we go.0 -
I'm glad you are looking into counseling. Are there bio's provided when you see the person's name and photo online? Can you google their name and see what pops up for their professional expertise?
Did you get a blizzard? We see that MN is getting a huge storm and our former school district already canceled school for the next two days. Unheard of when we were working.
The boat cruise was nice. Miles enjoyed it and I took lots of pictures. We had beautiful weather for it. Tomorrow Russ and I are going on the trolley tour through the downtown historic district. It's a hop on and hop off tour so if we see something we want to see, off we go.
We walked the beach this morning and lazed on the deck this afternoon. I need to make our hotel reservations for return trip to MI. I will do so tomorrow. I've been looking but don't want to end up in a gross place again.
Good luck with your test tomorrow. I hope you get some answers soon.0
