Good
Andrew, click here for his story, my previously unschooled son, graduated with honors, from our local public high school, on Friday night. Woo Hoo! Next stop a job, then college in the Fall. I am so proud of him.
Bad
That same night, actually it was Saturday morning at 2:30am, a graduate from another high school decided to drive through the stucco wall of our subdivision (which happens to be the wall around half of our house, as ours is the first house in on the right) take out one of our magnolia trees bring all sorts of wall debris down the hill with him and land 6 feet from the outside wall of my living room. He's okay, totally okay, probably had something to do with the 'Weed' they found in the car. The car was totaled and he had just gotten it. He said he swerved to avoid a car that came into his lane. Let me tell you, he was going pretty damn fast! He was not supposed to be out, driving, after midnight because he was 17. Only 18 yrs and up can drive in GA after midnight. The net of it is, the yard looks like crap, there is a gaping hole in the wall, their is shit all over the hill from the busted wall. I am thinking our property values could not get much better!
Good
I need to say how thrilled I am that Andrew was home that night, after going out to dinner with us, and not drugging and driving. Thank you, God, for such a great kid!
Bad
We came home from seeing the new Indiana Jones movie, yesterday (which I really liked, btw), and Ben was being such a jerk in the car that after yelling at him and telling him he was an A-Hole (trust me I have no illusions about being a good mother) I got out of the car, at the light, and walked the 5 miles home. Robert was driving so don't worry that I abandoned my kids in the car at a traffic light. I was wearing flip flops, had no cell phone, no Nano, no money, and was really pissed and thirsty.
Good
Robert let me leave the car knowing that walking home was probably the best thing for me. What a good husband...because he had to deal with Ben while I got to escape. I got to walk 5 miles yesterday!! Very cool. I had only worked up to 3.5 so this was really great. In the words of Mike Myer's character 'Phillip', from SNL circa 1990s, "When I got home I was tired."
Bad
I was so angry yesterday, at myself and Ben, that I couldn't eat. Even after the walk. I think I had a cup of coffee and a banana all of yesterday (oh yeah, a ton of water too). It's been a while since I was so pissed/sad/depressed etc that I couldn't eat.
Good
Given that I couldn't eat, I probably offset all the yummy calories I took in at Claire's Graduation Crawfish Boil, Sunday afternoon. Kath made exceptional Jambalaya and Red Beans and rice. We made a collage of pictures of Andrew and Claire from the time the met until now...a friendship pictorial....for her to take to college with her in the Fall.
Bad
I am going to have to cancel my trip to Indiana to see one of my oldest friends and her kids (part of the Florida Brat Pack) because I can't afford to fly all of us, barring Robert who isn't coming, to Indiana. I was going to drive it, but seeing that I can't even spend more that 15 minutes in the car with Ben, 12 hours would be lethal. Plus, I can't see myself walking home from, say, Kentucky.
Bad
Ben is obsessed with getting XBox Live again. He will NOT STOP HOUNDING ME! Even though we told him we would get him a present for finishing elementary school and moving to (private) middle school. The gift he asked for was the IRONMAN game. So, he got it. Now he's begging me to sell it to get XBox Live!!! Well, I am not gonna because I would get half of what I paid for it...and it was $60 frickin bucks!!! So, since Ben's birthday is August 1st, I am resubscribing to XBox Live for him as a very early birthday present. Please note that one can't say no to a kid like Ben. It does not compute in his mind. There is no disciplinary action that works. NONE! He just asks and asks and asks and begs and begs and begs and asks and until you are willing to do anything...ANYTHING to make him stop. It is FAR WORSE than WATERBOARDING!!! Ben needs to be implemented at Gitmo, the government will get whatever they want from those Islamofacists if Ben is working for them!
Good
Ben is still alive and so am I.
Bad
I will now have to break my friend Rachel's heart and tell her I am not going to be able to go to Indiana. Ben tends to make every event about him (he did a good job of it almost ruining Claire's party mentioned above) so I can't put my friends through any of that. It won't be fun visit, instead it will be the trip from Hell.
Bad
Ben has only been out of school for 3 days. I have 2+ months left of his constant demands, constant mood swings, constant begging, pleading, yelling, tantrums for whatever is or is not making him happy or unhappy.
Bad
I didn't want to come home yesterday. I think I could have walked until I wore through the flip flops. But I didn't have the Nano, or money, remember?
Bad
No I know why, no matter how much I have prayed, pleaded, begged and cried, over the last almost 6 years, God has not blessed me with another child. I can barely handle one of the three I already have. He must have dropped the Iron Curtain on my uterus.
Good
I live in America and God loves me. And I don't have to wash my laundry by hand whilst beating it against rocks in a river.
