LOL..i feel like a freakin roller coaster gone outta control. I have part of me that is happy and content, another part is anxious and stressed and yet another part that is just down right freakin irritated!
The good: I decided, after reading Helen's post, that yes, i need to do something. I went to the website for our local community college, checked out the programs they offer and decided that I am going to go back to college. I must write this bc now, I feel that you will all hold me to it. I am going to go for a Social Work Technician...that's a 2 yr program that will provide me with the skills and on the job training for work in that field and then i can transfer that to a 4 yr University and continue my studies while working in my field.
I also liked Helen's money "pot" idea. So, i have decided that we will give it a try. It seems to make managing the money a bit funner, if there is such a thing.
I have created a list of things to accomplish this week coming up. Each weekend, i shall make a list of about 5 things to accomplish for the week. I figure this will keep things manageable and give me something concrete to see what i need to do and what I have gotten done!
I'm getting better with the consistency here at home. It is tough. It is just so much easier in the short run to just give them what the;y want to shut them up. But, now i am dealing with the long term effects of those choices and it's time to do things differently around here.
The bad:
I have had extra kids for several consecutive days. Markie=15, Ashley (her friend)=16, Des-11. Markie had asked 3 nights ago i think it was, maybe 4 by now..ive seemed to have lost track of time...if she could stay the night and if i would ask her parents by telling htem i needed to have her babysit. Well, im not gonna lie about that, so i left the asking up to her. Well, they let her. That night turned into another, which she let her parents assume was to babysit for us again. Des was added to the mix this 2nd night. So, anyway, the next day comes, Markie has her friend over and as night falls, they all wanna stay again. Fine. Then, i find her telling her parents it was so she could babysit again. WTF?! Well, they seemed to question things, however, never did ask to speak to me, so i dont know. Then, last night, Jeremy had said, they could stay the night again, if Markie would actually watch the kids for us the next night at her house (upon parents approval of course) and that he would pay her $20. Now, i must back track to say that when Markie originally asked ot stay, she said that she wanted to stay and help me clean up and "you don't even have to pay me." Well, i told her she didn't have to clean or whatever but if she wanted to stay, sure. Well, back to where i was....last night. Markie was going to Walmart iwth her friends and wanted to know if Jeremy could give her the money early so she could have some on her. So, he gives her the 20.00. They go to the store, she spends all of it in the course of the evening. All the kids stay the night. Today, The day that Markie is supposed ot babysit, she calls her parents and they him haw about her staying again. By the evening, it's decided that she can't stay. So, im fuming anyway, bc i have had enough of all the dirty glasses in teh house, the crap to step over, the whole gamit. Well, Jeremy was gonna have her ask to have the kids at her house and i just said, forget it. Her parents were acting funny aobut the whole thing....my kids don't like staying there, forget it...so then, after being out the 20.00 basically, they ask for a ride home. Well, im so mad and ready to spit tacks, that whatever gets them out of here before my head spins off my shoulders. But wait, there is more! Can you run us by Ashley's house so she can get clothes and shoes (her flip flops broke). UGh...that's more gas....do they realize the price of gas? NO, they are teenagers. they realize nothing of the sort. I must throw in here, then while Markie was trying to get an answer from her parents i told her to just stop bc she was making us look bad...she said no, but i told her that they probably think you are over here watching the kids wihle we run all over hell's half acre or sleep. Anyway, i take them and drop them off and just can't really believe that Markie never so much as offered a way to pay back the 20.00 she wsa fronted. I almost feel as though it was plotted this way (bc you know teens are great at plotting) so that she could have the money for shopping. Then, as I was driving home, in silence, bc thank God Makenneh had fallen asleep, I remembered that Markie did watch kids the 28th and i told her i would pay her but it owuld have to be later bc we are broke. Well, there she has it. That is her pay. The problem there is, teh night she had kept them (which was so i could go to work, btw), her parents got mean with her and tol dher that they were keeping the money and giving some to her sister bc she wasn't doing enough for the kids bc while they were laying down watching tv, she talked on the phone. Well, that was what led to her wanting to stay here in the first place, is she wasn't getting along iwth her parents. So, she will have to work out the money situation with them, as I have forked out the 20.00 and will not fork out another! I cannot help but feel so damn used. I can relate to Helen's post about no room at the inn. That was exactly what i thought of driving those kids home tonight. Teenagers can be some of the most disrespectful creatures on earth! They came here, ate damn good, used my internet, chose the music to listen to, movies to watch, etc and then swindle the 20.00 more or less. And yes, part of me is upset with Jeremy for fronting her hte money, but i know i would have done the same and he was just trying to be nice, letting her have her own money for the shopping trip.
I told him tonight that no kids are staying here for awhile. While i had planned on having des over christmas break, me taking her gave them a night or so without kids; Markie staying here gave her parents a few nights without kids and here I am, the one who is ready to crack from stress and nerves, with no one to keep my kids. Ah well!
i know it does absolutely no good to be this frustrated over all of it, and there is more that i just don't feel like getting into, but yet, i can't help it.
Well, there is only 23 hours and 50ish minutes left in this horrid year and I am set to have a much better 2007! I am setting goals, large and small, and I am going to work at them.
Happy New Year to all!
1 comment:
you learned the first rule with teenagers..NEVER EVER give them anything up front. NEVER! Even with my own kids I won't do it, no amount of pleading will get that money of favour out of me before they do their part.Without excpetion if you give them the money they will either skip or whine til your ears bleed aout doing their part of the deal!
I would call the mother and say someting like " I just discovered that Markie was telling you she was here to babysit, I'm sorry, there was a misunderstanding, she just asked to stay here for those days and her part of the deal was to babysit on evening...which she hasn't yet done. We did pay her for the 28th though, did she let you know that she had $20 for that evening?" then let the mother know that you hate the idea of her thinking you had been leaving her with the kids all that time when actually YOU were the one doing the sitting, I worry that the mother will ask where all the babysitting money of if she has said she has been sitting for days in a row.
Good luck on the money pots, we have our pots all ready, are both excited to see if we can get through the week and have anything left at the end!
Post a Comment