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The week started with me deciding to paint Andrew and Alex's bedroom. I had this...idea in my mind of what it would look like and spent an entire day painting.
Before pic after I taped off the wall.
After pic....with uneven, crooked, wavy brown line.
I wasn't really satisfied though with the results. Again, I'm reminded to leave the painting to the professionals!While I am showing bedroom pics though, here's a picture of my adorable pre-teen's room after she was supposed to have cleaned it.
Zoe continued her sleepless countdown and by the end of the week, I truly felt more than run down...She cries for me all day long if I'm not actively holding her or carrying her and then has been up several times during the night because of her cold. I know she feels miserable, but quite frankly...I do too now. It's very difficult to listen to the crying and whining all of the time without feeling like my head is simply going to twist off and rocket into space!
It didn't help that we seemed to move from one drama to the next with the kids!
Amanda felt like she was getting more settled at school and the social issues were resolving. I was happy for her that things were quieter. I left the house Monday to run some errands with Aidan and Zoe and when I got back, there was a message on the machine from Andrew's math teacher.
sigh
I gave myself a few minutes before calling him back. When I did, he started out the conversation with:
"Is something going on at home. I'm very concerned about Andrew"
I asked him to fill me...as that sinking feeling took ahold of my heart...
It turns out that before Spring break, Andrew had been taking a math test...the little boy sitting near him had tried to cheat off of his test, and Andrew had written down all of the wrong answers and then after the other child turned his test in, Andrew had erased the wrong answers and had written down the correct ones on his own paper. Andrew got a 103% and the other boy got a 0. Apparently, this was indicative of a problem with Andrew. His teacher went on about Andrew's *attitude problems*. In class that day, Andrew had helped two boys who were struggling. A 3rd boy wanted Andrew to just give him the answers and Andrew refused. When the boy kept bugging him, Andrew finally told this boy the wrong answer....on purpose...to get him to leave him alone.
The teacher told me that he discussed both situations with Andrew and then told him "Andrew, what's worse...a cheater or a liar". The teacher tried to make the case to me that Andrew was as bad as the boys attempting to cheat and that this was indicative of a larger problem at home.
Really, I just couldn't find my outrage. I nearly laughed. I think it's fabulous that he wrote all of the wrong answers on his test, erased them and put the right ones...and....I don't think that makes him a "liar". Clearly, I disappointed the teacher by letting him know that I just couldn't be bothered to hear this kind of nonsense anymore. Call me if Andrew's the *cheater*, not the *liar*.
Then, there is the issue of crazy neighbor, part II. This is not my old crazy neighbor...but her dear friend in our neighborhood. Because my name was on all of the Easter Egg Hunt stuff for the neighborhood, she felt like she needed to give me a call to offer her *help*. Before she could actually make that offer though, she had to let me know that she had an allegiance to my former crazy neighbor. Whatever. Then, as she prepared to hang up, she said "well, I have to get back to work. Some of us didn't marry rich doctors and have to work for a living".
ummmm....OK.
Seriously, I can't ever imagine saying something like this to another person. I was so shocked that I didn't know WHAT to say...at all. Friday, she called me to ask me to send over one of my children to pick up a few plastic easter eggs that she had put dollar bills into...she then launched into a speech about weight watchers and informed me that I "really, really" need weight watchers.
Kiss. My. Ass.
Fine...like that isn't obvious to everyone that I know anyway that I have weight to lose.
The real clincher though came Saturday after the Easter Egg hunt. After all of her offers of help and the donation of the eggs with the dollars for the older kids, neither she nor her son showed up (and it was the vacant lot right next to her). She called me later to say "I'm sooo sorry that I couldn't come, but I had to run to my dad's house" She then launched into a "so, I hear that no once came". Huh? I corrected her...yes, people came. We had about 8 kids besides my own. She then told me that she had instructed her own child not to come, but to sit at the window and watch and see who showed up and HE had said that no one came. She actually asked me for pictures to PROVE what I was saying.
Seriously....the insanity never ends. I was so flabbergasted...and then...she announced that she was coming over for a "tour" of my house. I told her I was cooking dinner and she said she'd be over after dinner. I told her we probably wouldn't be done until too late (about 8.30) because I'd gotten a late start and she just ended up showing up at my house at 8:15 to see what I had cooked.
You just can't make this crap up.
My dad and stepmom ended up unable to come for the Easter holiday which was a real disappointment for all of us. We were hoping to celebrate a late "christmas" with them....so now we're thinking it might end up being a Christmas/Easter in July.
All week long, I worked on the first annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. I bought the eggs, prizes and candy to go in them and stuffed them....made the fliers and handed them out....only....for the weatherman to sneak in with a blanket of snow and bitter cold weather! The hunt itself was ok. A few people did show up in the -3F (with the wind chill ) weather to take part. Since I overshot on how many eggs I would need, all of the kids that did come left very, very happy!
Poor Aidan cried through nearly the whole thing though because he was so cold! I had to carry him to the eggs and then pick them up for him because he was too cold to do it. Here is the one picture that I got of him actually standing up. Look at how bundled up he is!
Look at the SNOW! It's April....someone inform the weatherman!!!
Easter itself was a bit of a downer. I was exhausted, Thomas wouldn't get out of bed, Zoe cried all morning, Aidan was so excited about his Easter basket that he forgot to go potty and had an accident all over the floor. The older kids were bummed that they didn't get something fabulous from the *bunny*....and I think I won the mom of the year award by 1. not taking my kids to church and 2. taking a 3 hour car ride with Zoe to just get her to stop crying. I ended up mad at the kids, mad at Thomas...and was just a big ole grouch!
Zoe's Easter Outrage: Hold me Mom, cuddle me...NOW!
I think that it did make an impression with the kids because I basically laid it on the line for them. I am tired of not being appreciated. I busted my behind to have a nice easter egg hunt, gave them the best baskets I think I've ever given them
cooked a wonderful meal (If I do say so myself)....pork roast in a Sherry marinade with a homemade sherry sauce, white asparagus with an asparagus sauce, boiled potatoes roasted in a pan whole with butter/garlic. The picture may not be so great, but the food took me hours to prepare and was really, really yummy.
They need to start considering themselves lucky that they don't have to eat out of a pizza box or McDonald's bag every night. I take the time to prepare authentic german meals and no one comes to the table. I call them and call them and the food is cold by the time they get there. People argue about helping to clean up or set the table.
It is all about what they want and I rarely feel a sense of appreciation.
When I explained this to the kids, I was met with understanding, apologies and hugs.....they want me to know that they loev me and appreciate me and want to try and help out more. I hope it materializes.
DH and I had it out though over the latest and greatest with his mom. We agreed last year that her visits needed to be shorter. I wanted 2 weeks, but he wanted 3. We compromised on 17 days. Then, he booked her tickets to visit in May...and she is staying for a MONTH.
I was absolutely flabbergasted. The tickets are tough to buy for her because she has to fly direct adn the only way he could get *affordable* tickets was to book her for that long. I think...I simply lost my marbles over it and it might have been the at the root of my total Easter tantrum.
When, exactly, do my wishes come into play in our lives? I have so little control over most things in my life right now and then for him to have the brass ones to book her flight for a month? He's lucky I didn't have my friend Kelly draw up the papers and have him served this week. I'm tired of my needs being unmet. He doesn't want to move somewhere else near a university where I could go back to school because he is "happy" at his job. He doesn't want to lose money on the house. He feels like he has to bring his mom here for this long because he doesn't live in germany to help her and his brother does. He doesn't want to move closer to the cities so that the kids could go to the german immersion elementary school. He doesn't want ...doesn't want...doesn't want....because it might impair HIS happiness.
But.
What about my happiness?
To end on a more uplifting note, here are the Easter pics.....
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