The Ideal Siesta

Maybe the Mexicans are on to something here...Found this little list of tips for a restful night of sleep at a restaurant we stopped at on our trip to Mexico.

A Little Boy is Excited for Christmas

Came home from work, exhausted, the other day to find Roan excitedly waiting for me so he could show me something in the living room. 

Lo and behold I found out the 50 pound kid dragged the artificial tree up from the basement all by his little old self.  And once he got it upstairs he managed to get it put together and standing in the corner of the living room. 

While stringing it with lights and decorating it was the last thing I wanted to do on Wednesday night, I felt after all that hard work and clear determination to get that tree upstairs I couldn't break his spirit by not following through on my end.  So I frustratingly strung the lights then let him at it.  He decorated the entire tree himself.  And then he put all the excess lights and decorations he didn't use (the back of the tree is completely bare) back in the basement.  I didn't do anything to that tree but hate life momentarily while I strung the lights.  This tree is his masterpiece entirely.  Pretty much makes me love our tree this year. 

Another Sign

The other day Eric came home after having randomly bought me three scratch tickets.  Not terribly normal of him.  Two BINGO ones and one Crossword one. 

It took me until I'd finished the whole card before I realized that the word KIT was even on it.  But more interesting is that it was the only word I actually had completed.   I asked Eric if he had picked the card intentionally and he said no, it was tucked in amongst the other cards.  So I showed him....

Come on, even as a skeptic I have to believe.  There have been just too many 'coincidences'.

I'm watching dad, keep letting me know you're here. 

Mind? Blown!

I love when someone randomly hands me a blog post. 

Today during a funeral Erin came to me and said, "I think some man just handed me a huge bag of dope."  To which I replied, "WHAT??"

Here's the story:

A man who was dressed in an extremely wrinkled suit (I swear it was balled up in the trunk of his vehicle before he put it on) approached EP with a black canvas zip up bag and asked her to hold on to it while he went into the chapel for the service (an uncommon, but not out of the realm of possibilities, request).  Immediately upon taking it into her care she smelled that old familiar scent and came into my office to have the above conversation.  Following my disbelief I went to the front desk to find the bag and was smacked in the face by the smell of A LOT of weed. 

I moved into the centre office and I (yup, I'm like that) opened said bag to find at least a thousand dollars (street value) of weed broken up into sellable baggies.  Intermingled amongst the weed was Axe body spray and packs of minty gum.  If those were in there to mask the smell they were failing miserably. 

After the funeral we could literally hear him bound down the hall looking for 'his bag'.  At this point I replied, "Your bag is making my back office smell like a grow op!"  To which he apologized.  I asked him how sorry he was a couple of times (trying more so to hint that perhaps he should leave one of those conveniently pre-packaged bags with us to divie up) and then blatantly (after he missed my cues) asking him what the holding fee would be.  He stupidly replied, "I'll never come here again."  To which I replied, "Bullshit, we'll end up burying you.". 

So, he leaves approximately $1000.00 worth of weed with random strangers after bringing it to a funeral for someone close enough that he was asked to be a pallbearer.  And our coach driver is a retired Vice cop with Hamilton P.D. (oh of course I showed him!)  I have to pose the question...is this the dealers first day on the job????

My mind?  Officially BLOWN!

A Chip of the Ol' Block (x 2)!

What goes around, comes around.
History repeats itself.
Turn about is fair play.
Life has a way of coming full circle.

All those sayings we've heard plenty of times in our lives.  And they have frequently been proven too true in many cases.  Yesterday seemed to be a day spent having those sayings tossed in my face.  My mother always said I'd end up with a child just like me.  And I would rue the day.... Seems I have ended up with two children just like me.  All I can hear in my head right now is the Count from Sesame Street counting my children and then cackling in his creepy little broken laugh.  

When I was a young lass (somewhere around the age of 10), my mom took me to the States with her to do some Christmas shopping.  While we were there she picked up quite a large amount of my brother's Christmas presents.  Later after I got home, I went snooping in the known hiding spot (parents closet) to see what they had gotten little old me for Christmas.  I can't remember now what they were but I'm sure I was smitten at the time.  And excited.  Not nearly as excited as I would be on Christmas morning I later found out (knowing ahead of time what you got is zero fun on the actual day!  Who'd have thunk?).  So excited in fact that I was positive my brother would be excited when I told him what he was getting for Christmas too!!  Wrong.  He was bummed and told my mom that I had told him everything she bought for him on our shopping trip.  Needless to say I had to endure the worst lecture of disappointment ever.  So much so, that it's one of the lectures from my mom that I actually remember. 

So (back to the present tense...), after the eye opener earlier in the evening with Gage (of which I'm feeling mildly better about after having two conversations with him last night and probably more each day),  Eric and I made the trek out around 9 to grab some groceries.  When we got home, I asked Roan if he'd gone snooping for his Christmas presents and he assured me he had not.  Little bugger even looked me in the eye (though not overly convincingly) and promised me that he hadn't.  BUT, we all know that parents have ways of finding out these things don't we??  When I went upstairs, it was clear that he in fact had been snooping around and now the kid has gone up and ruined Christmas for himself.  So called out on his lie, I proceeded to give him the exact same lecture my mother had given me when I had gone up and ruined Christmas for not only myself, but for my brother as well.  Verbatim.  By the time I was done, he had responded pretty much the same way I  had.  With tears and guilt. 

I'm about ready to be done with the lectures for a while.  Two in one day is enough thanks!  I want my little angels back.

In the Need of Some Good Old Fashioned Advice

So I was well aware this day would come.  And I know I am truly blessed that my child still talks to me about this sort of thing or rather just talks to me about it, no 'still' necessary.  Tonight, I was made privy (by Gage) to the fact that Gage has drank twice (with the end result, intoxication) and tried weed once (not sure he actually inhaled).  All three events occured with the same kid(s). 

I'm trying to remember that some experimentation is normal, but I'm stumped on how to make sure he knows where to draw the line.  I'm trying not to let irrational fears create unnecessary anxiety for me. Of course I experimented when I was a teenager too, but now this is my kid I'm talking about.  And well the rules of the game this time around are completely different.  Unlike me,  who was impervious to anything bad and totally smart when it came to this stuff, I'm not feeling that same confidence when it comes to him. 

I'm grateful that for the most part he doesn't soley hang out with this particular kid.  He hasn't ditched his original group of friends (yet!).   And I know 'banning' him from hanging out with "Bad Seed" isn't the right approach. He'll hang out with Bad Seed regardless of what I say.  So what's the right approach? 

I'm reaching out to my friends who are parents of teenagers, my friends/family who have long since raised teenagers and now have adult children, and my friends who don't have kids, but were the experimental teenager.  As a parent, how do I deal with this without being overbearing and in his face thus pushing my child away or being far too lenient that I just become an enabler and unknowingly walk him down that slippery slope?   Am I panicking right out of the gates?  I'm trying really, really hard to remember back to my teenage years and trying to figure out what the best approach would have been for me.  Had I been busted. 

HELP!!