About Me

I am the mother to 6 children and former foster mother to 2. I am passionate about whatever it is I am passionate about, until I change my mind. I dream big, plan big, and once in a while I even make it big. We are planning to take our freak show on the road. Join us as we embark on a new adventure!

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

I just finished my first speech for my communications class and this is the feedback I received;

Kerry – Apple (I spoke about applesauce!)

Well prepared, high energy
Good eyes, hands are up
Solid voice
Solid skills
Solid start!

Pass Plus!

Yea me!

This weekend was very nice. We went geocaching on Saturday and that was a blast. Then Katherine had an overnight with Nicholle, who woke me up to tell me that she was bored! The pool is all set up and the kids spent lots of time swimming. Joshua actually was able to set the pool up all by himself this year with Gary’s guidance. A major boon for Gary, who hates the task.

We had more major neighbor issues. The first one is that the across the street neighbor took a full time + job. Hubby comes home from work and she leaves, returning in the morning for him to go back to work. Then she sleeps and the kids fend for themselves. He comes home at mealtimes to make sure that the kids find food. They are not trying to hide this situation, in fact she is proud of how much she is able to work and brags about being woken by kids asking for help; “They’ll wake me up even though they know they aren’t supposed to talk to me, I’ll try to answer them and fall back asleep before I can!” Wow. So on Sunday the 8 year old came over to play. At meal time Dad came home and asked if we knew were she was. She was in our house so he told me that he was paying her to baby sit and she needed to come back home. He told her, “this will only take a minute…I need you to keep an eye on the little ones.” He left again and the “little ones” went about roaming the neighborhood, twice coming into our yard to swim. Gary brought her back into the house and dropped her off (to no one!). He was inside the house, mother never even stirred.

When dad got home and mom left again the 8 year old came back over. She said “I have been waiting for this all day!” When dad came over at the end of the night to retrieve her I told him that we needed to talk. I explained to him that 8 year olds are not capable of babysitting. He said, “oh, don’t worry, Cxxx is in there with them!” This got me a little fired up and I said,”Cxxx is sound asleep and your 5 year old is wondering the neighborhood all day long. She was over here twice today and Cxxx isn’t even aware of that!” He said somberly, “I had no idea that was happening.” How could he? His wife is sound asleep, it’s not like his 5 year old is going to tattle on herself. Idiots.

Then the cat neighbor. She replaced the fiancé the day he left. New guy has a 13 year old daughter who is very sweet and wonderful with Matthew. All weekend long they are out planting flowers, chatting with Gary about how to chop down a tree…no mention of daughter. On Monday they ask us to watch part time girl so they can go shopping. While they were gone I had to run up to another store and I ran into the guy’s daughter there. She tells me that she ran away, saw neighbor and father in another store, and they told her the police are after her. She said that her dad had been pushing her around and getting more and more physical so she left. She assured me that her uncle was coming to pick her up. I told her to call me for any reason if she needs anything. She gave me a hug and I started to cry. When I got back home I asked part time girl about her. She said she ran away last week and I think she took my ipod so she needs to buy me another one. I was glad to see how concerned she was. Then I asked the adults (I use that term lightly) and they said she ran away because she wanted to stay out until 8 pm and keeps running to her mothers family and their house smells like garbage. They admitted that they saw her at the store and told her that the police were after her. Isn’t it impressive how much empathy and concern they have for this child? I asked if she was safe where she was. He said no. I told him to call DHS immediately. Morons. I am so SICK AND TIRED OF PEOPLE NOT GIVING A SHIT ABOUT THEIR KIDS!!!! GAW!!!!!!! I want to move to be away from moronic idiots.

We have a new neighbor as well. She has a minimum of 8 kids in her yard at all times. I brought her some cookies to welcome her to the neighborhood. She had several babies in the house at that time as well. I asked about her daycare and she assured me that it was just her day off from (an area employer) and her sisters had dropped off their kids to play. Whatever. Yesterday she told Gary that she is trying to make ends meet and opened up a daycare to do so. He said she was very nice. I agreed, she was very nice as she lied right to my face. People suck.

In other less depressing news another neighbor of mine took pity upon me for not having the much coveted Crocks so she brought both Katherine and I to Lameys and bought us each a pair. I am so stoked! They are purple and so me. They are actually more comfortable on then off. I am so happy, I’ve arrived in my purple Crocks!

Dad arrives tomorrow. Katherine said he is coming for the last time. Does she know something that we don’t? Hmm. Joshua will have to give up his hip pad for Grandpa to stay in. I wonder if it will make Joshua break out in hives?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your awesome applesauce speech! I'd love to hear it.

I hope you told Katherine's friend, "when kids get bored in THIS house, they are given chores to do." --- This worked great for me!

I must defend these parents:
Up until about 20-25 years ago, MOST people let their kids be unsupervised in the neighborhood (or where ever). Parents were there to provide food and shelter, but did not take such an active role in the safety of their children. My grandmother (world's biggest worry wart) let her 3-yr. play unsupervised outside. Said 3-yr. old wandered away for hours!

I have ofter felt pressured by society to take MORE of an active role in my kids' daily life than I would have 30 years ago.

Also, these are just people with kids. Parenting isn't their life, it doesn't define them.

DISCLAIMER: I do not actually know ANY of these people, and I wasn't actually in the situations you were, so I hope I'm not overstepping my "commenting boundaries."