I Lie To My Children

Yes, you read that title right, I LIE TO MY CHILDREN, there I admitted it, I am not ashamed.....well, maybe a little ashamed. I would like to say that I only do it for their own good, but in all honesty a lot of the time it is for MY good. For example: 1.) I told Chase for years that the only way you could go to Chuck E Cheese's is if you are invited to a birthday party there. 2.) I have convinced my children that the meat and chicken they eat lived on a happy farm where they grew old and died in a green pasture surrounded by family and friends. 3.) I lied to Chase during the flu season by telling him that the McDonalds playground was under construction and therefore not available. Now I realize that Dr. Spock would not approve of my methods, but the last time I checked Old Dr. Spock has never been standing beside me when Chase is throwing a fit so loud that bystanders stop and stare waiting for his head to spin around, so my parenting style is "Do whatever works for you".
While I am confessing I should also admit I am also a fan of bribery although I am sure you won't find that in any parenting book either. Bribery got both of my kids potty trained, gets them to clean their rooms, to behave in social situations, and a lot of times bribery gets them to leave me alone while I finish something important, like a nap. I also plan to use bribery when Gracy starts to date, although I'm guessing a bag of M&M's is not going to get me very far, I may have to get a part time job between now and then to pay for all of the things I am going to promise her.
Now I am not advising anyone to follow my lead unless you are willing to pay for the therapy later. We have a college fund and a therapy fund, so I'm good!

Hi, My Name Is Pam And I Am Addicted To Technology.

So in past posts I have mentioned my addictions to TiVo and my dishwasher and the Internet but recently it has come to my attention that it goes much deeper than even that.
I just got back from a trip to Dallas and Oklahoma to visit friends and family and while I was there I started to have problems with my cell phone. It wouldn't take or receive calls, I couldn't even get on facebook to spy on my friends (the horror!!). Well, we had started home from Oklahoma with my phone not working very well, when I realized that I had no idea where we were. I am a slave to technology, I just go where the GPS tells me too. So then the crazy thoughts start to creep into my mind, what if I were to have car trouble out here in the middle of nowhere? Even if I could get my phone to work I couldn't tell anyone where I was! And if the phone didn't work and I was able to walk to a pay phone (when was the last time you saw one of those???), I couldn't call anyone because I don't even have any one's phone number memorized, my phone does that for me. It might be days before John found us on the side of the road eating tree bark and rationing the last Dr. Pepper. I'm thinking that the technology that makes our life easier has also made us dumber, not that I'm complaining or willing to give anything up. I'll take dumb and convenient over smart and hard any day!

Update, or "No, I didn't drop off the face of the earth."

So I realize that it has been almost a full year since my last post and a lot of things have happened since then. We have been in Midland for 1 year, 3 months and 2 days (but who's counting?), and things are starting to get easier. It was pretty ugly there for awhile when we were living in the apartment trying to sell our house back in Nevada, so ugly at times that I would lock myself into the bathroom with a bottle of wine and cry. I thought that I was shielding the kids from my sadness until one day they started passing me notes under the door telling me they loved me and that everything would get better. Talk about a reality check! Very soon after that I called my Dr. back home and he put me on Lexapro, or as John calls it my, "Happy Pills". HELLO SUNSHINE!! Bitter Angry Pam turned into Happy Sweet Pam and the medicine made such a difference that days before my prescription would run out John would call in the reorder himself and has even picked them up for me. You know that you were really a shrew when your husband counts yours pills to make sure that there is not a chance that you will run out! I can't say that Lexapro is a miracle drug and that I love Midland yet, but I at least can admit that I like it a little.
Now, for the children.....Gracy started another new school this past year (which makes 3 schools in one year!), which is an Arts Magnet School and she loves it. She takes the regular academic classes and then also gets to pick 2 fine art electives. She chose Choir and Piano and has excelled in both, who knew that a child of mine could actually be musically inclined!! Chase also started Pre-K this year without too much drama. The first day he cried so hard he threw up but by the third day he was asking his pretty teacher if he could have her number so they could talk later. I would love to tell you that everything went fine after that but we all know better.
John is still loving his job and loving Midland, which still ticks me off! I hate it when he's happier than me! For 17 years I have been the optimist and he the pessimist and now that the roles have changed I don't like it one bit. Hmmmm, must be time to take a pill!! :o)
Well, this could go on and on but you get the idea, things are still flat and brown and different, but time does make it easier, and throw in a new house, a couple of friends and a new puppy and, well, we're going to be alright.