Has anyone else been wondering?

So if you live in St. George or Washington County for that matter you may have noticed that "The Other Boleyn Girl" is not in theaters here as it should be. Well don't fret I've discovered that it will be coming March 21, thanks to the questions and answers section in the Spectrum (local paper). I know I'm so lame that I emailed that question but I was curious alright and I'm sure others out there were wondering as well. So that gives all of you that haven't read the book yet, one week to read it. Good Luck!

Great Reads!

So I have read a couple of really great books lately. I want everyone to enjoy them as well.... at least one of them. So here are your choices:






1. "Pillars of the Earth"
by Ken Follett

• Soooo good.
• 1000 pages.
• But sooo good.

2. "The Goose Girl"
by Shannon Hale

• Soooo good.
• A quick read.
• Loved it!

Now that you have your two options. Get reading. No excuses. Everyone should read "Pillars of the Earth" sometime, but if no time is the problem read "Goose Girl"...NOW! Enjoy!

Husbands are dumb

Why do husbands not get it? When we go to them and tell them we are about to LOSE IT! They think we are just being over dramatic. I mean how hard is it to blog, watch girl t.v, read, eat cookies and treats, nap, and play with 4 perfectly behaved children all day? Not hard, right? Wrong. Of course the children aren't perfectly behaving all the time, but even if they were, it would still be hard. Why? Because. Because it is the day in and the day out. Same and the same. Always thinking. Always planning. Always worrying. It's the build up of days that then end in a meltdown over another small unfulfilled expectation.

I have found that I tend to tell Shayne about the hard stuff that happen in my day. The fighting, the whining, the messes, ALL the problems. And then when I tell him, I might exaggerate it just a little. Like when the girls have a couple of friends over. The whole neighborhood was here. And when we have PB & J again for lunch. It's the 4th time this week. (Of course sometimes I truly don't exaggerate.) But why? Why tell only or mostly about the negative? Is it because I think staying home and being "just" a mom is easy? Honestly? Sometimes. Easier than what he does? Sometimes. Maybe I do this because during those few moments during the day when things are good; laughter, play, amazing firsts and discoveries. I feel guilty that I am the one that gets to be there to see it. Yes, that is PART of it. But the part that ends up getting me to the LOSE IT stage is that all encompassing feeling of being under appreciated.

All us moms know ALL the things we do every minute of every day that go unnoticed. Just little things, usually not physically hard things, but add them up. Yep, hard. My kids are great. And every once in a while we get a sweet note, or hug, or a "okay mom" with no argument, that makes me feel appreciated. But usually what I want is a little acknowledgment from my partner that what I do every day matters, that what I do is hard, that I do a great job, and I haven't permanently scarred my kids. Is that so much to ask? Well, if you know Shayne, you won't get a compliment when you ask for it. Soooo, I'll just have to wait and hope that either my LOSE IT mood passes, Shayne gets to urge to acknowledge all my pains, or I'll just have to end up calling my mom. The only thing she knows how to do is compliment me. "Mom...."

Parly Sue

Parly Sue is 8..... wait did I say 8? Wow... seems more like 15. She is growing up so fast. Sooo, Parly has always been very social. I don't think it is possible for her to go a day without seeing or talking to one of her bazillion friends. Because this is the case, we have found the perfect punishment for her when she gets into trouble... no friends. Yep. She can't stand it.

Well, we have been trying to instill in her the importance of being responsible. She has to tell us where she is going and where she is if plans have changed. She also has to be home on time ...usually at 5:30 p.m. She has her own watch and she set the alarm for 5:25 so she has enough time to get home. Our rule: If she is in the door after 5:30, no friends the next day.

She hasn't been late very many times. In the beginning, if she was going to be late one of her friend's mom would call and say that Parly was on her way home and that she (the mom) had lost track of the time... so it wasn't Parly's fault. I've always wondered if Parly got so upset about being late that these moms thought going home late meant she was getting a beating. Well, we discussed this and decided that it was not the mom's responsibility to send Parly home at the right time. This worked for a little while, until the weather got nicer and they would play outside, thus ...the excuse became I was outside and didn't know what time it was. So that's where the wrist watch came in. And with the watch... no problems. It has been fun to see her bursting into the door, out of breath, but on time.

Well, the other day we had our first issue since getting the watch for Christmas. She forgot to wear her watch. Parly came home 3 minutes late. Sad. Yes, I know 3 minutes. Late none-the-less. No friends tomorrow. Then came the pleading and tears. Sorry. Then came the anger and excuses. "I left when the clock said 5:25." We called Kendra's mom. What does your clock say? Okay, thanks. Sorry still late. "I left when Kendra's watch said 5:25." Called Kendra at another friends house. What does your watch say? Still late, sorry. We called to see what their clocks said thinking maybe the times would be different. Nope. Well this was Thursday. And on Friday she had a birthday party (she had already RSVP-ed to) and then a primary activity to go to. And then on Saturday another birthday party to go to. So... we told her that she would be grounded from playing with friends on Friday and Saturday. Later that night her friend called to see if she could help babysit at a neighbor's. We said yes, only because we thought this would be another chance to learn about responsibility. She had a choice : go babysitting but you will still grounded on Friday and Saturday, or don't go babysitting and no grounding. She chose to go babysitting. It turned out that they waited but weren't able to actually babysit. Of course, Parly then called and asked if she could go to her friend's sister's basketball game since she wasn't able to babysit. What? No. Come home. Tears. Why? Where do we begin, right? Well here's the letter she wrote us that night.

Like I said Parly Sue is 15 years old.