Kid Talk – Page 22 – Flamingo House Happenings

Daily Dose of Kids – Blogs and Privacy

I’m going to share a really important Denise Rule with all of you folks. That rule is: Do not read your kid’s My Space, Live Journal, Xanga, [insert blog platform of choice]. That rule has a sub-rule that reads: Do not read the My Space, Live Journal, Xanga, [insert blog platform of choic] that belong to the friends of your kid, either. I’ve had this rule for a very long time and it has served me well. It will serve you well, too. I promise it will.

USA Today ran a nice little article about teens and blogging/journaling. It seems a lot of parents are surprised at what they’ve found when reading their children’s “blogs”. And once they’ve read the blogs, they don’t know what to do about it.

Hellooooo folks, if you are surprised by what your kids are writing in their blogs then you aren’t paying attention to your kids or you are in denial about your kids. That’s not the fault of My Space, Live Journal, Xanga, or [insert blog platform of choice], that’s YOUR fault.

Would your parents have been surprised by what YOU wrote in YOUR paper diary/journal when you were 15? Would they have been shocked at the words you used when interacting with your peers, away from prying parental eyes? Would they have been appalled at the things you did behind closed doors, while someone’s parents were out of town? If they would have been, then they weren’t paying attention either. Maybe it is an inherited trait?

I do not read my children’s journals, paper or online, and I’m rarely surprised at what they do or say. I don’t read their friends journals and I’m pretty good at knowing who the problem kids are and what their problems are. I do not read my children’s blogs and they have been known to simply carry on conversations with me regarding their friends’ blogs because they realize I already know what goes on in the world of teens and young adults and I’m not naive enough to think that they are immune to the dark side.

I cannot believe there are adults using the excuse “They put this stuff up for strangers to read so why are they upset when their family reads it?” as a valid reason for reading a blog without permission. Your children would not want you following them to the prom and lurking behind fake palm trees and crepe paper to see what they are doing, even though they are out in PUBLIC, would they?

The world has changed, mommies and daddies, and it is time to change with it. There are things that you (or people just like you) put up in a public forums everyday and you consider them private and anonymous, even though you are looking for answers and feedback and support from perfect strangers. I spend 12 hours a day reading message board posts from adults who would definitely NOT post half of the messages they post if they thought someone they knew was reading over their shoulder. Our children are doing exactly what adults have been doing ever since listserv and bulletin boards began.

Give your kids some publishing space and pay attention to what is going on in the world around you, and around them. If they trust you, they’ll tell you in one way or another what they’re writing and reading and who they are talking to out there in the blogosphere. And if you’re paying attention, you won’t be the least bit surprised by what you hear.

Technorati Tags: livejournal, xanga, myspace, teens, blogging, privacy

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Daily Dose of Music – Spartacus

Kid Talk, Sights & Sounds / denise

His Highness on the flute, 6th grade, 10/2005 Spartacus

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Daily Dose of Birthday – Clean Sweep

Holidays, Kid Talk, Sights & Sounds / denise

I mentioned in my Random 10 post that it was my birthday and I was cleaning my office and I mentioned pictures. Well here’s one… I got too busy cleaning to remember to take more, darn it.

I got a lot done, even though I was distracted by taking TW to work, picking her up, little kid madness, email and AIM. I’m not finished but after five hours of it today, another hour tomorrow should do it.

TW came home from work midday, it’s Gator Homecoming – whoppeeee … Go Missisisippi! 😉 And as soon as we walked in the door, she left to “run a birthday errand”. She came back just as I was about to feed the little kids their lunch. No birthday gift in hand. Hmmm.

The little kids finished their lunch and then TW rounded them up to take them out “birthday shopping” again. Uh oh. TW and 3 small kids unaccompanied on a shopping trip is dangerous. I stayed focused on cleaning the office and doing laundry and within a couple of hours they were home. RJ came in carrying an orchid. Hmmm, nice but odd. TW handed me an envelope. I open it. Gift certificate? Hmmm odd. I look more closely, wondering why TW got me a gift certificate. I do not really like to shop. Ha, a gift certificate for a tanning salon. Hahaha! I often say I wish we could move into the new townhouses that have tanning salons free for use in the exercise room.

Weird that she took the kids out for two hours and came back with just a gift certificate and an orchid. Oh, craft project is about to begin. Uh oh. TW and 3 small kids doing a project is even more frightening then the shopping trip.

I stayed focused on cleaning the office and late in the day took the second bag of trash out to the can and found 3 odd things in the yard. 3 paper pots with plaster hardening and a metal stake sticking out of each one. TW appeared at the door, sure I would know what creation they were making. I was clueless. It wasn’t flamingos again, thank goodness.

The afternoon passed. The girls were in the living room working on part of the project and I did not peek as I passed in and out of there. J was “busy” working on his part in his room for hours and hours. Hmmmm.

Jenn called after she got off work and asked if I was doing something special for my birthday. I told her I spent 5 hours cleaning the office. She said “ohhhh did you do the tarp thing?” (Some of you may not know that TW and I have a TLC thing. Everytime we go on a trip, we spend hours in hotel beds watching Clean Sweep, Trading Spaces, What Not to Wear and Property Ladder. We were just in Charleston last week and had such a marathon) I laughed and said “No, I was mostly by myself and couldn’t take everything outside alone, not to mention it rained most of the day.” She laughed and suggested I should have held off and just done the Clean Sweep thing because there was surely more to get rid of than the 2 bags I took out. Hmph.

After dinner, TW and the little kids went outside for a few minutes. There was a lot of giggling outside of my bedroom window. Super Glue was mentioned, as was bamboo. Hmmmm. TW yelled, “OK, go into the living room.” I did, held the evil dog so he didn’t get out and watched the little kids parade into the house with these umm pots with some signs sticking up on them. Hmmmm

I looked closely at E’s. It had a big 42 on it, gee thanks kid. And the word keep spelled front ways and backways in nice neat handwriting and lots of the beanie baby stickers I had found in my desk this morning all over it. I told her it was cute as I was laughing and asked why it said “keep, peek” on it. She said, “You’ll find that out later.” Hmmmm.

I look at RJ’s and it had the beanie baby stickers on it and the word Sell. Ha, it hit me.

I started to laugh, looked at J and said “TRASH, You’re TRASH!!!!” hahhaha. A large bag of tarps was presented by TW. A Clean Sweep Birthday, woohooo!

The small children are not thrilled with the idea that we may Clean Sweep their room. E in particular is worried about her beanies. She should have realized by the signs that no beanies are every trashed, they’re either kept or sold and I don’t think anyone would want hers, they’re well loved. I, on the other hand, have a good 100 well cared for, clean in acrylic cages, beanies that should definitely wind up on the sale tarp soon.

clean sweep, birthday

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Daily Dose of Poetry – Spoken Word

Kid Talk / denise

Freedom by RJ (October 2005)

poetry, kids, recess

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Daily Dose of Family – Daughters

Day to Day, Kid Talk, Personality, Travel Log / denise

TW, Michelle and I drove UP to Charleston for the weekend to see Jenn (and Ronnie too, I guess) and her new house (well I guess it is his too but he’s not the important one there). I was reminded of three things during this trip, three things I hope I will not ever forget:

1) I will not EVER book a room at the Red Roof Inn, on Northwoods BLVD, for any reason. NEVER. AGAIN. We stayed there for one night last month and hated it but apparently the learning curve is steep and it took a second trip to really make it sink in for me.

2) I’m getting too darn old for this 12 hours of driving over a 2 1/2 day period. It’s hard to believe it wasn’t more than a couple of years ago that we were driving all over the south following Melissa. This weekend trip is making me rethink the whole Melissa in Atlanta thing at the end of the month, even if TW is healthy enough to go. I AM OLD and TIRED!

As much as my daughters adore each other, and they definitely do, they do not do well together when I am around. It’s not horrible but there’s some weird undercurrent thing that bugs me to death. I don’t remember it being there all those years ago when were all a big “happy family”. It happened after Michelle and I (and Chris) moved out and left Jenn (who was all grown up and going to college) with her dad (and boyfriend who is now her husband). Michelle was always jealous and wanted me to herself but she’s 15 1/2 and this is getting really weird. Maybe it’s time to reconsider that therapy thing again??? Maybe we could do some double sessions so that when we are all together for Thanksgiving it doesn’t feel crummy?

daughters, roadtrip

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Daily Dose of Kids – Pecan Roaches

Health and Wellness, Kid Talk, Personality / denise

Michelle is home. 😉 We know this not just by the scent of popcorn or the music playing behind me while I work or the phone ringing late into the evening. We know this because the drama has begun.

While Michelle was in NJ, she was skateboarding and “hurt her knee”. No big deal, certainly not as big a deal as her Scarlet Fever issue. She came home and didn’t do anymore than the normal Michelle whining about her knee thrown in with the normal Michelle whining about her back, (she is sure she has Scoliosis, thank you school nurses around the world), and I am so use to her whining that I rarely listen.

I’m a bad mom. I’m not all that compassionate in general, except when I’m at work. I’m really not very compassionate when it comes to Michelle and her health dramas. I can totally understand the woman I heard on the radio the other day whose son flunked an eye test at school and she thought he was faking so she sent him to his room without dinner… he turned out to be blind in one eye. Anyway, that’s what life is like here. Michelle is “sick” or “injured” and I only half listen.

So the other day, Michelle was skateboarding here and she came in saying she “hurt her achilles tendon”. OK, let me see… no swelling so stay off of it and would you like some tylenol? Fast forward a few days and she’s limping down the stairs. I ask her what’s wrong, oh remember I hurt my achilles tendon. Ummm Ok, let me see… no swelling, stay off of it, would you like some tylenol?

I head back to the bedroom and hear her at the door asking if we have any crutches. I say no and then quickly say yes, we do from when TW’s sister broke her ankle a couple of years ago… they’re ummm in the garage. Michelle limps off as I chuckle.

A moment later, she’s back. Umm where in the garage. I chuckle some more. TW says last time she’s seen them they were near the workbench. I am really chuckling at this point because there is no way that kid will know where the workbench is – no work has ever been done on it, she may have never even SEEN it. I jump in and say no, I think they are near the bedframes and mattresses. Michelle asks where the workbench is and where the bedframes are. I explain the bedframes are behind the freezer. TW attempts to explain the workbench by telling her what it looks like. Hahaha, you can’t see what it looks like – it’s on the other side of the washer and dryer.

I’m still chuckling and continue to read my blog feeds when we hear a crash in the garage. Hahaha. Moments later we hear Michelle making some high pitched whiney noises and the garage door open and close. Michelle mumbling, high pitched moans. TW says – Is she crying?
I say umm, I dunno, maybe and I keep typing whatever it was I was typing.
TW says – well could you go check?
I say ummm sure, in a minute. (see, I’m a bad mom)

I head into the office where Michelle is mumbling and making these weird whiney moans. I ask her if she’s ok. I ask if she found the cruthes. She moans. She shivers.

I am not going in there ever again. Roaches. Dead roaches. Behind the freezer. Millions of them. (moaning, whining, horrible cringing, shivering accompanied this)

I tried not to laugh. Really I swear I did. I couldn’t help it.

Michelle, honey. Those aren’t roaches. They are… pecans. They’ve been back there for a year. The cats knocked the bag off of the freezer and the dogs ripped open the bag and snack on them whenever they can’t find kitty litter crunchies to nibble on.

She keeps shivering, keeps moaning. She hasn’t found the crutches yet. 😉

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Daily Dose of Kids – Lisa Frank

Kid Talk, Money Talks, Pet Peeves / denise

Some of you may remember the infamous day last month when I celebrated E’s birthday with not one, but two trips to the store for replacement Lisa Frank backpack and lunchbox. (for those who missed it, the dog ate them). Well now you lucky folks get the update on this situation…

Exactly one week after the purchase of those replacement items, E came home with a completely busted zipper on the backpack. Argh. I was done with this situation so I dragged her to Office Depot and forced her to choose a real backpack. She was not happy about this. These backpacks were just plain old backpacks, sure to last more than a week, and there was no bright color beautiful (aka horrendous) backpack in sight. She pouted. She stomped. She whined. She refused to choose. She insisted I take her somewhere else for something pretty. The Denise voice was used and we came home with a plain powder blue backpack that has now lasted quite nicely for just shy of one month. Success. (I also purchased a real backpack for his highness, J, because he’d been walking around with a rip in the brand new backpack his other parents bought him and the zipper broke on it as well. Some folks need a lesson in back to school shopping or they ought to leave it to the professionals… whatever).

Fast forward a few weeks and we see E climb into the car after school with a broken Lisa Frank lunchbox! I’m not kidding. The little plastic ring that you slip the velcro tab to close it came off. Seemed relatively functional to me so I wasn’t all that concerned with it. Two minutes later I see whiteness floating in the air when I glanced in the rearview mirror and I hear RJ shrieking at E to stop throwing that stuff at her. Sigh. The child decided it would be fun to tear the lunchbox completely apart and throw it at her sister. Again the Denise voice was used and I decided to share a little bit of health news with the child…

That stuff she was happily tearing apart and playing with and throwing all over the place might just contain high levels of lead. And E, did you know that lead is really dangerous? The fluff stops flying.

Lisa Frank’s lunchboxes might not be on the list of death boxes but then again, we didn’t test the darn thing. Regardless, no more Lisa Frank products will be purchased by any member of the Flamingo House family. We’re done with Lisa Frank and her beautiful colorful madness. Good riddance is all I can say about it.

kids, lunchbox, lead

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Daily Dose of Work – Toys

Holidays, Kid Talk, Pets, Toys & Games / denise

TW use to work from home but she doesn’t anymore. I feel bad about that, even when she isn’t really sick I feel bad about it. Even when she isn’t actively and loudly missing being at home with the little kids. And that. Is why. I buy. Her TOYS! Yes, toys for work. I’ve bought her lots of toys. And pets. The hermit crabs (Ellen, Spikey and Artemis) that the little kids and I got her for her birthday were suppose to go to work. That hasn’t happened and it has made me sort of grouchy.

Anyway, back to the toys.

Apparently work is suppose to be fun. (who knew???) Apparently not many people find work fun and the folks at To-Done have suggestions about how to change that. Number one on their list is TOYS! Ha, see I am smarter than you people give me credit for!

Now the real question is, should I get her another Hazel to take to work? It’s a great toy, her coworkers would love it… or should I just sign her up for an email joke a day thing instead?

work, toys, hermit crabs, roomba

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Daily Dose of TV – Gilmore Girls

Kid Talk, Sights & Sounds / denise

We love the Gilmore Girls, what’s not to love? Lorelai and Rory are the perfect mom and the perfect daughter living in the perfect little town (Except for the snow, but even that doesn’t seem to be really cold and wet like real snow. If I could have Stars Hollow snow, I’d love snow like Lorelai does.). And then there’s Luke, the perfect man. Of course the perfect man doesn’t really exist and someday Lorelai and Rory, (who keeps finding less than perfect men), will find that out and turn to their best friends, Sukie and Lane, (after they ditch their less than perfect guys), and live happily ever after… With their pink roombas and be just like us… For now, this whole Luke and Lorelai getting married thing is nice. They toasted with Zima, hehehe. I hope the town troubadour sings at the wedding.

gilmore girls, TV

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Daily Dose of Life – Arghhh!

Holidays, Kid Talk, Pet Peeves, Pets / denise

It all started at 1am when I woke with a blinding sinus headache. I thought I was going to DIE. I don’t do well with OTC meds but I was in serious pain so I searched the bathroom for those little red death pills and came up empty. Settled for little pink benadryl and somehow fell asleep around 2am. Woke again at 5am still feeling the pain but dozed through it til the alarm went off.

Made it through the initial morning rounds – dogs, cats, coffee, morning posts, email, blogs. All was right with the world, even if my head felt like it was about to burst. Stopped at Starbucks for my fix, took TW to work and spent $30 to fill up the gas tank.

Came home and went into the bedroom to read my blog feeds on the laptop since I was ahead of schedule. Finished that and headed back to the office to get back to work. Uh oh. My computer screen was black. Power light was on but the pretty blue windows wallpaper and my cluttered desktop were nowhere to be seen. Just blackness.

I moved the mouse. Still blackness. I clicked the keyboard. Still blackness. I fiddled with the monitor settings. You guessed it, blackness. I turned off the power button, waited a minute and turned it back on. Blackness. Turned it off and fiddled with wires. Black, black, black. (insert profanity)

It’s an all in one that TW’s mom bought me a couple of years ago and I love it or I did until this happened. I had 3/4 of a report on that thing! I had my metrix for the report on that thing. I had work for next week half way completed so that TW and I can take the weekend off and hit the beach before Michelle comes home next week. All of that work and on a kid crazy, school pick up, little kid birthday day!

(insert a lot of profanity)

I went back to the laptop in the bedroom and struggled along. Recreated my report. Scraped up an old metrix spreadsheet and recreated. Struggled along some more. Wrote to Gateway about my poor black screen computer. Worked some more. Took a break to wrap birthday presents for E. Worked some more. Took a red pill of death that TW found this morning before she went to work. Struggle, struggle, struggle.

1:15, time to drive across town and pick up the girls from their school. Got disgusted with a woman who sought my white face out of a crowd of non-white faces to complain about the way folks triple parked during pick up. I love NYC, triple parking doesn’t faze me a bit but her assumption that another white face would agree with her – well that bugged me. (I hope it is not her son’s birthday party we are suppose to attend next weekend)

Got home at 2:30 and struggled through work for another 45 minutes while assisting RJ with homework, fixing snack for both girls, talking to E about her birthday presents and just general life with kid stuff.

Drove to the other side of town to pick up J from school and from there picked up TW at work so she could come home and make E’s birthday cookie with her. Ha. We hadn’t been home long when E discovered the evil dog who ate the cuties earlier in the week had EATEN HER BRAND NEW BACKPACK! sigh

I shut down the work I had been trying to do and jumped in the car. “I think we got that backpack at Target, or maybe Walmart” says RJ. I figure Target. I figured wrong. Luckily Walmart is in the same vicinity as Target so I head there. Target was empty. Walmart was PACKED. No Lisa Frank backpacks! No cutie backpacks at all! They couldn’t have gone to Kmart, it’s not their style! Where did they get that thing???? I was about to give up and head to Kmart when I saw a huge bin of backpacks near the electronics with some bright pink and bright blue in the middle. Paydirt. Lisa Frank – but no pink ones with some funky looking girl and a poodle. I grabbed a light blue one with a CUTIEEEEEEEEEEEE dog on it and hoped for the best.

Drove home, showed it to E, apologizing profusely when she said “I like this one better!” Yea! Crisis averted. So I’m repacking the new backpack and say “Where’s your lunchbox.” Silence. He didn’t. Yes, he did. He ate that too.

Back in the car I go. Back to Walmart. By now it’s 6pm and traffic is umm bad. Walmart is even more crowded than before and again, no Lisa Frank lunchboxes! grrrr! No cutie lunchboxes AT ALL. I’m thinking I’m going to have to drive in the other direction across town and try the other Walmart when I see a wee bit of pink underneath the Spidey lunchboxes. Ha! A Lisa Frank lunchbox just like the backpack Jake ate! It’s not the ugly purple Lisa Frank but surely she will like this since it is the same design as the original backpack, right???

I pay. I drive home. She giggles. Funny. Oh yea, I’m laughing my rear off here as my head threatens to explode some more.

We light the candles on the birthday cookie. We eat. I make a wish that she really was still 4 as she blows out her candles. I don’t know what she wished for but it had better not be another Lisa Frank backpack or lunchbox. I don’t think I can handle that.

birthday, dogs, backpack

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