Errands on the rise
I think one of my pet peeves about school is how often I have to do these critical last minute errands. You know what I'm talking about, people. "Mom! I need index cards by tomorrow! It's a life and death emergency!" And all this at 9:00 PM. Hmmm. Mind you, nothing takes the place of "I really need to have that pair of pants I saw at Hot Topics" as life and death issues are concerned, but the squeak of the voice is a tip off that you kid's about to break. Now you're her new best friend. Yeah, That kid who greeted you with a roll of the eyes and a string of "Like, whatever"'s is now your lifelong pal, willing to lay down on a sizzling set of rusty railroad tracks before a locomotive--all for your benefit. Frankly, I like to taek full advantage of the situation with "Sure, I'll go get them for you, as soon as the dishwasher is unloaded." They really love this. You can tell by the way they heave that deep sigh of satisfaction and roll their eyeballs back in the heads in ecstasy. When they're done, they're also the wash to put in the dryer, the dogs to bathe, the grout to clean, and some closets to organize, but take heed, you have to be very skilled at figuring out how much they can take before they go ballistic and fashion index cards from the skin of their siblings. You be the judge. Me, I like to live dangerously. Of course, since I homeschool some of them, I have only myself to blame for poor planning, though I try my best to foist the blame on anything and anyone who breathes and isn't as strong as me. The last few days, Erik's biology course has had me hopping. I had to go get some bags of dried beans so he could do an experiment on population carrying capacity, independent and dependent population growth factors, etc. Dont' ask me to explaim cuz I can't and wont. So I rush out to do that only to find that Michelle had eaten the last two bananas I was saving so (to my husband's delight) Erik could grow a bunch of fruit flies. I shudder to think about why she ate them, since I purposely picked the oldest, brownest and slimiest ones possible. But, her eating habits are another chapter altogether. Anyway, I decided to delegate school supply planning to the kids. They should do fine. As long as I don't see Hershey's Kisses and a troop of baboons on my grocery list, I'm holding the faith.