If I Told You , You Wouldn’t Believe Me

10. Everyone loves a good shooting/car wreck!

9. Closing Constitution Ave messes up a lot of people’s travel plans.

8. People will assume YOU are the one who did the shooting.

7. You can’t always get on TV no matter how hard you wave at the camera.

6. Flashing red and blue lights look good against a mountain backdrop.

5. Your driveway parking privileges may be revoked at any time.

4. Gunshots sound a lot like your neighbor banging on his Ford truck with a hammer.

3. The more anxious you are to get exciting video uploaded the more your computer will lag, freeze and not co-operate.

2. Your pizza might get cold if you wait an hour to go get it.

And the #1 thing I learned from this whole thing….They don’t let ya keep crime scene tape.

I need your opnions on some things.

I have a 14 year old stepson, Dakota. He has had a rough life. His mom and dad split up because of mommy’s drug use when he was 2. When he was 5 his dad left Colorado to come back to Illinois to get away from said mommy…he wanted to take the kids with him but his Mother-in-law worked for the Co Springs Police Dept and he was afraid they’d press charges. Mommy had them homeless or living with “friends” after that.  In Dec 2003 mommy got busted manufacturing meth and after a lengthy court battle Jack got custody. Dakota was 9 when he came to live with his dad. His sister Marena lived with him too until about a year and a half ago.

Since we have been in Colorado mommy’s influence is holding sway. Dakota knows in his heart that he is better off here..he has a stable home, we don’t fight or yell at each other, always food available, same school..so on and so forth (Mommy moves constantly, doesn’t think groceries are high on her priority list and screams as a matter of course in everyday conversations, not to mention her arrest record and many court appearances) BUT  his heart belongs to mommy.

I know kids love their moms. I know that. I really do. But what is hurting me is the fact that he is looking at life through her eyes. It’s ok to be evicted. Got fired again? No big deal! It’s ok to break the law, just don’t get caught. It’s ok not to follow judges’ orders. It’s ok to ignore your dad and stepmom….they aren’t your boss.

In light of all this, how would you handle him? I am prone to make excuses for him because of the whole bad childhood thing. Jack says “Hey..we ALL had bad childhoods in one way or another…get over it”

Yes, teenagers are hard to cope with. But shouldn’t he be able to follow 3 or 4 simple directions at a time? Clean your room, put away your clothes, load the dishwasher, take out the trash. He simply can’t (or won’t) do it! He halfway cleans his room, doesn’t put away his clothes, jams things in the dishwasher but doesn’t put in soap (do I have to say that everytime? “Load the dishwasher and put in soap” or after two years should he know to put the soap in? ) The trash lays beside the can instead of in it. The bathroom trash is never emptied. Do I have to say EVERYTIME after 3 years of him doing this chore “Take out the bathroom trash too”. When does it become nagging and not just his chore? If we don’t tell him exactly how to do things they go undone. If we tell him how to do it he gets all pissy with us. Should a 14 year old be able to do these things or are we asking too much?

We have tried a reward system…didn’t help. We don’t exactly punish him over chores but it’s wearing thin…we end up doing what he leaves undone. It is happening everyday now.

I want to make him another list of what needs done but he will probably just ignore it like he did the last one. Jack thinks he’s doing it for spite. If that is the case how would you handle it? HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a bit of drama here Friday…not involving me or Jack or Dakota per se, but REAL POLICE DRAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know some of you can’t watch youtubes so I am just going to link you to them and the news story and you can click on what you want…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNRmHUEJrvs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8o6nBBHJaE

http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/35627129.html

I am uploading a video to KKTV.com now…the public seems to be in an uproar over this incident…more later.

Last year I went to a craft show up in Black Forrest with Cheryl (side note: Black Forrest just got 24″ of snow over the weekend…eeeeek!). I bought a plant that used to grow out in our yard when we lived in Florida. The tag called it a Piggy Back Plant due to the way it grows babies on the tips of it’s leaves and they drop off and grow roots n stuff.

I had it outside for a few months over the summer then I brought it in and put it back in my window here in my office and forgot about it (it doesn’t need a lot of water so that’s ok lol) A few days ago I decided maybe I should water it and discovered that it had bloomed!

I moved it to a taller window in the dining room… Here are the pics…notice the snow/no snow thing lol…taken on different days

Everything I have read points to juno marking my IP address as SPAM…could you check that?

Christina thinks this is funny…she wouldn’t be laughing so hard if it was her LOL!!!

I emailed you back again this morning. It immediately came back as undeliverable . Here’s what I said though…

I would like more jewel toned whatevers!!!! Oh and anything cowboy western
or pink/green roses if they have that. I’m fixing to start on those needle
cases within the hour. I’ll post pics on Mommycity. I hope you are sharing
the links to your new-found celebrity with friends and family

I’m labeling Nana one as one of my “Enablers”. She’s feeding my fabric addictions…and I don’t mean in a bad way lol! (Jack is my yarn  enabler…you’d think he’d say “Enough already” but instead he points and says…”Hey look! There’s a box of yarn!”)

I got a package from her yesterday with this in it….WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Here she is at my mom’s Memorial with the Grandma Quilt I made for her

Nana…I tried to email you but it bounced back Thanks again for the fabric!

It finally snowed late last night. I wanted to go out walking in it this morning. Good thing I took my camera…darn stuff melted off by noon

Last Saturday Jack and I went to a craft show at the Senior Center on Hancock.

My friend from knitting, Charlys, had a booth and I wanted to go see her stuff. She has Parkinson’s Disease and knitting helps keep her tremors down. She brings her work in for show and tell and I decided a long time ago if she sold some AND IF I could AFFORD it, I would BUY SOMETHING! She had the purse I lusted after for sale for $25 so it is now mine….I have a shawl that matches it weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I saw some of my other knitting friends too…in order of appearance…Cindy, Sandy and Miss Betty

I got my picture drawn too….

Michele…email me your address so I can send you your gift Sorry it’s not a doofy hat…maybe next time