Treat and Trick
I decided I didn’t need to be pouty about not getting a good pic of Elsa in her fairy costume. I did what Heather suggested and took the bull by the horns. I went out and took some pictures today. No need to get hung up on the date, right? Just take an effing picture, for goodness sake. Stop with the angst and tears! Not that Heather said or implied any of the above, except that it was ok to take the picture on a day that wasn’t Halloween. I was the one turning my own brain into pretzel mush. Whatever that means. Twisty channels of thought that get squashed. . . something?
I still didn’t get the Perfect Picture, but I got a few that will work. I hate my photography skills and become more unhappy with them every single day. Perhaps I just need to get my eyes checked. Maybe that’s why everything looks blurry. I’ve decided that my many cameras are not to blame for my lack of gorgeous photos. It must be user error.
Moving on. . .
It was freezing on Halloween, but it was lovely today–in the 60s I believe–so I didn’t feel guilty about parading Elsa around in a flimsy little outfit. Btw, our house is not for rent. Our yard is in the shade, so I did the photo shoot in the common area across the street while several neighbors watched. We’re. . . cozy.
Erik wanted to help and was doing a pretty good job, except that he kept rolling around between the camera and the subject. Silly kid.
This was the last good Erik moment of the day.
After the photo shoot, we came in, fed him a snack and told him it was karate day.
The siren started wailing and it was full on hell for an hour. I’ve made a new rule: no playing outside unless you promise to go to karate without whining and crying. So he whined and cried about going outside for a whole hour while screaming that he wasn’t going to karate. At least he was honest? That’s the only positive thing I can get out of the ordeal. He didn’t say what I wanted to hear and then go back on a promise. He just refused to make a promise he knew he wouldn’t keep.
Finally I threw all 50 pounds of him over my shoulder like a bag of potatoes, carried him up the stairs and deposited him on his bed.
Elsa was also being a pill (I’m pretty sure she’s teething) so I was about to lose my mind. Even my mom declared that her darling grandchildren were behaving like hellions.
Mom took Elsa outside to play and I went to the basement to get away from the yelling coming from the top of the stairs. A few minutes later Erik appeared, fully dressed for karate. Good choice!
He did great at karate, but when it was time for leadership class (he does a basic class, then a more advanced leadership class that we are paying for and he refuses to go to) he screamed and cried and refused to line up. No amount of cajoling, threatening or anger was good enough to get him to go. I’ve told him he owes me $20 for the class (I think it was really $10 if I do a breakdown of price per hour) and he owes his grandma $14 because she bought him a sword just for this class. They’re learning a really cool sword dance and I thought he liked it the two times he went.
It was really pleasant when we got home. I’d already told him if he didn’t do leadership he couldn’t go to his school’s academic game night. He was screaming bloody murder about that and the money he owes us. Elsa was biting everyone and whining. I needed Calgon to come take me away, but someone had to cook dinner.
Erik says he can’t go to leadership because the other students aren’t expecting him. He won’t listen when we tell him the other kids don’t matter and that the teacher is expecting him. We even make it a point to have him talk to the teacher about going to the class. I don’t really even understand the complaint. “They aren’t expecting me! *whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeee*”
What the hell? Can someone explain this kid to me?
At least the day wasn’t all bad. I met up with a really awesome mom this morning and we had a great play date. She just joined our MOMS Club board as an emergency fill-in for the vice-president position. She is full of energy and ideas and she follows through. She’s already got a mock-up of the website done, agreed to host our Christmas party, has taken over planning for our fall service project and has agreed to help me with the newsletter. You have no idea what a huge burden this all takes off me. We have five people on the board, but until she joined only three of us really did anything and only two of us were enthusiastic about it. I am so glad I can hand all this stuff over to someone I trust to get the job done. She’s way more creative than me, so I know she will be a huge asset to our club. She even has a craft blog! I haven’t asked for the address yet, but I will in the near future. For Halloween she took a round bowl, filled it with cantaloupe chunks and then added black grapes to make a jack-o-lantern face. And she thought of that on her own! I was very impressed.
To top it all off, her husband has the job Mike used to have. Not for the same company, but the same job! No one ever has that job. I about died laughing when I asked what her husband does and she got the same look and voice that I always have when I try to explain Mike’s job. She about fell out of her chair when I knew what she was talking about. No one ever understand the concept of satellite controller/engineer. She invited us over for dinner next week so the manly men could meet and talk shop. Not every day you meet another guy who flies satellites.
Anyway, I guess I better head off to bed. I need all the sleep I can get. My mom is leaving on Saturday and it will be back to “all me, all the time” during our very long days. Mike works insanely long hours at his new job, which leaves me with insanely long, lonely hours at home. I’m glad we have a roof over our heads, plenty of food to eat and enough discretionary money to be comfortable, but I sure wish I could see my husband sometimes. I hate that he’s so stressed out and that I’m so stressed out and that we rarely have time to connect with each other. As sappy as it sounds, he’s not only my husband–he’s my best friend. I miss him.