I hate to beat a dead horse!

They were staring at it like ancient cavemen who had just invented the wheel. Of course this observation can be used for any instance involving the cleaning of anything. I'm referring to the Holy Grail of slovenly family habits; putting a fresh roll of paper on the roll. Why?!?!? It's like they've barely graduated from rubbing against a tree like bears. By the way, just how stupid is that commercial? When they first came out, their biggest selling point was that this particular brand of tissue didn't leave any lint behind. All I could hear was that it didn't leave any lint on your behind. I guess that's why they changed the wording. Regardless, if that's something which bothered you, you are either a contortionist or clearly have too much time on your hands.

The Final Hurdle

Today, I went back to the college to get my parking pass and ID (one of the worst ID pictures I've ever taken, so I hope I don't actually have to show it to anyone). The only thing left to do now is to go to my first class, which is a week away. I'm feeling kind of ambivalent tonight. On one hand I'm really excited, but on the other, I really wonder what I'm getting myself into. Do I have the tenacity to put one more huge thing on my already overflowing plate, and how can I juggle family and work with it as well?

In the meantime, I've taken a look at some graduate level papers, and I feel that if I'm careful about content and structure I can handle it. One thing the professors shared with us is some of the same advice I've shared with my daughters, which is to ask for help when you feel you're beginning to flounder, not when you're ready to hang yourself. I think I should write that on the top of each of my notebooks.

This time I really want to do it better. My undergrad career was all about getting away from my parents' home and having the life I didn't' have as a teenager. The problem is you can't always do that and have a successful academic career as well. There are a million things I would change about those years, but the problem with changing the past is that your future would be substantially different. And there are things in that future I'm just not willing to part with.

Orientation

It took three and a half hours! I had no idea orientation at a small college could take so long. And I'm still not finished. The ID machine went down, and I didn't have my proof of insurance or registration, so I couldn't get my parking pass. So it's back to school tomorrow (or the next day) to complete those things.

Ever since I applied, I've wondered what to expect on the first day. At today's orientation, the professors stressed how important writing skills would be, and that if you had any deficiencies in this area to take the non-credit graduate writing course. I write all the time; fiction and non-fiction, manuals, etc. but I think I'd better go to the library and look at some graduate papers to see if I need this course. I don't want to be derailed just because of a lack of technique.

So easy a caveman could do it....

It's not true you know. On the evolutionary scale, when it comes to the simple motor skills of replacing a roll of toilet tissue, cavemen are smarter than my family. I even have a built in excuse now. Remember my kitty cat burglar? In addition to her many talents as a high wire artist, she likes to indulge in shredded toilet paper art as well. So, I tell the family to put the tissue on the roll to avoid this. What do I find the very next day? Empty brown tubes on the rolls, and toilet tissue on the floor. Husbands and children are missing the 'tidy' chromosome, aren't they?

Oh, I forgot to mention.....

I hope you'll enjoy the pictures on my blog of the Greater New Orleans area. The birdhouse in the last post is from City Park's Botanical Garden.

Do your teenagers still need you?

This is a question I ask myself a lot as I watch my older girls turn into young women. The oldest is nineteen, a sophomore in college, drives her own car, and occasionally makes her own money. The next one is sixteen, incredibly self reliant, and possibly the most stubborn person I know. Most of the time she walks around with a sense of self assurance that would make a Supreme Court Justice take a course in confidence building. But don't be fooled. When it comes to handling their own problems, that five-year-old they think they left behind in kindergarten will reappear.

If you've paid any attention at all to your kids over the past decade, you should be able to read the signs. With the oldest, I'm addressed as 'mommy' when she wants something, and 'mom' with anguish when she's distressed. With the second, it's just tears. This is significant because she's not a crier, and is embarrassed at the thought of having to wear her emotions on her sleeve. And the chances are she's exhausted every other possible solution to her problem before coming to her parents. This is good.

It's good because she's tried to solve the problem on her own. It's good because after she's seen she can't solve the problem on her own, she moves on to a higher power, and I don't mean a round robin of her usually clueless friends on Facebook. I think this is what all parents want. We want kids who are self reliant, but we want them to be able to turn to another source once they've hit a wall.

This is why I don't question my approach to parenting. I'm not at all concerned that because I provide structure, discipline and love, that my kids will grow to hate me. Put simply, I don't care if they don't like washing dishes or folding clothes. Making their beds and doing their homework is a part of their life at present. Sure, we sometimes have bitter fights over the need for clean bathrooms and swept floors, but at the end of the day, my kids know that I'm their staunchest defender and their biggest fan.

Are you tired too?

The school year just started here and I'm already exhausted. Keep in mind that only two of my three kids are in school, thus far. I don't start myself, until the 24th, and my oldest starts on the 31st. Already we've spent more time buying school supplies, looking for shoes, and reasonably priced school clothes, than I'd like to admit. And the paperwork, oh my god! Is this what people go through when they want to join the Secret Service? The only thing I didn't send back was DNA!

Regardless, the first day has come and gone for the younger girls and they're settling into their new classes, new teachers, and old and new friends. But when did school become so overwhelming? My 16-year-old is already stressed out because of the work she's getting from two very demanding schools, and she hasn't even made it through the first week. There's a lesson she needs to learn early; worrying never solved any problem. It only magnifies the problem and makes it seem insurmountable. I hope she learns this lesson before she hits her twenties and the ulcer is irreversible.