Update to the Mama Claws & other exciting news (hahaha)

So I had a chance to talk to Jerm yesterday when he got home from work. He's been working every day (THANK GOD) and doesn't have time to sit and stew at home.

A. has not texted him since Sunday and he isn't texting her (or D. for that matter) either. In fact, he told me that unless she apologizes and is ready to talk (on the phone or in person) that he is done. I know he loves her and wants to work it out, but he has a definite idea on how he wants the relationship to proceed. Number one being that she doesn't confide in D. about how her relationship with Jerm is going! (D. was, up until this point, a mutual friend...it's never been a secret that he likes A. so why she confides in him is beyond me.) It made me feel good that Jerm has seemingly picked himself up, dusted himself off and is going to go on with life no matter what.

I also confessed that I contacted his best friend on FB. He was totally fine with it. I wanted to be honest with him and it opened up the door for me to talk more frankly about how his Dad and I feel about things on a whole. I told him that I think now that he has his license and a job to start hanging out with more people that he used to be friends with in our old town and that his life should not revolve around spending time with A. She does NOT make spending time with him a priority (which is fine - she's only 16), but I think he should treat her the same. It is glaringly obvious that he is at a different level in the relationship and that just won't work.

While talking to the hubby the other day, he and I agreed that the kids around this area are just weird. Seriously, Jerm has not made any "real" friends except for one or two and I don't mean to brag, but he's a really good kid - just quiet. Part of the reason stems from something pretty awful that happened last year at school that Jerm didn't distance himself from. He's learned his lesson, but kids have trouble forgiving even when what happened didn't affect them. Jerm spent time with the person this issue hurt the most and the kid accepted his apology and forgave him, but the other kids - not so much. Jr. year was rough for him. The only ray of light was A. and so I understand how he wants to hold on to that. It's hard learning the lesson of not holding on too tightly.

So anyway, things are going ok. He's living. He's making plans. I think he'll be ok.

Now me on the other hand? lol Yeah, I still think being a parent to a teenager is WAY harder than anything I've experienced as a Mom. Shutting my mouth is my biggest issue. I'm surprised my tongue hasn't fallen off since I bite it so often these days. God give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

I'm staying busy - trying to stay on the exercise train. I ran 5k yesterday and almost died. Heat and humidity do NOT make good running conditions - that's for sure. My new running shoes are in and I hope to pick them up tomorrow. Maybe I'll even hit the gym with my running buddy, Linda. :))))

Also am doing a major room switch in the coming weeks between the little boys and Bec. Bec finally consented to sharing a room with Em (once I promised the larger of the two bedrooms) and the boys were eager to switch and get their baby sister out of their room. lol Imagine that! After moving in 4 years ago and painting almost every room in the house, I'm ready to repaint! Bec's current room is lilac and the boys' room is blue with lots of pencil marks all over the walls - Thank you, David James. I promise pictures will be forthcoming. Before, during and after.

Basically, Bec will be ditching her full size bed for a twin loft bed (Ikea) so she can put her desk underneath and Em will be switching her very cute toddler bed for the twin frame that was her sister's in our old house. I will have to repaint the head & foot board white and then I will likely stencil a crown or put on some princess wall pops. I am hoping to work their closet into something that will hold both clothes AND toys and will repaint Rebecca's purple dresser to match the room. Right now, the focus will be just to get the walls done (pink w/brown stripes). I'm also toying with the idea of creating a chalkboard somewhere in the room with the special chalkboard paint (maybe in the boys' room too?).

The boys will keep their bunk beds and David will be getting an unfinished twin headboard/foot board from Ikea that I will probably paint dark blue. I'm not sure what solid color their room will be painted (they wanted blue, green AND yellow - all their favorite colors), but they each will get a couple of packages of Wall Pop dots in whatever colors they choose and they will be able to peel and re stick them as many times as they like in whatever shape they'd like. They also will likely be receiving a new dresser to augment the one they already have. Who knew 3 boys could have so many clothes????

If I ever find out whether Em got into pre-k, I will then start making plans to finally paint our bedroom. Our bedroom is the ONLY room in the whole house that never got painted. We have boring off white walls and a taping job gone wrong on our ceiling (which is the reason why we didn't paint to begin with - Hubby was going to fix the ceiling first!) I would like to make it a beachy/cottage retreat even though we are far from the beach. I envision something cool and soothing...any ideas are appreciated!!! After our bedroom, it will be time to get started on the kitchen. I never tiled the back splash after we did our remodel and I'd like to change paint colors on the first floor anyway. Yeah, I think Benjamin Moore & Boomas Paint will be benefiting from my painting itch. ;)

Off to get started!

Just another Tricky Tuesday

The lack of crickets from my last post is pretty heartwarming to say the least. The fact that I've had hits from people I don't even know makes me feel a bit weird because it was such a personal post, but it's ok because I think I probably touched on something that everyone has felt at one time or another. At least I'd like to think that so I don't feel like such a nut! hahaha :oP

I am putting off the exercise this morning even though I really shouldn't be. I've been more lax about it although still averaging 4-5x per week. I'm getting very discouraged with the lack of progress not only in my endurance, but the lack of the downward motion of the scale. The only thing I have to look forward to is my annual gyn exam on Thursday morning. I will be seeing the NP (as I choose to see her over the Dr.) and plan on discussing what is going on. I have the feeling that a full physical with my GP will be in order. Haven't had a full physical since the summer after David was born (2004). I do hope beyond hope that my blood pressure is lower. Just hoping that I have at least THAT going for me. I do have a goal to run a 5K with a good friend of mine maybe this fall. I never thought I would ever want to be a runner, but there is something soothing about it. Stress seems to melt away so quickly. Fingers crossed that I can get all the medical crap sorted out so that I can meet my goal!

The kids are doing well. Em has been asking to dance every day since recital. Yep. Think she has definitely been bitten by the dance bug. Now I can only hope that she makes it into afternoon pre-k so that she can do the same dance class next year.

On the topic of dance, Bec has started her pre-tryout dance camp. It will run until Thursday and then next Thursday she will have competition tryouts and next Saturday she will have Company tryouts. I hope she isn't disappointed. I will say that I admire her drive about dance. After talking to so many competition/company parents, the main thing I learned was that she needs to stretch really well every day so that she is super limber for tryouts. Every day since Saturday she has been using the P90X stretching DVD (one hour of stretching). She wakes up each day about an hour before she usually would and stretches. Yeah, I'm proud of her. Whatever happens, I know she'll try her best and that is what is the most important.

The boys are all doing well. Jerm has a couple more weeks of coaching T-Ball. He said that he thinks he would have preferred boys that were a bit older. Maybe next year he'll coach a team that Thomas is on. Thomas is so eager to please his older brother that I think it would work out well. Daniel is excited about doing soccer in the fall and I even asked David if he was interested as they have instructional league at the park in town for 5-6 Saturdays in the fall. He said yes and then said no. I'll ask again for sure. A busy kid is one that doesn't get into trouble! ;)

Now we are all just waiting on the last day of school. I am ready. Mornings just get harder and harder to get up. I want to sleep until 8am a couple of days in row already! Of course, this means that my food bill will go up probably quite a bit, but I guess there has to be a trade off. I spent just over $600 at Sams over the weekend and I am guessing that MIGHT get us a month, but probably not. In my defense, I spent almost a thousand the last time I was there and I made it last for almost 2 months. Of course this is with regular visits to the grocery store for fresh fruits & veggies, bread and for cereal which we go through almost as quickly as milk! Someday I am going to keep track of exactly what we spend on food in one month's time. I'm almost positive that it is about what we pay in mortgage payments on the house! :oP

Coffee is gone now - better be off to pursue my personal goal...wish me luck!