I was updating my “stats” spreadsheet and realized that I hadn’t posted here in about a week and a half so I’m going to try to get something out.
I started a daily journal (private) so I stopped posting that here, the good thing about that is I can go back to see if anything has happened in the past week and a half.
Before I do, I should mention that my 12 year old daughter has figured out boys, damn it. She has a “boyfriend”. The quotes would be because I basically told her, you can call him boyfriend if you want, it’s just a title, but there will be no dates. You can see him at school functions and school and that’s it. He keeps begging her to come to his house and I won’t allow it, she’s freaking 12, I don’t think so.
Tuesday, October 21st
Samantha got invited to a friends brothers football game so she went home with her friend after school so she could go. When they were dropping her off afterwards, I got a phone call that the friends mom wanted to talk to me. So I went outside and she told me that when they got to the game, Samantha took off with her boyfriend and her friend is required to sit and watch the game to support her brother. So the friend invited her, their mom paid for her to get in (Samantha had money, the mom opted to pay) and Samantha ditched her. So needless to say, she got a lecture when I got upstairs. The mom had said that the friend didn’t want her to say anything so I just had a conversation with Samantha and steered her to what I wanted her to admit and when she did, she got lectured. I was so disappointed in her, and I let her know it. She was told to apologize to her friend the next day at school and she lost her phone for 2 days. She got multiple lectures from the family about it, hopefully she learned her lesson.
I knew boyfriends would just cause problems.
Thursday and Friday, October 23 and 24th
We had inventory at work these 2 days. I ran a forklift both days but I ran the stand up forklift. Now I used to walk for 12 hour days and my legs would be tired but this was actually worse. Since it’s the stand up forklift, I’m basically standing in one spot the whole time, my legs were killing me. What’s worse is there is a pedal under my left foot so I have to keep some weight on that leg so I couldn’t even shift my weight back and forth. I put 12 hour days in both days and about 5 hours on Saturday as well, but most of Saturday was sitting around.
Friday night, October 25th
Went to the high school football game. Samantha wants to go to the home games now because her friends go and more specifically, her “boyfriend” so I have been taking her and then sit with my cousins who have a son on the team. He’s a freshman so he doesn’t get much playing time at all on the varsity squad but he’s out there and dressed and may end up starting as soon as next year. The real reason I go is because they set up a elephant ear cart. I love elephant ears.
On the way home, in the parking lot to our apartment. I pulled up and there were 2 cars parked next to each other, talking. I pulled up, they didn’t move, so I quickly tapped the horn. Nobody moved. So I quickly tapped it again, still nobody moved. So I laid on the horn for 10 seconds. They finally moved and proceeded to the parking spot. Apparently, one of the cars was the same neighbor that hates me because I make him turn down his stereo. I got out of the car and he mumbled, you didn’t have to lay on the horn like that. I said apparently I did, you weren’t moving. He said we would have moved, you didn’t have to honk the horn. I said how about you think about someone other than yourself for once and I walked away as he was mumbling something else.
Saturday, October 26th
In my last post, I mentioned that Samantha had wrote her mom a note about what she was feeling. She was texting with her in the car and asked if she read the letter and she said she had so she asked her what she thought and her response was, you have the right to your opinions but I’m staying with the JackAss. So Samantha essentially told her that she wasn’t going over there anymore and theEx said ok. That was it. Haven’t really talked since.
Earlier in the week, my mom had stumbled across the fast that the Michigan women’s basketball program was having a basketball camp for elementary and junior high kids so she signed Samantha up for it. So Saturday morning, Samantha and I headed up to Ann Arbor. We got there early enough that we walked around the Crisler Arena beforehand. It was pretty cool, looked at some trophies and such, then we watched the elementary kids do their clinic. Eventually Samantha got to go to her camp and I sat and watched. They basically set up multiple clinics and you rotated to each one and one of them was a tour of the locker room. The women’s players are the ones that led the clinics so she got to interact with them as well. After the clinic, they got free posters and got to get all the team’s autographs. Samantha had a great time and I had a good time just being there.
Here’s the photos from that day.
Monday, October 27th
Took Trevor to the library, he finished the 9 books he grabbed last time and got 7 more. He’s definitely a reader. Of course, that may be different if I didn’t have the no electronics for an hour after school rule.
Wednesday, October 29th
Our annual tradition of my brothers family, my family and my mom and stepdad get together took place Wednesday night. We all get together, go to the pumpkin patch where all the kids pick out pumpkins, then we go back to my mom’s where the kids carve them out. Then we sit down for supper and usually celebrate my stepfathers birthday which was on the 26th. He’s only 56 now but apparently my mom was dyslexic that evening and put 65 on the cake. Nobody said anything until after we sang, he blew out candles and photos were taken.
Thursday, October 30th
Samantha had her 2nd choir concert of the year. It was technically the high school concert but they had a choir camp a few weeks ago and the kids who went to the camp, did a song during the fall concert. She sang and danced to the Purple People Eater.
Friday, October 31st
Halloween. Every year we go over to my grandparents house for a chili supper before we take the kids around trick or treating. The kids are all getting older now and we actually only had 4 kids go. Trevor went as Steve from Minecraft ($25 for a cardboard box head, ridiculous). Samantha went and walked around but didn’t dress up. We usually stick to a route that we’ve done since I was a baby, but since it was in the 30’s and snowing, we shortened it up. Yes, it was snowing, in October.
After trick or treating, we hung at the grandparents house for a little bit and then I took my brother’s kids home, or at least the son because the daughter was coming home with us. We met theEx and dropped off Trevor and then headed home.
Saturday, November 1st.
I haven’t done anything all day, the only thing I have to say is I can’t believe it’s November already.
It appears you have been busy Jeff, I was almost hurting just thinking of the long hours on the stand up lift.
ReplyDeleteAs for Samantha and the ex you are doing exactly what you should, let them work it out and it will end up where it will no matter what you do, Samantha is handling it maturely it appears, now when it comes to "the boyfriend" it looks like she is handling it just like a 12 yr old would, reminds me of our daughter and not to throw a negative on it but the "boyfriends" for us caused a lot of problems more than not, and the daughters way of thinking sure changed once they came around.
The more you restrict her and try to keep her away from a boyfriend the closer you will push them together, not saying you are doing this I just know that I did.
I don't really think I'm restricting her as she gets to see him at school functions and she talks to him a lot on Facetime. She was raised that she couldn't date until 15 anyways so it's not like I'm throwing it up all of the sudden. If it were up to me, she wouldn't have any contact with him at all but I'm not stupid enough to know I can't control her all the time.
DeleteYes Sir, it is a full time job and I think you are handling it well, girls can be a hand full at that age, they will try to out think you and at that age they are just like we were, remember when we were the smartest people in the world and all the grownups were stupid, in our minds anyway.
DeleteI try to remember that because I do remember when I was that age.
DeleteYou are a very good father. I know what you are going through since I am raising two grandkids ages 14 and 16. The youngest is a girl and she loves to 'push buttons'. We have a two hour only electronics rule at our house and then they can chose to read or watch TV with granny. Most of the time they read. Especially the boy. He is a voracious reader just like his granny. I enjoyed reading your journal entries. My 14 year old cannot actually date until she is 16 and she thinks I'm the meanest thing alive. Too bad. My house,. My rules!
ReplyDeleteSamantha can't really date until she's 15 and she knows it. To me, dating is actually spending alone time together and right now, she can call her a boyfriend all she wants, but they are not spending any alone time together. I monitor all texting and photos taken from her phone just in case.
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