This is not an awesome parenting moment...

I came home from the store this evening to find out that my 16 (almost 17) year old son has supposedly been leasing an apartment with his girlfriend for the last two months.

To say that I'm surprised is an understatement. I'm pissed, hurt, shocked...all at once. For the last year he's been hanging out with this girl--it started out that she was his tutor for school. And while she was hanging out with him, she told him about a guy she was dating who wasn't very kind to her. Naturally, my son, being the generally decent guy he is, wanted her to get away from the jerk. And he told us over and over that he was "done with her drama" because she kept going back to the other guy. Finally she left him for good, and started dating my son. She's 18, by the way, and a freshman in college.

So for the last few months he's been dating her. And we've tried to set some ground rules. "If she's going to be in your room, your door has to remain OPEN. Not an inch or so, but all the way open." It got shut a little more each time she was over, and only grudgingly reopened when we said something to him. "It's a school night, you must be in by 11:00." Somehow that got pushed further and further back every time they went somewhere. "Do something with your time other than hang out with her. Don't cut your other friends out of your life. Have some balance." Yeah, that didn't happen either.

He was nominated for Youth of the Year for our county again, and won. Third year in a row. We were very proud of him. He went to the State competition, and won. Again, we were very proud of him. But we were also trying to move into a new house, and the help we got from him was scant, and extremely grudgingly given. We chalked it up to him being upset that we were moving in the first place, and not having a say in the choosing of the house, or even whether we would move. What he doesn't seem to understand is that the heads of the household (his dad and I) make the decisions that we think best for the family, and when it comes to moving, not a single one of the kids has had any say in the matter.

He has told us that if he ever needs anything, he has "important people" and "contacts" who will help him out. People like our lieutenant-governor, and state senators. That's all well and good, but those are busy people. And, what, we're not "important people" to him? We won't be there if he needs something? Or are we just not good enough, or is he embarrassed to be part of our family? I really think that's a lot of what it is. And, oh, that hurts. It's very hard for me not to take that personally.

He thinks we don't understand him. And in a way, he's right. I don't understand why someone would want to get out of a house and away from a family that has done nothing but love and encourage him to the best of our ability. Yeah, we probably dropped the ball by not enforcing the rules of the house. We could have just not allowed her to come over. But we knew that if they weren't at home, they would be somewhere else. And we were trying not to fight with him. Maybe we should have. I don't know. All I know is that I feel like I've failed somehow, somewhere along the line, because so far, each and every one of my older kids (with the exception of Kaila, my middle daughter) has wanted to move out as soon as they physically could. And if I try to keep him here, he'll just run away, and yes, we'd call the police to bring him back, but he'd leave again, and do we really want to force him to stay here against his will? Is it even worth it?

The thing that kills me the most is that I feel that I have very little worth to him. After all, I'm only his stepmother. Every time he calls, he asks to talk to his dad. Even when it's something that I could easily answer or solve. There was one exception. Today he called and asked me to bring something to his work, without asking for Dave first. Nice to know I'm good for something, I guess. Sometimes I wonder if I made a huge mistake, because it really feels like I'm not appreciated, and I feel as if the kids would have been better off without me, like maybe they would have turned out better or something. But even through the times when they've upset me the most, I could look at them and think, "Even so, they're good kids, and hopefully I've helped them to be that way." It's hard to think that tonight, but hopefully soon.

And this has turned into a really long post, so I will go for now.

Cute and tiny...and Odd and huge...

So...whilst driving yesterday, I saw a triceratops. No, really, I did!



And today I took a picture of Gizmo, my chinchilla. I also took a video of his bath, but the lighting was crappy, and I don't think it'll show on here.




I'll have to try again in a couple of days. I'll take his bathtub into the kitchen where there's a lot of daylight and let him go crazy in it. :)

Yeah, this is kind of a lame post. Sorry about that.

Just to keep y'all posted, I'm still waiting to hear about the supervisory position I applied for. I should hear something one way or the other by the 20th of this month. As soon as I know, I'll let you guys know. :)

In other news, I'm working on unpacking boxes and getting pictures hung up. Soon as we do that, we can start on the boxes in the garage. I think I'm going to be unpacking for a looong time...lol

Oh, and my son Daniel is getting married May 14th! I'm excited for him, can you tell? ;-)

And now I think I'm going to go for the evening. Not a lot to say, really, this time around. I'll post again later on.

*Hugs* and g'night, y'all!

Snow post...

Yes, I know I said I'd post this a while ago, but I just didn't get to it before now. Anyhow, while driving for work, I've taken a few pictures (well, more than a few, but I promise I won't share all of them!) This is mostly going to be a photodump, unless I really thing something needs an explanation.

Without further ado, I give you snow:

(Squirrels!)










And I was going to upload a video, but apparently the one I have is too big, so I'm going to try putting it on Photobucket. If I manage to post it there, I'll add the link here.

This, that, and the other thing...

Not much going on, really. I did start my job with the Census Bureau, and so far it's been fun mostly, but also a little frustrating. Fun because I've met some really nice people, and driven to some cute little towns. Frustrating because I've had very little luck getting people to come in for testing. I'm thinking it's mostly because of Christmas and people trying to just concentrate on getting through that. I know hunting season played a big part in it as well. *sigh* But it still feels like I'm not doing my job as well as I could be.

One cool thing--in the last couple of weeks, I have seen THREE bald eagles in my travels! I'd never seen any in the wild before, so this was pretty awesome! Beautiful birds, I think. I've also been noticing a lot of hawks in the area, which I hadn't before.

Oh, I would like to know who exactly ordered winter for here. >:-( I am NOT impressed with all the snow we've gotten. It's freakin' cold! (Though it is very pretty if it isn't on the road...) Which reminds me--I need to do a couple (at least) "snow posts" for those who don't get to share it with me. I've been taking a bunch of pictures while out and about (tomorrow I plan to go to a park near here and try to get some good black and white ones), and also took a short video that I wanted to put up. I'm thinking that I'll have to do what Boo does and do a "photodump."

One last thing...looks like we'll be able to start moving in to the new house as of the first of the year. We'll have a week to do any painting or things like that, and then we'll start moving our stuff. The downside: so far, I have packed--1 large box of clothes, 6 boxes of videotapes, and 3 or 4 boxes of breakables. We haven't even started sorting the other stuff we have! I think this might be a good time to start panicking! Seriously, though, if anyone wants to come and help us move, I will pay you in home cooked meals. They won't be fancy, but they'll be pretty tasty, and that's all that really matters, right? :)

Okay, I think that's all for now. I will most likely download pictures to the computer later on and see about getting some good ones posted on here. Sorry this was kind of short, but I thought I ought to get at least one more on here before the end of the year...lol

Y'all take care, and I hope everyone had a good Christmas, and hope y'all have a great start to the new year!

Trick or Treat! (the costumes and decorations)

Now that we had carved and decorated our jack-o'-lanterns, it was time for us to get into costume.

My other granddaughter, Isabel, came over the day before Halloween--she was a cat this year.






Her soon-to-be stepsister, Jordan, came over as well, dressed as a unicorn.
Aren't they sweet?






Tree went as a corporate vampire this year...






Accompanied by Rachele in fairy guise.







And here's Aidan, as Darth Vader. He was heartbroken that he couldn't wear his Spiderman costume anymore (he outgrew it), but it got some use anyway--Iris was Spidergirl, but somehow we didn't manage to get pictures of her on our camera. I'll have to fix that!




Heather went as a leopard. Dave did a pretty good job on her makeup. : )





Here's Heather outside, next to our witch's table. Looks like one of the finished painted pumpkins also made it into the picture. : )





Here's me, in my "enchantress" costume. I really like that cloak! It's actually pretty warm, which means I don't need a coat--a bonus when Halloween night is kind of chilly most years.







And this is me with Heather and Aidan at Mom & Dad's place. It's tradition that every year we go to Dave's folks' so they can get pictures of our costumes. Plus we get as much candy as we want! : )




I almost forgot about my niece, Angela--she was (I think, but don't quote me) a goth angel. Very cute, I think! : )





I didn't get very many pictures of Halloween decorations, simply because there weren't many displays worthy of note. However, there was one place that really did up their yard:















There was another really cool house, with some pretty spooky lighting, and scary...not scarecrows, but I guess you'd call them dummies...they were done up in costumes (one was the guy from Scream, one was Freddy, and I don't remember the other one), but one was an actual person. Last year it was the Scream outfit that had a person inside, this year it was Freddy. Anyhow, generally all is quiet while the kids ring the doorbell and get their candy, but when they leave, the guy in costume jumps at the kids to scare them. Heather remembered the place from last year and wasn't sure she wanted to go up to the door, but it wasn't too bad. : )

This year was a nice change, weather-wise. It really isn't unusual for it to be raining, windy, or snowing on Halloween, and is almost always really cold. We have to find or make costumes that can be worn over cold-weather clothes! But it was in the low 70s early in the day, and it only dropped to the 50s that night. The kids came home with a ton of candy, and combined it with the candy they'd gotten two days before from trick or treating up at the college. I think they've all got 5 or 10 pounds each!

Okay, this has gotten quite long enough. I'll check back in in a day or two--I'll have to tell you about my new job then!

Trick or Treat! (the pumpkins)

So...Friday was Halloween, and
we celebrated by carving (and painting) pumpkins, and dressing up in costumes to beg for candy in the surrounding neighborhoods. : )

Here's Dave, with his favorite carving knife. Heather looks a little worried, there...lol





Here's Heather, scooping out pumpkin guts...








Deciding on how his face is going to look...






This year was the first year that Heather got to carve her pumpkin (pretty much) by herself.






And the finished jack-o'-lantern! Heather thought he needed some paint as a finishing touch.






Meanwhile, Rachele was getting her kids set to paint their pumpkins.






Iris had fun painting hers. : )







Aidan's pumpkin is full of personality! : )








And, oh, yes, we mustn't forget about the pumpkin-goop
tossing, or....





the paint smearing! Dave did the goop tossing, and Tree did the paint smearing. I think Rachele is plotting revenge at some point soon...lol





For some reason, people insist on taking pictures of me, too, so here I am cleaning out my pumpkin...






Carving the pumpkin....







It looks better when it's lit up!







See, what'd I tell you? Pretty spiffy, no?

And really, I think that's enough pictures for this post. I'm going to do a separate one for the costumes and decorations.

Yes, today...sheesh...

Hold the phone!

Oh, my gosh! I got the Census Bureau job after all! The good one, the one I applied for! I've got to call the lady from the regional office in Denver tomorrow to get all the details straightened out. So far, all I know is that it pays $12.50 an hour, with 58.5 cents/mile for travel. : ) I can't stop grinning!

The only downside is that I don't think I'll be able to give my boss a full two weeks' notice that I'm leaving. I have to have 40 hours of training for the new job, and I think (not sure, though) that I'm supposed to start in about a week and a half....eesh. I think my boss at Hobby Lobby is going to have kittens when I tell him I'm leaving.

But I'm still so excited! And, okay, a little scared because this is so different from anything I've ever done before. But I can do this!

I'll post again when I know more about the job. Have a good evening, everyone! : )