Saturday, April 26, 2008

Flowers from Mom, a Movie, and More....

Well shoot!!! I was gonna show a couple of pics of the flowers my Mom sent me the other day. I got to work on Thursday and found that Mom decided to suprise me with a bouquet of flowers just because she loves me and wanted to cheer me up since I've evidently been sounding somewhat depressed lately. *wry smile* I don't try to, but I guess with all the doom & gloom that's been in the news, and the reading between the lines, I guess it's probably true. Besides, all the spring & summer weather she & my sis have been getting to experience, and the repeated snowfalls WE'VE been having....

Anyway, Mom sent me a pretty spring bouquet of flowers to brighten my day. And it sure did. I just wish I could get my darned camera to post them. For some reason the computer's side of the program keeps claiming that no pictures exist on "that device". *sigh* I KNOW the exist. I just took them. Ah well.... They're there somewhere, maybe I'll get to post them in a couple of days.

They are VERY pretty and I really wanna share that with y'all.

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We woke up yesterday morning to more snow & wind. We knew it was gonna happen, but dang.... The forcasters always seem to be wrong about the nice weather we're supposed to get, why can't they be wrong when predicting yucky weather?!?!?!

What's keeping me sane (besides the pretty bouquet on my kitchen table) is the mantra "It is STILL April in Alaska." That and the thought that the geese are already arriving. If the geese thought it'd stay cold & dreary for a good long while, they wouldn't have already come up. Their weather-sense is better than ours and if they think it's going to be nice enough to start bearing their chicks soon, then they come up. If it'll be too cold yet for a while, they wouldn't be arriving already.

Oh, and Wednesday as I was getting over to my father-in-law's house, I got to stop on the bridge as I crossed into his "neighbourhood" and watch 4 trumpeter swans bathing in the slough. (And eatting, judging from the view of one of the swans with his butt in the air and the rest of him under water. *grin*) I pulled up onto the bridge and saw this odd object (the "half" swan who was feeding) so I had to stop. I sat there grinning at the swans and saw a movement closer than the swans were and realized that there was another woman sitting on the edge of the bridge watching the swans as well. We grinned at each other then turned back to the swans, till I realized that I had somebody else waiting behind me to cross the bridge as well. Ooops. *wink* Anyway, the geese & swans are here. That means that SURELY spring must be close behind.

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So, my friend and I got to go see "Nim's Island" the other night. That was fun. There were several laugh-out-loud moments. Jodie Foster continues to be a fantastic actress. Gerard Butler is a hottie, with or without the Scottish accent. And Abigail Breslin did a good job portraying the character, Nim. The trailers are somewhat misleading, but it's hard to describe how, without giving the movie away. It was kinda funny watching Gerard Butler trying to play two different characters in the movie, one of whom had the scottish accent, while the other did not. He did a decently good job of adapting to a common American accent, except for moments where a bit of the Scots accent would creep out. But he'd quickly get it under wraps and didn't let on that he was having a difficult time of it. And, Jodie Foster DID strike me as a very nice person, once again. I've always loved her acting, and the fact that she's not an "in-your-face" hollywood personality. But, to watch her portray this character was great. The woman had a lot of issues and Jodie Foster played them up (there was some rather physical humor, as well as dry verbal humor) and seemed to come across as oh-so-real. And while she'll never be a beautiful hollywood starlette, she's got a prettiness all her own. Maybe it's because she seems so real and yet when she smiles..... You see how pretty she is, even for being so "plain". It was a lot of fun. Not high theater, but fun. I definitely think most of my friends here would enjoy it.

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I won't be attending any more of Tay's hockey games. And I've told her that if 0ther are games that her Dad can't take her to, she can plan on staying home. I just cannot take the verbal abuse any more. She climbed off ice today in a horrible mood, yet again, and took it out on Scott and I. It's not that she played poorly, but she was being a poor sport about the fact that she ended up playing a defensive position most of the time in both of the games. I thought she was playing defense on purpose, to try to support the kid who was playing goalie today. (Our smallest, fasted kid who's got a nice little slap-shot wanted to give goalie a try. So Scott went along with it, figuring that this is all for fun and if the kid wants to try goalie and his parents are amiable, then he should get to try goalie.) Turns out that Tay had NO intention of playing defense (and the other boy who plays goalie half the time absolutely refused to be a defenseman for his goalie today), but she kept getting left by the net. She did a fabulous job of it, though, and when she came off ice I attempted to tell her so. She got all pissy, though, and started screaming at me about how she had NO intention of playing defense and she hated the game.

I'm so sick & tired of her attitude. 9 out of 10 games, after the game I'll approach her with accolades, and she'll scream in my face or push me away with complaints about how she hates this game and she thinks everything sucks in general. I just can't take it any more. I really, really did not want her to play Spring League because I was afraid she was getting burnt out after the regular season, but she and Scott insisted. Well.... I'll tell you what..... I cannot take it any more. I can't handle the verbal (and sometimes physical) abuse. I'm going to be staying at home from now on. And I'm really thinking that this is probably going to be the case not just for the rest of the Spring League games, but for the next regular season as well. Scott will often remark that she doesn't throw fits nearly as often, following games I don't attend. I guess it's just me that she doesn't want watching her. And I'm sick of it. So I won't be going any more. At least for the duration of Spring League, maybe for good. I'm just too sick of it. I LOVE watching her play hockey, and she's good at it. But the abuse is getting to me too badly.

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Ok. Scott just came home with a movie for us to watch. (No, Tay is NOT allowed, thanks to her earlier behavior. She's now grounded.) So, I better go. Hopefully I'll get a pic of my flowers loaded up tomorrow.

Have a Blessed Day!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Tay's somewhere close to 13, right? About 11 if I recall right. Maybe she's experiencing the same hormone troubles as my 13 year old who's driving me crazy.

Steve got the same way as your daughter is doing, when we had him in karate and baseball. Now he says he wants to try baseball again. I'm not so sure. Last time he kept complaining that we were forcing him to go. Then when we made him go (as hubby said he had to finish out the season and then he wouldn't make him sign up again), he'd sit in the middle of the outfield and play in the dirt.

Parenting isn't easy, is it? I know it's so worth it and yet there are days...

KAYLEE said...

ssorry you have been so depressed lately :(

Robin said...

I've always loved and respected Jodie Foster, as well. An old roommate of mine grew up in California in a 'somewhat' movie household (his mother was Bonnie Blue) in Gone With The Wind. He took Foster to prom in, if I recall correctly, a helicopter.

Slip said...

Oh Kati!
Keep the faith, it only gets worse! By time Tay is 25 years old most of the mood swings will be over. Most of the fighting my wife and I did over the last 39 years were over our children when they were teen agers!We would fight over just witch one of us got to kill them.

Em said...

Still snowing in April??? That just isn't right! LOL

As for the kid...ya gotta love those preteen years, huh? They can always find a reason to be grumpy.

barefoot gardener said...

I agree with Ashley that it is probably a hormone thing. That and Tay is starting to get to the age where she doesn't want to want Mommy's support. Does that make sense?

I think you are right to tell her that you won't take that attitude from her. Hopefully she will tone down the attitude a bit and eventually ask you to come back...

whimsical brainpan said...

I'm sending you warm thoughts.

I haven't even heard of "Nim's Island". I'll put it in my queue for when it comes out on DVD. Jody Foster is one of my favorite actresses.

I don't blame you one bit for not wanting to go to anymore of Tay's games. Who would want to put up with that!

Toriz said...

Glad you enjoyed the movie. Hope you enjoy the one Scott brought home too.

Sorry to hear about all the attitude Tey is giving you. As everyone's already pointed out, it's perfectly normal. I'm sure that doesn't make it any easier, but it's the truth. Hopefully she'll be one of those who gets over it by the time she's about 18 or so. In the meantime, all you can really do is let her know you wont stand for it, and try not to kill her. I know that having no kids of my own as yet I'm not really experienced in these matters, but I've seen some people dealing with their teenagers (and pre-teens) and noticed that - though you need to show her you wont stand for it - the more you retaliate the worse the attitude will be. Basically, make sure there are consequences for the attitude, but try not to get in to an argument with her... You wont win, so it's a waste of your time and energy. About the only thing arguing with her will achieve is a sore throat for you (and Scott if he joins in) and a headache for you and Scott too. I know it's probably very difficult to avoid arguments, and I'm sure it would be easier to take advice from someone going through (or who has been through) what you're going through with Tey. But I'm just going by what I've noticed from watching my Dad, my Mam and the biological mother of my adopted sister "attempting" to make her behave (she's almost 20) and from what I remember of my own pre-teen and teenage years. Confrontation leads to more barriers and more arguments and more attitude. Just bare that in mind.