BloggingDangerously

Pea Green

My brother is buying a new house.  It's a huge house in a decent town and I was totally fine with it until I found out it had a pool.

Now I'm jealous like WOAH.

But I'm only jealous of what I'm jealous of.

Like, I want the house, and the pool but that's about it.  I don't want to live in the town that it's in and I don't want the mortgage he's going to have.  And I don't want the job that he has that let's him afford said house.

What is this affliction that let's me see only the things I don't have and not the things I do?

And does everyone suffer from it?

And why does it really kick me in the gut on Sunday nights?

The Crazy In My Head: The Asshole is You.

You know how sometimes you're just standing there in a crowded place and all of a sudden a stranger steps on your foot and you give them a look like, "Hey ASSHOLE, That's my foot!"?

And they give you a half-assed "sorry" and keep moving and you're left with an annoyed feeling in your stomach for the rest of the day?

And that happens in some form or another fairly frequently?

And then one day you're standing there and you happen to look down and all of a sudden you realize that you TEND to stand with your foot sticking out about 15 inches from directly underneath you and suddenly you realize that ALL THOSE ASSHOLES who were stepping on your foot were actually TRIPPING on the foot that you left stuck out in the aisle.  And what's worse?

Now you realize that YOU'RE THE ASSHOLE.

CRAP.

So there are currently AT LEAST three different social situations happening in my life right now that are making me  feel like assholes are stepping on my feet.  But at the same time, I'm trying to look at myself and make sure that I am not the asshole.

I KNOW that it's easy to see things from your own point of you.  And that it's HARD to see them through other people's eyes.

How do you figure out when you're right and when you're wrong and what you're not seeing?

And how do you decide how much asshattery you're willing to put up with from other people?

Comments SORELY needed.

Thanks.

Strangers

I'm not going to lie.  There are times when I think about giving you up.  Of deleting this blog and going back to watching TV after the kids are in bed rather than retiring to my office with my computer - and you.

But then I think about Alena and Jen and Morgan and Ryan and Day and the other Jen and I realize that I've met so many AMAZING, LIFE CHANGING people through this blog - and I think about the other amazing people out there that I won't get to meet if I give it up.  

So I blog on.

But it's hard.

I jump out of bed with the alarm clock every day and hustle the kids off to school.  I race to my desk and work and when I have a minute I race down to snuggle my daughter before she goes to kindergarten.  Then I race to finish my work before dinner.  Then it's dinner and bathtime and bed.

And when the kids are in bed and it's 9 o'clock and I'm WASTED - that's when I dig deep to find the energy to blog for you.  

Because I dont have the time for this - or the energy - or sometimes not the inclination - but I dont want to give you up.  Not the friendships that I've made or the ones I haven't made yet.

 

Expect the Unexpected

I haven't been travelling to NYC much lately - I haven't been there in 3 weeks.

Instead, my life has been a series of conference calls, scheduled in back to back 15 minute increments.  Last Thursday, when the day ended I just sat there staring into space while my brain just throbbed from the number of simultaneous things it had been doing all week.

Friday I resolved not to take my work so seriously.  But work was having none of it.

I spent the morning on conference calls again and just about 12:25 when my head was beginning to throb again I jumped up from my desk, ran down to the living room where my husband had a mouth full of lunch and yelled, "I have FIVE minutes, TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS!"

I wish I could tell you that it was the most erotic sex we'd had in a while but after he choked from the surprise and recovered it was time for my next call.

 

Apparently I'm "THAT MOM"

Yesterday my son brought home an assignment from his gym teacher.  That's right, he has GYM homework. 

The project is called, "Let's Move" and is based on Michelle Obama's Let's Move program which "encourages children to be physically active and healthy eaters."

My son's program takes it a little bit further.

His class is REQUIRED to exercise 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes each time.  They are required to DOCUMENT their exercise on a form that must be handed in.  If they do not exercise or if the form is not handed in they will not be eligible for a field trip and picnic at the end of the program.  

"To encourage healthier eaters, it is important to know what students are eating" so they are also REQUIRED to DOCUMENT their dinner menu each week.  Again, if the form is not handed in they will not be able to attend the fieldtrip.

Parents are REQUIRED to sign the Food Diary/Exercise Record each week.  We are also required to sign the "Permission slip" which was not phrased like a permission slip at all.

I'm BEYOND FURIOUS.  

While I do feel that it is important for my son to learn about healthy eating and the importance of exercise I do not feel that it is the school's responsibility - or right - to prescibe mandatory exercise or require reporting on his diet.

And I don't see how documenting his diet is going to help him learn to make better choices.  If they want to teach them to make healthy choices, they should put up two "plates" and have the children discuss which one is a healthier choice.  Dissecting what they had for dinner last night is not productive.

My son is in THIRD grade.  He is obviously not making menu choices.  He eats what he is served (and even that can be a battle) so asking him to document what he is eating is actually asking me to document what I feed him.  Are they trying to shame parents into making healthier choices?  If that is their goal, I will not participate.

(NOTE: My children eat fabulous, well balanced meals 95% of the time - but it's none of the school's damn business.)

I've already said that I believe it's important for children to understand the importance of exercise but I don't think that it's the government's or the school's responsibilty to mandate it and require reporting.

My son receives an "Overweight" letter every year from the school based on his BMI.  But what the letter doesn't say is that my son has broad shoulders and a barrel chest that he got from my 6'4" husband and that you can count his ribs when he takes his shirt off.  The first year he got the letter I was BLOWN AWAY and called the nurse.  "Oh I know," she laughed, "He's not at all overweight but based on his BMI we have to send the letter."

What the heck?

So now they're sending home letters calling healthy kids fat?  If that doesn't create enough eating disorders why don't you start asking them to draw pictures of what they had for dinner (including portion sizes) and document how much they're exercising?

My neighbor's daughter also got an "Overweight" letter.  She came home from second grade sobbing and now refuses to wear a bathing suit.  I'm sure she's looking forward to putting her "dinnerplate" up on the wall.

My other neighbor's son is 48 pounds in 3rd grade.  His mother has been struggling to put meat on his frame for YEARS.  He is one of the smallest, scrawniest kids on the football team and he registers squarely in the middle of the "Healthy" BMI range.

So what do I do?

Well today I emailed my son's gym teacher and copied the principal.  I told them that while I feel strongly that children should learn about healthy eating and exercise I would not be participating in the Diet and exercise tracking program.

I told them that my son's fitness and diet were between us and his doctor and at this time I do not choose to involve the school.

I told them to please let me know if this meant that he would not be eligible for the fieldtrip.

I will let you know what I get for a response.

I'm feeling very annoyed right now because I don't think my position is at all unreasonable but I feel like sending that email to the school makes me the "unreasonable" parent.  I don't want to be labeled "THAT MOM" for calling BS on the school overstepping their bounds.

Thoughts?