Siobhan's page

Bloody Hell!!

Siobhan — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 02:06:35 +0000

Okay, now I’m irritated. I took Conor to the park today with a schoolmate of his and froze my ass off!! Literally. Then Dad called from the casino that he was just about out of money and ready to go home. I hurry from the park, (which in all honesty I was not sad to leave since I was FREEZING) drop Conor off, pick Dad up. I have to run to the store to pick some things up for this dinner that Robert saw Rachael Ray cook and now absolutely MUST make it immediately, if not sooner, and a few things for Conor’s lunch. Dad is with me and he tells me that he is just going to sit in a chair right there by the front. That is perfect!

Three minutes later, Dad calls me wanting to know where I am. I am at the Deli, I see him looking for me, as he stops to pick up a pie on his way. When he gets to me I say that I thought he was going to just sit and wait while I get this little bit of shopping done really quick.

“I can only sit for so long Siobhan,” he says querulously, “And you’re taking so long. You always take too much time shopping.”

I’ve been in there THREE minutes!! Okay, I give the deli guy my order while dad is standing there, and tell him to stay with the cart and I’ll run and get the rest of the stuff while the deli guy is slicing my ham and gouda. The gouda is for the dinner that Robert saw on Rachael Ray and absolutely HAD to make tonight.

I grab everything as fast as I can loading my arms up and race back to the deli counter to find that dad has moved down to a man handing out free samples of a new sushi product. As soon as he sees me, he grabs the cart and heads for the checkout. Luckily, I was able to at least get a sample. We get home and unload everything only to find out that Dad never got the ham or the gouda. Robert says well, his stomach is now bothering him for some reason so he’ll make the dinner that he HAD to make tonight, tomorrow.

Sorry, is that steam actually coming out of my ears??? I could’ve gone to the store tomorrow. There is no school tomorrow for Martin Luther King day. I didn’t need to actually race through the store tonight with a cantakerous old man! Is he kidding me??? I could’ve just cooked the freaking chicken myself!!

MEN!!!

Getting to the church on time…Not!

Siobhan — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:57:13 +0000

I thought that I would go to Mass today (Saturday) since I have a lot going on tomorrow. I don’t usually attend Saturday service , Robert feels that it’s not really church since it’s not Sunday. But with March Madness happening I figured he wasn’t planning on going tomorrow. I planned to meet Francine there with her family at 5pm.

When I got there, albeit a little late, I saw that people were pulling out of the parking lot, which was curious. At first I thought that maybe there had been something going on in the Parish Center. I park and start walking to the church and notice that people are leaving. So I thought that maybe there had been a baptism before Mass and some of those people were heading out. I walk in and hear the hymns and people are defintely leaving. Carolyn is sitting off to the side selling raffle tickets and she looks at me a little funny. During all this, it never once occured to me that maybe I got the time wrong.

“Why are people leaving?” I ask, like the idiot I am. “Doesn’t Mass start at 5:00?”

“No, 4:00.” says Carolyn. “It starts at 5 on Sundays.”

At this point I mutter a certain four letter word that is shockingly inappropriate in church. I see Fran and she is laughing. She had gotten there before me and had escorted her family to the front row before she realized I had the time wrong. And it was my fault because I’m the idiot that told her five without checking. Last week I went to the 5pm Sunday Mass and just assumed that it was at 5pm on Saturday as well. And you know what they say about the word ‘assume’!

So not only did I not get to the church on time, thanks to me, neither did my friend.

To tell the truth…

Siobhan — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 05:29:06 +0000

Tonight I told Conor to go and get ready for bed. When I went on back to see if any actual progress in this direction had been made, (there hadn’t) he tells me that he had already brushed his teeth, so I didn’t need to worry about that. Really now? Not that I’m suspicious or anything….but I check his toothbrush, and it’s dry, not bone dry, to be fair, but not recently used either.

“Are you sure you brushed your teeth?” I ask. “Your toothbrush isn’t wet.”

“Yes, mama.” It’s amazing how innocent they can look when they’re lying through their dirty, unbrushed teeth, isn’t it?

“You’re positive?”

“Of course!” he says and heads for his bed.

“I hope you’re not telling me a fib. Because God is watching and it makes him unhappy if you fib. That’s breaking one of the ten commandments.”

He makes an about face.

“Oh, I forgot, I didn’t. I brushed them this morning with Daddy. That’s what I was remembering!”

Catholic guilt….works everytime!

Conor and Dr. Seuss.

Siobhan — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 02:43:36 +0000

Conor is hooked on Dr. Seuss books. He has to take a test on 2 library books a week and he always picks Dr. Seuss ones. I actually try to steer him towards other books because the good doctor can be a little difficult with all his made up words for things, but Conor is nothing if not stubborn.

Right now he has 3 books by Dr. Seuss from the school library. He was reading the back of one and saw that Dr. Seuss had passed away in 1966. He said Wow, that was a long time ago. Well, maybe to a 6 year old, but seeing as how I was a baby at the time, lets not get carried away!

So, first Conor asks me how old was he when Dr. Seuss died. Umm, you weren’t born kiddo. Mommy was just a baby at the time.

“Did you know him?” he asks.

“No honey, I was just a baby.”

“Did I know him?”

“No, honey, you weren’t born yet, remember?”

“I wish I’d known him!”

He is just so utterly adorable at times. I love the way his mind works.

There are angels among us.

Siobhan — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 23:44:47 +0000

I have a very dear friend named Michelle. She is an angel here on earth. She is one of the most selfless, generous souls in the world. I call her my dear friend, but the fact is, everyone calls her that. Her gift is to make anyone she meets feel like they’re best friends within moments. This is a woman who will take six children to Chuck E Cheese by herself to help out friends when the kids have a half day and parents have to work. When my car was in the shop, she picked Conor up from school and brought him home for me, even though I live in the opposite direction from her. That’s just who she is. She does for others and you never feel afterwards that you “owe her one”, and should you suggest such a thing she will just laugh and brush it off. She’s an angel. A living, breathing angel.

And now this angel is in the hospital, in a coma. It’s incomprehensible that such a thing could happen to such a pure spirit. We don’t know what happened, or why. All we do know is that our wonderful friend is in need of prayers. So I ask anyone who reads this to please say a prayer. Pray that our lovely lady finds her way back to us. Pray for her husband and 2 young children. Pray that God grants us a miracle.

Deep peace of the running wave to you

Deep peace of the flowing air to you

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you

Deep peace of the shining stars to you

Deep peace of the gentle night to you

Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.

Deep peace of the light of the world to you.

The same thing happens every night.

Siobhan — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 03:57:14 +0000

I have to admit it, sometimes I question my son’s intelligence. Well maybe not his IQ, but his common sense. I realize that most 6 yr old boys really are not blessed with common sense, or rational thought. I also realize that this condition does not improve appreciably with age. Exhibit A: My husband. Exhibit B: My father………and the list goes on. But you would think that when the same behaviour gets you into trouble time and time again, when mommy ends up mad almost every night, one would think that even a stubborn, muleheaded 6 yr old boy would start to think I’m not doing myself any favors here. Maybe if I stop doing this, mama won’t take away my cars. But NO, that never happens does it? I have friends with daughters and they don’t describe this frustration to me.

It starts as soon as I say it’s time to get ready for bed. Conor had a soccer game earlier today so a shower was defintely in order. I had been telling him all day that he was going to take a shower tonight. He helped make pancakes for dinner and while we were cooking I told him that he had to take a shower tonight. While he ate his dinner I told him that he had to take a shower tonight. A shower tonight was not news! Once he was done I said okay, now lets get into the shower. His reply? why??

His first move is to drop to the floor and pretend to be asleep, or in a coma, I don’t know. All I know is that I can feel my blood pressure rising. I try not to go straight to pissed off so I play along for a second, and then I say okay, enough is enough, let’s get going. Does he get the hint?? Of course not. For some reason in his mind, this is funny. I finally get him down the hall to my bedroom, he lays on the bed as I try to get his clothes off. He thinks its funny to clench his legs up to make getting his shorts off as difficult as possible. Now, I am getting pissed. I ask him please, can we have one night where you go to bed without me getting angry? Apparently not.

What is this kid thinking? This happens almost every night! When I call him to come brush his teeth I have to do it 5 times. When I finally get to the point that I snap and raise my voice to him he says to me one of two things. He’ll either say that I’m not being very nice to him, or that I’m scaring him because I raised my voice. If I had tried this with my mother,…well I have to admit she wouldn’t have raised her voice. She would have been too busy raising her hand to swat my butt.

Is it like Bill Cosby says in his 1983 standup “Himself”? That all children are brain damaged? Or is it just boys? I keep hoping that he will outgrow this complete and utter lack of self preservation that he seems to have but I’m not holding out a lot of hope. As I’m typing this, my husband, who is buzzed from watching football all day, has just walked down the hall to our son, who is finally in bed. He jumps into the room and yells “HIKE”. I hear the delighted squeals of Conor and I can hear them playing football in the bedroom.

So if everyone will excuse me…………I need to go kill my husband!!!

My two cents.

Siobhan — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:12:12 +0000

All the stuff going on these days about bullying, same sex marriage, should anti bully programs include a section on anti gay bullying? Well, for those that know me from Windows Spaces, you knew that sooner or later, I was going to include my two cents. Here it goes.

Bullying: There needs to be an enormous crackdown on this nationwide! You can’t tell me that teachers are clueless about what is happening in the hallways. Teachers need help in knowing exactly how to intervene and who to contact. There should be consequences for bullies, safe places for victims to go for help, safe places for the bullies to ask for help. A lot of times these kids are abused at home, so they lash out to make themselves feel better. It’s just assumed that they’re awful people, and a lot of times that assumption is accurate. Lord knows that nothing can get uglier than a crowd, but sometimes, the bullying behaviour is a cry for help.

Now, should anti-bullying programs include a section on gay bullying?? Hell yes!!! Look, here is the deal people – I don’t give a flying fig how you feel one way or the other about the gay community. Bullying for any reason is wrong. It can cause long term damage to a young psyche and it should be stopped. It’s just that simple. And picking on, or torturing a kid, because he or she is or may be gay is wrong. End of story.

Now, same sex marriage – seriously people what is the big deal here? Why is this soooooo hard to settle? We are talking civil unions here. A legal union that allows a couple to be protected. That the life they have built together is recognized as such. I don’t care if they’re the same gender. They’ve built a life, a home based on love, respect and commitment. That should be recognized as such. It is amazing to me that in a culture with television shows like “The Bachelor” or “The Housewives of _______”, where people are basically selling themselves for “marriage” everyone is all up in arms about defining marriage. How can you tell me that marriage is regarded as a sacred union in this country? I know for quite a few people, it certainly is, but lets face it kids, when we’re glued to the tv watching a guy date his way through 20 girls on national television looking for “true love” lets not then turn around and preach about sacred unions.

For those for whom the idea of same sex marriage offends their religious sensibilities you needn’t worry that the government is going to be forcing your local church to perform gay marriages. It’s called separation of church and state. The government cannot require or forbid any recognized religion any service that goes against or is part of the tenets of their faith. It’s like this, if the government can’t stop the polygamists sects from practicing polygamy, even though that is illegal, then they can’t force a religion into anything. In the polygamist sects, only the first marriage is an actual legal one with a marriage license and certificate. The rest are “celestial marriages”, strictly religious services only, so the government can’t stop them. If they can’t stop them, then they can’t force the catholic church (to which I belong) or the baptist church, or whoever to perform a service that is against their doctrine, anymore than they could forbid a baptism.

So if you believe that marriage should be only between a man and a woman, then when you get married, I suggest you pick a partner that meets your criteria and find someone of the opposite sex. And if your objection is based on your religious convictions, fine…live your life according to your beliefs but please don’t quote scripture at me, because I have one too…………………..Judge not lest ye be judged.

Its official, I am my mother.

Siobhan — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 02:38:01 +0000

It was bound to happen sooner or later. From what I understand, these things are inevitable. Eventually, we become our mothers, when we thought our mothers were clueless, and it’s happened to me. Despite thinking all these years that I’m a pretty cool and hip broad who knows who Katy Perry and Justin Bieber are, even though I prefer Country Western music, I just found out that I’m not so hip after all.

Occasionally, I will put on a radio station in the car that plays the pop music that Conor likes. He doesn’t always get that I can’t control what the radio station plays. I can pull up the videos he likes on TV thanks to On Demand, I can’t do that with the radio. He asks for one of his favorite songs, I’m gonna break break your heart, by Taio Cruz. I tell him that I can’t control when or if it will get played while we’re in the car. He then says that he would like a wish right now.

"What do you want to wish for?" I ask.

‘I could really use a wish right now" he says.

"Well, what do you wish for?" I ask again.

"MOM, I could really use a wish right now!"

"Then what’s your wish??" Frustration is creeping into my voice despite my best efforts.

"AARRRGH!! MOM, I could really use a wish right now!!!" You clueless twit, is what he was thinking, I just know it.

"Conor, I don’t understand!" And, then thank the Good Lord, we were home. End of conversation. Thank heavens!

Two days later, I’m driving home after dropping Conor off at school. The pop station is still on. I reach out to change it back to country, when I hear the song playing….Airplanes in the night sky like shooting stars, I could really use a wish right now, wish right now

Its a damn SONG ?!?!?!?! So much for being hip and cool!

So we’ve come full circle. Years ago, (more than I care to admit to) my mother ventured into a record store to buy some records, (those things we used before CD’s) for my Christmas present. She’s armed with a list, having dispensed with trying to guess what we want from Santa. A young man is helping her and soon she has everything she needs or so she thinks.

"Can I get you anything else ma’am?" The apparently very nice and helpful young man asks her.

"I think that’s it," my mom says. "She says here, hit me with your best shot."

"We’re out of that." says the salesman.

"You’re out of what?" asks my mom, totally confused.

"Hit me with your best shot, by Pat Benatar." he tells her, "We’re out of it, but you can back order it if you like."

"It’s a song??" exclaims my mother in surprise, "I thought she was telling me to do the best I can!!"

Apple………Tree!!!

Grandparents are old people trying to get to heaven

Siobhan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:20:25 +0000

I remember Bill Cosby saying that in an old stand up of his from the 80′s when explaining to his children when his parents came over, they were not the same parents that he grew up with. How true that is. I’m in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner and I hear Conor in the living room with dad. I hear giggling, and the occasional "thwack", and then Conor saying Do it again Grandpa! I don’t know what’s going on but odds are I’m not going to like it. So I round the corner into the living room and see my dad, paying more attention to his old tv western ,tossing a little white ball at Conor who takes a swing at it with his nerf sword and connects smacking it right back to his grandpa.

"Hey, hey, hey!" I saids, "We don’t play baseball in the house!!"

"Oh," says Conor, as if this is news to him.

"What are you thinking?" I asked, just to have shoulders shrugged. "What were YOU thinking?" I ask Dad who also shrugs his shoulders at me.

"He told me to throw the ball so I threw the ball." Dad looks around me trying to watch his tv show. So basically, Conor wanted the ball tossed to him and Dad did it so he could keep watching his umpteenth episode of Cheyenne.

"Dad, Let me reacquaint with a simple little word……NO…….you had no problems using this word when I was a kid. As a matter of fact, you used quite frequently, and more than a little unfairly as I recall!"

He just shooed me out of the way of his television. It’s amazing that the same man who would have had a fit if I had done this, sees nothing wrong with his grandson doing it. As I type this Conor is tossing his ball around the living room, when I tell him to stop Grandpa informs me that he’s just playing a little bit of catch! Catch…..in the same room with my waterford crystal and balleek china! Old Bill Cosby had it right…."What you’re looking at now is an old person trying to get into heaven."

One of those days!

Siobhan — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:25:27 +0000

The day I had yesterday is one for the books. Conor had a birthday party Friday after school at Chuck E Cheese and then a bowling party today (Sunday), so yesterday I told him that we weren’t leaving the house until his room was cleaned up. And I told him that if he did a really good job with no complaints that I would tell Daddy to give him back the hot wheels he’d lost to the garage earlier in the week. That didn’t happen!

He started out good. He put most of his toys away but then it got down to the smaller details. Putting the smaller toys away and picking some things up off the floor so I could vacumn. Would not do it. I was going to meet my friend Angelique and her kids at a book signing and then we were going to take the kids to the park. That didn’t happen. Whenever I would ask him to finish picking up his room, he would tell me that his throat hurt and his tummy hurt. He’s been pulling that one lately when he doesn’t want to do something. I told him that if he was too sick to pick up his toys, then he was too sick to go to the park. Naturally, he said he wasn’t THAT sick. And on, and on, and on……..and the toys still weren’t picked up. So now my day is shot and I have to stay home too. That’s what sucks about parenting. Sometimes punishing your child involves punishing yourself. Of course Conor is very upset that he isn’t going to see his friends but I have to nip this "I’m sick" bit whenever it’s cleaning or homework, followed by the miraculous recovery for something fun, in the bud.

Then the day got worse! I’ve already spent 2 1/2 hours arguing with a five year old about picking up his room, just to end up doing the rest myself so I could vacumn. And that was the better part of my day! Conor asks if he can have a chocolate covered donut and I tell him no, because he’s already had one. And a pop tart before that. That’s enough junk for one day. Then he says "Oh sorry mommy, I already bit it". Now I know what this is. He figures if he goes ahead and slobbers over it I’ll just give in and let him have it. Well, it almost worked. Until I realized that the little sugar fiend had bitten TWO donuts. I’ve had enough! I take the donuts from him and tell him to go to his room. Now the fun begins.

"Sorry Mommy!"

"Go to your room!"

I don’t want to go to my room! I said sorry Mommy"

"You still have to go to your room. I told you that you couldn’t have a donut, so you bite into Two of them!?!?!"

"I don’t want to! You’re not nice to me!"

"You’re going to see not nice in a minute if you don’t get to your room!" Of course, I end up half carrying/half dragging him to his room. I go sit down on my bed to calm myself down, and hear recriminations being yelled at me from down the hall.

"You’re not nice Mommy"

"I don’t like being in my room!"

"You took the donut from me!"

"That’s not right! I’m just a kid!"

"I don’t love you anymore!"

"It’s not fair!"

Then it quiets down, so I think Okay, he’s getting the message that I’m not going to put up with this. I wait a few minutes longer and it stays quiet. I figure now he’s ready for ‘The Talk’ about what he did wrong, why he had to go to his room and didn’t get to go to the park. I open the door to his room to see the little brat is sitting on his bed eating the damn chocolate covered donut that I had taken away from him. Getting crumbs all over the sheets that I had just finished washing and put on his bed! At that moment, I think I may have had a small stroke. I just stare at him completely dumbfounded and furious. And this little sneak has the nerve to look at me like…."What??" I take the remnants of the donut and tell him to go wash his hands. My kid is going to be a lawyer one day because he automatically launches his defense.

"It wasn’t fair to take the donut away!" Not the best way to go here!

"You will be very lucky if you get to go to Dylans birthday party tomorrow! Right now, you’re not going"

"But I LOVE bowling!"

"Wash your hands and get back into your room."

"You’re not nice to me!"

"It’s not my job to be nice to you!" I can’t believe that I’m arguing this point with a five year old.

"I don’t love you anymore!" Great, knife to the heart. Thanks kid. Now, Robert gets home, so here comes his trump card.

"I’m telling Daddy on you!!" Sure, go ahead, see where that gets you. Newsflash: He’s not the boss of me! So poor Robert walks in the door to me furious, and Conor indignant.

"Daddy, Mommy’s not being nice to me!!" Robert tells him that he had been told to go to his room so he had better get there. Conor goes off crying and Robert gets an earfull from me After Conor does his time and we make up with hugs and kisses and I love you’s, he settles down to watch the UNLV game with Daddy. After the game Robert goes to the gym and to the grocery store. He comes home with a beautiful bouquet of pink tulips for me, and tells me he’s sorry I had such a bad day with Conor. I set the flowers down on the counter and give him a great big hug. Conor comes bounding in wanting to know if Daddy had gotten him anything. Robert tells him no, that he had gotten flowers for me because he had made me sad by being such a bad boy. Conor hangs his head and says " I know". Then he smiles an angelic smile, picks up the flowers, walks over to me and hands them to me and says :"Here Mommy, these are for you. I’m sorry"

You just can’t stay mad at a kid like that!