HE SAID... TRANSLATION... THE WIMP SAID

TONY WALKER

This week's He Said should be called He's Crying... which translates to The Wimp Said.
Tomorrow my kids go back to school. Since I run my own business I can make my own hours so I am the one who sees the kids off.


This is why I am a wimp... I hate when my kids go back to school. I teared up when they went to bed tonight.

My son starts middle school tomorrow. I am so worried. My son is a lot like me, poor bastard, & I had a rough adjustment into junior high, middle school, whatever you call it. So I am worried about my boy. Hopefully he'll do better than I did.
For the first time since June they had to be in bed tonight at 9PM. That just doesn't seem right.
Back to school.
Back to getting up super early.
Back to making sure everyone has eaten breakfast, brushed teeth, changed underwear, have a million notes signed, is ready for the bus.
Back to getting them off the bus.
Back to being the Homework Nazi.
Back to checking back packs & lunch bags.
Back to taking them to karate, scouts, swimming, hangouts, doctors, lessons, (a million different kinds of lessons) basketball, blah blah blah.....
Back to making sure they ate everything on the plate.
Back to making sure they brushed their teeth & showered.
Back to throwing them into bed by 9PM.
Back to PTA meetings, scout meetings, teacher conferences, principal meetings, (that is if you have a son like mine) school events, blah blah blah.....
Back to wishing it was June again.
I know I am focusing on the negatives but right now I can't help it. Even though I yell at my kids all the time, I really do enjoy having them home without the worry of who has to be where at what time.

What do you guys think?
Am I part of a minority that likes having their kids home?
Are you looking forward to the peace & the structure?

On the bright side.... I'll have free time during the day. Time to stalk.... I mean.... visit with Boyle.......

SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!!!!

Barbara Ward-Finneran

I continue to think, no perhaps, dream is a better word, that after 18 seasons of this - somehow it will magically right  itself, but I am wrong!  Apparently in the south, August is not a summer month.  The thermostat screams otherwise - yet the calendars are marked.  School starts this week.  YIKES!!!  YUCK!!!

It's seemed wrong since the summer I moved here.  Arriving in mid-August with hopes of scouting out work as a substitute or fill a last minute teaching vacancy before school started.  Silly me.  Long before my furniture arrive school had started!  And, every year, it still is so WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, that school starts before Labor Day!  I know in just days it will seem normal.  I know that we get the majority of June off so it's all "even".  Yet, it makes me a little crazy every (dare I use the word) southern back to school season.  A post Labor Day start is my normal.  It's still what I long for to be normal.  I guess I'm a gal who loves tradition.  That whole unofficial beginning of summer and putting your "whites" away after Labor Day gets lost here when hot temperatures rear their ugly hear in March or even sooner some years.   Despite the fact that summer has unfolded here, we have enjoyed may a lazy and fun filled day, and the thought of routine is mildly desirable.  (Wish it didn't have to start in the dark every day!) I still long for back t school to begin in September! "Ain't" never gonna happen here! :PPPPP

I'm back at work.  The regular/real day job is back in full swing and my kids, and the rest of our county begin on Wednesday.  So ready or not - here comes the 2011-2012 school year!

All the back to school sales and the fact that teachers reported back days ago should have that fact based in reality in my little corner of the world.  Yet somehow it won't truly be real 'til Wednesday morning when I snap the traditional first day of school pictures of my boys alone and then together.  Is it really possible that I've been taking those pictures for 8 years?! Is it possible that I'll still get away with those precious photos this year with my eldest starting middle school? Is it possible after 18 years that I still dread back to school before Labor Day?

Yes. Hopefully. And, Yes!

THIS CRUISE DIRECTOR WANTS TO QUIT

Dawn Boyle

A rainy summer Sunday (or what was supposed to be) when beach plans have been cancelled turn into the day of debates.

Why is it that I am the cruise director all week long for my children. Organizing play dates or making group plans of movies or the likes for my two girls are enough for me. I make our family weekend plans, get all supplies together, packing up enough clothes and bathing suits for the weekend, but when the weather is supposed to turn - it becomes the big debate of "what are we gonna do today?" The same question that makes my toes curl on a daily basis when I field it from the kids I received about 10 times yesterday from my "OLDEST KID".

I look around at the home that looks more like a disaster and think to myself, PICK A ROOM! Everyone can jump on that bandwagon and help me clean up around here. Of course that is not the answer. Sarah suggests a family day of bowling. Gracie's suggested nails for the girls and let Daddy do whatever he wants. Greg suggests going to his favorite place - the boat store. None of these ideas were doing it for me. I wonder what it would take for Greg to think of giving me a few hours of down time. Take the kids bowling, let Gracie get her nails done and then hit the boat store all on there own?

I know it's not going to happen, but I can dream! Boat Store it is....again. Long live the dream of being able to quit being the cruise director. I guess I can't really complain with only a handful of weeks left before they are back in school...but then again, this is random rants! Enjoy the time left! Poor Barbara is already back to school!