Wednesday April 13, 2011

I know that I am not the only mom who goes through the things I go through with my kids.

I have been explaining to the boys that with only mom working and Dad on unemployment that money will be tight for a bit and to be patient and we will soon resume our normal lifestyle.

Keep in mind, the normal lifestyle to my kids is going out to eat fast food a couple times a week and handing them $10-$20 when the weekend rolls around so they have spending money. In no way am I eluding to the fact that we live lifestyles of the rich and famous. However, fast food and spending money is what is most important to my kids.

Some of you might be thinking, well my kids want the same thing and I am not making a big deal out of it. The reason I am, is because my kids expect getting everything for nothing in return. When I was home all day and not working I didn’t have any issues with my doing most of the housework. Now that I am back to work full time, I obviously don’t have as much free time to clean all of the house and do all of the laundry. What I didn’t expect was one kid screaming on a Monday morning that he doesn’t have any clean underwear and then freaking out when I told him to find the lesser of the dirty and wear those.

I also didn’t expect this morning when my other son asks "how about he and I hit up the outlet mall this weekend" because he knows that payday is coming up. You see, he needs shoes really bad because the last pair that I bought him were high tops and those are not the best shoes to wear to school and then have to unlace and re-lace for PE. I am asking myself why he had not thought of this when he was begging for these shoes just a few months ago. The same shoes that he offered to give to his Dad. Which I did say I would replace eventually.

I am sorry that the shoes he has in his closet are not good enough for the high school crowd that he hangs out with. What he doesn’t realize and probably wouldn’t care about is that fact that I am wearing the same couple pairs of pants to work because I added a few extra pounds over the winter season. My pants are too tight and my shirts show back fat. I have not gone out and bought any new clothes so why the hell am I going to run out and buy him shoes.

Let me explain why I refuse.

These are the same kids that roll their eyes and huff and puff when I mention on the way to school that I need them to do a few things around the house when they get home from school. They don’t have a great lot of responsibilities, but the few things that I do ask that they help with turns into World War III. When they do finally give in and clean the bathrooms as I have asked, when I get home all I hear is "did you see what a horrible job so and so did on the bathroom", "so and so would not help me clean the bathroom so I had to do it all my self" and so on. This is NOT what I want to hear once I get home from work, especially when I stopped drinking during the week.

I called the darling husband on the way to work while I still had one of the boys in the car and shared with him briefly how ungrateful these kids are. I asked him to create a chore list and we are going to give the chore list another go. Something has to work. I hate battling with the kids when I see one of the bathrooms needs to be whipped down.

With summer right around the corner, I am trying to eat better and reducing my alcohol consumption during the week. This could be some of the reason why my kids think I am crazy and bitchy. Today's menu: One sliced red apple, half turkey sandwich on whole grain bread and yogurt. The other half of the sandwich will be my snack before leaving work. This is a huge change in eating habits and a major decrease in caloric intake. I am sure it is making me a little crazy and bitchy.

My house was peaceful upon arriving home from work and the chores DONE! Yes, DONE, I said! Dad had proudly posted the list of chores that he had created, on the fridge for all to see.

I know the next thing out of their tiny big mouths will be "when and how much are you going to pay us?" Because nothing gets done in my house just for the grace of good. There always has to be a reward of some kind. There is no "in the kindness of their hearts!"

We fed their greedy little mouths and then Dad and I headed out for a beer. The middle one rolled his eyes, because I have been preaching to him about how low on cash we are. There is a reason why I pack my lunch and eat left overs at work. So that I can go out and enjoy a beer with my husband after a long day at work. The kids of course don't get that.