Today is the day

Tom is staying home from work. I told Riley I would pick him up after school, not to get on the bus. The appointment is at 4:00. We are supposed to get there early enough to have blood work done. It will be tight. Last time we were waiting on the numbers. Riley doesn't want to miss his last class though. Its computer animation. He says the computer is finally doing what he wants it to do. He needs to be in class. I don't want to argue with success and my A student. He misses enough days for health reasons already. That he wants to go to school and be in class is awesome.

Trevor has homework club. He is to walk home afterwards. He was throwing a fit this morning that I would not be picking him up afterwards. I hid in my room so I wouldn't have to yell back. "Grades, Grades, Grades, get the grades up and rewards will come." I am a stuck record. I guess I am supposed to say a stuck CD. We just can't be at two places at once. Besides Trevor should have to walk home. It is good for his health and fitness.

Trevor's math teacher finally took pity on me. She is one of the teachers in Homework club. She is allowing Trevor to hand in his work once he is done and finished in the afternoon. Well, really she is taking it from him when he is finished, to guarantee delivery of the finished work. She told him she was tired of receiving e-mails from me. Advocating for your child does help. As long as he does the work in Homework club, it will be delivered on time.

I feel the walk home is suitable for the occasion. He could ride his bike to school on those days if he chose. It is a safe route. I can see he has gotten lazy over the winter. What I should do is walk to school myself and then walk home with him. That would be fun if I could remember not to lecture and remember to make it fun. Maybe stop at the store for a treat on the way. I will figure it out next week. This week he needs to walk by himself and buck up. Trevor wanted to go with us to the hospital, but I knew it was to play the PlayStation in the waiting room. He has homework club and he needs it. If the grades were decent I would make different choices.

I did find out that unless he has a passing grade of a C or better, he can not go on the big competition trip in the spring with the band. I let the teacher know I will back her in that decision if she needs to bench Trevor.

To vent some of my frustrations and energy yesterday, I did mow the lawn and my neighbor's front yard. They have their house for sale and it needed a mow. I like to mow lawns, I do not like to tidy up mess after mess inside my house. Every time I turn around my teen age boys have made a man size mess for some one else to clean up.

I had them make the bed in the game room this week. Last night Trevor had his friends over and some how the bed was stripped and the mattress half dragged off the bed. It is all still there for me to clean up, because they had to go to school this morning, no time to clean up. I am trying really hard to catch them at the time, but they are really good at distraction or going to bed before I see the mess. I am most likely not going to make them get up on a school night after bedtime to clean up.

Tom doesn't want conflict. It makes it hard to tell them to clean it up, when he is saying "Not now, they can do it later." So there is the mess the next day. I will just shut the door. It will still be there tomorrow to deal with. My window of time is after school and before Tom gets home. Of course the boys want play time after school. I don't want chores to be evil or myself for that matter. But some how I have become a nag to my children. I just can't keep up on four adult messes. My mess is just as bad, admittedly. But by the time I clean up after everyone else, I am too tired to deal with my mess.

Can you tell I am stressing. Vent Vent Vent. Whine Whine Whine. I am just killing time. Its a long day waiting until school lets out and we go. I already mowed the lawn, I guess I could go weed the flower beds. My house is a disaster at the moment. I need to clearance things, cut the clutter. I could probably throw out a ton of papers. Tax season is here. Plenty to do to distract and kill time.

I am also headed to the school at 11:00 for lunches. I am still collecting permission slips for the air band competition. Trevor's band now has all theirs in. I picked them up myself. Why I am even helping him with this I do not know. I guess it is so he doesn't think I am all cruel and mean all the time. I am off to clean up messes now.