and I've just been reminded that other people's children can be as annoying as my own...

but I probably shouldn't slap them....one of kate's overnite guests is in junior high. I'm sure her valued friend status is greatly helped by the fact that she is 3 years older than kate & that's cool. she is in 100,000,001 activites...she belongs to many many clubs at school (& mercer has many many clubs/activities for all varied interests!) which means that she has to sandwich kate into her very busy schedule of dancing at ball games, pep band, academic team, & every club she is eligible for, plus her church activities. it's nice that she goes to all the work to do this. today she had to leave bright & early to go to her house & dump her stuff, get her academic team shirt, & then to her grandma's for money to eat (if I could've found any cash in the truck, it would've been hers, just to get away!), then to school to get on the bus for her away academic meet. whew! yea, it's my day off. I do so love to sleep in on my days off,but whatever. it was icy in our driveway. I was driving cautiously as always. she asked me several times to "step on it". I told her in my best mom voice that the truck clock is 5 minutes fast. all is well. of course, she knows me, I am either late or ridiculously early every where I go. there was no early involved today. when she told me "you really need to step on it" things just about went south. in a bad way. the closest weapon was a practically empty can of Pringles. I eyed it. imagine the forensics crew figuring that one out...dents in head consistent with the edges of Pringles canister...blood splatter pattern indicates pissed off mother involved in sleepover...then when we get to school, a minute or 2 ahead of schedule, the bus isn't even there. the kids are going inside the commons to wait. I'll give her credit, she does say please & thank you. & sorry. I wouldn't be a 7th grader again for all the tea in china.
last nite, about 10 minutes after I'd jammied up & snuggled into my bed to watch Madagascar on dvd (the dvd had been lost for some time, & was recently found during the cleaning spree), she has forgotten her contact solution & other necessities. could I run her home just for a minute? ok. fine. it was (unknown to me in the dark house in my jammies) really snowing outside. no big deal. I grab the broom to brush off the car. no dice. have to also scrape the car. but she lives right here in town, no biggie. she comments that no one seems to be out and about. go figure.
aaaaaanyway, the sleepover continues with our remaining guest. our quiet guest who doesn't frantically need to go somewhere right now.
it just goes to show you, if I am this annoyed at one of my daughters friends, she is equally or even more annoying to the mothers/fathers/siblings of her friends. and yet they keep letting her come over. and we will do the same.
motherhood. the toughest job you'll ever love.
and you know, when it's all said & done, it will be the sleepovers she'll remember. one of my biggest childhood memories is of the Epic Sleepover I once threw...sherry, susan, callene, lisa, & cathie. mom had borrowed camp cots from grandma & grandpa. one was destroyed. we were working on a Star Trek Fanzine & writing Star Wars stories... I had never even seen the movie, so I made up a character to be...Diana, who was in love with Han Solo. We also wrote horse stories. must've been late elementary or junior high, since sherry & susan were weeded out of our clique around that time, then about sophomore year I was culled, & it became the Frizzie, Dizzie, & Lizzie clique. they even had baseball jerseys with their nick names on the back, & they each had different colored sleeves, which just killed me. I of course made other friends. but I really wanted a jersey. of course, what would my nick name have been? I really would've looked good in that jersey!
I'm not sure what I made for supper last night, but I can remember all that. guess the short term memory goes first...
(I also really really really wanted the Junior Girl Scout doll with long blonde hair that was in the Girl Scout catalog when I was a kid. never got it.)