Man-Child's Summer

Needless to say, it has been a long summer. Since Man-child had to complete work he failed to do during the school year, I cancelled all activity for the summer. Even though it has not been very humid, it has been hot in this house. As a matter of fact, for the first two weeks, he would not speak to me.

When the summer enrichment program began, he hit the ceiling. Then all H*ll broke when he found out he had to read "The Secret Life of Bees". WT* Man-child was near tears. "Why I gotta read this girl book", he yelled. I told him " suck it up and read. And there is no such thing as a girl book". The temperature got even HOTTER.

I watched him read. He threw the book. He tried to hide it but I bought two extra copies. He even tore a few pages out of one book. After three weeks, he finished it and then he had to write a character analysis. I thought "OMG, this is going to be a disaster". Once again, he surprised me. Man-child's paper talked about how he could relate to Rosaleen, the character played by Jennifer Hudson. He stated that she was very smart and knowledgeable. Everyone thought she was slow and not aware of what was going on. He said that she was very smart. She just had a different way of doing things. Man-child said that he felt like her because everyone assumes that he is smart and on target when he is simply trying to figure things out the way that he wants to do it. He talked about how people always look at people and think they know all about you instead of getting to know you and letting you figure things out on your own. I WAS SPEECHLESS. He teacher was very impressed.

I returned his laptop and video games until the High School Summer Program starts on August 3. He kissed me and yelled as if it were Christmas. Then he did something that really shocked me. He said "Mommy, where are all those Harry Potter books?" I pulled the books from the shelf and gave them to him. Tonight, when I thought he was lost in Runescape on the computer or somewhere trying his hand at anime art, he was reading the first Harry Potter book.

Boy... I still have a lot to learn.

It's July -Now What?

It's July. So much has happened this year. The year started off pretty good with me setting goals and putting one foot in front of the other and actually getting them accomplished (one being to start blogging) My brother and his family (that's 7 people) moved in with me. I can not begin to talk about the good, bad and ugly of that. Man-child is always trying to find new and creative ways to deceive me - gee, I am glad I was not born yesterday. My biggest disappointment with him was not being able to see him participate in the graduation ceremony. (I guess thinking on it now - I am glad it was the 8Th grade ceremony and not High School). The doctor gave me blood pressure pills - this is a battle I have been fighting with for over a year so I wasn't really surprised when it finally happened. My weight has plateaued -it's been the same for the past six months. I missed a few book signings and girl-friend get-togethers that I really wanted to attend. My reading Mojo has dropped - the desire has not been there lately. There has been several celebrity deaths that have left me speechless - Farrah Fawcett (yes, I wanted hair like her back in the day) and Michael Jackson - I won't comment on his death because I could not say anything more to what has already been said. I had to endure furlough days but THANKFUL I was able to go to work each day and enjoyed the stress of it.

So now, I sigh.... What's next for the remainder of the year. Well, I am going to get back up on my horse and keep on going... My brother and family has moved out; Man-child is still on lock down (which puts me on lock down too but I plan on taking little trips for me); juggling and thinking about refinancing; jazzed up my resume (never know what I may find); second goal to accomplish - STOP BITTING MY NAILS -I wanta get a manicure :-) ; restructure my homemade weight lose plan and do something different; look forward to what comes next.

What do you have planned??