Crazy Stuff
Ed note: At the moment I am really confused about my blog. It works in the morning, but by mid-afternoon it is down. Getting so, so, so tired of this. At least if you use a feed reader you get to read, if not comment.
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Most of you probably remember the house down the street full of a zillion kids and no adult supervision. There are three mothers in the picture and a lot of men (more like boys to my eyes) who go in and out and at least 10 kids that we’ve counted. Only four of them ever come outside to play regularly, always unsupervised.
Today three of them came down and begged Erik to go outside and play. After I turned off the TV and forced his shoes on him, he agreed to go outside. I think he was tired after a day at school since he usually shoots out the door. He didn’t want to take his bike since the kids just take it away from him and fight over it. Smart kid.
Anyway, I supervised the gang while they played soccer with Erik’s almost flat rubber ball, but then Erik decided he was done so we started on our way home. I do not enjoy babysitting other people’s children, especially when I am not getting paid and don’t have any communication with the parents. I was fairly huffy about this situation, since I had to warn them to stay out of the middle of the road and stop physical fights. I could have also tried to keep the little girl out of a giant mud puddle, but honestly? None of it is my problem and if no one is getting hurt than the mom can deal with a drenched, dirty child.
On the way home, they all followed us and started asking if they could come in the house. I hate to be mean, but no. No they can not come in my house. There’s just too much that can go wrong. I could be accused of kidnapping or worse. They could fall down and get hurt. It’s just not a good idea.
Then the girl told me that their mom said they could come stay at our house until dark as long as they don’t hit anyone. One of the boys chimed in and said he wanted chicken nuggets and fries for dinner. Not only am I a free babysitter, but now I’m a short order cook? Don’t think so.
In the end I was saved by Mike walking out of the house and Erik deciding he wanted to go play outside with his daddy. I don’t know what happened to the kids. I fled to the house. I feel kind of weird that I don’t even feel guilty. I should just call children’s services and be done with it, though I don’t know what good it would do. I’m told other mothers here have called and nothing has come of it. I believe it. We have a police officer in the neighborhood who knows what goes on and if he can’t get something done about it I don’t know who can.
Other than that it’s been a really low key day. I had to run to Target to get some post-surgery supplies for Mike (he had another mole removed) and ended up with a cart load of stuff and the silliest checker guy ever. I brought my own bags and he was really confused by that, though he shouldn’t be. I’ve been bringing my own bags to Target for at least a year and I think at least 1/4 of the customers I see in there have their own bags as well. He didn’t want to put my mouth wash, witch hazel or bubble bath in the bags. He said they were too dangerous and had to stay out of the bags. They would spill and leak and ruin my food and poison me.
There were three bags. There were two bags worth of stuff. Seems like a solution was staring him right in the face, but he couldn’t see it.
Also, I picked up this Halloween monster pinata for Erik’s birthday (I figure it can be an alien for the space themed party) and it had no price. Instead of just taking my word for the price, he had to get a price check. No one would help him. They were all totally ignoring him and he was freaking out and I was getting irked. Finally some guy came and helped him. Guess what! The price I told him was correct. By this time he had suspended my transaction, but I didn’t know it, so when he read the price I was busy arranging my bags and assuming I was done since I had already swiped and signed.
Oh no.
The poor people behind me must have hated me.
I had to re-swipe and re-sign, which wasn’t exactly a problem but my not realizing it added a few seconds to the whole wait from hell.
And guess what? None of my chemicals leaked and I didn’t eat poisoned food and we are all allllliiiiivvvvveeeee.
Oh! And guess what else? Erik is staying in his whole bed all night long ever since we got back from Ohio! Whoo-hoo! I dug out his favorite puppy and told him the puppy would protect him from the monsters. It seems to have worked. In the mornings he always tells me that the puppy ruffed at the monsters, so good for Puppy.