We are having freakish weather for Las Vegas and when I woke up today, the wind was howling and it was in the 20s.
That is, until I told the children to put on winter clothes, and they freaked out, and rebelled, and the boys absolutely refused to put on pants. It took 10 minutes for me to convince them they needed pants. Then when I told them they were wearing their puffy coats, they started crying. People were sobbing and I had 17 minutes to log back in to work.
So I think my head spun around and I spit out pea soup because they were not going to school without proper clothing. OMG. Do I need CPS coming to see why I don't dress my children appropriately?
"GET YOUR COATS ON!", I screeched at everyone.
I swear to you, I wake up every day and I'm going to be a pleasant person and then the children get up. I was never an angry person before I had children. You cannot believe how hard it is to convince desert children that it's cold out.
In addition to screaming at the children this morning, I think I lost my winter garden. We've had temperatures in the 20s for 3 days and my broccoli is not bouncing back. This will be the first time in 17 years that I've lost my winter garden due to temperatures. I am soooooooo bummed.
I also had nightmares all night that Bob didn't put our turkeys in the shed. We've been herding them into the shed for the last 3 nights to keep them warm. I had to do it by myself on Saturday night because Bob was having a "sleepover" at his "friend's" house, but I didn't check with him last night to see if he'd come home. The chickens have a light in their coop, so they are fine, but the turkeys' enclosure has nowhere for them to go, so I've literally been grabbing them on their backs and leading them inside the shed for their own safety.
For the record, they are as unappreciative as my children. Ungrateful bastards.
Okay, now I've got 3 hours to be pleasant before the kids get home. Ten bucks says someone comes home without a coat.
I had no idea it got that cold in the LV. My hens are giving me about 1 egg per day since it turned cold, I hope yours are not as stingy!
ReplyDeleteYou can cover the garden at night to keep the frost from settling on it?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I could have, had I planned ahead and found a way to keep the wind from blowing away everything. Damn wind.
ReplyDeleteK'Man- we are getting around 4 a day. The light helps.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, they are prepping you for the fun years ahead. Mine always conveniently "lost" coats, umbrellas, raincoats, all that pesky unwanted gear. One time I made my daughter wear a raincoat as it was pouring at the moment. I watched as she walked down the street a block, took it off and balled it up and carried it with her. Dang, it is painful to realize your progeny does not have the common sense of a grasshopper.
ReplyDeleteMS- this is as good as it gets- wait until they are teens and beyond.
ReplyDeleteWhat time do your kids start school? I have to shuttle mine out the door at 7:30 to get them to school.
ReplyDeleteI told the kids last night that they were wearing their big coats this morning. I expected complaints but I guess after freezing Friday, they learned their lesson.
I couldn't believe how lightly some of the kids were dressed when I dropped the boys off. Its been a while since I've seen that many kids jumping around to keep warm.
My Illinois kids hated winter coats too. I don't know how many times I'd scream "How can you forget your coat at school when it's 12 degrees outside??!!??" I'd send my son to school in jeans and he'd come home in shorts - in February. All the boys did it; they put shorts on under their jeans and took off the jeans in the bathroom.
ReplyDeleteOh and as for becoming angry...I never cussed until I had teenagers. NEVER. It was like I morphed into a Marine overnight.
Gregory does not have his coat! He stashed his orange windbreaker in his backpack and wore that instead of his coat today.
ReplyDeleteHe is absolutely killing me. Laraine are your boys becoming defiant for no reason, other than to challenge you every second?
They tried to become defiant on some things. I'm trying to let them make more of their own decisions (hence the freezing on Friday). But when I put my foot down and tell them they need to do something they've learned to do it because they've decided they like to see the world outside of their room.
ReplyDeleteTime to put your foot down. If one of mine did that after I told them to wear their coats, they would get in trouble for trying to be deceitful. The 2nd time it happened, they wouldn't have any coats except for the big puffy one and they would be expected to wear it lest the punishment cycle starts over again.
I hate that sneaky business the worst. Some kids are much worse than others, but I really disliked all 3 of mine when they were 15. That seemed to be the peak of the 24/7 defiance, but not of the trickiness. I think if I hadn't gotten a full time job I would have gone quite nuts.
ReplyDeletethe difference between the turkeys being unappreciative and your kids being unappreciative is that you can eat the turkeys if they piss you off too much!!!
ReplyDeleteIn my house we have a rule that the kids must listen and do as they are told. If they don't, then they get punished (sent to their room, things taken away, play dates cancelled, miss sports practice ...)
ReplyDeleteDo you punish your kids if they break the rules?
Yes.
ReplyDeleteLaraine- I've got my work cut out for me, since Gregory is a mini version of Greg. I've been trying to control Greg for 23 years and I still haven't succeeded.
ReplyDeleteWell, Geez! I never thought of punishing my children for not obeying me!! @_@
ReplyDeleteMy kids seem to like their winter gear too much. They were insistent on wearing hats and gloves when it was in the 50s last week!
As I told my SIL last week (she has 3 teenage boys and my girl/boy are early 20s), they WILL kill us-
ReplyDeleteWell, come to think of it, I hate big, bulky coats that get in my way everytime I move, too. There used to not be any options, but now there are. Last year I bought DH a windbreaker made of some kind of material that really is windproof. The lining is flannel. It does the job and is not bulky at all. I steal it and wear it every chance I get. ;) I got it at Ross but of course, you have to buy them in July or August when winter coats are the last thing on your mind.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I realize I live in Hawaii and so we don't really "get" weather, but I do not understand the not wanting to be warm and comfy! Or do your kids not feel the cold? Is that what it is?
ReplyDeleteSend them out the door WITHOUT warm clothes five minutes before you want them to put their jackets on. I think kids just really don't believe it's cold when it's obviously not cold in the house. Once they get a feel for the weather, they'll (hopefully) come back in begging for something warm to wear.
ReplyDeleteLeslie- I have no idea. It's a desert thing. I posted about it on my FB and all my friends in town said they had the same drama. Come to think of it, growing up in Phoenix, I never owned a coat at all during high school, and yes, it does occasionally get cold.
ReplyDeleteI just was telling my neighbor that before 6 months ago I would have to yell maybe once every 2 weeks. Now I am screaming several times a day at them to listen and stop goofing around and wrestling with each other while I am trying to get them ready. My blood pressure can go from 0 to 300 within 5 minutes of picking them up from preschool. They turn 5 in 2 weeks.
ReplyDeleteThe noise level drives me crazy.
We live in Scottsdale AZ, and this freakishly cold weather brings back "fond" memories of my years in Chicago. Back in the dark ages when I started my career, women were required to wear dresses or skirts to work -- even at minus-85 wind-chill factor which it once was. So, in defense, we'd wear pants under our skirts (at the time, they were of the "mini" variety), but immediately removed them in the ladies room before venturing into our offices. That, combined with fur hat, muffler, heavy coat, gloves or mittens, boots, shoe bag, purse, briefcase made for quite a load.
ReplyDeleteAnon - gosh I remember doing that in high school. I want to Catholic school on the East coast and girls had to wear dresses or skirts (definitely NOT mini's) but they couldn't be ankle length either. I would wear jeans under my skirt in the winter. I had to walk about a mile to school and there was no way I was walking in a skirt when it was in the single digits. Wow...I had forgotten about that.
ReplyDeleteI used to remove all my gloves, hats, scarves, etc when I got near school so no one would see them (it was a one hour walk and I live in Canada...so ya, i wore it for the long part)
ReplyDeleteFunny thing is that now as an adult I happily pile the layers on