Shawn and the girls are having a great time in Red Bluff hanging out at The Ranch and the Town House. (The Town House is just their house that they own in town as opposed to the house that is actually on The Ranch.)

SuperChic has been out riding the quad in the backyard obstacle course. Apparently she is a natural and Shawn’s Uncle has said that she should have her own. I see a big item on her birthday and Christmas wish list this year.

Rapunzel has been having a blast. She caught her first fish the other day. Since that one fish she has taken off on her own with Shawn’s pole and gone fishing quite a few times. She doesn’t seem to mind pulling the fish off the hook.

While they have been gone I have been hanging out with my friend S and her little girl C. Tomorrow we are taking Bug and her little girl to the free movie at 10am . Tonight we went to Chuck E Cheese’s. Bug had a great time and Brenda was able to get some work done. Bug earned her night out with a new friend. The poor girl had no one to play with for 8 hours yesterday while we cleaned my house.

The house is not done, but it is so much better. I have one box to actually sort and put away in the living room, two boxes of school supplies to find a home for, and my knitting/sewing materials and supplies to put away and the living room will be clean.

Then I can rip up the carpet in front of the piano and put down the tile that we did in the rest of the living room.

I have three bins for shoes in the hallway. A green one for the shoes that Shawn and I wear frequently. Like our slippers, sandals, and sneakers. A pink one for all of SuperChic’s shoes except for her dress-up shoes. And a blue one for Rapunzel’s shoes.

Keeping the girls shoes in their bedrooms was a constant battle of never having a pair. One was almost always lost under the bed while the other was in a closet, in the dining room, in the bathroom, or in my room. Of course, we could never find more than one shoe at a time and then we never new if it was the mate or the same one over and over again. The hallway seemed like a central location where shoes got piled, I’m using that and trying to keep it contained. We’ll see how it goes once they come home.

I bought a new plastic tablecloth at Target. It was on clearance for less than $3. I don’t normally do tablecloths, especially the plastic ones, but I had to do something. Crumbs and other crap was always falling between the spaces in the table. Add to that the fact that the varnish is flaking up and you have one big messy table and floor.

I still have to finish putting away things that are on the buffet, but a good portion of it was put away too. My sewing/knitting totes are still in the dining-room. It was a central place to stack them so that I can sit down and sort through them. Having my material in with my yarn is not very practical at all.

I have a stack of DVD’s to put away; stacks of books on my coffee table; and about half a counters worth of groceries to deal with (cake mixes, flour, some canned goods); and of course more laundry to do.

My bedroom still looks like the living-room did on Monday, but I’l get there. Having the rest of the house under control feels so much better. Maybe having my house under control will help me to feel more in control myself.

I’m going to make reward* charts for me and the girls, I don’t get a sticker unless I do my chores just like them. At the end of the day we will all go over the list and see what chores were completed. That way they can see that if I didn’t do something I was supposed to that I don’t get a sticker either.

Accountability is going to play a big part in keeping the house clean. I know that I can’t maintain everything on my own and that they are going to have to help me. I’m not going to expect them to do all the dishes, but if SuperChic sets/clears the table, I will wash and Rapunzel can put away. Rapunzel doesn’t mind switching the loads between the washer/dryer/couch, then I fold and we can all put things away.

I’m crossing my fingers that this will work.

Shawn and I will discuss what type of rewards we can earn with the girls when they get home. That way we can discuss what’s reasonable as a reward and as a length of time.

It’s nearly four in the morning. I almost wrote mourning. I guess that’s how my body feels. It’s mourning the loss of a regular nights sleep.

SuperChic started being really grouchy Tuesday evening, the 12th. By about 2am she had a fever. It’s made itself a pretty constant 103 degree companion. Along with a cough. At least shes not vomiting.

Today she went to the doctor. They listened to her breathe, checked her temperature (102.1), ears, eyes, nose, and checked her O2 levels and pulse. Everything but her temp and O2 levels were fine.

What is with us and low O2 levels lately? Hers were low enough that I have to take her for a chest x-ray tomorrow. No, I don’t know what they were, I forgot to ask. I was trying to keep her from moaning in pain, and making sure I knew what meds she was going to be on. (Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and cough syrup).

The poor thing hasn’t been able to move more than a few inches without moaning, except when she actually takes the Tylenol and such, then she runs around the house and wants to play in the sprinklers. Either way, I’m not getting much sleep.

It’s worse than when she was a baby. Then she at least slept for four hours in a row. Now, I’m lucky if I get 20 minutes before she needs her water, requires sitting up and reaching; a tissue, requires rolling over since the box is between us ion the bed, or she has to go to the bathroom, which means I have to flip the light swiutdh ths=at is about eight inches from the top of her head.

Have I mentioned that she’ll wake up at 2am and want to play with kittens. Yeah, and their on my bed, sleeping. So even if she’s feeling better I still don;t get any sleep.

I really thought that these days were behind me. I checked the manual and sleepless nights were supposed to end years ago. Apparently a new edition was issued and I wasn’t on the mailing list. Go figure.

They really need to update their mailing list every once in a while, you know. It covered a lot of the baby and toddler stuff, it even mentions things about teenagers, in general. It does not however mention tweenagers, and they are so much worse. Mood swings, acne, body odor, long showers, back talk, and interest in the opposite sex. Oh yes, I did go there.

I thought I had at least a few more years until Rapunzel would start to be boy crazy, and in a way she isn’t, and in another way she is. She’s “dating” I, a guy she’s known since third grade. He’s a great kid, really. He gets good grades, and is a nerd/geek whatever they call them. They even danced together at the winter dance, when they found out that they liked each other. I can handle that as long as they aren’t interested in anything else. Rapunzel still thinks that she won’t ever kiss a guy besides her Daddy. I hope to keep it that way for a while longer. Though if you want to see her blush ask her how I is doing.

My next complaint about the manual is that it doesn’t break down personality types. I never would have imagined that I would end up with a diva princess. I know that she’s had her own ideas about what she liked and didn’t like from about two years old, but I never expected it to erupt into fits of, “I’m NOT wearing that!!!” and stomping out of the room at seven. She refuses to wear pants, even if it’s 40 degrees outside. She can only wear her hair in a ponytail on certain days, she even coordinates what kind of clothes she’s going to wear with her friends. Heaven forbid that what she wants, no NEEDS, to wear isn’t clean.

The melt downs are so horrible that I have given in. I am the parent who lets their child go out in the rain in shorts and flip-flops with a heavy coat. I am the parent that cringes when the child appears dressed for school with her hair “done;” and still lets them out the door and into the car where I willing drive them to school and subject others to the horror that is SuperChic’s fashion sense, but at least I’m not being yelled at.

At least they don’t hate me, yet. Though I ‘m sure some other parents might. I’m the one the kids say, “but HER mom lets her do it.” Yeah, you know the one.

It’s me.