Whatever happened to??

 Okay, so the hubby and I have been trying to catch up on the movies that we wanted to see in the theather and are now coming out onto DvD and yet again, the typical trend is still happening. I will now ask..Whatever happened to movies under two hours long? It seems like nowadays everyone wants the epic movie of the season...I blame James Cameron for all of this since he's the one that pretty much started this trend. Mind you, a lot of the movies we've watched recently that were long were good but still..I miss the days of being able to sit down and watch a movie and still have it be kinda the same time of day as when you started the movie.

A couple of summers ago I took my oldest to see "Harry Potter". We left in the morning and with travel time, previews, grocery shopping after the movie and travel time back home by the time we got home it was pretty much dinner time. The entire day was spent at the movies pretty much.

It seems like every movie thats based off of a book now just wants to try and throw in every single detail as they can from the book to make the movie last longer..I also remember back in the day when they didn't do that and they would sometimes leave out chapter upon chapter of storyline in order to keep the movie at a decent length..Seriously, nowadays you have to go to a movie and prepare for sitting down for nearly three hours with a ton of food and drinks that will last you for the nearly three hour movie..Oh and you have to hope that you don't have to pee in the middle of the movie either..I remember when I saw "The two towers" in the theather..that movie was long and by the end I really, REALLY had to pee. I went running straight to the bathroom the second the credits rolled because I didn't wanna get up in the middle of the movie and possibly miss something.

Seriously, movie producers- STOP making long movies just because so you can be part of the 'cool crowd'. I don't wanna waste an entire portion of my day watching a movie!! Oh, and also stop rebooting everything..come up with some orginal ideas and leave my childhood movies alone..

Reading is fun..

  So, my oldest is coming into town this weekend and long story, she has an issue with reading. As in she doesn't wanna do it. I've sent her books in the past and even given her a deal that if she reads a certain amount of books in a year and gave me a paragraph about the book that I would personally get her an IPad..but nope, no effort there. She's even telling her Daddy that she won't even read for own Mom let alone her Stepmom...so yeah, I have numerous books sitting here waiting for her..She may not like me much by the end of vaca because there is going to be a half an hour of reading a time a day..either before bed or sometime in the afternoon.

I remember myself going through a phase of not wanting to read and my Mom snapped me out of it and once I learned to love it...well, that was it. I even finished my Senior year book project about a month before everyone else in class and while everyone else was reading their books in class I was doing my Math or History homework. I actually got into trouble once because I was caught with a math book during reading time in English- I handed over my journal and once my teacher found out I was done and not lying about the fact I was done..well then, she didn't care anymore..

If there's one thing I hope to get through to this child over the summer is that reading can be fun and it can be an escape. The IPad is a wonderful tool for reading especially hence why I will buy her one once she completes her project of a certain number of books. Seeing as how her Dad is a writter it just doesn't add up that she doesn't like to read or write...Its maddening to me to say the least. Each one of the girls will have their own little set of goals for six weeks and I can tell you now that her biggest thing to overcome right now is this reading/writing thing..If its not nipped now she'll end up having a ton more issues in High school which I know is coming. I still see her as a little girl and now she's pretty much a teenager..oh, how kids grow up and quickly at that.

For a certain point in time in High school I was borrowing my Mom's sci-fi books. It started out with "Jurrassic park" and grew from there and even on certain days I'd come home and find a new book on my bed and that was always exciting for me because it was something new to read. I really hope that one day my oldest can get that type of joy outta books..but, well..she's not here until this weekend so we'll see if I can get through to her.

What gives?

  Okay, so we all know parenting is hard and sometimes you have to make your best judgement but my question here today is..What gives any parent or even an adult for that matter to question your parenting choices? This is nothing new and I think every parent goes through this- I know my Mom wrestled with this a lot especially with other Mother's. Sure, everyone will LOVE to give you input and how to handle your own child but at the end of the day it is your child. I may hand out advice to a parent whose looking for it(if its not asked for its rude by the way) but I also make sure I tell them to use their best judgement and their own instincts when dealing with the situation. Thats really what it comes down to at the end of the day anyways..How the parents make the judgements and not you. Mind you, its also especially rude and outta line when a non-parent tells you how to run your household. I think its cute when single/unmarried women even men play the 'if I was a parent card'..Seriously, this is sarcasm here...but you are talking about an pretend child and playing the what 'if' game. Once upon a time, I had a nice glossy view of parenthood back when we would only get our oldest for a few weekends here and there and I didn't have our youngest. Yeah, that was pretty easy compared to actually giving birth to the kid. Parenting gets messy and it does involved a lot of poop(literally and not so literally) that you kinda don't figure out is there until you have your child..

 Anyways, we as parents need to well, do our job as we see fit. I think in general we as Mother's as programmed to feel guilt over certain things even if we shouldn't feel guilty about them. Its hard enough to deal with those things without another Mother or even non-Mother coming down on you for everything little thing. Notice: I am saying Mothers a lot here because in my experience its only the women who cross that line into getting the middle finger because they want to just butt in or look down on you because you don't do things they way they do..Dad's on the other hand really don't do that. I've never met a Father who acted like certain women do. As a Mother you have your own standards and your own rules to live by..Now, I've gotten slack for not volunteering at my daugthers school and you know what? I'm taking the steps my Mom took which was she never took part in the school stuff because she didn't want to deal with other Mother's who would judge and point a finger at her and because well, what kid wants their child at school with them? I like to give her that space at school to explore without me..She needs it and I can't always be around to protect her but she does know she can talk to me about stuff that goes on at school.

 Parents do know their own children and know how to make the choices that are best for them..Sometimes, I think women just need to close their mouths more when it comes down to things and a lot of times when women open up their mouths its partly out of jealousy or partly out of lack of understanding of a certain situation. The whole point of parenting is to kind of adopt your own way..Sure, you'll make mistakes but thats part of the process...Urgh, and I really love those who don't show their mistakes..As I said in another blog...We all have poop somewhere and I'm sure it stinks. If you don't point out mine than I won't point out yours. No one is perfect and everyone will mess up..deal..thats just how life is. Also, never assume..that gets on my nerves as well..even if you think you know everything about something I highly bet you don't. If anything Mother to Mother and women to women sometimes end up acting like children to each other and bullies to each other..So what? We all do things differently..thats the point of parenting. If you don't like it..that doesn't mean you have to say it and myself as a Mother..Well, I live up to MY standards as a Mother not YOUR standards as a Mother. In short, women be nicer to each other be nicer to Mother to Mother. We all know this job is hard at times and does suck at times so pratice the compassion that you try to teach your kids.

And so it begins..

 Yes, yesterday my youngest had her last day of school and so begins summer vacation! Now typically, everyone else in the USA is going outside and playing and taking their kids to the zoo's and whatnot while here..Its basically our winter. It gets too hot to let the kiddos play outside so you have to keep them occupied inside at least until sundown then they can at least go play at the park or do whatever they want outside. Of course, our monsoon season also starts in June and those storms typically hit mid-afternoon to evening so even on certain days your stuck inside all day while you watch a huge storm rolling in. We are at least kind of prepared this year. We're going to have both girls this summer and they both need a little help here and there for school in certain area's so I'm going to set them both up with goals for over the summer. I haven't done that yet but this is only day one of summer break. Come Monday though I'm gonna make a little chart thing for our oldest. The youngest already has her goal chart for the potty so we're a little head of the game there.

 Oh and of course, today for my 'welcome to summer vacation' from my youngest she ended up having a pee accident on the couch. Mind you, she's been basically potty trained for a few months now but nope, just today on the first day of summer vacation she ends up not telling anyone she has to go potty and just wets herself..Happy Summer Vacation!

The only bonus to our summer vacations in our area is that its year round school which is only about two months off which I can deal with..As I said earlier with our state and its weather becomes pretty hard to keep the kiddos occupied inside after a while so its nice that its a shorter break. Typically by the time I start hearing 'I'm bored' I'm already shipping her back onto the school bus for the first day back at school. I am at least hoping to get some chance to sleep in over these two months and seal the deal on the potty issues with the youngest once and for all aka get her outta the diaper even at night..*Crosses fingers*. Here's to keep my sanity for two months with two kiddos nit picking at each other..Cheers!

Being a woman should come with a warning.

So, my oldest(step daughter) is going to be 13 this Septemeber. That alone is hard to believe since I've known her since she was a tiny baby. I also have a niece who is also pushing 13 and it got me to thinking that being a woman should come to with a warning label..The second you hit teenager it all changes..drastically and you are looked at as a woman for your choices..even the tiniest choice is a big deal and you start to see the world for what it is and how..well, there's double standards out there for boys vs girls. Its just in there and part of society and it never goes away.

You get judged if you do and you get judged if you don't- if you decide to go one path you get called names and if you decide to go another path someone else will have a problem with it..Of course, if your a teen and on birth control as a woman people assume you are having sex and pretty much look over the other reasons that girls take birth control..Either which way you can't win with EVERYONE at the end of the day. I wish I could make society not judge women under such a harsh microscope so that my girls won't feel that pressure but it won't happen..not in my time at least. Everything from weight to job, to kids, to how you dress, cooking or lack of cooking, being crafty or not being crafty...we as women are put under a microscope. No one can live up to everything or even keep everyone happy- I hope all the teen girls in my life understand this..You aren't a failure if you don't get married by a certain age either..you aren't a failure if you never get married and never have kids either.. I know from my experience I was the last girl in my family to marry and I married later than both my sisters did BUT I made my choice wisely.

As women we shouldn't be worried about what others think..only what we think and how we see ourselves..You can't keep everyone happy ALL the time. To the young girls in my life, you have a tough road ahead of you and even a society that will judge you for every choice you make. I encourage you to pick your own path and don't feel guilty for picking your path..Its your path and not theirs at the end of the day. The double standards will always be there but don't listen to them. It doesn't matter at the end of the day and don't feel like you have to conform...ever.