Having a teenaged daughter is going to be the death of me. I will be the first to admit that I was by no means a prefect daughter, but I don't remember giving my mom this much attitude when I was 13. My parents set the rules and I followed them. No dating until I was 16. & then I didn't even have my first real date until I was almost 17, 5 days shy of my 17th birthday. Granted I should have dated more then cuz that first real date, I ended up marrying him. No make-up until I was 16. I didn't even sneak make up to school to put it on there. My mom didn't wear much make up, so I never really had that "hey you need to wear make up every day to be beautiful" atmostphere around me as a child. My mom was beautiful without any make up on and she was told that daily by my dad, so I grew up thinking that I didn't need it either. I still don't wear much make up now. My make up supplies consist of eye shadow, mascara, 1 eye liner pencil and some lip gloss. That's it. That's all it's ever been. So tell me why does my 13 year old think she needs to wear make up? Yeah she has some acne, she inherited her dad's skin type- poor baby! But wearing make up will only make it worse.

She has also discovered boys. All of her girlfriends have boyfriends. One would think that at 13 it would be harmless to allow her to have a boyfriend. It's not like they are going to go out on a date or anything, just stolen kisses inbetween classes and holding hands, right? At 13, I didn't know anyone my age that had already had sex. My daughter knows a girl in her grade that has had sex already! What is this world coming too?! Some of my girlfriends started having sex our freshman year. That is too young. At the time we all thought we were pretty grown up, after all we were freshman. But now that my baby girl is getting close to that age, no. I will transfer her to an all girls school if I have too. Maybe I'll send her to live with her Uncle David for a while. He can straighten her out for me.

She needs to realize that I am telling her what she can and cannot do is for her own good, not just because I am mean. Sometimes I do feel like a hypocrite. She wants to wear some of the same things that I wear. How can I tell her she can't have a thong when I am standing there in mine telling her no? I didn't get my first thong until after I had her. I was 20, she's 13. Big difference! At 13 I wore whatever my mom bought me. I had no real choice in the matter. Atleast she gets to pick out her own undercloths. Okay, enough about my daughters underware.

With 4 years between my girls, I will have to repeat this all over again, 4 years from now. With Beanie though, it might be sooner. She's a girly-girl where Gomer is more of a tomboy. UGhh. Why didn't I have all boys?!

Now it's time for a recap of my weekend.

Friday around 2 I left work (early) to go home to get Gomer & meet Giggles & Blondie. My kids' gma was picking up the younger 2 for the night and my brother was picking up the dog. We were to be in Frankenmuth by 6, it's just over a 2 hour drive (without a detour) and we left my place at quarter to 4. We had decided just to shoot across M46 to Saginaw and then take I75 South to Birch Run. Our hotel was in Birch Run and the girls were staying there while Giggles & I went to my work CSR dinner. Somewhere along M46 we hit a detour and we finally arrived at the hotel about 6:15. We made it to the dinner at 6:45, we missed most of the cocktail hour but made it for the dinner. So I only ended up with 2 free drinks instead of more, but that's good cuz I was driving. After the dinner portion we played a game and our table won. We got $15 gift cards to Bath & Body (which we both have used already). After the dinner and games were over, we headed back to the hotel. Gomer only called me once, I was impressed.

Saturday morning we hit the hotels free breakfast and then head to the Outlet Meca, aka Birch Run Prime Outlet. We shopped from 9:30 til almost 4. Let me tell you, Gomer does not understand the concept of clearance shopping. Most everything she wanted me to buy her was full price. I went there to shop for christmas & birthday presents, not to buy her stuff that I could buy at the mall in GR for the same price. I spent less then $10 on myself and got 2 new shirts and a bunch of lotions from Bath & Body. Lil'Man got a new shirt & a pair of camo pants from Aeropostale, and 2 new shirts from Children's Place. Beanie got a new denium skirt, and a shirt or 2 from the Children's Place and then last night I picked her up another shirt from Meijer. I also got her some stuff from Claires, got me some stuff at Claires too.

Saturday night, after we finally got home, I was to meet up with Hot Momma, it was to be girls night out. I had already picked up the kids from gma's and still had to take Giggles & Blondie home but pick up her little boy on the way to their house & still had to pick up the dog before GNO was to start. GNO was to start around 7, it started around 9 almost 9:30 & I still hadn't picked up the dog. She stayed another night at my brother's. I was the DD for the night, which I am perfectly fine with- I can have fun sober & it's cheaper that way too. We did a little bar hopping, visited 4 local watering holes (local can still mean in 4 different cities right?) We started in White Cloud and then headed south from there to Casnovia, hitting both towns inbetween. We closed the bar at Cas. As we are pulling out of the parking lot, both Giggles & Hot Momma exclaim that they should have used the bathroom before we left. We took back roads, so there are all kinds of apple orchards along the way. I told them I would pull over from them but let me get a little bit down the road to a more secluded area. They got all excited. I can't believe that a 31 year old & a 35 year old had never peed in an orchard before, or cooned apples either. All the way home after that they kept saying how they couldn't wait to get home to tell their husbands that they peed in an orchard and stole apples. They were too funny! Once back in the vehicle and back on the road, we drove past a dirt road that I just had to point out that I had sex on that road while he was driving and the car was still moving(that is not an easy thing to do in a coupe that is also a stick shift!). So that started a whole new topic of strange places that we had had sex in. Hot Momma got all sappy on us on the way home about her hubby, told us all of the hard times they had gone throught (I would not have made it through what they have!) and how great he is. (on a side note, I have seen some of the stuff he does that she doesn't know about and I really hope he changes and becomes more of the great guy she believes him to be, what I will not tell her what I know cuz I've been in that place before and sometimes it is just better to not know.)

Sunday the kids & I went to church and then picked up the dog. She was so happy to see us. She was running all over the yard and then ran right into my niece, knocking her to the ground. She broke her fall on the pavement with her elbow, the one she broke last winter. Luckily she was just a bit sore and not broken!

Sunday afternoon we cleaned up the house, stopped to get a birthday present and then went back to my brother's. From there we went to GR to Chuck E Cheese for a birthday party for a 5 year old girl that isn't my niece but still calls me her Aunt. Instead of the 8 of us going in 2 different vehicles, we all just climbed into my Durango to go to the party. After the party we stopped at Meijer and tried to stop at a home improvement store but they were already closed. We got home with some time to spare before Desperate Housewives came on.

Oh, while at Meijer (niece needed snow boots) I picked up some conditioner, or at least I thought it was conditioner. I go to use it this morning after washing my hair, only to discover I was washing my hair again! What a way to start my morning. I am now completely out of conditioner & will need to get some tonight. So now my hair smells like a Mixed Berry Smoothie with a twist of lime.

So that was my busy weeekend, I could have written it better but I'm not feeling all that creative right now.

When did candy bars get so pricey? Granted it's been a while since my last purchase,but seriously. 85 cents for a regular sized candy bar? Seriously. I was expecting somewhere between 50 & 60 cents, but 85 cents? Seriously! Too me, that alone is enough reason to not purchase any more. I do believe that I was overcharged and the sales woman was overcharging everyone to support her crack habit. Or else she figured anyone coming into the gas station at 1am buying beer & a candy bar needs to be overcharged. I didn't buy the beer, one of my gf's did. It was Girls Night Out.

I will fill in more on that later. It involves peeing in an apple orchard and ending up with a truck full of apples.

Right now I have to get my kids out the door for a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. I love playing Skeet Ball so secretly I'm trying to get them out the door so I can play!

My morning was no where near as productive as yours was Jenn. Before I left the house all I did (outside of the normal routine) was measure my kids. Beanie is 52", she gets to ride the big rides now! Lil'Man is 4'11.5" (don't forget the all important 1/2 inch there!). Gomer is 5'7". SAME HEIGHT AS I AM! How did that happen? She will soon be taller, she is no where near being done growing, she needs to grow into her big ol' feet yet. I also measured myself. I have a wingspan that is the same as my height and my inseam is 31". Guess I am mostly legs & arms! And no, the wingspan does not include the inches up and down the twins, I just measured across them.

Last night was the sports banquet for Beanie & Lil'Man. In years past they have always gotten trophies so Lil'Man was really looking forward to the banquet. He was all "Mom, by the end of tonight I will have 4 trophies!" Beanie was looking forward to her first one too. Well, they did get disappointed. Atleast Lil'Man was visibly disappointed. The football players got footballs with the name of the league and the year printed on it. The Cheerleaders got a cheap plastic megaphone (50cents each through bulk order) with a sticker slapped on the side with the name of the team and the year. Beanie's is already cracked. Lil'Man had a small melt down after the banquet. I had to take him by the arm and drag him out of the hall. It wasn't pretty. He really needs to learn how to deal with disappointment in a more managable way. Keeping mad and exploding, hitting people or things is the way his Dad deals with stuff so he thinks he can too. This year has been better. This has only been the second time he has exploded so far this school year. But picture this, I'm wearing a denium skirt, knee high black boots pulling my almost 11 year old son by the arm- he is fighting me the entire way- my feet are slipping and sliding on the tile floor. What fun! He was just overloaded. Too much sugar, too much excitement, too many people and to top it all off too disappointed about not getting a real trophy. & I can't get him to buy into the whole trophy football thing. I told him I could get him a tee and we could display it with his other trophies. I even offered to have it bronzed so it would look like a trophy. No luck. Maybe I'll just go to the trophy store myself & get him one. Or would that be just encouraging his bad behavior when he is disappointed?

Ok Jenn, I'm glad you and your dh are doing it but as long as I'm not getting any I really don't wanna hear that you've been gettin some! Just call me jealous or green with envy! Cuz I don't care what people say- batteries are just not the same!