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Peaces Of Me++++
++++ The miles just keep rollin as the people leave there way to say hello I've heard this life is overrated but I hope that it gets better as we go |
April 29/01 Brent couldn't go to Football practice, he is in extreme pain. I think he hurt his shoulder when he got drunk at Stacy's party. He thinks I am crazy for thinking this but he doesn't remember hurting it anywhere else. Well all our girls made the select softball teams. Boy, are we going to be busy!!! The tryouts for Novice are kind of strained. It appears that one coach will have first pick of the girls and Big Al will take the rest of whoever wants to play. This will make the one team the top team and the other the leftover team. I don't want April on Chantal's team, they already know this so I don't really care what team April is on. The Select tryout for Novice are finished and April is on Big Al's team. One of the girls was a real poor sport about not being on the first team so we got off to a rough start. My mom was here for a while. The kids keep cutting out of the room and making themselves occupied elsewhere! Grammie wants Nadia to spend a weekend with her but I guess she is not realizing anything like that will not be happening at Nadia's age and especially now that she has a boyfriend. James and I went to bed early, around 9, just cos we could and snuggled. We were abruptly awakened at around 10:30 with Nadia and Stace fighting for the use of their bedroom computer. I’m keeping out of this!!! Now I can't sleep! Annie at 4/30/2001 04:59:00 a.m. About Stacy's party, 2 girls got hammered. I'm glad they were at my house cos the one girl was offering b/j's, she was that drunk, & I really don't think she's like that (I hope). Nadia, this morning, in front of everyone told her that she should watch what she offers guys because 1 of them 1 day will take her up on it. She really lectured her and I am glad that Nadia did, so it just didn't seem that the negative stuff was only coming from an adult. Nadia really helped the situation and gave a teenage view of what she didn't like seeing. Only 1 guy stayed over, Brent's friend Adam and he passed right out. Brent was drunk too. But I sure felt responsible & the 1 girl, I kept her company while she puked and checked on her all night. I had to drag her out of the bathroom by her feet, she was basically hugging the toilet and I made a bed for her outside the bathroom in the hall. Brent hurt his arm, I am sure that it is because he slept in 1 position all night because he was so drunk. One girl Erin phoned today and thanked me for staying with her in the night while she was throwing up. She said that she learned a lesson about drinking, I hope so! Hi Joanie, There was a party at our house. It was suppose to be at a guys house with no parents in an apartment but I intervened and told them to have it at my house. Stacy told me that one girl was bent on getting drunk so I thought that I could control the situation. The scary part is that if someone will get that out of control when there are parents there, when her friends and the parents are telling her no more drinks, and she still tries, what would she be like unsupervised. Unfortunately, we can't afford to take that risk, we thought we could handle it. It was sad to hear the things she kept repeating. Like Nadia told her the next morning, "Be careful what you offer guys when you are drinking, they might take you up on it." Most of the kids did great I was impressed. Some got pretty drunk and that was still understandable, one even phoned the next morning thanking me for taking care of her and saying that she learned her lesson, not to drink so much. One guy (Jake) showed a lot of responsibility, trying to get her to stop, getting upset with what she was saying and doing, but all she said was that she thought he was mad at her over & over again. I honestly thought I could protect girls from getting like that. I guess I was wrong. I really don't know what to think. Nadia, Stacy and I went to see Matchbox Twenty and Lifehouse in Hamilton, they invited me, they know they are both my favourite current groups right now. It was so much fun to be with them. We had to take the GO Train and James was kind enough to pick us up after. I phoned him to tell him the concert was over and he said to look over at the Limo's and there he was, the little black sports cat with all the white limo's. God, he is good to me. What a sweetie. They had the draft tonight for the girl's sophomore. They picked Nadia's friend as one of the catchers. This will be the first time Nadia will have her on the same team! Annie at 4/29/2001 04:16:00 a.m. James & I went out to dinner for my birthday at The Keg. My mind, however, was on the kids that were coming to my house. Stacy's party and I sure hope I am doing the right thing. When the kids were first here I asked them to take care by not going outside if they are drinking. I stressed how dangerous it could be not just today but any time you drink to stay in the one place not roam the streets. Joe had Monica for the day and he dropped the kids off and had a visit just as some people came with the booze. Chet, who co-ops at the elementary school did not want to come in with the booze while the younger kids were around, smart boy. Joe and Shelley came for a visit. Unfortunately Melissa would not stay down stairs even though we asked her to, she wanted to go to the store but thank goodness no one would let her. Melissa is obviously interested in Jake and was very vocal about it. He looked uncomfortable about the whole situation, even asked me if I was sure I wanted the booze in my house. I just want to protect these kids from learning the wrong way. I don't want any harm to come to them. I will drive them home, do whatever it takes to keep them safe. I know they are going to do stuff like that anyway. We all did in our day. This is my chance at trying to protect them and hopefully teach them how to protect themsleves while they insist on learning about life the hard way. Stacy spent a lot of time with Jessie Black, he has a friendly attitude, nice smile, but Stacy, well they looked like a couple but he is going out with Sarah who wasn't there. Brent came late to the party and within about half an hour Adam and him were plastered. It is obvious that Brent has learned nothing about drinking. He kept repeating my name because he said there was two of me and he asked me where our bathroom was, in his own home. Brent ran out the front door just in time to throw up after he said Jodi puked in our bathroom. Anyway when he passed out Brent slept in the same awkward position, I know because I kept checking on all the kids that drank too much. I had to drag Jody out of the bathroom, make a bed for her in the hall by the bathroom and I spent most of my night looking out for her. I was glad Sandra was watching her in the party too. Adam would pass out and then bolt so that I was concerned that he was going to run into a wall or a pole. Melissa was trying to get his pants off when I came down stairs! I worried myself sick all night about them. This is a huge responsibility I am taking on here and Brent kind of showed me that even though I tried to show him not to drink fast last summer he did it anyway. Do kids want to just get drunk or do they want to feel good and take care of themselves? Email to Joanie Joanie we have been having trouble with our Internet so I couldn't contact you when I needed to. I will be in Hamilton this weekend but we have baseball tryouts on Sat. & Sunday so I have to leave after tryouts the one day and be back for tryouts the next day! Unfortunately, there are no rooms available in Hamilton, some kind of convention going on so it looks like go train there & go train right after the concert. Figures eh? My one weekend away cut short! I still haven't figured out all the details yet. Talk to you soon. ----------------- email from Joanie hey Annie! this is the weekend that is my nieces shower (Shawna & Holly) they both had babies in march so early Sunday morning were heading to Bethany for the day. We’ll get something arranged on day! i tried to call Laurie a couple times but she's hard to reach. Have a great weekend & good luck!!!!talk to ya soon lub Joanie ----------------- email from Joanie very cute. boy when it come to teen problems ya got your hands full ah! but you know your kids are good, I really think it helps when mom stays home & you have support from dad right!!! Carrie has moved to Burlington with Mia & Nathan...I sure hope things work out for them, don't know if i told you that she is expecting again...poor kid, oh well she's been through alot in life & I guess she has lots of bumps ahead...don't we all well take care hope to see ya soon lub Joanie -------------- Wow, pregnant with her second child and she is only one year older than Nadia. Her teenage years have been interupted. Growing up too fast can suck the fun where fun should be inserted. Annie at 4/28/2001 04:13:00 a.m. I made up a list of rules for drinking, actually it is a joke but this way I might be able to break the ice with the kids and tell them how I feel about booze. You know, I know Nadia told me this already but sometimes it takes things a while to sink in. I am just so sick about Nadia not getting the College Scholarship. It rightfully was hers and then Kay moves right back home. She had a home all along. She wouldn't have qualified if she hadn't lied about being homeless. It should have gone to the one with the highest marks, Nadia. This was just Kay's way of beating the system. I didn't tell Nadia but I phoned the College and the High School the other day and they blamed each other but boy did I complain. I ended up getting so mad that I fought with the school. My Nadia was cheated out of her education. Nadia has always known that all my kids have to pay for their own education, she deserved the scholarship earned it and was cheated right out of it. This sucks big time. I tracked down Speckie, she lives so close to me but we have lost contact over the years. She wants me to see show called Dark Angel, she says that the girl on there looks exactly like I did as a teenager, she said to really look at the eyes mouth and nose...well that covers the face doesn't it? But I pay more attention to what Speckie sees as she is an artist. So have been looking for when it is on but I only see short segments as James's flicks on by. Its kind of weird looking for someone to resemble me but as soon as I saw her I could see it. I never liked my mouth but people said it was nice because it was different. She is a different looking girl but I guess I was too now that I look back on my teenaged pictures. I never thought of myself as different, everyone at that age tries so hard to fit in and look the same. So I can't even figure out if it is a good thing to look at the Dark Angel or not because she doesn't smile all that much, but then either did I back then. Annie at 4/26/2001 11:29:00 p.m.
I am not having good sleeps lately, I am worried about the party and if I am doing the right thing. I feel like I have been given an opportunity to protect these girls from themselves. Everything I remember about growing up as a teen tells me that I can help Melissa get through this, hopefully with a hangover and her feeling like 'I won't do this again', I want her to have the learning experience but be safe at the same time. Do I have a right to do this? I am so tired of not being able to see up close with my contacts on. I have perfect vision close up normally but I can't see anything up close with the contacts so I went today to get monovision. She switched the dominant eye and already I can see better. I hope I can wear them this time. Wrestling Championship. Monica had a good tourney, should have got 3rd but somehow it got mixed up, but she was a good sport about it. The other kids in her division are huge like chunky fat and if they lay on her they got her. Monica is all muscle though and one match her coach wasn't there and she had part of her body out of the circle and they never called it. That is when they say she got pinned, her coach heard about it and apologized to her later. Monica was hyperventilating that is the only time I have noticed when she needs her puffer fro asthma. April made up a new icq under the name of Chrisy. When I asked why she said, "I'm mad at Scott but this way he thinks it's someone else and he won't be mad." I don't like this when people go on here under assumed names and try to trick someone. I made April stop pretending to be someone else right away but she can't remember the password to delete it from our computer. April has been on the Internet for 3 weeks and she is already getting herself into mischief! I am going to have to watch her closely. Annie at 4/26/2001 04:57:00 a.m. My birthday!!!!!!!!!!!! The only time I really inspect my face for the aging process is on my birthday. So here goes. In light of the fact that I had a terrible sleep last night worrying about Stacy's friend and if I am doing right by her, I might actually feel my age today. I am not so sure that the makeup is working for me. I have been wearing it in the last year but I have noticed that when I hot tub, I can almost see it slipping off my face, I have tried different foundations but I can still see them. If I can notice it on my face then it obviously isn't a natural look. My skin is still good so I won't wear it for a while; see how I feel about it. I should probably weigh a little more, I can see my skin needs a little plumpness behind it for me to look the way I remember. I can't help but think that the older you are the better you remember yourself looking! ICQ messenger Vanessa - what happened with the party the other nite? Annie - Nadia got to April before I had a chance to tell her not to say anything. I swear April has 3 extra parents in Nadia, Brent & Stacy & they are very strict with her! Vanessa - good to know they watch over her Annie - Yes but this would have been a good opportunity to see where April's head is at, you know what I mean? Vanessa - yes, I would be on pins and needles, wondering, and wondering she might be up to Annie - I think April is going to give me a run for my money. Luckily she is alot like James so James can figure her out. Vanessa - leave it up to Dad! nice day there yesterday? Annie - It was beautiful, really warm. Stacy is having a party with booze at my house on Friday. She is worried about her friend who is determined to drink and wants me to be there. She probably won't drink much but I found one of the guys are planning to stay overnight too. Jessie has a girlfriend but the girlfriend won't be there, which makes me feel better cos they are all just friends. Am I wrong for going along with this? Vanessa - Well, we have done this also. You know the kids are going to drink, we always felt it better to keep it in a semi-supervised place, rather than maybe have them god knows where doing god knows what. Annie - that’s what I think too Vanessa - Michael always stayed sober, to watch out for any trouble, he wasn't much of a drinker anyway Vanessa - too bad the weather is so shitty today! The kids pulled out all their summer clothes and played outside til 8pm, didn't eat dinner till then either, having too much fun! Annie - I have to drive to 2 different high schools this morning & do the hep B immunization shots this aft for the grd7's so I am off now. Brent went to football practice, they are at College until the ground gets dryer. He enjoyed the practices, he really likes these coaches. Jess C. was there too, which surprised me because I didn’t think he would have the time with soccer. It is too bad that there is not a place where I could ask people in confidence questions about teenagers and the peril they can place themselves in. I am so perplexed about what my daughter asked of me that I need to ask people what there opinion is. Out of the blue I phoned Suzy, who I looked up on Classmates.com, and asked her about her family life. She lives in Ajax. I remember that she had twin boys years earlier than I did so I asked the question. She said that she had the same dilemma. The kids congregated at her house and sometimes there was booze. She always insisted on being home for the parties and many a time there were kids that were too drunk. She cared for them, even showered the party pukers. She met one of the girls, now a pregnant woman in her mid twenties, and the woman thanked her for looking out for her when she was a teenager. She said that substantiated her belief that she had done the right thing for that group of kids. I am going to let the party happen. Annie at 4/25/2001 04:20:00 a.m. James has an Ottawa trip so he will miss my birthday. We will just have to celebrate it when he gets back. Brent was pretty mad about the football equipment. I returned his equipment from last year at registration and he was to get brand new stuff. When we got there the new equipment had been picked over and the stuff left was really bad. The returning players were supposed to get the good stuff. Drinking Dilemma Stacy is worried about one of her friends. Melissa is planning on getting very drunk for her birthday and they were having the party at a boys place. It is an apartment and it is worrying me sick. I don't want her friend to be somewhere, especially a guys house drunk and not knowing what she is doing, we all know what can happen to girls in that situation. Stacy says she is bent on getting drunk so if it is not at this guy's house it will be somewhere else - it is going to happen. Melissa is the one girl that talks about boys different than the rest of the girls. Other girls think someone is hot or they like a guy but Melissa longs for a boyfriend, say she is lonely for one, no one in particular, but the idea of a boyfriend, I guess. If I tell her parents that she is determined to get drunk, then it I will happen another time and I won't be told about it, so there will be no adult to protect her. I don't want to lose Stacy's ability to confide in her mother, it is rare and I treasure it. I don't want to lose it just because it is not what they should be doing when we all know that it something that some teenagers seem to have to go through. We figure if it is at my place she won't drink so much, I can control the situation better and I won't let her go outside or be alone with a guy where she could get herself into trouble. I am impressed that my daughter trusted me enough to take me into her confidence. She showed maturity in worrying about her friend and trust me not to blow it all up to everyone which would solve nothing and basically put what the kids are showing curiosity into hiding like we all grew up with. But she is really putting a lot of responsibility on to me. Annie at 4/24/2001 04:47:00 a.m. Football season We signed Brent up for football. At first it wasn't going to happen because I thought he had to go with the older guys and you should see the size of those M/F's. I’m standing behind one of them and I swear I come up to his belt. I notice the bantam sign so I went over and asked if Brent could still qualify for Bantam. Seems he is right at the age and weight restrictions. Nadia worked again in the smoke. I don't like her working at bingo. Later we LaSenzaed, bought her some Bras! All of a sudden Nadia is interested in nice underwear HMMMMM! Nadia and April got into it today. Big Fight. I am making April do chores for Nadia to work off some of the money she took, since there is no other way for her to pay back and Nadia is commanding her. I wish there was an easier way, I hate seeing how upset April is getting. Annie at 4/23/2001 04:35:00 a.m. Baseball tryouts for Squirt. A lot of good players are trying out. This is as new Select Division for Monica but the older girls that played with Monica a couple years ago are already close and they are very good, it is like they were never apart. Colleen asked about Holly's chances and I was very honest with her. There are two strong teams coming into one. James is trying to help Holly and they are giving her lots of chances but she doesn't seem to think on the bases, it should be instinct by now. I hope it works out but I don't think so. She did not progressing throughout last season like the other girls did. James and & I took Stacy to Geoff's and yes, Stacy did notice how long it took to get there. It was kind of funny, he told her that his house was a lot bigger than ours and when we were looking for it there were tons of big and huge houses and right in between them was a little house. I would never normally say anything about where people live but why did he brag? Warped sence of humour? She was really surprised. She phoned a couple of times, for why I don't know, I think that maybe she wanted to come home early, but when it was time we went to pick her up in town because he was driving. We pulled up to a gas station for gas and right beside us pulls up Geoff with Stacy so she got out of there and into our car, strange. She said that yes, he did kiss her, she didn't seem excited at all and in fact the trip home was uncomfortable, I think it was a let down for Stacy and I still believe that she is seeing him only so that guys at school won't ask her out.- and I don't think they have lately, that whole atmosphere is too uncomfortable for her (just like mommy but she handled it differently - I skipped school to keep away from them, she doesn't go out in the evenings) Nadia babysat for Carrie and Mark tonight. Annie at 4/22/2001 04:43:00 a.m. Monica went to the next town to wrestle. I talked to the coach about the weight issue in wrestling but they don't always weigh the kids so Monica doesn't have to worry every time. I keep trying to assure her that she is slim but she has it in her head that she is fat. ICQ message Vanessa, I am sending you a url message that I got from my daughter April. Big Smoke Party this Friday.at the Hilltop Hydro Field. Forward this to every1 on ur list She just turned 13 so she is allowed on icq now. The url message said to forward to everyone on her list and since I am on her list she forwarded it to me. Isn't that funny. If she asks to go out tonight I will let her so I can tell what kind of party a 'Smoke' party is to her!!!! I'll smell her later ICQ message the very first from James very sick dad GRANDPA - hi James just going t0 h0spital hi Annie dad ANNIE - Hope everything goes well. Is it the needle or chemo? GRANDPA - its chemo today and needle tomorrow Stacy went to Melissa's house and there was a lot of people there, guys and girls, yay, finally they are hanging out with the guys!!!!! When I went to pick her up there was two guys walking down the street towards Melissa's and when Stacy came up to the car she opened the car door and reached over real quick to turn off the music, like I was embarrassing her. What's the big deal so what if it is loud, it is their music too? Oh, I get it, that is their music, I am not suppose to like it. WELL I GOT NEWS FOR YOU... I listen to YOUR music every time you leave our house; I put on Much Music...I listen to EVERYTHING… As soon as you leave my van I CRANK up the volume and sometimes, when it is very dark I Wayne's World HEAD BANG. Yep! I even secretly DANCE, oh that would really bother you kids if you caught me doing that. Anyway back to reality, I asked if one of the guys was Jessie Black, because I have never seen him and she almost yelled, "Yes, that's Jessie, the guy you wouldn't let me go out with!" Touchy, touchy, Stacy, did I hit a nerve? I didn't remind her that it was him that went out with someone else so don't be mad at me, but oh well. He is going out with Sarah I. Nadia went to Tom Cats with Catrina and then out to the Food Court. Annie at 4/21/2001 04:38:00 a.m. Monica had wrestling meet after school. It is the first time I have seen the cross-country coach (he coaches wrestling, volleyball and lacrosse too!) since his hip surgery and he was hobbling a bit. He said it is hard to keep off of it as he keeps overdoing it. They had a weigh in there, they write your weight on the backside of the hand. Monica was so self-conscious of her weight when she found out she weighed more than her friends that she was trying to hide her hand from view. Monica doesn't look heavier, she is just all muscle and they say that muscle weighs more than fat, she is just very fit. The girls she wrestled were bigger looking that her but it is because she is muscle. Stacy contacted Jess C. to try to mend their friendship that got off track last January. He was not sure how to resume it too from some of the things that he said so I hope it works out. He is a good guy and things got pretty ugly in January. I am glad she took the first step. Stacy has matured a lot in the past four months, they both have. Annie at 4/20/2001 04:40:00 a.m. I talked to the vice principal about Amber and her supposed pregnancy. I thought it better to let the school know what was going on, there is so much gossip and the younger kids are the ones that are all excited about this gossip. She said that a lot of the stories about her are true, that there is no mother and the father doesn't know how to deal with her. She said she has personally seen her at the Downtown Food court at 11pm. on a school day. I told her the younger grades are talking about it and asking there parents a lot of questions on how she could be pregnant. Apparently she is a real toughie. Nadia had her baseball tryouts today but it was so cold that she wore pants that she had to buy instead of her uniform. You know it must be cold when she does that for the first time! Annie at 4/19/2001 02:41:00 a.m. We got new glasses for Stacy and sunglasses for $367. Drug Friends To Joanie - e-mail A while ago Stacy wanted to go to a friend's house but I pulled a heavy on her- it is my parental responsibility. This guy might be a nice guy, because hopefully Stacy wouldn't hang around with a jerk, but this guy has a history that has drugs in it. I know- lots of guys do it and try it but I have heard on many occasions from various sources during a considerable length of time that he deals it too. Just from thinking into my past of the people that I knew that dealt drugs even though they weren't close friends- they all had unfortunate hard luck things happen to them. There was John L. who we knew from my Pat's sister going out with him and us in the same bowling league. Dead execution style from his friend who owed him a lot of money from drugs. Remember Skip? He didn't involve us in his dealings, again the boyfriend of Dianne's younger sister- dead by hanging himself when he thought that all his contacts thought he snitched on him because the cops made it look that way. Then there was cops searching my friend's car, finding pot and charging the wrong person with possession of it. The boyfriend wouldn't fess up, let his girlfriend take the blame. I could go on and on and I probably will, when my memory serves me better. Anyway she assured me that they were friends and I do believe her but even though they are friends I am not making it convenient for her to see him. I don't want her associated with anyone who is involved with that aspect of drugs. In other words, if she wants to see him, she is on her own. She was actually going to go to his house anyway, but I told her if she can walk that far, past the high school, walking all by herself, then she really doesn't need a ride from me anymore, to and from school, and I meant it. She argued her case, while he could hear on the phone and she was basically asking "what should I tell him?" –even though we both knew he could hear on the phone because we were talking loud. I finally said, "Let me talk to him. I will tell him the truth why I am not driving you anywhere." When it comes to Dezzie (Drugs), I won't cooperate, but between them both they decided that I shouldn't talk to him. I reminded her about the time in the parking lot where everyone going by me was talking about Dezzie being in a fight with a grade nine guy, over the younger guy owing Dezzie drug money. The younger guy had been ripped off but Dezzie still wanted the money he owed. Everyone was talking about it in the parking lot- enough for me to figure it was not over yet Dezzie, had to fight him again, away from the school. She was real mad at me but later she apologized and said that she knew I was only looking out for her and she understood. Annie at 4/18/2001 04:19:00 a.m. Easter Monday- no school. Monica had to do a time line of her life for school. She is a perfectionist, wants her projects to have the polish of her older siblings work. She is trying different computer programs to combine pictures and text in a zig zag trail for the life line. And so after many frustrating hours and many tears she finally finished. Yes it looks awesome, it looks like something she had help with, and I doubt that any teacher will believe the work was hers, but she should be used to that feeling. Nadia is looking forlorn. Derrick is being hot and cold with her. I think they might have had plans and he cancelled on her. I hate it when one has the upper hand over the other. At least that is the way it looks right now. Now that every one of Nadia's friends has boyfriends the girls don't seem to have the time for each other. They can have it all, they just have to learn the balance act of relationships. I hope it is just a phase though; they have been friends for a long time and had some great times. Nadia is very upset with Crystal, she said that Crystal is use to Nadia being her sounding board and now that Nadia has a boyfriend Crystal is acting all pissed off with her. Nadia has played that role to many of her friends. She was the one that her girl friends come to, to complain about their life with their boyfriends. That gets old quick. I am happy for that change in her life and I hope her friends will adjust to her new life… that now she can complain and they better do some listening now too! Annie at 4/17/2001 03:36:00 a.m. Easter Sunday. It was a different Easter, sadly another tradition has fallen out of favour here- a sure sign that my kids are older. I asked the older kids if they wanted to participate in the Easter egg hunt and they all said no! So the older kids laid out the Easter eggs for April and Monica and I just gave them some candy and told them I would buy more after Easter when it was on sale. I guess they really are growing up! Nadia was at bingo today but had an easy job doing payout, hardly anyone there, but she still is smelly. I hope it isn't hurting her lungs but she isn’t in the smoking section, the big cheese likes her. ICQ message TO APRIL Every Easter, even though it doesn't fall on your birthday all the time, I think of Easter as yours and my special time because that's when you were born. The kids didn't get to Easter egg hunt for two days, even though the eggs wereall hidden. Your brother and sisters were staying at grammies while you were being born. Meanwhile at home the eggs were just lying all over the floor, waiting for children to find them. APRIL were they??? TO APRIL Yes, it was so weird to come home and the kids just went wild collecting them. You'll always be my Easter girl!! In the old days they used to used a drug called ether, it would knock you out. When I was in labour with you, I asked for a pain killer so they brought in the drug guy and I said "Oh good you must be the ether bunny" He really laughed hard. Annie at 4/16/2001 04:34:00 a.m. We decided to try to get our lawn taken care of professionally this year for the first time since we moved here. Our next-door neighbour is't going to do it so I wonder if it will be noticably different. Usually if we mow our lawn it pressures him to mow his and vise versa. Our lawns are joined so maybe you will be able to see a line where you have a plush lawn on one side and normal on the other! Time will tell. We went to the next town to discover a new restaurant. I am becoming bored of the same old restaurants. It is like opening up your fridge and staring blankly at all the unapealing food, craving for something that just is not there. Been there, done that. We had Carrie and Mark over to watch the hockey game. Stacy's friend Geoff was here for quite a while- his face still turns red, I don't get it, how can he be weird and a loud mouth that everyone says and blush every time he sees Stacy? Is it because he thinks he is doing something wrong? He hasn't kissed her yet and that has become and big deal, like a hump in there relationship. He almost had her eat a cherry form his mouth but it dropped out so it didn't happen. That was funny. When Mark & Carrie came over we all broke out singing the hockey anthem so he probably thinks we are weird too. He didn't watch the hockey game (Something wrong with that boy, not watching hockey!!) Annie at 4/15/2001 04:29:00 a.m. It is good Friday so there is no school today. I need the sleep in! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Annie at 4/14/2001 03:28:00 a.m. I feel a burn out with all the spring activities. Monica and April have Chess Club, Folk Dancing, April has band, and office duty. Monica also has Track and Field, Track Club, and Wrestling Club! Thank god the choir teacher kicked Monica out of Choir, it was too much. My niece Sarah came to town to visit Nadia. Nadia went to Go Train to pick her up during school. She took Sarah back to her school so she could introduce her to her boyfreind Derrick. Once, back at school, the vice principal kicked them out because she actually recognized that Sarah was not a student. I guess this is Nadia's first time at feeling like a naughty student! I am just happy that they are trying to socialize as friends and not just cousins and it was their own initiative! Annie at 4/13/2001 04:19:00 a.m. I went to the Board again today to try to find someone who will help me get a High school girls softball team together. I spoke to the coodinator who put us on the list of teams. They won’t give me the leaflet about having sports without teachers even though I talked to people who were there when it was made up. They are really giving me the run around. [''] [''] [''] [''] [''] [''] [''] [''] [''] [''] JUST WALKING THROUGH! Annie at 4/12/2001 12:15:00 a.m. Took Nadia to the dentist at 3:30 so we had a chance to talk privately. She is having trouble reading Derrick. He seems to need his privacy away from her at school. He hangs around with the kids in the school council and she feels that she doesn't fit in or that he doesn't want her to. Hopefully they will be able to communicate what they both need from the relationship because there is always an adjustment to be made. Last year Stacy couldn't figure out where she and Jess stood when school was out for the summer. It was a new situation for them and you need to find the boundaries. Hope they figure it out soon because Nadia has tried so hard and is trying to be understanding. Email to grandma Hi Sorry I'm not around but it has been a zoo here. I spent the morning at both schools. This afternoon I drive and stay at a Music Festival at the College till 3, then at 3 I drive the wrestling team to another town, then off to track, then music lessons! I hope I didn't leave anything out!!! I hope the cold has gone and you are both feeling good. Love ya, bye, Annie Music Festival - so much for directions, The teacher doesn't seem to be very organized. Once we got there no one knew where to go so that took some time to figure out that it was the old gym. Our kids got silver, played very well. ICQ message From Nadia Hey mom, what do you think of this? It's my ISU thesis paragraph for World Issues: "Citius, altius, fortius" The Latin motto of the Olympic Games, meaning swifter, higher, stronger. The Olympic Games conjures up pictures of triumph and victory in one's mind. However, in recent years the Games have become a symbol of corruption and scandal. Despite the positive effects on the economy of the host country, along with the patriotism and national pride the Games foster, the Olympics have become an example of what is wrong with society today. Choosing a host city puts international cities, and therefore their respective countries, in direct competition. There is huge potential for regional and international disputes, as well as corruption within the International Olympic Committee itself. Although beneficial to the world culture and economy, the political problems and their implications have corrupted the spirit of the Games and diluted their positive effects. Annie GOOD HOW INVOLVED DO YOU HAVE TO GET Nadia Well, I just needed a thesis paragraph and five subtitles. Annie DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN THEY GOT STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR, I ASKED YOU TO READ THE ACTICLE ON WHAT THEY WERE SAYING? THE PEOPLE WHO CAME TO CHECK ON IT FOR THE OLYMPICS. IT KIND OF FITS YOUR PARAGRAPH. IT WAS IN THE NEWSPAPER, THE STAR, I THINK. MAYBE EVEN THE SUN. Nadia Ahh...I'll have to check that out. Any idea where to find something about it? I'll try to find it. Annie at 4/11/2001 04:12:00 a.m. There is a rumour going around the elementary school that a student is pregnant from a 19 year old guy. She is in April's grade - grade 7! I asked April about it and she says that she believes it because Amber is always talking about hanging around with older guys. James bought a new printer for his computer, Hewlett Packard. The old printer kept messing up, paper clogging and little plastic pieces would fly off and have to be replaced. The new school is moving today from our school and I am glad. There is a lot of tension here, it feels like it is bursting at the seams from the rivalry between the parents and the students. James paid for Brent and Joshs domain name today. Brent thinks of it as a business endeavour, I think of it as an experience. From what I have heard but not fully understand, the days of making the big money his cousin made are over as far as owning internet sites. They are handling advertising on sites differently these days, pop up ads or something so companies do not put money towards your site anymore. Rob made hundreds of thousands of dollars in the last 3 or 4 years. His site provided cheats for popular games. He was rewarded with money, merchandise and most importantly to him were the previews of future games while they were still in the rough. I sure hope he saved some of that money! Brent's site is something about Animate. Annie at 4/10/2001 04:08:00 a.m. We had a belated 40th birthday party at my sister in laws for Dianne today. Any excuse to get the whole family together. Everyone was there except Nadia. She had a bad cold and didn't want to give it to Grandpa so she went out with Derrick. Today we spent outside just enjoying the neighbourhood in this nice spring weather The last of the big snow bank that the snowplow left behind melted today!!! I have what I guess to be a sinuous headache all day, I have never felt so much pressure in my head. Every time I move fast, it just kills. I still have a headache. It hurts when I move my head. I know... don't move my head then! It might be the flu- hopefully not the 24 oz. flu??!! 26 oz.?? lol I really did drink more on Friday than I have in years. It just went down good. Monica and Holly hung out here for the day and played on the computer. Holly's piano playing is quite impressive. She likes to play and she knows a lot of contemporary music. I wish our teacher would allow popular music but she insists on conservatory. April had plans with Chelsea but as usual Chelsea kept her waiting for a long time. I don't know why April puts up with her. They finally walked to the store for a movie. Annie at 4/08/2001 04:05:00 a.m. I went to the board to try and get a softball team for our high school team. They have had football start up this year and baseball, which is terrific. After the void of no extra curricular activities in our district for almost three years I am so pleased that even if it is only 2 sports activities at least it is a start. However it is both for males and I didn't see the harm in trying to bring back a sport for girls- why not softball? Talked to the coordinator for the board who put our school on a list of 6 other schools who have already formed baseball team. So what I am attempting to do is already in the works for other schools. After I talked to him I went to see the principal, who wasn't too pleased to have me go over her head first, but I already know she would have said no and she really wants to say no. Finally she said that if I found someone who worked at the school, she would clear it. She said that it could be anyone working at the school and we even laughed about Janitors helping out. Letter - To Stacy I am telling you this because today you are in a good mood and maybe you might really listen and do something about this. I don't know why but sometimes you become very quiet, extremely hard to talk to, abstract and act like you can't wait to get away from the circumstance that you are in. It is not just with me, you do it to your friends and you have for a long while. I remember way back when Josh would come over, he would ask you something, you would basically shrug your shoulders and whatever that meant no one in the room was very sure. He would try to talk to you and eventually leave the room. I know it hurt his feelings and everyone else in the room would be uncomfortable about what had just happened. I have seen you do it to many people and I really don't think you mean to do that. Sometimes someone will act excited about something that happened to them or something that is planned and you act like, so what, what ever (a term you use on me all the time and it drives me crazy. What is it suppose to mean-I don't care?) or your famous 'we’ll see'. All these do to the person you are talking to shows that you could care less. I don't really think that you mean it to be like that. Yesterday when Amy wanted to hang out after school you were so non-committal that I finally said. "I'm taking you to Amy's." You could have said. 'O.K. lets go to your house'. Showed more interest. One thing that you need to do is really act interested in what the person is saying to you- know matter who it is. If that person has just told you something, you just don't say oh, you ask them a question about what they just said. That way you look like you are listening and are interested in what they have to say. They will feel good about themselves. No one likes to feel that what they say isn't important. When you haven't talked to someone in a while drop them an email just to let them know that you are alive and thinking of your friend a joke and update or just plain, hey where are you these days? They don't even have to be close friends just let then know that you notice them and hey, its been a while... Friendship is something you really have to work on but the benefits are huge. People will think of you as friendly instead of shy or worse, stuck up.- and they will trust me, or even worse, that you don't care about them. Remember when I suggested that every day you jot down what you did that day, that way when you are talking to whomever you have something interesting to say. I know how shy you are, and I know you don't want to be, so this may help. Just rmember, I was in your shoes at your age and you can overcome shyness, you just have to work at it. Please try to be as upbeat to everyone as you can, just relax and have fun, and be interested. I know you can be, sometimes you are so much fun and I love to talk to you and hear what you say. Your smile is so great and you can really light up a room. Everyone deserves a peace of your happiness- it is so nice to share. I hope that you are not upset with me that I said all this. I just want you to have a great time. That is why I want you to go out so much. To experience life!!!! K, I love ya, ba bye! Mom James and I phoned up Steven and Lana to see if they wanted to do something and they were having neighbors over they get together quite often- so we went too. During the evening some of the people would disappear upstairs for a while and come back 'different.' My brother-in–law is still a pothead after all these years and I think Lana does it too - I think, lots of it. Me, I drank good ol beer. We had such a good time. When we got home, Nadia asked us to drive Derrick home but we said we couldn't because we had been drinking, we weren't drunk but it wouldn't be wise to drive. Derrick was really upset and said he had to get home or he would be in big trouble. We suggested that he phone his parents and tell them of his problem but the mom works shifts so the phone call would disturb them. James then suggested that he stay over night and Derrick said that he couldn't because his parents would beat him. That really surprised James that he would say that. In the end James suggested a taxi so that's what ended up happening. Nadia was a little mad and frustrated with us but hey, that is part of life and you should always be able to think of alternate plans. Annie at 4/07/2001 04:02:00 a.m. Curling James had his Bon Spiel for his business today. I know, I know he should have exercised so he wouldn't get sore but will he ever learn - no. My baby will be sore for the next couple of days. He will come home tomorrow so I won't have to worry about drinking and driving. Geoff has been phoning Stacy a lot but not regular and I think she might be seeing what I told her about last fall. He talks and talks about anything and everything but doesn't really give her the opportunity to contribute much to the conversation- I can't hear her say much of anything. It is comfortable for Stacy at first because she is shy but he will never get to really know her. I told her before in the fall with other guys that if there are little uncomfortable pauses at first, on the phone, it could be because the guy is giving her a chance to add to the conversation. Geoff leaves no room. The only people I saw her talk to last fall that gave her the chance to talk were Jessie Black, once and a couple times with Jake. In my opinion people in Track, ones that are really good, can possess huge egos. Running is not a team sport, you might be running for the same club but they don't have the team mentality. Even if you are really good on team sports, even the best on the team, you have to work as a team and therefore the ego is in perspective - I think anyway. I would rather Stacy, since she seems to prefer the athetic type, go out with someone from a team sport. Annie at 4/06/2001 04:51:00 a.m. Well Monica's basketball season is over, but now wrestling is heating up and baseball tryouts are in April! Brent is taking his driving instructions this week, 2 hours a night and the first night he had cramps in his foot from pressing the gas pedal! We took the family to Don Cherry's, April’s favourite for her Birthday - she thinks it is romantic! Imagine, a sports bar -romantic. Annie at 4/05/2001 04:25:00 a.m. April's birthday # 13, oh my god she's a teenager!!! Nadia had her graduation photos taken today. I don't think that we will be able to afford them, which means I won't be buying for the rest of the kids when they reach this milestone. It is only fair. I had Stacy to the specialist for her knee & he seems to think that she is doing fine - so fine that he didn't even touch her knee. I don't understand why we even saw the doctor if he wasn't even going to examine her knee. Her physio guy got so mad when Stacy's doctor didn't even look at her knee that he wants her to go through Mark and see another specialist. Alex is the one who recommended that Stacy go back to the doctor because he thinks her knee is not responding the way it should There will be a concert with Lifehouse and Matchbox 20 later this month and Nadia asked if I wanted to go with her in Hamilton. Oh yeah! I hope this is Nadia's way of mending what friendship I thought we had because it has been kind of rough around here lately. I am touched that they would actually want to go to a concert with their mother! It will cost $170 for Nadia Stacy and me, I know, I know I can't afford it but I think this is something I really should do with them. I won't even ask for their share of the money. Annie at 4/04/2001 04:40:00 a.m. I made Stacy go out all 3 days this weekend. She seems to be hiding from any confrontation with guys by staying home. It is as if she is hiding from someone. If she goes out with one guy as a friend, others get upset with her. One guy keeps bringing her roses, and I keep drying them out for her to make a dried flower arrangement! He is the only one I feel for because I think he is true blue. I think that is why she wants to go out with that guy from out of town- not much commitment but the guys at her school think she is taken. Do you ever get that feeling that your bored but you have so much to do you shouldn't be feeling that way. I do right now and I'm guilty feeling like that. I'm just hoping that when the nice weather comes I won't feel that way. Brent starts his in-car driving lessons today and has them for the rest of this week. He had a cramp in his foot from driving today! Stacy went to see Traffic with Jake. I think she is seeing what I have been pointing out to her about different kinds of guys. Geoff has been phoning her a lot and it was great at first. I noticed that she would be lying on the floor for long periods of time while on the phone and she is basically not saying anything. I told her that if he can talk and she didn't have to acknowledge what he was saying, then Geoff is talking at her and not to her, that he doesn't even really need for her to be there - he is basically talking to hear himself. Judging by the look on her face and the silence on her side, she is disillusioned that she is not expected to output in the conversation at all. Too bad, but she is mentioning that he talks a lot. She doesn’t even need to say anything to him, just listens. A while ago that would have been so comfortable for her, she was so shy but she gradually wants to say more to people and that is great! Annie at 4/03/2001 04:11:00 a.m. This cold spring weather is depressing eh? Everybody slept in today. Brent is still in bed! Today is a lazy day. Nadia is still angry about the money that she says April is stealing and wondering why she isn't hearing us yell at April. Well we didn't yell at Nadia when she was doing it did we? We tried to talk it out and tried to help her understand. April does have a conscience and Nadia would not have gotten the $20 dollars back if she didn't, even if I did trick her. Nadia is spitting mad at April for stealing money and is calling her nasty names. It is hard for me to discipline April about it since I know April is spending the money on kids at school, to try and impress them. But for Nadia to get so mad, when she is the one who used to do it all the time… I guess she has pushed that from her memorys. When it was Nadia, I just used to replace the money myself until I actually had proof she did it. She would lose her money, just misplace it and I would put the money where she thought that she had put it. It seemed like a good idea at the time. She even would take the tooth fairly money and then pretend that she didn't get any so James and I would replace it. Sometimes when Nadia complains about her money being gone she has just misplaced it, I found that out once when I was going to put money in her drawer that she said April was taking and I found the other money, she just didn't see it. But if April keeps getting accused she eventually will say, "what the heck" and do it anyway. It just seems strange to me that the person who played with us so much by taking things is so mad when it is being done to her. P.S. I don't think it is all April doing it. Nadia and Monica got into a fight today, actually Monica started throwing furniture around and then went after Nadia, fly by bumping and Nadia slapped her in the back all right in front of me. I didn't have to referee, Nadia started it, and Nadia finished it. I find it strange that the youngest and the oldest, being seven years apart, can manage to fight like that. I found Nadia's first childhood friend on icq. Her mom & I were so close when they were babies up until they were 6. Her mom died and then we moved away. She actually remembers me from 12 years ago! James made the supper again. He is so good at finding recipes on the Internet and making things that I would never dream of. I cook bulk, he cooks gourmet! Gotta love him. He doesn't realize how much he is helping because I get so discouraged when I make something nice and the kids just fly out the door, never thinking about the effort I put in or they look at it and say "No thanks" but and hour later they are rattling through the fridge. I was so happy with Brent. Brent and Adam went to the movie Tom Cats and they took Stacy- a little late at night but she is going out more. April got on the Internet on icq, because since she will be 13 we have allowed her on icq messenger and one of the first things she did was to look up tons of Bradens. I tell you this Braden thing has to go. Why does she try so hard, now she has about 10 Braden's on her list? Annie at 4/01/2001 03:56:00 p.m.
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