Sometimes Life Socks

I know Alexander tends to dominate the blog posts. Well, this one is no exception. At least not the first part of this post.
I will attempt to do this story justice. It really was hilarious, but you kind of had to be there and see the expression on his face, his body language and then the subsequent tone of voice Mikelle had. Still, I'll try to reiterate it here.

Friday night, Chris and I were chilling on our bed just watching TV. Alexander kept coming in with random requests and comments. We appeased him and he was gone for a few minutes until he was back again.

He comes in again and says with his goofy mischievous grin, "Can I have orange juice?.........In my sock?" 

But when he says, 'in my sock' as he holds up a sock with that same grin he is famous for. 

"No," we say in so many words, "you're not going to have orange juice in your sock...."

And he's gone again.

I had a feeling we weren't done with the sock. But we were too tired and apathetic to really do much about it. I don't even remember what we were watching on TV. But we were happy with our bodies glued to the bed.

Next thing we know, we hear Mikelle from the kitchen scold: "Xander! No! No!...We're done. Go show Mom and Dad....Go show Mom and Dad..... Go show them your sock.... Go!"

I rolled over and started cracking up into a pillow. I knew exactly what had gone down.

Apparently, she poured him some Orange Juice in a cup (because he asked for orange juice. What can possibly go wrong?)

 ....and then he poured it in the sock.

The extent of our Halloween decor this year...well, until the big one is shipped out! lol

Moving on....

Remember the idiotic looking cat? Well, I think I fixed it and this is the pumpkin that is headed to Mississippi and where the cat will make its home.

I wanted to continue this post with a heart-warning story from church yesterday, but it's the first day of Fall Break and I'm trying to figure out how to deal with a tiny house full of three crazies with my husband's insane work schedule that seems to only hit during Fall and Spring breaks (October and March).

That is soooo NOT right.

 Dear Powers That Be: Can you have these bi-annual schedules in say, September or February? That would work out so much better.  I'm sure I'm not the only spouse that thinks so. Love, Jill

I found a list of 22 Humorous Prompts for a blog post. Usually I don't need something like that, as kids who want to pour orange juice into socks just seems to prompt them just fine. But I found myself reading through the prompts and wondering if I should attempt one as I'm in more of an ADD and light-hearted frame of mind as we tackle this week.

One says:

"Analysis of your worst school photo(s): Your readers would love to see your braced up little face, Ogilvie home perm, and double chin.  Extra points for head gear...."

Yearbook Senior Pic. Taken July 1992. Seriously, Pearls?

You know, as fun as that would be, how do I decide which picture to use? All my school pictures from sixth grade through eleventh are pretty scary. Some are downright terrifying. Even my senior picture (which was taken the summer before 12th grade, so it was still practically 11th grade) that is in the yearbook has scary hair. The only reason it works for the photo is because of the angle it's taken at. If it was straight-on, I doubt I would fit into the frame! (:face palm:)

It wasn't until towards the end of my senior year when I had a different set of pictures taken that it was clear that (despite the perm era I was still in) the awkward stage was finally coming to an end.  

No smile - I get it...but finally ideal 1993 hair! lol

Different Senior Pics...March 1993. Almost 18  No pearls!

The Yearbook photo (with the pearls) is also a frustrating memory from me, because I know when I went to have that picture taken, I was in the middle of being grounded because I mouthed off to my abusive narcissistic bully of a father. 

I hate that I can remember such things. My brain has this "timeline" chip and it's a curse sometimes.

I don't remember what prompted it, but it might have been the time I was putting tampons away in the linen closet and he came around the corner and startled me. He demanded to see what I was putting in the closet and of course he was offended that I was startled by him. I was embarrassed about the tampons and I didn't want to show him. That was the first domino that fell into a huge blow-out. I don't know if this particular grounding incident was the one from the tampons in the closet, but it was around the same time period.  (no pun intended)

Therefore, I wasn't allowed to do anything. I certainly wasn't allowed to see my boyfriend (at the time). I was lucky I was able to hang with a good friend of mine. At least she was able to come over. My dad wasn't about "tough love" and making hard decisions as a parent out of good intentions. It was about showing his power and making sure to take away whatever was important to me. 
 
Some people should never be allowed to be parents. It would be one thing if I really felt there were consequences for my actions and I knew I did something wrong. But by that time in my life (as I was 17), it was clear it was a "power-thing" with him and I was speaking out about it. 

Yes, I realize that shutting up would have been the best thing. But I was sick to death of the crap. 

I felt like Andy DuFresne on Shawshank Redemption being subjected to the power-hungry, hypocritical and corrupt Warden (and his right hand man, Captain Hadley, who I still can't believe is the voice of Mr. Krabs in Spongebob! lol).  My mouthing off and refusing to play into his crap was the equivalent of Andy locking himself in the Warden's office and playing opera and broadcasting it all over the prison sound system. Sure, he ended up paying dearly for it (a month in solitary confinement if I remember correctly?), but it was worth it. 

Okay, Shawshank Redemption didn't even come out for another two years, but the comparison still applies.

Wow! That school photo prompt was supposed to lead to something light-hearted and humorous. I blame Phillip for the memory association and tangent it led me on. But as we saw in Shawshank, Andy came out clean on the other side, despite the crap he literally had to crawl through to get there.

Hopefully less tangents in the next post!

Remember: Get Busy Living...Or Get Busy Dying...

Sunday Doodle for October 12, 2014