No TV or internet; Day 6...

And I'm PMSing.  Awesome.

The littles woke up early this morning and snuck downstairs to try to turn on the TV.  They got into an argument over the remote which got them interrupted before they could manage to actually make anything come on. 

I'm not a morning person on a good day.  A day that starts an hour earlier than it should with a screaming match over something they aren't supposed to be touching does NOT constitute "a good day".

Yesterday was pretty mundane, actually.  The kids got along and didn't torture each other too terribly badly.  Sarah spent most of the day drawing and bemoaning the lack of television.  She's determined to prove to her older brother that she can do this, though, so the whining is minimal.  Especially when I threaten to let her give up and we'll just post it on Facebook so he can see.  *cackle*

I got a little bit of stitching done on Cinderella but it's slow going on the ribbons.  I don't know why but I'm finding them tedious to work on and it's hard to stay motivated.  I'm really REALLY hoping that when I finally finish the last one today or tomorrow that I get my spunk back and can get moving on the castle.

Steve's been lost in his Kindle all week, so I'm gonna assume that he doesn't miss the television or internet in the least.  He's devoured at least two books and I think he just started a third since Friday.  Don't ask me what time he's going to sleep though.  I keep giving up around 11pm and he's still going strong every night.

All in all, it hasn't been too rough a week.  I have decided that I absolutely MUST design a cross stitch chart to stick in my front window, and I must do this as soon as I possibly can.  It's going to read something along the lines of "Solicitors cost less to shoot at than targets at a gun range."

Yeah, it's that time of year again.  Everyone and their mother's second cousin's uncle's kid seems to need to sell stuff.  Yesterday we had some college kid show up with cleaning stuff and he actually started marking up my carpet with a black sharpie to prove how well this cleaner works.  (No, I hadn't let him inside, thus the need for my sign.)  As if that wasn't enough, he kept drinking it to show that it was safe for kids.  My personal opinion is that he'd probably been drinking the stuff all day long and it wasn't quite as safe as he thought...  just sayin'.  He did finally get the hint when I asked him how well his cleaner worked on bloodstains. 

Subtlety has never been my strongpoint.

This morning I found a note asking my opinion on some new movement to ban children from public places across the country.  Say, HUH??  Sheesh, turn off the TV for a few days and your whole world changes on you.  So, I had to break my internet fast and go see what this was all about.  It seems childless people are tired of having to share their public buildings and parks and planes and .. well, oxygen... with small children.  So now, some restaurants, movie theaters, vacation spots, airlines, and even amusement parks, and public parks are giving serious consideration to banning any child six years or younger in order to cater to the larger population of people who don't have smaller versions of themselves in tow. 

When I read this I was, of course, horribly offended.  But then I started to think about it a little.  I admit, I'm one of those rare parents who will still turn my kid over my knee if he or she acts out in public.  I will not tolerate my children throwing a screaming fit because they think being in public keeps them safe from a whomping.  Umm.. no.  It doesn't.  As a result, I tend to expect the same sort of standards from other parents.  If there's a child screaming at the top of its lungs that it wants something and the parents are doing their best to shush it, or vacating the premises as fast as they can haul the squalling mass of attitude away, then I shrug it off and wish the kid luck once mom and dad feel safe to discipline without having handcuffs slapped on them.  If that child, however, is being ignored by said parental unit, or worse, being given what they want in order to shut them up... yeah, that gets on my nerves and I don't want to be around that anymore than the next guy.

I avoid most places that "trap" me and my children for lengthy durations of time.  Steve and I haven't gone to a theater to see a movie together in years because Heather and Hunter are too young to be expected to sit still and quietly for more than 10 minutes, much less two or three hours.  We don't go to nice, quiet restaurants because we know darned well that either Heather or Hunter is going to randomly shout at the top of their lungs that they don't like something on their plate and where's their dessert.  *THWAP!!!*  We don't go to amusement parks because, let's face it, those places aren't for little kids, they're for the adults who want to pretend they're still little kids.  I even hesitate to take my children to sporting events around town because I know that my littles are never going to stay in one place on the bleachers for 9 innings or 2 halves or 4 quarters, etc etc, and who wants someone else's kids running laps around them and being distractions for that long?

As a matter of fact, the longer I thought about this new "Every Child Left Behind" movement, the more I kinda liked it. 

Because once they make places off limits to me and my kids, the people who like to shoot judgemental glares at my child when she falls and shrieks in sudden pain will go there.  The people who can't seem to express themselves without using vulgarity every other syllable will go there.  The people who believe that the less clothing worn the better will go there.  The people who have never had, and never intend to have, a child but somehow still know more about MY children's needs and therefore know how to raise them better than I do will go there. 

That leaves the places that I really want to be able to take my children vacant and kid-safe again.  No more worrying that going to a playground is going to be a new experience in lousy vocabulary, horrible dress code, amateur pornography, or lectures about everything I'm screwing up in the world by having children in the first place.

In my opinion, please bring on this new legislature.  Maybe then our kids will be safe from the people who don't actually know the first thing about children despite all their degrees awarded by other people who have never had children.  Maybe then our kids will stand a chance of being raised with manners and consideration for others rather than learning that growing up means you can demand your way all the time and some fool out there is going to make sure you get it.  Maybe then parents of small children won't be made to feel like inconveniences to society just by daring to step outside their front doors.

I just have one question for all these people who hate having younger people around them.  When you get old and need to be taken care of, who exactly do you think is going to be there for you?  All those other elderly folks who aged right along side you making sure the younger generation knew darned good and well that they weren't wanted? 

Awesome.  Just who I'd want overseeing my sunset years.  People who were taught during their most formative years that I thought they were a colossal waste of space and now have every reason under the sun not to give a flying fart what I think or how I feel. Way to plan ahead there.

What?  I told you I was PMSing.