Jury Duty Blues

So I spent the past weekend at the beach with my girlfriends. (I had a fabulous time in the frigidness, by the way.) Daddy Mac was super about the whole thing. He had to tote kids to school and back; take Goosey to a skating party with Little Man in tow; he took Goosey to piano lessons with Little Man in attendance; he made it to church with both kids; no one was starving and the house was not a total trashpile. He even encouraged me to go out with another set of friends upon my return for dinner since I did not officially return to "work" until Tuesday AM.

When I go away, Daddy Mac is not like most husbands. He rarely calls me for any reason. He doesn't check up on me at all. He figures that I am away for a reason, and will only call in a serious situation. So when I return, he uploads the events from the weekend to me. The first story he tells me is how Little Man dressed himself to take Goosey to her lessons. Blah, blah, blah. Then Daddy Mac makes the off-handed comment that he was summoned for Federal jury duty in the Big City. This is for a 3 week period for criminal court. I pointed out that it was no big deal since he was already in the city for work so our schedule did not have to change. He commented that it would be a huge pain in the rear if I was called since I had Little Man at home, had to pick up Goosey, piano and dance lessons, etc. Total disruption to all of us.

The next morning I plopped down to use his laptop and noticed his paperwork for jury duty. I was reading over it and all the additional paperwork. Then something just perplexed me: Why in the world would all of Daddy Mac's paperwork have my full legal name on it? Mama MaidenName Mac on every.single.page.

Daddy Mac did not get summoned. I did. And I cannot get out of it. And if I don't turn it in, they will arrest me. And if I had mailed it in without checking, Daddy Mac would have gotten me arrested for falsifying a federal application/document­!!!

A HUGE pain in the rear. HUGE. Three weeks of HUGE. And with my luck, I will get some heinous crime that will cause me to have to be sequestered in some rat-hole of a place.

At least I have two months to stew over it and figure out a plan for the kids. I suppose Daddy Mac will be working from home a bit.

That is what I get for going out of town, I suppose. My next overnight trip could be in the federal pokey.

The Picture of Patience

After church today, we were sitting in a local restaurant waiting for our food to be served. Little Man was sitting with Daddy Mac and behaving very nicely. When Daddy Mac excused himself to get something from the vancar, I noticed Little Man bouncing and twitching around in his chair.

I asked him if he needed to use the restroom. He did not. "Then what are you doing?" (all the while jumping around in his seat). His answer "I am be patient, Mama!"

Hanging My Head in Shame

It has been too long since I have entered a post into this blog. Shame on me. Life got busy with school and church and holidays and life. I guess my resolution should be to document more this year...and more consistently. We will see.

Little Man has been such a hoot lately. With the onslaught of his fourth birthday, quickly followed by Christmas, he has had ample opportunity to work on his manners in regards to opening gifts. He did very well with the exception of our friend Ms. Vicki. After an hour or two of socializing at Ms. Vickie's house, it was time for us to leave. We exchanged gifts and when Little Man opened his present, a DVD of Pocohontas. He was not very happy. I don't like this movie. I want sumtin else! It is a girl movie. He then proceeds to cry and actually had an accident he was so upset!

I was HORRIFIED! We had a talk in the bathroom and he absolutely was besides himself that he was given a girl DVD. Ms. Vickie, a veteran parent and grandparent, did not blink an eye. She was very gracious about the scene.

So, needless to say, this was a starting place to really work with Little Man on how to accept a gift, even if it is not something he likes. As we were heading to the TN Grandparents, I was prompting him with scenarios that may happen concerning a present he was not happy with.

Me: LM, let's say you open your first gift and it is a shirt!
LM: I don't want a shirt.
Me: I know. But someone took time to buy you a shirt and you have to thank them. Let's say it is a nice blue shirt with a car on it.
LM: But I don't want a shirt. I want a toy.
Me: I know that. But you need to have good manners. What do you say when you open your present and it is a pretty blue shirt, with a car on it.
LM:
Me: LM. What are you going to say?
LM: I say let's go home! I want some toys, not a shirt.

He was so sincere.

I am happy to report that he did great with opening his gifts. He said thank you and tried to pick a nice thing about each gift....even if he needed a bit of a reminder and prompting.