Thursday, April 26, 2012

Life with girls and "no poo"

We made it through the week of suspension and spring break. Now we are riding the bi-polar roller coaster. Never knowing what each day will bring. But all is well.
Trying to show a teen and preteen the really important things in life is frustrating. I'm sure every parent of this age group knows that. But, as they get older hopefully some things will stick with them. This week was explaining why we are using cloth napkins instead of buying paper napkins. I am slowly trying to do better using less, creating less waste, etc. I have been making my own laundry detergent for over a year and loving it. I tried the whole no poo thing after reading about it everywhere but, I don't get it! My hair was horrible! I did it for over a month and I gave up. If you don't know about "no poo" it is a movement of not using shampoo because we really don't need to. Just water and baking soda and water and vinegar for conditioner. My hair was clean. But frizzy and hard. Yuck. Completely off subject .....
Teen graduates in a month. I really think she will make it and pray that she will stay in college. There is just no telling how she is going to react when she gets some freedom. I worry about it and try to remind her constantly how smart she is and how she needs to go to college and do something great with her life.
Teen and Abbie have not been getting along. When they do it is usually for a short period of time. Most of the time they are ignoring each other. The age gap is too big. They don't have a lot in common and since they both want all the attention they get angry when the other one gets any attention. I feel like I'm watching a ping pong match at dinner time. Turning my head from one side to the other. Back and forth, back and forth. No wonder I go to bed early.

Monday, April 9, 2012

School days

Things have been going well. Girls getting along better. Abbie and her pre teen issues popping out it's ugly head daily. Gotta love hormones.
Until last week. Teen had a break down at school and was suspended for the rest of the week. We had precautions in place but dumb me didn't think what to do if one of the precautions was out. Live and learn, right?
I was not happy with the situation. I didn't hear back from the principle. (I called 3 times) and I have the feeling as these school personnel were calling me, by the tone of their voices, that it was my bad parenting that was the cause of this. Yep, it's all my fault. Some are great. Others, even when they know I'm the foster mother, act like I'm doing this for the big bucks. And by the way, the front office knows my name now- Who's calling? Oh, teens mom.
Yep, that's me.
This being my first foster child, it's a weird badge to wear. People either think you're some kind of saint (which I'm not, just doing what God wants me to do) or I'm doing this for the money. Which, any normal person doing foster care knows it is not worth the little money we are given to help take care of kids. A senior in high school?? Seriously!! How much stuff do seniors need? And prom!! Now, DSS does pay for some senior supplies but nothing for prom. And I had no idea the insurance wouldn't pay for contacts. So, if I can pay for teen to have contacts and she wants them, am I going to say no? Whatever people.
My goal with teen is to show her God, love and know that she can have a great life.
Just needed to get it off my chest.