Weekend Intelligence: Durned Kids, Quit Growing Up!

Sorry, but today made it really hard to get the weekend intelligence in. Almost as busy as my weekend. x.X With the windfall from late in the week, payday and Uncle Sam lending a hand, we decided to get some much needed things done and paid off, as well as some long-needed action on our part with our church. To top it all off, our kids have once again proven they are growing up, much to our headaches (mine literally >.<;). So, in typical weekend intelligence fashion, here are the highlights!

In Game:

Not much to talk about in game. I think that's probably why I'm doing this first. Pretty much all Keri and I did all weekend long in game involved campaign battles. She got her Mythril Star and I finaly got my Holyknight Emblem - the highest rank available right now. That was a pain in the butt to get. It just seemed like the counsel was never happy with the progress. I also did a Holyburn merit party with Keri and the gang in King Ranperre's Tomb. That means a whole lot of WHM's with clubs beating up stuff. At one point, late in the party, Eiael decided to pull half the area we were camped at. We barely got out of that one - pretty crazy fight! Also did a little fishing for guild points and profit, but nothing to write home about. About the most exciting thing that came of it was catching a coral fragment, which sold for a cool, quick 7k.

House and Home:

5PM Friday couldn't seem to roll around fast enough. It's like everything decided to get all stupid at 2 and just would not let up until 5, making the time creeeeeeep by. It did finally arrive, and that meant I could finally go home, get a drink and start cooking some steaks. I started them in the marinade the night before, so by the time I got home, I had two 20oz thick cut top sirloins just waiting for the grill. And grill them I did. And there was much grilling. :D

Saturday came and needed to get some basics done. There were about 6-7 loads of laundry in the house, the cans were stacking up to the ceiling, dishes hadn't been done in two days and the trash was overflowing. We had our work cut out for us, so we went to Shipley's for some donuts to start the morning off right, followed by Walmart before we tackled the house. It's about now that I need to discuss a new development with Clara. She is starting to realize that she has a voice, and that her voice can be really, really quiet and it can be REALLY REALLY SHRILL AND LOUD!!! And she thinks the latter is way more fun, especially at random and especially in close quarters. She spent most of the time at Shipley's shrieking at the top of her lungs, and the entire car ride to Walmart shrieking at random intervals. This combined with the already psychotic drivers in this town made for one unhappy pappy. This constant loud shrieking continued the whole time we were at Walmart, when we got back into the car, while driving and did not let up in the least until I unceremoniously laid her down for a LONG nap.

Anyway, we picked up some things we have been wanting to get for a long time. We got a hanging rack for the front entryway (for coats and backpacks and such), more energy saver bulbs and a potty chair for Clara. By the time we got back, D was just in no mood for chores, and rightly so: she had three sac days the week before and still hadn't recovered. So she took a nap while Colin and I divided and conquered. I did up the laundry while he worked on trash collection, then we both hit the cans and I did more laundry while he did the dishes. By the time we were done, the house was noticeably better.

Sunday was really the main event of the weekend. Our daycare provider is taking the next week off. It's part of her contract, and we all need some time off from time to time. So we planned to meet with her backup provider. We made it out the door for the late service, which ran a little later than normal. After that, made a stop out to the backup lady's house. It's not in the greatest part of town, but this gal has cameras all over her house and a really nice security system. And after meeting with her and seeing the kids playing in the neighborhood, I felt much more at ease letting my daughter stay there. We got home just in time to eat a little bit, get baby in for a nap and head back to church. Yes, back to church. We've been regular attenders at BRCC for well over a year now, and we've never attended the new members seminar. Which means techically, we were never members. Well, we changed that, got ourselves registered and signed up to be candidates to host a small group should one grow in our neck of the woods.

That night, while D and I were planning what our week was going to look like, I realized I never made sure that Colin's alarm clock was running. So I went to his room to turn it on. I was met with a closed door. Colin never closes his door... >.>; I knock on it and there is a FLURRY of activity as I gently open the door and catch him with his GameBoy on with no cartridge in it, a pencil and notepad and covering his lower half up. O.O I'm not going into much detail here, I don't think it's appropriate, but let's just say my son is starting to get an interest in girls and a curiosity about the difference in body parts.

I was hesitant to tell DeAnn anything. And with good reason: she absolutely flipped out. I mean lost it - neurotic preaching mom style. She wanted to call a meeting immediately and ask all sorts of questions and go off on sins of the flesh and lust. I calmly tried to reign in my hysterical wife and at the same time let Colin know that he was not in any trouble, and ascertain that he was safe and that he wasn't being shown pictures or talked to by some creepy person he met in the neighborhood or on the Internet. Turns out that he had seen some pictures of partially naked women while looking at a website that one of his friends' older siblings or cousins or whatever had up on their computer. That gets little boys about that age (we're talking 8-12 year olds here) talking about boobs and girls and "gross" stuff, as he put it.

No pedophile, no creep, just kids getting into what they shouldn't and rightly being interested in what they see. Not that it makes it easier for us as parents to deal with what happens to every child that survives to this age, or that it is OK for him to lust after and objectify women that way. After making sure that he was OK and safe, we tried to talk to him just a little about what he's seen and what he thinks of girls and boys. We would have got more response from the front door. Poor kiddo, it was very clear it was incredibly awkward and embarrassing to be caught in that. I let him know that his mother and I have both been there and are there for him if he has any questions. I also made it a point to remember to put NOVA's Miracle of Life on our queue, as it was pretty clear from his notepad that he doesn't really know what is what. I don't want him to learn that from some sleazy older brother of a friend, I want him to learn that from us first.

Monday, Monday, Monday. Monday's are always crazy at service desks, but I've been doing this kind of work long enough to at least try to mentally prepare. I will be going out of my way to drop Clara off and pick her up, so I need to get a head start on my mornings this week.