Jackhammer, Boredom, School Shopping

Well, let me start by saying that I am so sick of the freaking jackhammer next door. All day yesterday. It just started again, this very minute and I still have ringing in my ears from yesterday! Not to mention the annoyance of it all. I was enjoying a quiet morning listening to NRP. GONE.

The other day they were throwing all the cut up concrete into a metal truck. Piece by piece. Thump, thump, thump, thump, every thirty seconds or so until the big truck was filled. They dumped it and came back to repeat the process during the afternoon.

Now I am being blasted by loud vibrating jackhammer noise and another guy throwing chunks of concrete into the truck again. I want to scream.

I thought about calling the city and decided it would be better to let it go. I wonder why no other neighbors have called. Am I the only one in the neighborhood that hates this? Maybe I am the only one who spends every morning on the deck with my coffee and computer and think of it as a intrusion of my quiet time! OHM OHM....This too shall pass. OHM OHM.


Zoe and Katharine


Okay, on to school is starting on the sixth...I am happy about this. Very happy. I like the part where the girls can sleep in and do what they want. I started this summer saying it will be the summer the girls learn to deal with their own boredom. I had no plans to keep them busy daily. No activities planned. Nothing scheduled except Katharine's rehearsals, and I had nothing to do with that. She did the auditions, got the parts and did the play thing. Good for her. She gets bored if she has a couple of hours of free time, but has begun reading some books she hasn't read yet for the upcoming school year. Normally a prolific reader, she has not done so this summer.

The boredom thing has been harder on Zoe. She has been quite bored this summer. She has become very helpful around the house, which I like. She wants to help me cook, eager to do something, anything! She has written some, read a lot, worked a bit at the library. And she reads all the time. But, for the most part, it has not been a good summer for her. Yesterday, I think she had a good day. Her friend was here all day and they went for a long walk and hung out at the school for a while. Then went to her friend's to spend the night.

While I feel bad that she didn't have a very busy or fun summer, I stand by my decision about the girls learning to deal with their own boredom. I cannot afford to take them shopping, to lunch, the movies all the time. I have taken them to the movies maybe two or three times this summer, and included their friends. We have done a few lunches as well. I did borrow my cousin's daughter two weeks to keep Zoe company. That turned out to be a nice thing. But, dealing with boredom was not about money. It is something they HAVE to learn now, before they become bored adults.

I know there are many parents who book their kids solid with activities all summer. I have done that and at this age, I feel it is no longer my job to keep them booked and occupied. It is their job. I know this may make me a bad mother to some, but I don't care. I have seen bored adolescents and young adults. They are usually trouble waiting to happen. They don't know how to schedule their time, nor do they know how to handle down time. No parents to take them to the movies or schedule their activities and they are lost. When is the perfect time to teach this lesson? I don't know. I just feel now is the right time. They are at an age where they are capable of doing it. Is this a lesson that needs to be taught? In my opinion, you bet your sweet ass it is!

Now it is time to do school shopping. I want them to purge first...Well, actually, I want them to do laundry first and then purge what they don't need or no longer fits. Then we can go shopping. Zoe is easy, shorts, tops, shoes, school supplies, yearbook, asb, etc., and her size is pretty consistent.

Katharine is a different story. She is in between a 10 and a 12, 10's are a bit too short and 12's are too big in the waist. So, no online shopping for her! She has to try everything on. I have put off shopping with her to the very last minute as her size is slowly changing. I remember last year within months, the clothes we bought for school were too short. I don't want that to happen again. Not so much skirts, mostly jeans. So, I am thinking we will go one day next week. She too, will need school supplies. She got her schedule in the mail yesterday and she and her friends were calling back and forth to find out who had what classes and who was in the other's class. All very exciting for new seventh graders.

So, as I was writing this I decided to take Zoe to marshall's or one of those store today. She only wears shorts and the stores will likely be out of them as they have all the fall fashions in. Fall is going to be hotter than our summer has been. We always have a hot fall and kids cannot wear many new clothes as they are for cooler weather. But, I digress. We need to get some shorts before we can no longer find any! And it will get me away from the freaking jackhammer that is still going. Even the battery bunny would have run out by now! Sheesh!