Not a big surprise today but K ditched another class (first period biology) and was late for another. All I can do is drop him off in front of the school with enough time to get to class. I can't go to class with him and if he doesn't want to go to school then I really wonder why he's staying here at all. He told H that if he was failing school again that he would go back to live with his father. I want what is best for these kids but if they aren't going to make the effort then why should I put up with the BS?

On a better note... went trick-or-treating with K2 tonight. Overall not to bad and he got a good sized bag of candy while only being out for about an hour. Other then the fact that the kid can't stop talking it wasn't a bad night. He even only bothered me twice to try and get on the TV while I was watching "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Now he's playing the XBOX and I'll get to try and finish my book.

We made it one day this week with all 3 kids going to school and actually being on time but that didn't last. K1 is staying home today with some general illness (probably his typical throwing up because of the GERD which can be treated easily). It looks like K2 got to school on time for the second time in a row today. I guess getting him up earlier is working even if he is a grump. Maybe he'll get to sleep at a decent hour if he keeps getting up early enough. H is sick but she's taking Contact and tuffing it out and going to school. Some things never surprise me.
I'm actually feeling a little feverish but that's no big deal to me. Maybe it's from the flu shot I got yesterday or it could be that this building is just hot!

B just told me that she doesn't want to come home at a decent hour (she wasn't home until around 8 last night) because everyone is mad when she gets home. It didn't help to tell her that everyone waiting for hours for her to get home doesn't exactly help the mood of the household. She seems to think that the kids hate me and and I hate the kids and that we should just send them back to their fathers (where is that money going to come from
How am I in the wrong for being upset that the kids used the stupid stamps she brought home from work to stamp the kitchen table, the kitchen counter, themselves and who knows what else. They were told to only use the stamps on paper (these are ink stamps) and yet they don't listen. My house is being destroyed and no one seems to give a damn. My leather couch now has pen stains on it and lots of scratches because the kids won't keep the quilt on top of it. If they won't behave like adults then they need to protect the furniture.
How is it may fault that the kids don't walk the dogs despite being home all day? I walk them before 7 a.m. and that's it until I get home after 4 pm. On a normal day they would be ok until someone comes home (usually not having an accident) but once someone does get home they need to go out. If someone is home all day they need to go out at least every 4 hours. I'm sure these kids go to the bathroom more than once in a 9 hour period! My house smells like piss and shit and I can't stand it any more. How can anyone live like that!! I know B doesn't like living like that but she has got to get it through these kids skulls that normal people don't live like that even if their father does. If you want to live like a pig then go back to the pig.
I never made any promises that living with me would be nirvana but I do provide food, clothing, entertainment and pretty much everything they need. Maybe if they hadn't drained me dry over the past 4 years we would have more money to do fun things but until we are caught up I won't go deeper into debt just so they can have some fun. They never did anything with their father over the summer so why do they expect us to be entertaining them all the time? Maybe if he would send anything that even looked like child support we would take them out for some fun.
If you want no responsibility then go move in with the irresponsible parent but when you give nothing then you also get nothing. They'll be eating crap again when he has the money to buy food or else they can go get the food stamps and charity pantry. Just remember that there are lots of other people who need those resources (who might just be down on their luck instead of lazy) so you may not be able to get everything you need. It's starting to get cold so you better take care of those winter clothes because your father won't be able to afford to replace them.
It's not my fault that I think everyone, no matter how old they are, should pull their own weight. You give what you get and if you give nothing then you get nothing. Consider yourself lucky that you've gotten so much over the past 4 years because I don't feel like giving any more with out getting something in return.

It's been a while since I posted anything but don't get the idea that the kids are any better then they have been in the past. We'll start with school. The boys are doing their best to fail out as quick as they can. K now has 4 F's, a D and a fake B (what teacher only grades 4 assignments in Algebra in 10 weeks while K2 has missed 14 days so far in 10 weeks along with another 9 tardies. In the past 2 weeks he's gone to school twice and even on those days he was tardy! He had strep throat last week but that would of been under control by monday with the drugs I got (took the afternoon off from work) from his doctor. He's just being a pain and B can't take the time in the morning to force him to go to school. I keep telling her that she's going to end up in court because of these kids but she still lets them stay home at the slightest "illness" (guess what H - that "illness" is going to hit you every month so you better get used to it H is actually passing all her classes but she is carrying 2 D's and a few low C's. I reward good grades with cash but I don't pay out anything for D's and below. Get those grades up if you want any money!

The cellphones are now out of contract and I'm tempted to cancel them every day. K managed to rack up over 50 text messages in 3 days sending and receiving from his "girlfriend". I have over 6000 minutes banked! Call her! I've told the kids that after we get the credit card payed off then I'll probably add texting to the phones for $30 a month but until then they better not send more than a few a month. 50 is a lot more than a few! K's phone is now suspended and I'm thinking of cancelling it if he doesn't bring all his grades to passing by the end of the semester. I don't know why these kids don't listen and why they keep pushing me. I hold the keys to the kingdom so you better get used to doing things my way.

This past weekend we finally had the kids "birthday party". Since they all had their birthdays while with their father and it was super expensive to go to WV and bring them back (thanks $3.79/gal gas - could of saved a couple of hundred with current gas prices) we put off any celebration until this past weekend. They were each allowed to invite 4 friends and we'd have pizza and cake and they could do what ever they wanted. In the end H managed to get 3 friends, K had 2 friends that never did anything inside and K2 had none. They did manage to go through a case and a half of coke and eat a ton of pizza but that was the extent of the "party". I guess we need to get them friends along with everything else! I'm just glad it's over so we can stop hearing "when are we having our party"?!! I felt bad about making them wait so long but not that bad since I spent half the morning cleaning the house and got nearly zero help from any of them. I should of left the place a mess so their friends would know what pigs they are.

More later... I have to look like I'm working for a bit!

Do you ever wonder where kids get the toys and other things that suddenly appear out of no where. Often the story is that some friend gave it to them or they found it. That was the story last week when K2 brought home a bunch of baseball cards and a keychain. The story started that he found them next to the trash at Wal-mart. Somewhere along the line the story changed that his friend gave him some of them (I don't like children buying friendship with gifts). The true story is that K2 and H have been stealing from Wal-mart!!
Over the past few weeks these two little felons (along with at least two of their friends) have been stealing jewelry, baseball cards and who knows what else from Wal-mart. The story so far is that K2 took the baseball cards (3 boxes so far that run about $20 each) by just walking out of the store with them. The jewelry were stolen by both K2 (at the request of his sister and her friend) and his sister, H. K2's friend actually stole a pair a Shaq shoes and had been switching out his shoes for the stolen ones on the way to school and switching back on the way home so he would have the cool shoes at school. Needless to say his parents weren't happy when we brought the shoes to them and explained what had been going on. He was in enough trouble since he'd been away from home for about 4 hours and his father was about to call the police to try and find him and his little brother.

In case theft wasn't enough (and a bit of lying tossed in there for effect) when I went to walk the dogs on Sunday I came across K2 and his friend T pushing a Wal-mart cart into a drainage ditch behind the store. What they thought was a little fun was more theft and vandalism. These kids have no common sense and will end up in jail before long if they don't start thinking about their actions.