Posted by Leigh on July 29, 2008
Every summer since I was about ten, my family has spent most of the summers in North Carolina. The last few years it’s just been for a week or so, but we usually all go down together. My parents, my sisters and their husbands and children, and me and my family. Unfortunately, this year, due to the construction of our new house being in progress, my family (my husband and our kids), isn’t going. The week that everyone is to leave is the week that our new modular home is being delivered. So of course we have to be here for that.
My parents invited the kids to go along with them, but then after a weekend of taking my two kids camping, they changed their minds, and no longer want to take my little girl with them, only my son is allowed to go. I told them it wasn’t fair, and that if both couldn’t go, neither could.
My dad threw a fit! He’s mad because my son goes with them a lot of places when he’s not in school, he always has, as he’s the oldest grandchild. So why is this time different, he asks. Well, because it’s not just you and mom going, but the whole family. Ariana will wonder why Neenie and Poppy took all the other kids, but not her. She’ll feel left out, I told him.
Well, she’s got to understand that her brother is older and gets to do more things than she does, my father argues.
But she won’t see it that way, I tried to tell him. All she see is that the five other grandkids got to go, but she didn’t.
Well their parents are going.
Dad, she’s five - she won’t understand that. All she’ll understand is that no one wanted her along.
So when David (my son) goes to his high school prom, is he going to have to take his sister along so that she doesn’t feel left out? He practically screams at me.
Dad, that’s different. I try to explain, thinking that his comparison is totally ridiculous.
No, it’s not. You’re telling me that David can’t go anywhere without his sister. My dad argues.
No! (Now I’m the one practically screaming.) If it was just you and mom going, I’d have no problem letting David go alone. But the point is dad, that the whole family is going. Ariana is going to wonder why no one wanted her along.
That makes absolutely no sense. He yells at me. You’re punishing David for having a sister. (Me and my father have always had a strained relationship, but that’s a story for another day!)
We never did come to an agreement that suited everyone. My children are not going with my parents, and they are fine with that. My son seems to understand better than my father does about leaving only one child in the family out. Even my mom seems to understand, but my dad, the stubborn man that he is, can’t get it through his head.
So after I left, my dad started on my husband about it. Thinking that Russ, not I had made the decision. Which is totally not how it happened. I made the call! Then he accused Russ of not allowing David to go because David’s not his son. He thinks Russ is harder on David for that reason, which is probably the exact opposite of how things really are, I think we actually go easier on David than we do on Ariana. But my father doesn’t see it that way, and I don’t know how to convince him otherwise.
Russ has been in David’s life since he was 5, he has been more like a father to him, than his real dad ever was, even when we were together, David’s dad didn’t really want anything to do with him, he was always too into his drinking to care. Even when Russ and I weren’t living together, he still acted like a father to David.
Why is it that your parents can ever seem to accept the fact that they can no longer control you once you move out?
I talked about it in depth with my son, and David understands. He knows how he would feel if it had been Ariana that had been invited instead of himself, so he’s fine with my decision. But my father is no longer speaking to me because of it. *groan* Some people…
I know what it’s like to be left out, and it’s not a good feeling. Not something I want my daughter to have to learn about like this, especially because I don’t want her to think her grandparents don’t love her like they do the other kids. As it is now, she’s usually the one left out of everything.
My two sisters are very close, they spend all their free time together. When they want to go somewhere they call me. But instead of inviting me to go, they ask me to watch their kids. Does it bother me? Some, but I don’t really have anything in common with my sisters as it is. I’m kind of the black sheep of the family, but once again, that’s a story for another day. Now, when my mother goes along with them, while I’m stuck home with everyone’s kids… That irritates me!
I just don’t want her to feel left out, to feel that her grandparents don’t love her like they do the other kids!
So am I being unfair to my son? Am I punishing him because he has a little sister? What would you do in my place?
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Posted by Leigh on July 28, 2008
I let a domain name expire about a month ago. It wasn’t in use, nor had ever been since I had acquired it, one of those where the client couldn’t decide what he wanted so I bought a few different ones for him to choose from. Not two days after it expired, I received three emails asking if I wanted to repurchase my domain. Now, originally I could have renewed it for under $10, the first set of emails from this company (not the original company I had registered it through, but a domain buyer/reseller) wanted me to pay $199 for it. What a crock!
Well, I kindly sent them an email telling them that I didn’t want it and asking them to remove me from their email list, so that I would never hear from them again. I was polite, but a bit sarcastic in my email, informing them that if I had wanted the domain, I would have just paid the $10 to begin with. I didn’t hear back and assumed they had gotten my message.
Today I got another email from another similar company, they now want $557 for the same domain name. They were just letting me have first shot at it, since I own the .net of the same name. So I emailed them back that I wasn’t interested.
Not two hours later, I received another email from the first company once again offering me the domain, now it’s up to $867.
This domain has never been in use, it was registered for one year and sat empty. Why the heck do they think they can get me to pay hundreds of dollars to get it back? Now I could see doing this if there had been a site on the domain when it expired, or even had previously had a site on it. But for a never used one….
Good thing I really didn’t want it! 
Moral of the story: Don’t let your domain names expire or you will pay heavily to get it back!
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Posted by Leigh on July 26, 2008
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately browsing around the blogosphere (blogging communities) lately, as I’ve had some down time, due to not taking on any new projects because of our pending move and all that comes with new home construction!
I’ve run across a lot of interesting blogs and bloggers lately, so today I’m going to share a few! (Show a little blog love!)
1. Lisa from My Thoughts, Ideas and Ramblings is a good person to start with if you enjoy my blog. Another Work From home mommy and her thoughts and experiences! Just don’t leave any spiders lying around her site! Great work Lisa, you really interact with your readers! Good luck at the Pampers Mommy Blogger Event!
2. Katy at I’m Blogging That is always full of great tips and ideas about blogging (don’t forget to check out some of her other blogs while you’re there!) I tend to stick around there for hours just reading about all that’s new in blogging!
3. The Sassy Southerner tells it like it is! Her name describes her well, and and I just love her awesome writing style! Stop by and give her a shout!
And now that you’ve probably spent hours reading those three amazing ladies site, just as I have, I’ll give a few blogs where pictures speak louder than words!
4. Breath of Life Photography - a beautiful photo blog! Relax, grab a cup of… Well, whatever you like to drink, and click away through these amazing photographs!
5. Picture Clusters - See the ordinary become extraordinary with the photo projects found on this site!
Enjoy some of my new favorite hangouts and have a great lazy Saturday!
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Posted by Leigh on
I remember growing up, Saturday mornings were always a special time. It was cartoon day! All morning all of the local channels played cartoons all morning. We didn’t have cable back then, so having cartoons on TV was a special treat. We’d all line up in front of the TV and take turns picking which cartoons to watch. Of course it wasn’t that hard to choose, there was only 5-6 channels to pick from.
The magic of Saturday mornings seems to have gotten lost. Now a days, there are always cartoons on at any given time of the day and/or night. Our children have tons of channels to pick from, and we only have the basic Dish Network package.
But looking at the quality of the children’s shows today disappoints me. Too many cartoons have too much violence, or just plain stupidity in them. Cartoons have gone down in quality. Our kids have an approved list that they can watch, but most shows on the Cartoon Network are not approved. Although, I do have to say that it seems the cartoon network has been cleaning up it’s act in the more recent years, when my son was little the popular cartoons were things like Ed, Edd and Eddy, Johnny Bravo, and things of that caliber (garbage in my eyes). Lately it’s been more along the lines of Pokemon and such.
Whatever happened to the quality cartoons of decades past? Where are the Smurfs now? Did Gargamel get them? What about the Gummy Bears and their Gummy Bear Juice? Did they just bounce away? How about the Flintstones or the Jetsons, did they go back to their own millenniums?
Those were quality cartoons, they entertained not only the children, but the parents as well. We used to have to fight off our father if we didn’t want to watch those first two on Saturday mornings, as he was right there in front of the TV with us. The only newer cartoon now a days that even remotely entertains my husband or I is Spongebob, and you can only take so much of that. Thank God for the classics that stick around, like Scooby Doo!
Nick and Disney have the monopoly on decent cartoons now, there are very few on those channels that our children aren’t allowed to watch. But the shows are not broad ranged enough. Each show is targeted to a specific age range and is totally uninteresting to any one else. Although, this may be a good thing in some ways, it doesn’t really promote the “family togetherness” of the cartoon of by gone decades.
Bring back quality television and get rid of the garbage!
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