An Update, However Small and The Teenage Daughter

The update on dad and granddad is thankfully small.

I'm jinxing myself but hey, with all these wonderful muscle relaxers, who cares, right??

Dad is doing ok for the moment. About a week ago, a chest x-ray was done on him to make sure he didn't have pneumonia. He just had bronchitis. A little Robitussin and bactricin (sp?) and he's fine and dandy. After the grand mal seizure he had (in the past 2 wks), he's doing ok. Nothing new to report on the brain. Just watching to make sure the c-diff doesn't kick in.

Granddaddy is back to his old tricks. He has bronchitis as well. Not too bad though. He's back to racing up and down the hallways, talking sweet little old ladies into cutting off his 'seat belt' (soft lap restraint).

I haven't been over to the nursing home like I should have been. I just couldn't get there. Between the pain in the back and dr appts for the other grandparents, it didn't happen. Mom has been bringing me the dirty clothes and taking back the clean clothes after I wash them.

Ah, yes, the back. I have a low tolerance for pain. I have a low tolerance for anything.
I did go to the dr who told me to do some gentle exercises, take 3 advil 3 times a day, gave me loratab, medrol (steroid) and some flexiril. She said the flexiril would make me sleepy. The pharmacist told me the medrol would make me hyper. So far I think the two have contradicted each other. I'm either sleepy with the shakes or can't get sleepy at all. I think I'll take it over the back pain though. The loratab makes me babble like a baboon. The advil don't help. AAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enough of that.

On to teenage daughters.

When did my daughter start growing up? She went from toddler to 8" taller than me in no time flat. She also brought her attitude along. I just love (NOT!!) the "whatevvveeerrrrr" remark. It makes me want to duct tape her hand to her mouth. I would never do so but I can think on it. A few weeks ago, after a long week of sassy-mouth, zeroes on her progress report (again!), drinks and candy in her bedroom, general laziness (usual teenage things), I had had enough. She got an attitude with me on the way taking her to school. She said the "whatever" to me one too many times.

I was just about bubbling over with anger. I bit my tongue, almost in half before I got back home. I still had my sons because their school starts an hour later than hers. I went straight to the basement, emptied out a large plastic tub and went upstairs to her room. I put all of her 'toys' in it. By 'toys' I mean her laptop, her mp3 player, her cds, her cd player/radio/clock, books, telephone, tv, anything I thought she even possibly could enjoy. I had to get more tubs but by the time I was through, she only had a few clothes left, just enough for her to go to school for a week before she had to wash them again. My middle child came in to see what I was doing, said "oh dear" and left.

When I picked her and her friend up from school, I didn't speak to her at all. I had stewed over this all day. When she got home, she couldn't believe all of her stuff was gone. She asked me where it was. I told her it was in my room where it would stay until she 'earned' it back. By earning it back, I meant she had to be respectful to me and the rest of the family, help with the housework, pick the grades back up, etc. I told her that I even got to pick out what she earned, she didn't get to pick it out at all. She goes on to tell me how this was soooo unfair. Did I go into the "life is unfair" lecture? Nooooooooo. I told her exactly how it was. According to the laws in our state, I only have to give her a roof over her head, food in her stomach, clothes on her back and no abuse. That it even meant that when we all ordered pizza that night, she would be eating a sandwich because I didn't "have" to feed her the same thing.

Now don't get me wrong, I do expect the teenage stuff. I deal with it. What I don't deal with is a snot-nosed, sassy-mouth, lazy child who is not respectful of the rest of us. After this little incident, I told myself that I won't do it again unless severely provoked. It doesn't work if you do it over the little things.

I had tried other things. Take away her tv, she replaced it with the laptop. Take away the laptop, she replaced it with the phone. Take away the phone, she replaced it with something else. Take it all away, no replacement.

I'm not saying this is right for everybody but by crackety, it worked for us.

She has earned her stuff back and then some. She has built her self-esteem and made me proud.

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