Shocked and Proud at the Same Time

There's lots of things I could write about in light of this week's events in Boston and I will at a later date, but what just happened in my living room with my daughter's friend, who is spending the night shocked me and made me proud at the same time.  See my daughter's friend doesn't think races should mix. When this statement came out of her mouth I was shocked a seventh grader in this day and age would have such an archaic opinion about people. Apparently my daughter failed to tell her friend that her aunt, my sister is black. No one has told the poor girl that Elijah, Stephen and Zeke all have close friends that are "minorities." No one told the girl that my school children are predominantly minorities and I encourage my personal children to view them as family too. No one told the girl that she attends a school and lives in a community where she is the minority!

Like all parents I wonder if I've done a good job instilling knowledge and values that I find important (like bathing, wearing clean underware, tolerance, and patience when dealing with ignorance).  Its not that my kids don't know that racism exisit, they do. Its not that I don't know that people raise their kids with some racist ideology, I do. Its the fact that I wanted confirmation that my children don't share this little girl's ignorant views on inter racial interactions. Confirmation I got! Here are summaries of my children's responses to the little girl.

Elijah:  Well isn't she ignorant! Obviously she hasn't watched a lot of tv or noticed that white people are not always a majority.

Colin: Ummmm my aunt is black, my mom's volleyball team is black and I wouldn't like not being able to mix with them. If I was brown then you wouldn't associate with me and I could have the tv to myself. Mom how can I get browner?

Josie: I don't care what color my husband is as long as he's rich and loves me! (Okay, so I have some work to do with the materialistic nature of Josie's views on marriage).

So I'm proud my kids don't have racist viewpoints. At least I've accomplished something!

Engaging in the Dish Battle

After spending the last two hours of mind numbing health assessments for the insurance company, I am currently "supervising" my darling daughter doing the dishes, AT 945PM!  This has become an almost daily battle with her and she is a master procrastinator! Here's Josie's top 5 current attempts at avoiding dishes and engaging in battle with mom!

1. I have never seen someone so young need to use the bathroom so much when it is time to do the dishes.  She pees more than a woman having twins and only when she has to do the dishes.  I have counted twelve trips to the rest room from the time that she started the dishes to the time that I told her she could no longer use the rest room until the dishes were done!  Must be the water she isn't running when she is proclaiming how unfair it is that her only chore is doing the dishes that causes such bladder issues!

2. Three hours ago I learned that the dishwasher (that's as old as she is) has a plate warming feature!  Imagine that, plate warming!  Back in my day we called that the drying cycle and it did not impede our ability to unload the dishwasher and reload all the stuff that you were not planning on washing by hand.  Why we would need a plate warmer when everyone eats cereal or pop tarts 12 hours later for breakfast is beyond me, but apparently the plate warmer feature can't be disturbed?

3. 8:45 and 9:45 are about the same time!  Never mind that the girl is gifted in math and can add and subtract in her head faster than I can punch numbers in the calculator!  The time space continuum is only disrupted when Josephine has to do the dishes!

4. Josie has testing next week!  Really, state testing versus dishes?  Next WEEK?!  This impacts getting the dishes done tonight how?  Yeah!  She really couldn't answer that question either, but I can!  It does not and it will not effect testing next week either!  If testing is that important than said smarty pants daughter will make sure that the dishes are done before 8pm, the stated bed time that she has requested for next week. Oh and mom will remember that she requested such an early bed time!

5. Doing dishes is unfair labor practices because Josie's primary job is going to school and making good grades so she can go to Mercer!  I like how she throws the old Alma Mater in there.  Despite being informed that Josie will be paying for college all by herself and could probably use a skill such as dish washing to cover her $40,000 a year in tuition costs to go to Mercer, Josie feels that focusing solely on her academics is her best bet to becoming a Bear like mom.

I know that I will have to go put half the dishes that she is washing by hand back into the sink for her to redo because she half washed them thinking: One, no one would check and Two, mom wouldn't dare make her food in dirty bowls, pots or pans!  She isn't without resources and has proposed on numerous occasions possible solutions to the dish dilema.  Here are Josie's solutions to the daily dish battle:
1. Everyone take care of their own dishes.
2. Colin do the dishes
3. Mom do the dishes
4. Everyone can stop eating so much so no one will have to do the dishes
5. Hire a maid to do the dishes
At least she has some possible solutions to her avoidance behaviors, but her mother just won't fund or let Josie implement any of her solutions.  Apparently doing dishes makes it a rough life, but the dish battle will wage on until 2018- the year Josephine graduates high school!  Please wish her luck and pray for the avoidance of nuclear warfare from mom!  Thanks!