Teenage Boys are Strange Creatures

Just when I think I have my teenage boys pegged for life… they turn over a new and refreshing leaf that does this mama’s heart good.  It’s happening in repeating stages right now.  I’m not sure why, but I’m not voicing any of these questions aloud, so as not to disturb the force.

It all started about a month ago.  Holding my coupon envelope while pushing my grocery cart through Safeway, my cell phone rang. It was my 15-year-old son.  He was calling to inquire about the correct procedure for washing his comforter.  Glory be!  I explained that it is exactly like a load of clothes.  BAM!  I could hardly breathe for the clean-laundry-loving juice pumping through my veins.

I arrived home that day to find three large garbage bags stuffed full of clothing in the loft.  Inquiring minds want to know, so I asked a few children if they knew what the bags were for.  Seems it was my same comforter-washing son.  He had gone through his closet AND dresser and removed all the clothing that was too small, stained, holey and nerdy.  Never in his 15 years has he performed this action.

Then I glanced in his room.  Miracle of miracles.  I could see the carpet under his bed!  It is usually hidden by piles of smelly shoes, biking gear, magazines, dirty and/or clean clothing.  It was spotless.  I was speechless! Unbelievable.  I thought it would take a college roommate or his wife to convince him of his slobbish ways.  I’m not sure what happened to bring about this change, and I’m not disturbing the force and asking any time soon.  The amazing thing is that it is still that clean… a month later.  It was like BAM! he grew up.

I was basking in the realization that 50% of my sons were now considered not slobs.  Wow!  I realize 50% is not a passing grade, but I was at 0% just a month ago.

THEN it happened.  I was in Walmart picking out avocados that were ripe to perfection when my cell phone rang.  It was my 13-year-old son inquiring how to launder his comforter.  I about dropped to the tile floor in Wally World in shock and disbelief.  I explained that it is exactly like a load of clothes.  BAM! I could hardly breathe for the clean-laundry-loving juice pumping through my veins.

But, unfortunately, that is as far as son #2 got in the goal of living a tidy, laundered, clean lifestyle.  But he’s two years ahead of his brother in the comforter category. Yet, I have hope.

 

It’s In the Mail!

Today we sent off Larisa’s entry for the prom dress contest.  I still am having a hard time believing that the first prize is $50,000 for college and a $1,000 gift card for JoAnn’s stores.  $50,000….. that’s a lot of money to win when you’re between the ages of 14 and 18!   OK, that’s a lot of money to win when you’re 44 too!  We spent a total of $60 for everything including the supplies to make the mask.  So if the total prizes awarded are $74,450, and if the average girl spent the same as us (however, we got off easy with sales and coupons) there would need to be 1,240 entries …. and that’s not even breaking even if you count the actual cost to JoAnn’s for the materials.  On the JoAnn’s site it stated that there were hundreds of entries last year….. only HUNDREDS… not thousands.

 The twenty finalists that have to send in their dress and the accessory the created are notified on or about July 2nd.  Thirty-two days and counting.

The contest is judged on workmanship/skill level, originality and level of detail shown in the photographs.  Not that I’m the mom, or biased, or anything like that, but I really believe Larisa stands a good chance of being a finalist.  Of course, I haven’t seen any of the other hundreds of entries, but my girl did a fabulous job, especially with the hand-beading in her own design on the waistband.

This is the photo we submitted for the shot of the accessory…..because we needed a closer view of her fuchsia design on the waistband. 

Here is last year’s winner:  http://joannfabricandcraftstores.blogspot.com/2009/10/florida-student-wins-jo-ann-prom.html They have really upped the prizes since last year.  Wow!

Breaking Headline News

Yes, I’ve been absent from MSJ for a week!  Eeeegads!  I do declare that I’ve been a tad on the occupied side.  Here are the latest headlines that should shed light on my week:

Forty-Four Year Old is Elated with Chair.  This, of course, makes my fantastic, new, green, down-wrapped reading chair sound fuddy-duddy-ish, but it’s not!  It even came with an ottoman…. and it matches my bedspread perfectly.  If you know me at all, or even slightly, you may be aware that I am a reading fiend…. a book hound… honestly, I have a wanderlust for literature.  Up to ten tomes can be found on and under my bedside table at all times.  Topics range from Christian Historical Fiction to Adoption to Devotionals for Women to homeschooling to encyclopedias to Arizona History and even Strunk and White Elements of Style.  All that to say…. I can hardly believe that I waited until my 44th birthday to request a reading chair for my bedroom.  It is a little green slice of heaven for me sitting there in my room!

Sixteen-Year-Old Sews Up $50K!  This is a prophetic headline, as my daughter finishes hand-beading and sewing her prom dress that she is entering in the JoAnn’s Prom Dress Contest.  I knew this kid had talent…. but seriously, she can sew straighter lines than I can…. and I’ve been sewing for 127 years!  And Beading!  Be still my bead-loving-heart!  The contest prizes are almost unbelievable!  $50,000 + $1,000 JoAnn’s gift card for first place!  WOW!  Can you say C O L L E G E?  Second place: $20,000 + $500 gift card.  Can you say C A R?  Third place: $10,000 + $250 gift card.  Can you say A W E S O M E   V A C A T I O N    W I T H    M O M?  Ten runner-up prizes of $1,000 + $100 gift card EACH!  Can you say S A V I N G S   A C C O U N T?  The winner is not announced until July or August, but when Larisa wins one of these fantastic prizes, you can bet your bottom dollar it will be broadcasted live here!  A sneak peek:

Children Dragged Through Museum.  This, again, sounds harsh and un-fun.  But no.  Yes, it was my birthday yesterday.  You usually get to do things you love on the day celebrating your birth, right?  Well, I’m a closet history buff who stores trivial historical knowledge in my head.  Take me to a museum and I start to salivate.  Drop me off in an old cemetary with simply a canteen and I’ll be overjoyed.  It was my husband’s idea too, not mine.  When he suggested we tour a Native American museum on the day celebrating his wife’s birth, I was all for it.  A lively, minute docent leeched onto our family and was thrilled that I asked questions and needed detailed information about all the fascinating items on display.  My family slowly distanced themselves from me and my new friend.  Off in the corner I heard my husband tell our children while nodding toward the tour guide, “THERE is your mom when she’s 63!”  Grief!  And on my birthday!

There’s more… but I’ll save some for tomorrow!