Peek-A-Boo

She walked into the restroom only to find that the cleaning lady was in there. This was one of those moments where she had waited until she could wait no longer, so she looked at her and said, "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to use the restroom. I can't wait until you're finished."

The lady smiled and said that was fine; she didn't have to wait for her to finish.

So she walked into the stall and went about her business, while the cleaning lady continued to stock the room with the necessary supplies.

As she was finishing up and getting ready to stand up and exit, the empty seat cover box was suddenly removed and she looked over and there was a face - RIGHT THERE! Right where the toilet seat covers were being replaced.

Okay, HELLOOOO???? I realize that you have a job to do, but could you not wait until I wiped my ass and vacated the stall before you completed this one particular task??

She didn't actually say that out loud, but I'll bet she was thinking it...

OH MY GOODNESS! I can not tell you how happy I was that this one bathroom nightmare story did not belong to me.

That's right, this one wasn't mine...This one belongs to a friend/co-worker of mine. She told me about it last Friday - knowing my feelings and issues with public bathrooms - and I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants - good thing I wasn't wearing my Spanx that day. I'm just sayin.

Anyway, it was so funny to me that I thought I would share it with you. After all, everyone needs a good laugh every once in a while, right? AND since it happened to her and not me....Oh, who am I kidding? This one would have ended up on the blog no matter who the victim it happened to.

So I already know how I would have handled this situation, but how about you?? What would you have done if this had been you??

Ask and ye shall receive

Last week I asked for your feedback. I was looking for advice on how to handle a particular situation that keeps rearing its ugly head in my household.

The question was: What would you do if you had a child who constantly fibs.

I have tried everything I could think of to get this to stop and I am at my whits end with all the lies. Nothing I have done seems to work when the next time rolls around and I am at a complete loss. When they don't ever seem to learn the lessons that we try to teach them, we oftentimes feel like we have failed as a parent.

They say, ask and ye shall receive and that is exactly how it worked...

This last time really upset me, more than any other time that we've dealt with, because she was willing to let someone else take the blame for something she did. As far as I know, she's never done that before and it really hurt my heart that I witnessed her willingness to let it go that far.
So I wrote about the situation - minimizing some of the details; otherwise, we would have been here for a very long time - and asked for any suggestions on what I should do.

I am so pleased to report that all of the wonderful ladies I have met in blog land responded with their words of wisdom - not only that, but it helped to learn that I am not alone in dealing with this frustrating situation.

My Goodness said...
You know, I'm not quite there yet...but I've always heard that you have to find what means the most to them - and take it away. Luxuries or privileges, whatever...it has to really mean something to them.

Kellan said...
You know - I would figure out what her currency is and I'd take it away and I'd also restrict from TV or video games or having friends over - that sort of stuff. I think all kids are different and it is sometimes hard to figure out what will work to make them stop the behavior. When you figure it all out - write a book and I'll buy it!!!

Weeksie50 said...
You could find some good books about lying and read them to her then discuss the consequences over and over again.. The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a good one...A Big Fat Enormous Lie by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat..Don't Tell a Whopper on Fridays!by Adolph Moser...The Honest-to-Goodness Truth by Patricia C. McKissack these are some of the books we read in my class.. You can probably find these at your local library and maybe even more books about lying.

Sniz said...
Wow, that is a tough one. Our oldest son has always struggled with being truthful when telling the truth meant punishment. But usually when we "faked" it and acted like we were going to punish the other sibling (the one he was letting take the blame), he would finally "fess up. But if there were fibs that didn't affect other people in the house, he would sometimes let them go on a long time. How old is she? I couldn't abide it in Wil either, but it is a heart issue and nothing we did really changed his heart. So we prayed. It took a long time, but he finally outgrew it. We were patient with him and firm when we were able to find out the truth...there were lots of talks, lots of lost privileges, but like I said, his heart didn't change fast. I think time, patience, attention (we never let something "slip" by us, whether he confessed or not) and prayer were the things that worked. I think that started to wear him down since he knew he couldn't get out of lectures and/or punishments by lying. And now he is almost 15 and he is an honest kid, whereas if we hadn't been so diligent even when we were frustrated and exhausted (since it took so long and it was so discouraging at times--years), he could have become a habitual liar as an adult. Does that make sense?

rthling said...
I was ever the lying one in our family. My Mom made me memorize Proverbs 6:16-19. These six things doth the Lord hate: yea seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren. If you notice, lying is mentioned twice in these few short verses. God hates it, and calls it an abomination. I don't know how you deal with sin in your house, but we try to use every teachable moment to lead the children to the place of understanding their need for salvation, and the free gift that is offered by God through the sacrifice of his own son. If you have any questions, you can feel free to email me. Praying this teachable moment is used wisely, Diane

Amy said...
Sounds like you got a lot of advice from all of these wonderful ladies.So I will let their words suffice.And instead of advice, I am just going to send you a great big bloggy hug!:)Remembering this saying helps me sometimes, "And this too shall pass."Big hugs!Amy:)

This is a lot of great advice from some fantastic women and I would like to take a moment to thank each and every one of you. We have already tried many of the things mentioned above, to no avail, but one thing mentioned several times that we have not tried is prayer.

Oh, don't get me wrong here....I have prayed and prayed and prayed; but I have not tried sitting down with her and praying out loud, together. Maybe if she hears my pleas and understands that this is breaking my heart, she will stop and think before lying when the next time rolls around - let us hope.

And if anyone else out there reading this has anything else to offer, this door is definitely not closed and I am still in search of great ideas. Thanks!

Let me ask you this...

My girlfriend, Tina at Golden Goodness, has started a new game where she throws out eight random questions and asks us to play along.

Right now her game doesn't have a name so she calls it Let me ask you this... but her questions from last week created such a buzz that she threw eight more at us this week AND asked us to help her come up with a name for it (HUGE MISTAKE!)

I have this obsession about work games. I LOVE to try and come up with cute plays on words and I can't quit until the winner has been chosen. I'm okay if I'm not the winner....but my brain just will.not.shut.up. until it has been told that the word game has ended...SOOOOOO, needless to say, I have sent her several submission and begged asked her to hurry up and decide on something before I go insane and take her down with me.

Anyway, I didn't play last week - not sure why, I just didn't (sorry Tina). So, I'm going to play TWICE tonight and maybe - hopefully - she will have a name picked by next week and a cute little linkey button for us to post along with it.

So here it goes...

Let me ask you this #1

1. Where do you fold your laundry?

A. In the den, on the sofa, where it continues to sit until it grows legs and walks to the respective rooms to be put away (or until it gets worn again which usually comes first).

2. Must you be sure the dishes are washed before you go to bed each night?

A. Nope, and neither does my daughter - whose chore it is to do the dishes. If I were to be sure they were done every night, she would NEVER get any sleep...

3. Do you use caller id to screen your calls?

A. Yes, absolutely. I do not answer calls from numbers that I don't recognize - and sometimes I don't answer the ones I do either ;)

4. Do you let the low fuel light come on in your car before you fill up?

A. Yep, don't know it needs gas until I hear that little bell.

5. Are you a registered voter?

A. Yes, I am but I guess I voted for the 'other guy' last time because I was so sick I didn't get to vote (I won't tell you if my choice won or not...I'll just make you wonder) BUT if I was on my death bed and it was voting day for a new mayor...I would drag my ass out just for the chance that my one vote might be the one to kick his ass out of office - but I don't feel strongly about that or anything.

6. Breakfast for dinner is one thing, but can you eat dinner for breakfast?

A. Can not eat anything but breakfast for breakfast - no matter what time it is. If it's the first meal of the day...it has to be breakfast.

7. Do you click on the ads you see on people's blogs?

A. No, sorry no time.

8. Do you just want to yell at smokers who are clearly standing within 50ft of the door at a restaurant?

A. No, I guess I don't even notice.

Let me ask you this #2

1. Rare, medium or well-done?

A. None of the above. I like medium well.

2. Do you plan to stay in the house you're in for the rest of your life?

A. I hope not, but with the way things are looking....the prospect of an upcoming relocation doesn't look very promising.

3. Why do you have the size bed you have?

A. I bought my King sized bed because I wanted more room to sleep comfortably, without anyone being right on top of me all the time; however, that logic didn't work. All I did was get more room for more people to sleep right on top of me in the bed.

4. When you buy milk, do you just grab a jug or do you look for the latest exp. date?

A. Always look at the expiration date. Milk is way too expensive to purchase without getting the maximum possible days from it.

5. Do you and your spouse go on dates? How often?

A. Not nearly as often as we should.

6. Do you like to play board games? Favorite?

A. Yes, love, love, love to play games. My most recent favorites are the Scene It games. SO FUN!!

7. Do you have a day each week that you sleep late?

A. If I could, I would seep late every single day. Sleeping is one of my favorite pass times; but, to answer the question, Sunday's are usually the days that I sleep in.

8. Do you wear shoes in your house or park them at the door?

A. I don't park them at the door, but I don't wear them in the house either - heck, half the time I don't even wear them outside. I go barefoot as often as possible.

There you go.. Two weeks of Tina's random eight. Let me know if you decide to play along - oh yeah, and please make sure to link back to Tina - since they are questions from her very own brain power :)

And most importantly...Have fun!

Do they ever get it right?

I wonder how studies get started?

Do you think anyone has ever done a study to determine how many times fast food restaurants actually get it right?

If the amount of times they've gotten my order wrong over the years is any indication, I would be willing to bet that they only get it right less than 50% of the time.

How many times have you gone to the drive-thru, ordered your food and driven all the way back home only to discover that they screwed up your order?

The four year old LOVES 'Donalds' (after all, how many four year old's do you know who don't love 'Donald's?)

She asks for it all the time.

Last night we were so late returning home that I caved and we drove through Mc Donalds to grab a bite on our way home.

As you may recall, I HATE onions - right?

[BLECH!]

So of course, I ALWAYS order my burgers minus the onions and I can not even begin to tell you how many times they get this wrong. I mean seriously, how hard is it to leave off the onions??

Used to be, I would order my burgers with no pickles and no onions; but, as the years went on, I began to think that this might be too complicated for them to remember. At which point, I decided that I could pick the pickles off; so I narrowed it down to only one special request - thinking this would increase their odds of accuracy.

This line of thinking worked for a while but the staff soon evolved into a breed of apparent lesser intelligence and before I knew it, I was right back where I started - with them getting it wrong more often than not...

Last night was no exception to this rule. After waiting in line for several minutes too long for the man two cars in front of us to get his order, you would think that they had enough time to cook special orders for every person in line. But when we arrived home and sat down to eat, we soon discovered that this was not the case. The onion fairy had thrown up on every.single.burger in our bag.

Not willing to drive all the way back to this particular location, we grabbed a butter knife out of the drawer and began the tedious task of removing all of those teeny-tiny onions.

When she unwrapped her second sandwich, the eleven year old suddenly exclaimed, "Heeeeey! They jacked my burger up!"

Laughing at her phrasology, I said "Yes, I know. They jacked all of our burgers up. What are you talking about?"

At which point, she shows me this....

Which gives a whole new meaning to the famous, eighties catch-phrase, "Where's The Beef?"

Our Part-Time Pooch

Doctors, Puzzles and Public Bathrooms

It's become somewhat of a weekly ritual. The mother and her youngest girl go into the doctors office together. The girl plays with the waiting room puzzles, while her mother goes in to get her shot. After she gets her shot and the puzzle is back together again, they go into the restroom for a quick pit stop before the commute back home.

The young one goes into the stall on the left side, while her mother goes into the one next to her - making her feel like she's a big girl.

But today the big girl ran into a little snag.

Hitting this little hiccup, she came out of her stall and paced back and forth outside of her mothers stall, trying to peek through the cracks to figure out a way in all while trying to explain the problem.

Finally deciding that there was no other way in, the girl crawls into her mothers stall and says, "I can't buckle it."

Laughing, she unbuttons her daughters pants and thanks the Good Lord that there is never anyone else in this restroom as the child then unlocks the door and walks out of her mothers stall and back into hers, where she is finally able to complete her task at hand.

What would you do if...

There was a baggie full of money on the table - mostly coins but it did have a few dollars in it. The money in the bag belonged to her oldest daughter, but she had to give it to Ms. Jewal to pay her back for a problem she had caused a few weeks back.

The four year old picked up the baggie and started to walk off but the observant mother stopped her before she could get very far. "Put that back."

"But I need it." the child said, in her four year old logical way.

"You don't need it. That money is for Ms. Jewal." she explained.

"I need some dollars for to go to Nana's."

"You aren't going to Nana's tonight, you're going to bed. Now put it back."

"You will give me some dollars when I go to Nana's?"

"Yes, I will give you some dollars the next time we go to Nana's. Now put it back so we don't lose it."

After being reassured that she would get some 'dollars' the next time she went to her Nana's house, she put the baggie full of money back onto the table.

The next evening, the mother was sitting in her favorite brown chair when she looked over and noticed that all of the dollars were missing from the coin bag. Recalling the conversation from the night before, she naturally thought that the young child had removed the money so she called the girl in so she could question her.

When she asked her what she did with the dollars, the little girl looked at the bag of coins and then, with a funny look on her face, looked at her mother and said, "I didn't do it."

The mother didn't believe her but, after she told her what the punishment would be if she didn't bring the money back and watching her youngest make several sincere yet unsuccessful attempts to find the money, she soon realized that the child was telling the truth.

She questioned her oldest daughter but she claimed to have no knowledge of the whereabouts of the lost bills.

There were only three people in the house who could have taken the money. She didn't take it and she was now 100% certain that her youngest hadn't taken it either, which only left the oldest girl.

I can not express to you how heavy my heart felt when I finally realized that my oldest daughter had not only removed the money from the baggie, but that she was going to let her little sister take the punishment for something that she didn't do.

This seems to be an ongoing problem with her and it is something that I absolutely cannot abide. I need your feedback. I have exhausted all of my measures and nothing has worked. I am at my absolute whits end.

Please tell me, what you would do if you had a child who constantly fibbed?