Home Alone--Teen Version

My son stayed home alone while my daughter and I went to lunch at the tea room. He loves having uninterrupted time on the television, the computer, and the phone. I feel comfortable leaving him there alone--we are always in contact through my cell phone and we have some neighbors who are always home if there was ever an emergency. He is 15, and he loves exerting his freedom whenever possible. He LOVES being "Home Alone"! :)

Tea Time!

My mother invited my daughter and I out to lunch at a quaint tea room. We enjoyed the tea and finger foods, and we especially enjoyed spending time together on a "Ladies Day Out." My daughter did kind of balk at some of the festivities--some of the patrons wore hats and other "tea party attire" that she did not like. Still, she seemed to enjoy the food and the conversation. She did bring her phone and we had to ask her not to text during lunch. I guess she needs a few more lessons on "cell phone etiquette," especially during meals at restaurants. I know many adults that could use some of those lessons! :) All in all, our lunch at the tea room was very nice!

Double Feature

After we cleaned up and put all of our Christmas things away, we decided to relax and watch some of our new DVDs. We collect several movies that have sequels, and some of our favorites are the Pirates of the Caribbean series and the Harry Potter series. We enjoyed watching the latest of these series even though we had seen them in the theater last year. It is always nice to curl up on the couch with some popcorn and watch movies in your own home. We really enjoyed them!

Let's get Organized!

We spent part of New Year's Day putting the Christmas things away and getting everything reorganized. We relaxed a bit during the holidays and didn't show the house to anyone, so now we have to be back into the "ready for open house" mode. It seems to be tough on my teens to keep their rooms organized. They lapsed some over the holidays and now have to get things back in order. We will all be glad when we are finished with this process! It is not easy to live in a house that is "on the market." We want to get it sold and out from under us--then we can finally move to Florida and begin a new phase in life. At least moving is a great motivation to get organized--no one wants to pack up a bunch of junk! We are weeding through our things very meticulously and getting rid of anything that we don't want or need in Florida. We should be very organized once the move is complete! :)

New Year's Resolutions

Since this blog is about parenting teenagers, I will focus on that--

1. This year we WILL move to Florida--my teens will go to great schools and settle into a nice new life there. The timing may not be perfect, but we will make it into the best decision for us.

2. I will successfully transition into a busy working mother of teenagers--I may be short on time and we may have to make compromises, but the extra income will allow us to do many things.

3. We will do many things together and enjoy one of our last years together under the same roof--I will always be aware that in just a few years they will leave--we'll have fun until then!

4. I will help my teenagers to become as independent and self-sufficient as possible--I will prepare them for the real world and help them get ready to live productive lives on their own.


I will stop here--that is a lot to do in a year! :) I have more small concepts that I want to incorporate, but these are the big ones. Happy New Year! Welcome 2008! :)

Happy New Year!

It is finally 2008! I hope this year turns out to be a much better one than 2007. Some good things did happen, but then we kind of got stuck and weren't able to move forward. 2008--a year full of promise--and hopefully many changes for us! :)

Visa gift cards

My son wanted to shop online, but I didn't want to give him my credit cards. He had a lot of cash from both his birthday and Christmas money. We went to the bank and he turned his cash into a Visa gift card that he could use to shop online. Problem solved! When we were there, I asked about getting him a checking account with a debit card--they said that a person had to be 18 to do that. If he gets a job in the next year or so, I will have to open a checking account in my name and put him on it just so he can have an account for his paychecks. I remember having jobs as a teenager AND checking accounts for my paychecks. I don't know when the 18 year old restriction came into play--bank rule, state rule, national rule? A lot of 16 and 17 year olds have jobs--do they all have to use their parents' checking account for their paychecks? Anyway--he used his Visa gift card to purchase some things online--he was happy, and I was glad that I didn't have to give him MY account information for that purpose. I want him to be responsible for his own money--I hope we can work that out in the future. I guess if I open an account just for him, even if my name is on it, that would work. I just don't want him dipping into mine! :)