Miscellaneous (mostly) Bitching

First, without going into too much detail, I just wanted to mention that when children act up, it is mostly the fault of the parent(s). I say mostly because I do understand that there are certain medical issues which interfere with the behaviors of a small percentage of kids, and there are a few other folks who have influence over kids (teachers, friends, neighbors, etc)... Counseling is there for a reason, btw. But, the first and most important influence is YOU. You do not have the right to bad-mouth those who help you take care of your kids; ESPECIALLY in front of them. You have a responsibility to make sure that your children are raised to be responsible, respectful, and safe; as well as to make sure they treat others with respect, and act in a moral and ethical way. If you have a problem doing these things, you should not have children. It's not supposed to be easy.

Second, why is it that some people remember and acknowledge important dates, but others completely ignore the event? Are these "ignorers" rude on purpose? I am a firm believer that if you WANT to remember something, you will. Don't tell me you "can't remember" something, when you have a thousand other bits of mostly-useless information running around in your brain. If you really have trouble with dates, there are endless kinds of calendars around.

Third, April is a super-busy month for my family --- This year, I acknowledge:
* April 1st -- my and Ace's anniversary, my bff's & her husband's anniversary, Manny's birthday, and one of my co-workers' birthday.
* April 10th -- my father's birthday.
* April 11th -- my sister's (DW) birthday.
* April 13th -- my new niece's due date.
* April 14th -- my grandmother's birthday.
* April 21st -- my older bro's & SIL's anniversary.
* April 28th -- my sister's (JH) birthday.

Fourth, we were planning for two weeks to go to the coast for our anniversary this year (6th), but the Friday before we were supposed to leave, Ace came home from work and said we couldn't go; we had "too much to do". I was pretty upset. We haven't been to the coast in months! So, that weekend, we spent the majority of the time going over, organizing, and matching up our paperwork for taxes. We had an appointment with our accountant that Tuesday, so it had to get done. I understood that, but it still bugged the crap out of me.

Fifth, ending on a high note, softball season starts this Thursday.