Respect the Drip, Karen.

The other day, while teaching yet another fabulous lesson, one of my students shouted out,
“Mrs. M! Your hands are shaking! Just like an old person’s hands!”
So that was fun.
***
Teens.
How am I old enough to have them? And we all know I am old now, what with the shaking hands and whatnot.
Teens are sassy. And difficult. And funny. And lovable. But mostly exhausting.
Daisy Mae is about to get her driver’s license. She wants a car, but she has not saved up for one yet.
Me: When you get your license, you can drive my car and drop me off at school, then drop your brothers off at school, and then you will have a car at school. You can leave when you are done and you don’t have to wait around for a ride!
DM: No way, Mom. I am not driving your car. It is a total MOM car.
(I would like to submit for the records that this child is also wearing MOM JEANS, which are apparently now in fashion?)
Me: No, it is not!
DM: Um, yeah. I would rather drive Dad’s truck.
*Gasp*
Who is this child? David’s truck is ginormous and awful and gets terrible gas mileage.
Me: Do you not understand the size of his truck? Do you not understand the concept of gas mileage? We drive 40 miles each way to town!
DM (shrugging): Trucks are cool. I want my own. I want to name it Waylon.
I am going to go broke paying for the gas and food for these people.
And too bad for her. I already named our bull, Waylon. So, ha.
***
Sweet Pea is a busy bee. She had a basketball breakfast fundraiser and served the entire fam. Here she is snuggling up with my super cute niece and nephew.

I love all of my nieces and nephews, especially cute little ones when I am deep in the throes of teenage angst and middle school sass.
My nephew, just turned three. He gives me hugs! He loves my cows! We look at cow pictures together!
He came over awhile ago and about an hour after dinner, he looked at me quite seriously and said,
“Taylor. Thank you for cooking me dinner.”
Oh, be still my heart.
My sister in law told me that for days leading up to the dinner, he told his parents,
“When Taylor makes me dinner, I am going to say, ‘Thank you.'”
He is a breath of fresh air amidst the angst and sass.
Speaking of sass-
The other day, the boys were driving me nuts and being loud and obnoxious, as per their usual custom. They were feeding themselves.
This, my friends, is never good.
The fridge gets left wide open. Milk gets left on the counter. Crumbs are everywhere.
Yes, I run a tight ship here. Why do you ask?
Anyways, as I went to close the fridge for the 17th time, I noticed HD had knocked something over in the fridge, neglected to pick it up, and there were drips everywhere.
I asked him to clean it up.
He sighed obnoxiously, did something half-heartedly, and then deemed it clean.
I checked his work.
False.
Me: Dude. No. Look at all these drips! CLEAN IT UP!
HD: Respect the drip, Karen.
Um. Excuse me? Did my son just call me “Karen?”
Both boys are laughing heartily and I am about to lose it because I did not raise these two to call me “Karen” and laugh at me.
Apparently, it is from a “vine.”
And, no. I don’t know what a “vine” is. I am old with shaky hands. But I DON’T wear Mom jeans.
A bit later I told him to put away his clean laundry.
He said, “Chillax, Karen.”
Please pray for Handsome Dude. He might not live to see his 13th birthday.
Good News. I had my formal teaching observation this week. I did not wear jeans! I am not sure how it went, but I have not been notified of my impending termination, so let us call it a win!
Happy Tuesday!
Love,
Karen.