Ayyyy, Teenagers!

Oh, man, what is it with teens?

Mine went and downloaded a program the other day. Does she ask? No. Is it her computer? No.

But oh my, did I get the attitude just now when I was removing the program. She acts like I did something wrong by taking her program off the computer. And, on top of that, when I told her for the upteenth time, "DO NOT load programs on my computer," she's trying to tell me that I've never told her that. Huh.

Sigh.

Teens! Really, they're not deaf, they just have selective hearing.

Now she's invited her friend, a boy, to go to Oregon with us. Ayyyyy! And she's saying his mom said yes, he could go.

I didn't say yes, but I didn't say no either, so apparently there's an implied OK in this scenario. Well, guess what, the boy is NOT going with us on my tiny bit of a vacation! I'm not going to be responsible for someone else's son while I'm trying to have 3-4 days off. It's bad enough that I can't even stay the full week because of the plumbing disaster earlier this year, so I don't have enough vacation time to take a proper vacation. But to have to be responsible for another teen? One that I just met today? No, I think NOT.

The girl is totally a DIVA too. OMG, the drama that never ends. Once her cousin said, "When she comes into the room, it's like a light switch is turned on." That is so true of my beautiful girl.

And you know, when she does finally grow up and leave home, I will miss her terribly...

Books, Books, Books

Sigh, some days I really, really miss the publishing business. I miss designing the pages, making the pictures and text and captions all fit together. The thrill of finding JUST the right picture to go with that page of text.

I miss the thrill of the hunt, of going out and buying pictures in Hollywood for the books about movie stars. It was so much fun. Work, yes, but fun.

The smell of freshly printed books, when we'd rip open the boxes, open the books and see the culmination of all our hard work, it was like Christmas all over again.

So many kids don't seem to like books anymore. My kids complain about all my books. I have literally walls of books in my house. It's the feel, the smell, the texture. The look of the words on the page. And a book is portable. We can go off to the dog park or the skate park and I can post up with a book, escape the bills, my little skateboarder (OK, he's almost as tall as I am), my teenage diva, the job, the housework for just a little while.

For a little while, I'm lost in a strange new world, exploring Forerunner ruins, hearing the hissing speech of a Zacathan or the trill of a Trystian, or hiding from a Dark Rider. Alas, all too soon the kids, the house, work call and back I come to the "real" world.

I put the bookmark where I leave off, and put the book back on the shelf.

Soon, soon, I'll be back....