for about a week now i've had kids at home. whiny kids. kids who ask, day after day, with a smoke haze hanging around in the air, "can i go outside and go to . . . ." kids who have asked about school and been downright upset to find out it's closed again. kids who were going so freaking stir crazy they were making me nuts. we did get a brief respite this weekend when they spent most of saturday and sunday with their father. but, other than that, my own children had me wanting to move.

maybe that's why i started staying up at night and sleeping during the day?

don't get em wrong, i love my children. really! but any parent will tell you, children who cannot go outside and do something make a parent want to climb the walls in very short order.

what i've discovered about my kids is that it does not matter how many books they have or how many toys they have, they must do one of three things: play on the ps2, watch tv, or go outside. they're always bored otherwise. a fourth activity is a good substitute: being on the computer.

this past week of smoke enforced indoorness, however, presented obstacles with their desires: school was closed, i wasn't about to let them go outside into smog+smoke filled air, or allow them to encourage friends to do so, the tv is almost always off limits anyway (sorry, no days of our lives for my 10, 11, 13, and 16 year olds), the ps2 is saxy's and he prefers to not have them on it all that much--especially with all 4 of them home and wanting on it at once, and saxy has been working very diligently on getting his site back online which means the computer was occupied. they didn't want to read, write, draw, color, play with barbies, or have anything to do with the objects designed to occupy otherwise unoccupied minds and bodies that were already in their rooms.

instead i heard at least 5 times this past week: "can i go to the library?", "can i go to so-and-so's house?", "can so-and-so come over?", and "can we go play out back?" "no, there's smoke outside and you aren't going in it" got disappointed sullen stares. or, worse, "whyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeee??????" as if my just presented explanation wasn't enough.

the silence this weekend was good.

the silence this week will be better.

oh, wait, two of them are home. well, at least the library kid can finally go to the library. maybe she'll stay the day . . . all week.