"We're Bored"

Not many other phrases bug me as much as this one. I can see if they were four or even six but they are ten so really, if they are bored, it isn't my problem. My kids have more STUFF than they know what to do with so when I hear, "I'm bored or we're bored," I want to ring their little necks or at the very least, throw their iTouches or game controllers at their little heads (I said I want to, not that I ever have and I have not). "We're bored" is the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. Maybe I am just mad at myself because somewhere along the line, I forgot to teach them to have an imagination or how to keep themselves busy without help from me. What makes me even madder is that Gia is following in her siblings' footsteps. The second phrase that drives me up the wall is "We're hungry." If you've ever seen my pantry (I realize many of you have not), you would see that no child that ever enters this house should ever say, "I'm hungry." I have a bin on the bottom filled with different types of chips. The bottom shelf is filled with granola bars and various cookies. The other thing that gets me is if they are hungry for more than a snack and I offer food and everything is met with, "No, I don't want that."

I didn't blog yesterday for two reasons. One is that I wonder if everyday is overkill. I don't think people read it everyday. I think when they have time, they "catch-up" so I was giving people time to do that. The other reason is that I was the carpool mom this morning for football practice and then Leo took the kids to his mom's. I had 5 wonderful hours to myself. I hate that before I had kids, I didn't appreciate that time. You just don't know what you miss until it's gone. I went to Barnes and Noble and happily got sucked in there for 4 hours of the time. I wrote another chapter in my book, searched the shelves for books that might interest me, did some research and drank some hot chocolate (like a delicious cup of freedom). I love  that I lose all sense of time when I am there. I love that I went 4 hours without talking to anybody. Just lost in thought for 4 hours. LOVED IT! From there I went to Target and shopped in peace. Nobody saying, "Can you buy me....?" No one crying and throwing themselves on the floor because she has to hold my hand if she isn't in the cart. I only bought what we were out of and nothing weird like Teriyaki Beef Jerky ended up in my cart. It was a nice little break that I didn't realize I needed. Thank goodness since I had to field a lot of "We're bored" and "We're hungry" comments. Since I had the break, I was able to calmly and with a saccharin smile say, "Aw...that's too bad. I'm sure you can think of something" and "You guys can help yourselves to the whatever is in the pantry."