16 Candles

Bubba is NOT pictured above..

Bubba turned 16 yesterday and as usual, it wasn’t without drama.

We were kind of stressing about this birthday.

Not because he would start bugging us to learn how to drive .. or because he thinks it’s some magical age that allows him to stay up to all hours of the night.. or because he now thinks he can command Spaz to do his bidding.

Chief and I were both a little thrown under because Bubba’s last 2 birthdays were kind of slighted because of other things going on.

And let’s face it, birthdays are important to people.. kids especially.

When we first started to discuss moving back in October, we told the kids that it would be better for all of us financially. And since Bubba’s birthday was then 4 months away, we did the absolute wrong thing and told him that since our finances would be better he wouldn’t have to suffer through a horrible birthday. We thought it would ease the blow a little.

Boy, were we wrong.. and boy, did it blow up in our faces.

So Friday was his 16th birthday .. a milestone.. and we have a little over 11.00 in the bank.

Not being able to have a Christmas this year and now not going to be able to have a birthday for Bubba really, REALLY brought Chief down lower then I’ve seen him in a long time. He felt like a failure.. worse then that actually.. and I, for once, was powerless to do anything.

Chief had told me he tossed and turned all night.. up.. down.. up.. down.. in.. out.. in.. out.. and a few times sobbing.

This morning he woke Spaz up for school and while he prepared him breakfast and Spaz was in the shower, I stayed in the bedroom snuggling with Ernie.

And then all hell broke loose.

I’m not exactly sure what set it off.. but I do know that it had something to do with Spaz being Spaz and his belief that the Crack Whore is the Mother of the Millenium and hearing that caused Chief to say something under his breath that Spaz heard which made Spaz say something completely disrespectful to his father.

And Chief let him have it .. telling him that at his age, he was going to hear just how great and wonderful that Crack Whore was.. and how he wasn’t important enough to her to pay 21.00 a week for his support. Spaz started crying and Chief told him that that’s exactly what he’s been doing all week because he couldn’t get anything for Bubba.. and how they are of no help when it comes to conserving energy or gas or hot water..

Did those things need to be said? Yes.

Did they need to be said in that way at that time? Um.. probably not.

But understand that what doesn’t get said at our house, gets said to them at hers.. and she isn’t one to be fair and impartial. That’s been WELL documented here.

But I couldn’t change what was going on in the living room but I knew that if Chief got to that point, he was way more stressed and depressed then I thought.

So sitting on the bed, I’m trying to figure out what I can do.. ANYTHING I can do.. and I saw the Playstation 3 sitting on the desk and it hit me.. sell the thing on Craigslist.

I like having my own PS3 .. I can play what I wanted to play when I wanted to play it without having to hear the boys complain that THEY wanted to play THEIR games… so even though it may have been an easy decision for some, it wasn’t for me.

Well.. let me rephrase that …

In the grand scheme of things, the PS3 isn’t important at all.. but there was a little piece of me that felt like, one again, I was the one making the sacrifice.

That didn’t last long.. like I said.. grand scheme of things.

So I went on Craigslist and saw how much this particular unit was going for (PS3 160gb) and posted an ad listing the selling price at a little bit under what everyone else had their’s listed for .. and I’m truly sorry about that, other sellers! I just needed to unload it and unload it quick.

And boy … that thing wasn’t up for 5 minutes before I started getting bombarded with texts and emails. I had never sold anything on Craigslist before so really wasn’t prepared for the onslaught.

But to make a long story short, I wound up selling it to a guy who lived on the opposite end of the city so we had to drive like a half hour or so to meet him. He was a really, really nice guy and when we spoke on the phone I thought I understood that he was looking to buy it for HIS kid’s birthday which, you know, made me feel even better that I was selling it.

Turns out, he was buying it for himself for HIS birthday but anyway.. it was a great experience..

We decided that instead of buying Bubba something, we would just give him money. He’s always going to movies with his friends or the mall and this way, he would have his own cash to do what he wanted to do with it.

For our birthday’s, Chief makes us a special dinner of all our favorite foods.. so this past Christmas when we received an Omaha Steak gift package from my brother and his family, I told Chief to hide the Filet Mignon. Bubba LOVES them and I figured we wouldn’t be a position to buy them come January 21st.

Good idea on my part!

So Chief made the filets.. I made the bacon cheddar mashed potato puffs that he loves.. we had asparagus and we also make a 4 layer peanut butter chocolate cake.

As we sat down to eat, Bubba tells us that we didn’t have to worry about getting him a gift. He’s 16 now and didn’t need material things. He also said that he had heard Chief and Spaz’ argument that morning.

I was proud of him for saying that.. but also felt bad that he had to hear what he did so I told him that what had happened that morning shouldn’t have happened but we had it covered and not to worry.

Chief was impressed with his maturity about the situation also..

We wound up having a great dinner and he probably more appreciative of our gift then he let on.. afterward, he went over to the Crack Whore’s.

When he returned, he knocked on our door and told us that the Crack Whore said that if Chief wrote her a letter, she would give him 400.00. The letter proving that she had paid some of her back child support.

Before he could say ANYTHING, I piped up and said, “.. No. Tell her she has to put it through the courts.”

Bubba said that the Crack Whore told him that if she didn’t give Chief the money, it would take three weeks before he got it.

Chief said it wouldn’t. It would only take two days to process through the court.

I then said to Bubba, “.. Look, if she doesn’t put it through the court she could get into a lot of trouble. She’s already in a lot of trouble and even though we could really use the money, you have to do things the right way.. the responsible way.. to make things right. It’s a life lesson.”

Mind you, I could give two hoots what happens to the Crack Whore. I only said what I said because I really don’t appreciate the fact that she has these conversations with her kids and not with Chief and at least one of the “adults” in their lives has to come across as reasonable and not vindictive.

And too.. you know.. I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her. She takes every opportunity to use our misfortunes to her advantage. What’s to stop her from saying that she gave more then she really did.. or alter the “letter” or reproduce another one?

But I digress..

The whole point is that Bubba is growing up.. maturing in ways that three years ago I wouldn’t have thought possible. It’s a wonderful thing to witness and I’m proud of him!

For The Lag Switch Douchebags On Call Of Duty…

Listen..

I get it..

You saw the YouTube video on how to make a lag switch and you went for it … Good for you!!

You tested it.. and it worked.. and you’re ALL thrilled with yourself because you FINALLY.. FINALLY.. got a higher kill / death ratio…

Feel good about yourself, bucky?

Good..

Now put the damn thing away because YOU are ruining EVERYBODY else’s game.

Look.. I understand how you feel when you’re always on the bottom of your team.. or how your 3/21 ration would make you want to just throw your controller across the room.. but for me.. and everybody else like me that has played for a ridiculous number of hours so that we can LEAD our team with a +20 or more K/D ration you’re nothing but a cheating bag o’douche.

It’s not necessary and all your doing is driving people away from playing and taking the fun out of it.

So if you think you can beat me ( hey, I have bad rounds too ) then go ahead.. but do it fair because if you beat me using a lag switch then you’re really not beating anything but your dick against your mother’s crocheted blanket in her basement where you troll.

I play on PS3 either under (uzz)WarKittenz or (uzz)DooFuzz

Comment your screen name and we’ll get a round going..

We Kick Ass

In case it isn’t blatantly obvious .. Chief and I are MAJOR PS3 Call of Duty gamers.

Our mode of choice is online play and I, personally, have never been this addicted to a FPS (First Person Shooter) game before. Brain games, absolutely.. but not FPS’s.

I really thought that Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare couldn’t get any better.. but then came Call Of Duty 5: World At War and in the immortal words of somebody that I can’t remember: FUGGEDIBOUTIT!

I could play all day.. everyday.. and really does alleviate a lot of the stress that otherwise would have me scoping out nice high towers!! LOL!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is set to be released on November 10th. We already pre-ordered it and have made arrangements with our local GameStop to send up some catering because they’ll be open until past midnight. They were all “OMG! You Rock!” but really, it’s just making sure that I have my copy at a minute past midnight!

I already told Chief we’re closing the store for the day so we can sit and enjoy playing on our 52″ flat screen while the kids on in school!

Hey.. it’s the little things in life, right?

Snap shot of a recent game we played

So if you’re into it and want to play with the big dogs.. my screen name is WarKittenz and Chief’s is DooFuzz … we both play under each other’s but I’m better.. the student has well surpassed the master!!

BWAHhahahahahaha……

The Dinner To End All Dinners

… so yesterday I posted a few things about how fed up I was with Bubba’s attitude about the cell phone I bought him.

NOTE: If you missed it, read about it HERE and HERE

Around 6:30, I come out of my bedroom and start to make dinner. Bubba was sitting at the dining room table on his laptop and Spaz was in the living room having his own little brood fest because yet ANOTHER PS3 controller broke and I told him that I wasn’t buying another one :: this is like, the 3rd one in 6 months and at 50.00 bucks a pop he can kiss my Italian ass if he thinks I’m buying another one :: AND that I wasn’t going to let him use the one the me and Chief keep down at the shop.

So I’m in the kitchen getting stuff together and Bubba walks in:

BUBBA: Thanks for the cellphone, Leese

ME: (not turning from the sink) Yea.. whatever

BUBBA: I did say thank you before.

ME: No. You didn’t.

BUBBA: Yes I did!!! When you gave it to me I smiled real big and said thank you.

ME: (now turning around from the sink) Look, if you had said thank you to me earlier, you would have said “Thanks AGAIN for the cellphone”. You know you didn’t.. I know you didn’t.. and it sucks that you’re trying to clean it up now instead of just being like, “.. I’m sorry I didn’t say thank you earlier”. But whatever.. now leave my kitchen so I can cook dinner

What I was REALLY thinking was SHIT! There goes part of my dinner rant

Anyway… so Chief comes home and we sit down to dinner. And guess what? It was a GREAT dinner! It was the kind of dinner that we SHOULD have been having all along. Bubba was talking about stuff he was learning in school.. Spaz wasn’t trying to grab attention or over talking anyone.. we were laughing and joking and all I could think of was SHIT! There goes my dinner rant!

Ahhh… but I should have had more faith in my family!!!

Just as dinner was ending, Bubba asks me if they have been keeping the house neater since the beginning of summer. My immediate response was “.. what do you want?”. Chief laughed at that because we ALL know that Bubba doesn’t do ANYTHING unless he has an ulterior motive for it.

So I told him no. In fact, when I came home from the shop earlier there were socks tossed in the corner of the dining room.. toothpaste all over the sink in the bathroom.. the faucet of the tub hadn’t been turned off all the way so there water had been on a slow run the whole day.

And that’s all the opportunity I needed to give my rant.

I told them that there was something that I needed to say.. and have been wanting to say it for a few days now. I told them everything that I said I was going to say and you should have seen the look on ALL (including Chief’s) their faces when I told them that I didn’t care if everything that THEIR doing that’s causing me to feel this way breaks me and their father up.

I also told them that I’ve been helping this family since the night I met their father.. and do MY best to make sure that they have everything they need, even putting their needs above my own. I told them that there hasn’t been a time when I did something or bought something for myself when they needed something.

I told them that I understood that they didn’t know what a “family” truly was.. that they didn’t know what it was like to have a “mother-figure” who was constant and consistent in their lives.

I told them that I wanted to bring my upbringing into their lives and that’s why it’s so important to me to have family dinners and that I make the types of dinners for them that I do.. and make desserts and make the things that I know are their favorites and to do everything that I do.. to take care of them the way I take care of them that for them NOT to have any consideration for me AT ALL just sucks in a major way .. hurts my feelings and makes me not want to do a damn thing for them anymore.

They didn’t say anything.

Nothing at all.

And then Chief started telling him things that as a father, he should tell them. I have to say that he did step up to the plate. He didn’t yell.. he didn’t scream.. he was just very matter of fact and very direct. About how they’re not being asked to do anything that would be considered child labor.. picking up after themselves.. putting their clothes in the hamper instead of on the floor.. flushing the toilet, etc. etc. etc. are all things that SHOULD be second nature to them.. nobody has to tell them to unzip their pants when the go pee or to put shoes on before going outside.

The thing is.. and what I told them.. is that when the DO ask me if I need help, I refuse it. It’s not so much that I want them to help me but to be considerate enough to ask. It makes me feel appreciated.. makes me feel like I’m having a positive influence on them.

After we said everything that needed to be said, Bubba got up and collected the dinner dishes, scraped them and put them in the kitchen sink without being asked.

Spaz went to be when he was suppose to without being asked, as did Bubba.

This morning, after I made Bubba breakfast, he took his plate into the kitchen and rinsed it.

So maybe it helped. Only time will tell.. but I do know that that they did take me serious and CHIEF took me seriously so hopefully it will only go up from here…

We shall see

So Apropo…

Somebody that I routinely play PS3 Call Of Duty online with sent me this picture.

My screen name?

WarKittenz

If you want to play against me … or with me.. to see just how bad ass I am at this game, add me to your friend’s list. Just let me know on the invite that this is where you heard of me. I don’t accept invites if I don’t know who they’re from!