GRACIAS DANKE MERCI GRAZI CNACŃбO

There are a few things that I absolutely know that I taught my kids:

- How to make Kraft Macaroni and Cheese

- How to shovel snow... in 1994 when Maryland had the first legitimate winter in 27 years, and we for the first time had a LOOOONNG driveway

- How to do their own laundry

- How to write their own school excuses... no, wait a minute, they picked that up on their own.

- How to set the table

- How to load the dishwasher (I don't think anyone ever learned to actually do dishes)

- And to always say "THANK YOU."

I even had a little catch phrase that I would use when I had not been thanked for, say, preparing a meal, or taking care of some one's laundry.

I would simply say, "One, two, three..." and they would response with "Thank you, Mom, for the (insert proper verb/noun here)."

Granted, sometimes in an extremely sarcastic tone at times, but nevertheless, they would thank me.

Today has been... well, let me list some things that I feel have NOT been recognized and I am tired and grumpy enough to write about tonight:

- Driving two hours to get a child of mine up to an appointment in Tucson.

- Driving two hours to return a child of mine from an appointment in Tucson.

- Purchasing aforementioned child lunch, a drink, and another drink.

- Going to Costco in Tucson for both food and supplies for the house, where two people other than myself reside (can't really expect the dogs and the cat to appreciate their food, litter, and chew bones)

- Loading $209 worth of purchases onto my truck, including 65 lbs. of dog food and 40 lbs. of cat litter.

- Securing Costco purchases for the two hour drive back in the back of my truck.

- Unloading $209 of Costco purchases from said truck into house, including 65 lb. of dog food and 40 lbs. of cat litter.

- Taking care of purchases, sink full of dirty dishes, left-over laundry from spouse, cleaning cat box, sweeping laundry room, feeding all animals, talking child down by phone from panic attack over missed bank deposit, calling and talking to mother-in-law for 40 minutes, washing kitchen floor, combining my son's laundry with my laundry....

Okay, all of you out in cyber-land, please join me in SCREAMING aloud, until we get the proper response....


"ONE, TWO, THREE......"