Hell week...

That is what we lovingly call this week at our house which is the week of - cheerleading tryouts....It is stress and drama and I ain't even the one trying out (although I did years ago when I was in school and was always overwhelmingly rejected - and see I survived - with very few emotional scars) I may have survived seemingly unscathed because my best friends were always cheerleader rejects like me, (shout-out to ya CB) so I wasn't alone.....

The problem is drama queen likes cheerleading (a lot) and made the squad last year....I thought the worry last year was bad - because of the whole "what if all her friends make it and she doesn't type thing", but now I realize that this stress will continue throughout the rest of our jr.high/high school years (unless I guess the sky falls or she ever decides not to try-out) because it is now more stressful I think this year since she has been a cheerleader worrying about again if all her friends make it and she doesn't and on top of that now how bad it would be to have been a cheerleader and not make it....There is no guarantee that just because you make it once you will make it again, there have been girls in the past who have been really good cheerleaders and for some random reason not make it - (they messed up on their dance routine, or cheer etc....) So that is the current status of affairs at our household. She has handled the stress fairly well until last night when a mini-melt down occurred.......

Rewind to last years try-outs I go buy a pair of $40-50 pair of shoes for her to try-out in (because they are supposed to be solid white) which she wears, then makes the squad and we have to buy another pair of cheerleading shoes (so the whole squad has the same shoes) she then starts wearing the try-out shoes to school, to stomp in the mud, and god knows what else......Back to the present.....I see absolutely no point in buying another pair of tryout shoes because:

1. she will wear them only one day for tryouts
2. she just got a brand-new pair of tennis shoes less than a month ago
3. I am unemployed at the present
4. If she makes it then I will have to (again) buy another pair of shoes that the whole squad has to buy so they match

So I wash old shoes, buy new shoe strings, etc..- they are still a little dingy so I get the idea (yes, I am cheap) to spray paint them white because really is anybody gonna look that damn close at her shoes?

So I do, and she gives me the questioning look like are you kidding me? She doesn't say a lot and I tell her if I totally screw them up I will buy her another pair (which I have not intention on screwing up) I do this and they don't look bad, - not perfect - but not bad.......So last night she asks (all doe eyed looking) Mom, what shoes am I gonna wear for try-outs? I say "The ones I painted" The look was beyond pitiful...(Picture a mix of horror, tears, and a little oh my god you wouldn't possibly ruin my life and make me a social outcast like that would you? mixed together) Her daddy witnesses this look and goes ballistic and says Well, let me just run out and buy you a pair - shall I take off work tomorrow to do that? What else do you need - just make a list new shorts? shirt? bag? Now she immediately brightens up at this prospect - not realizing he is being totally sarcastic and snide - Then he proceeds to rant about it for the next 30 mins (I am guessing on this because after 14 years I have learned to block all his rants out - I go to the happy place in my mind when this starts and develop a blank stare) At some point she realizes he is a little less than sincere, but in continuing with the lunacy he proceeds to instruct me to make sure I go tomorrow and buy her the new shoes and deliver them to her at school before cheer practice today, and if I can't find any in town call him so he can get them before he comes home...

So now I am ticked because he has managed to make me look like the bad guy and become the hero - drama queen senses this and comes to sit by me and say Mommy are you mad at me (Mommy? yeah when is the last time I have been called that by her - she is really laying it on thick...) She then starts in with you know I have looked at them and they really don't look that bad in fact I think they look better than they did last year because they are shinier?!? Little does she know I have the market on reverse psychology cornered at our house - I am immune - so I jumped on that one and said OK good, then I won't worry about getting you anymore (HAHAHAHA - Score one for mom)...Now, before I brag too much I will say she took them to wear today to see if anybody noticed so I am not completely out of the woods, if someone makes a snide comment about them I will drive to their house and kick their butts be at Hibbett's tomorrow shelling out $40-50 for a new pair.....Wish me luck, although I am sure that if God forbid she does not make it and she wears those shoes it will be all MY fault...... Gee, I wish I had about 3 more teenage girls....

P.S. Bare with me as I play with the backgrounds on my blog a bit, Kaye (thanks!) helped me make it 3 column, but now my cute zebra pattern won't work and I haven't found one I like as much, and I still can't get my new header to work.......