So  here’s the thing, I’m a mom who’s really big on rules. From the time the kids were little, I had lots of house rules which I drummed into their poor li’l heads.

My rules started when they were 1 or 2, yeah, old enough to understand simple logic if I explain it slowly to them. Rules like no sticking your finger in there (pointing at the wall plug sockets), no playing with knives and matches, always hold mommy’s hand when we’re out and stay where I can see you.

When they were older, we had the one about remembering to greet and say ‘hello’ people to friends and family we meet. Then the one about respecting other people’s property like not touching or using their things without permission. If it’s one thing that really irritates me, it’s when kids start running all over people’s homes, upstairs and downstairs, and playing with their things.

These days, the rules (I think we should be somewhere around #302 by now ) are more like advice and reminders. The biggie is Facebook, not something I necessarily approve of. To me, nothing on the internet is ever private no matter what they tell ya. And never mind what settings the radio deejay tells you to click to make things private. ’nuff said!

But I have to be realistic here and expect that, well, peer pressure may occasionally triumph over Mom’s warnings. So House Rule #302 says they’re not to post their real names, pictures or private stuff about themselves. Now let me see, what’s House Rule #303?

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I’ve just finished baking a batch of my infamous cheese-crusted melt-in-the-mouth shepherd’s pie and they’re sitting in my oven waiting to be delivered to my two princesses at school.

Wednesdays and Thursdays, I have one finishing school at 4:00pm and the other at 5:30pm. My poor teens are up from dawn and at school from 7:00am with a measly 20-minute recess. That’s 10 hours straight, yes, even longer than working at an office. And of course, they’re most generously allowed a lunch break at 2:00pm.

That’s when I’ll be standing outside the prison school gate with a bunch of other parents waiting to sneak them lunch over the school fence!! I feel so sorry for my poor girls I just have to make them an extra special lunch to brighten up their day.

I pack their school lunches with a bottle of ice-cold water each and sunblock as they’ll be out in the blazing 95 degree sun all afternoon. Sometimes I throw in a couple of candies just for treats. These school hours are a real drag and frankly I can’t wait till they finish high school! Oops, look at the time, I’m off to grace the prison gates !

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So I was in a good mood today and decided to let Steev drive. He drives his dad’s car more than he drives mine. I probably should let him practise more often but a part of me is saying, let him practise on a stick shift saloon first before he tackles an automatic 7-seater.

He’s driven my minivan around the neighborhood a couple of times. This afternoon, as we turned the corner onto a 3-lane road, some jerk in a big black pickup truck decided to tailgate us, causing him to edge to the side, almost hitting the tail of a car that was just turning into the McD’s drive-thru. Gave me a heart attack!

The rest of the drive was pretty smooth. He handled the highway very well, I have to give him that. He didn’t speed. He didn’t do any of the things I’ve seen other new drivers do. He just cussed a little. He probably got that from me . We live in B.A.D (Bad Attitude Drivers) City where cussing is a necessary stress reliever!

And you know what? It’ll be a while before I’m comfortable having Steev drive alone. I know, I know, more and more parents are allowing their high school kids to drive themselves to school, and Steev’s already a college sophomore. So why am I such a scaredy cat?

Every day, I see those teens climb into their cars outside the girls’ school and it never fails to horrify me the way they slam on the accelerator and veer out onto oncoming traffic and other kids walking out the school gate, without so much as turning their heads . A car is a lethal weapon, not some harmless vga cable with audio!

Steev’s not a bad driver. He just needs to chalk up more experience on handling emergency situations like cars emerging from out of nowhere, cars trying to run you off the road, cars driven by people who don’t give a damn.

It’s not him I’m worried about. It’s those other drivers out there who don’t know if they’re coming or going, and simply don’t care!

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So there we were, stuck at home with Raine nursing the return of a persistent cough and groggy from her cough medication, and Skye hit by a sudden bout of food poisoning shortly after breakfast. Not sure what caused it – we all ate the same thing but none of us were struck down.

Oh no, not another boring weekend! Know that the mall is our second home on weekends. Take that away from us and we become grouchy and edgy, swinging from the ceiling fan and chewing on our toenails. Or better, watching Lady Gaga videos for entertainment !

My teens have long sensed that Lady Gaga isn’t someone I necessarily approve of. So it was something of a shock, to both me and them, that a boring Saturday night found me sitting there with my poker face on, watching the Gaga wreathing and writhing ever so unabashedly on the Today Show !

Sure, she’s bold and talented, I grant her that, and possibly even vaguely entertaining to a shopaholic family with no place to go on a weekend. Still I’d rather she had a little more fabric on her where it matters! I mean, my teens are watching, know what I mean?! Gah!

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Congratulations to myself! I made it through yet another report card day. And why not? I’m a very experienced parent as far as report cards go, having gone from the once-a-year meetings during Steev’s time to the current thrice-a-year charade.

It used to be a very important event that I felt I just had to attend, rain or shine. But over the years, my interest, in meeting the teachers, not my interest in my children’s education, have waned somewhere along the lines of hearing only the negative!

Nothing positive, nothing encouraging – when there’s clearly nothing that drastically wrong with my kids or their behavior at school! I would return from those meetings wondering how to get rid of wrinkles caused by meeting people who have nothing good to say.

Now after umpteen years of going to report card days, I’m an old pro at waving everything off with a smile. Oh and you want my autograph too? You got it . It’s all purely perfunctory. I know my kids better than anyone else. They’re well-behaved and they get good grades, no matter what anyone chooses to tell me. So there!

Happy today’s meeting with my girls’ teachers took all of 2 minutes each and I was outta there with a big smile on my face!! Nicely done !

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Lookie here, if you’re thinking this is just any old mac and cheese, you’re wrong! Steev cooked this last Saturday!

Looks yummy, huh? This is his first real cooking attempt though he could cook rice by the time he was 8 and has been cooking the occasional Ramen (instant noodles) since.

And while that mac and cheese was bubbling merrily in the oven, Raine took over the skillet and cooked these spicy tricolor spirals.

Not too bad, eh !!

I’m so excited that my home cooking classes have finally taken off! But somehow because of all our different schedules, it’s been really hard to organize.

When Steev leaves home for college, I won’t be there to cook for him so he’s going to have to learn in a hurry. Like I tell the kids, cooking is not hard once you get the basics down pat. So begins our crash course.

Looks like we’re off to a good start. If I keep up these cooking classes, he should be able to whip up a few easy meals for himself and the rest of us will need the best fat burners for sure.

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