It is 6:10 AM and I am playing BINGO with my two younger boys!

It is 4AM in Los Angeles, I have not yet gone to sleep, and although I have no children, I am trying to squeeze in some Bejeweled 2 Deluxe play with an occasional check-in here at fluther.com. when taking breaks from repairing my clothes dryer. That coffee sure sounds good!

We love to play Simpsons Clue, Phase 10, Uno, and Mouse Trap.

They like to play with strings—they always chase around any string-like thing. They also like to play fight, run around, and hide.

whatthefluther the coffee is good! I’m on cup #3. Here is a C[ ] for you!

Super Mouse ~ Phase 10? UNO & Mouse Trap we love. We don’t do anything Simpson, they are too young.

One big thing my kids are so GOOD at girlofscience is running around. Some people have to do whatever to get their kids off the couch, I have to pay mine just to sit for a second LOL!

Bingo actually. funny. :-)

Yes ~ but a lot more fun after I am up and awake LOL!

My mother’s husband would have me play Hide ‘N Seek with him.

I would run and hide someplace in the house, and 8 hours later, he would manage to find me.

I was always impressed with my ability to hide so well, that it always took him so long to find me.

Oh Jack you are too funny!

Thank you!

I’ve always thought so… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARktN_99kas

OMG! Too funny! Thanks for sharing.

@Mugsie…Thanks for the coffee…it did the trick: dryer is fixed saving me about $150. And I’ll admit I didn’t spend all these hours on the dryer…it was mostly play time with a short nap thrown in. Some food, another nap and it’s party tonight! You and the boys have a great day. See you around…wtf

Have funny partying! Thanks….

@Mugsie: I have something relevant to say, but I will have to wait ‘til tomorrow, I guess, when it won’t appear in “Pirate speak.”

Okay, I will look for it tomorrow! Thanks…........

@Jack, it only appears in pirate speak in the live preview, it shows up normal in the actual post.

I’ll wait until tomorrow.

@JA….Just a thought: if I were reading your last post three weeks from now, I would have no idea if another JA response was forthcoming shortly or you forgot or plain chose to ignore your stated intention. You think anyone around here has considered some sort of time/date stamp for answers? Without some sort of indication, I wouldn’t know whether to be on the edge of my seat in anticipation or slouched back in disappointment (or, for others, I suppose it could be disinterest, fear, relief, etc., depending on their expectations).

@JA…I could not resist a perfect example that espouses the merit of some sort of time/date indication on answers. I don’t suppose you were headed in a similar direction, were you? See you around…wtf

@Mugsie: Here is what I was going to say yesterday, but was unable to preview my remarks without them appearing in “pirate speak,” which was something I wish had not been done.

I just wanted to compliment you on the fact that you were playing with your kids at 6:10 AM, because that is something that many parents would never do, under any circumstances and conditions, even if the child were terminally ill.

My mother’s husband, as I have mentioned before, was the kind of individual who probably had a fried eggplant inside of his chest, where a heart might have been located, if he’d had one.

One Xmas morning, when I was around 6 years old, I got up early (as some kids that age are known to do), creeped downstairs, turned on the Xmas tree lights and saw all kinds of presents for me and my younger brother.

I went back upstairs to wake up my mother and her husband, and they both came downstairs, with mom’s husband very angry, because he had been awakened way too early.

Because I dared to wake him and my mother at so early an hour, he gathered up every gift that was originally intended for me, and loaded them into his car.

The next day, he drove them to some religious charity headquarters, and donated all of them.

An “interesting” way to punish a 6-year-old child, right?

Things like that, explain why I used to regularly scrub the toilet bowl with his toothbrush.

@Jack ~ I wish I could hug you! One because you deserve it and two to thank you! You sound like a strong person to be able to share that story and thank me for what I do. I say that because kids treated like that do not always turn out to be the kind of person that you sound like. This passed Christmas (2007) the boys went to bed just a little late around 8:30, they usually go to bed around 7:30 PM, and for some reason got up at 1 AM and we just had gone to bed at 12 PM, I got them to curl up with us until 2:30 – 3:00 AM than we all got up, they where way too excited. I was out of this world exhausted, but would no way do anything to ruin their morning. That is how you should of been treated. I have to just throw this in ~ they usually are up @ 5 – 5:15 AM and the week school started this year they where up @ 4:30 AM! The one rule I have is ~ the minute your little feet touch the floor you are to come into our room and wake me up, period. I still have a baby monitor on but the older they get the quieter they are. If I am really tired (why would I be LOL) I will ask my son Riley (he is always up first) to cuddle for a minute of two. I will wrap him in my arms and hold him. You are right ~ that is how every single child in this world should be treated. Another reason ~ I remember as a little girl that I didn’t like the feeling of being up if my Mother was not up, so I would wait until I heard her up. I don’t know why, so I always said I would never ever want my kids to feel like what I remember, so I will always get up with them. And lastly I enjoy getting up with them. I didn’t have kids to just have them, I WANTED them and again (I say this a lot), I will cherish every waken moment of their lives. I have never had so much happiness in my life than I do or have with my four boys and now a new granddaughter. Two are in their twenties and two are in elementary school, and my granddaughter is 4 months old. I can’t believe there are people in this world (like your Mother’s husband) that would treat a child the way they do/did. I have done so much with and for kids for the last twenty years and will continue for as long as I am able, which should be a while as I am only 47 years young! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I would have gotten back to you earlier but I was out this morning with the boys. I do so hope Jack that what you went through as a child made you a strong person and not a bitter one. Thanks ~ Kelly 1:00 PM

Mugsie/Kelly, thanks for your kind words and understanding.

Being around an ogre like my mother’s husband, could have indeed made me bitter, mean and cruel to others. So, when I was old enough to do things on my own, I voluntarily began seeing a psychologist, asking her, “How can I prevent myself from ever becoming like him?”

She replied, “Whatever you do in life, and wherever you go, force yourself to be the exact opposite of what he was, and never become a Moderator in a question/answer forum.”

I have followed her advice judiciously, and that’s why I am now the wonderful person who is responding to your thread. [ahem]

@Jack – Nice Mod dig. I LOLed. And you seem to have had a rough childhood – have you ever considered writing a memoir? Or have you already?
@Mugsie – Awesome! I love that you play games with your kids so early. My mother sacrificed sleep for me and my brother, and I truly appreciate it.

I actually submitted a completed manuscript about my childhood to my publisher.

I got a very nice/polite rejection letter from him (to add to my collection), which read, “It’s very well written, but we are not considering FICTION, at this time.”

The last bit of fiction I have read, truth be told, was The Warren Commission Report on the Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy

That, and The Holy Bible, of course.

Jack ~ good for you to get help. You knew you needed it and was not afraid to get it.

shadling21 ~ thank you! There is not one thing on this great green earth of ours I would not do for my kids!

Jack ~ I wish you the best in hopes that your book does someday get published.

I am going out on a limb here ~ what does “WTF” mean? I only know it to mean one thing, and it doesn’t fit to the way I have seen people use it here, so I am wondering if it means something else.
Mugsie 2:50 PM

It could refer to whatthefluther as well as its usual meaning.

@mugsie…shadling21 is correct. Many jellies address me as wtf and I frequently use it to in identify myself or as my signature. In its more common usage it is usually uttered to signify disbelief or total confusion, two very reasonable reactions to my posts.

Thanks for clearing that up WTF & shadling!

Just finished a game of war with my cutie Riley, and I won!
Now he is playing a game of fish with his brother Ryan, my other cutie.
Mugsie ~ 6:45 AM