I’ve written some of my best posts for the Spin Cycle, but this week’s subject – forgiveness – is making me strangely reticent. I made a conscious decision some time ago to cease writing about very personal matters on my blog if it involved my family people other than myself, because it pisses them off for a variety of reasons. However, I feel reasonably sure one of the people in this story doesn’t even know what a blog is I can make an exception in this case.
For the last year or so, The Young One has been mowing the lawn of our next-door neighbor. They’re about 15 or so years older than us and their house – and lawn – is really too big for them, but since the housing market is in such a slump I understand why they haven’t tried to sell it (there are houses in our neighborhood that have been on the market for months). Mrs. Neighbor, a sweet and simple woman, spends a fair amount of time puttering around in the yard (Mr. Neighbor is a grump and rarely comes outside), but mowing is a little much for her. Being retired, I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. Neighbor are on a fixed income so Mrs. Neighbor tends to pay The Young One whatever she can afford, usually between $10 and $15, which we feel is a fair sum. However, she never just gives him money – she gives him stuff as well. The “stuff” is obviously items that they no longer need/use/want – jigsaw puzzles have been popular recently – but most of the time it’s candy and sodas.
Now, if you’ve been reading here any amount of time at all, you know that I banished all junk food – candy, sodas, chips, cookies, Pop Tarts, breakfast cereals, donuts, etc. ad nauseum – from our home over a year ago. The Young One really has been a great sport about it so I try not to nag him about what he eats when he’s not at home, especially considering all of his friends are junk food junkies. But this is crap being brought into our home, and I’m at a bit of a loss of how to handle it. I mean, you just don’t go up to your sweet-but-rather-dim neighbor and say, “Look lady – cut the crap. Cash only for the kid, okay?” Not that I’m too terribly concerned about the once-a-week HFCS bomb (although our diet has really done wonders for The Young One – the kid is getting seriously ripped)…at least not for my 16-year-old son.
I really and truly did not realize what kind of an effect the sight of a large Ziploc bag of jelly beans and M&Ms mixed together would have on me. Although The Young One must have, because after two handfuls I went back to the pantry where I stash this crap – the theory being “out of sight, out of mind” (and a miserable failure in this instance) – it was gone, most likely upstairs to the confines of a place I lack the nerve to traverse: his bedroom. For which I was really extremely grateful.
And this is how it’s been all summer. I’ve not been tempted further by the gummy bears, Twizzlers, lemon drops or even the box of Werther’s hard candies and all has been well…until this weekend, when the boy entered the house with $15, a can of Coke and a very large bag of some sort of gourmet caramel corn.
With candied cashews.
“GET THAT OUT OF THIS HOUSE!!!”
“Huh??”
“That…BAG! Out! Right this minute!!”
“Oh. Okay. Should I take it to A’s house with me?”
Does the Pope wear a tall hat? PLEASE, let A’s dad deal with Satan In A Sack.
Because, God forgive me, I do not want to be guilty of stealing from my own son.
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22 comments
LOL – “Satan in a sack”! I think that could be an expression for the t-shirts!
Well, that’s what it was…
“Satan in a sack”!! (snickers – pun FULLY intended) I would definitely buy one of those shirts.
I should be better at this because I live alone and have no one but myself to blame if it comes in the door, but I just can’t seem to learn that I CANNOT HAVE IT IN THE HOUSE! I keep trying the “this time I will not eat the whole thing at once and just have a little piece” bit over and over and failing miserably each time.
I would have to ask forgiveness too. That stuff would be gobbled in a heartbeat.
Sprite received some candy from school last week for their July 4th party and I’ve been sneakily tossing it. She seems to only want one piece from the bag and tends to forget the rest is in there. (Halloween had us only giving her one piece and throwing the rest after two weeks of it sitting.)
John brought home some brown rice pasta which also has spinach powder and beet powder. Only three ingredients. I am going to find a nice organic sauce (not quite ready to try my own yet, or am I??) and make a nice spaghetti meal tonight. Only issue is the carbs, 45 for 3/4 cup dry noodles. Sigh.
You’re linked!
Yeah, when they’re small it’s easy to parcel out the candy and throw away the majority of it; it’s when they’re old enough to “take possession” of it that it becomes a problem. But like I said, his diet is so good day in and day out at home I try not to be too terribly dogmatic about what The Young One eats when he’s not here. We want to be healthy, not annoyingly dogmatic.
As for your gluten-free pasta – thanks! Fightback Friday, here I come. It WILL include a recipe for sauce – and yes, you are ready for it. All in all, pasta sauce is disgustingly easy.
Oh, my. You and little o should get together and commiserate. LG gets random treats when he is alone (MMs, jellybeans, lollies) but little o can’t have any of it. Food based dyes only. That rules out most major sweets for him (including all those fun ice pops!) He will gladly accept ice cream to assuage his longings, though
You know, it’s my belief that kids with allergies/sensitivities to food dyes and additives are fortunate – they’re not exposed to so much of the crap that other kids are inundated with. But ice cream? ALWAYS a good alternative, especially when it’s homemade.
It’s just one little wafer-thin mint. It’s only a tiny little thin one.
Oh all right, and bring 5000 more and a bottle of your cheapest champagne.
-Me
And a bucket.
*sings* Every sperm is sacred…
I was hoping someone would make the wafer thin mint leading to better get a bucket comment.
I would have some serious trouble with sweet/cashew/popcorn. Ack.
LOL – I am a Monty Python geek. And so are my readers…I love it.
Thank goodness candy and soda are not weaknesses for me. Well, except for See’s candy … I grew up with that as a holiday staple. My willpower crumbles (ha!) at home baked cookies. I would tell him to keep it in his room …. If his room is half as much of a disaster as my 16 year old’s, you’ll never see it again! : )
See, now, cookies and ice cream don’t do it to me. It’s things like Maple Nut Goodies and Almond Joys that do me in.
Yeah, we may have them look for Jimmy Hoffa up there eventually – what goes in there generally is never seen again. LOL
I love you Jan.
Girl, I love you, too!
I just think you need to be praised for your strength and fortitude in banishing the evil bag from your home. You are a better woman than I.
I’m weak, which is why I banished it. Too bad the same can’t be said about the white rice with butter that I wolfed down last night, but I have a REAL weakness for that. I’m paying for it today, though *hack, sniffle, hack*
I guess it is easy to forgive the junk food being brought in, but hard to forget that it is around.
ROFL – exactly!!
Perfection! I need to make that rule in our house too! My husband LOVES ice cream, and I don’t really care one way or another, mostly I leave it alone, so I should let him have that. Our son takes after his father in that…it’s something in their genes, I swear, everyone in the family is OBSESSED with ice cream. Easter, Halloween, I steal from my son (and I’m ashamed to say it…)
I don’t have a problem with ice cream, either – in fact, I had one serving each of the strawberry frozen custard and cantaloupe sorbet and that was it. And fortunately, my youngest is too old for trick or treat or the Easter bunny…but my grandson’s Easter basket was light a couple of peeps and a few jelly beans by the time Grandma got done with it. (I was sorry later, too – I felt like crap for hours afterwards).
I wish I could shift our son’s diet more, but he is 6′ 3″ and 138 lbs. Plus on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds. The junk food doesn’t help, but him not eating at all is even worse. I am so impressed that you are able to have such a strong influence on his diet Jan. I sneak all the cook stuff into my cooking, but he is crazy for sweets.
“Satan in a sack” I’m still smiling.
{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}} I read your comment over at Mama Badger’s. You are a wonderful blog sista to a lot of us, I’m so sorry your own sisters don’t appreciate you more at this time. XOXO