Bad weather fun with the kids

Posted in Things to do
by Lorain County Moms

By Marla Jo Fisher, The Orange County Register

I’ve pretty much given up any effort this week to get the kids to stay warm during the winter storms.

They go outside in thin sweatshirts, get freezing and soaked, come in and drip all over my clean floors. (Well, they’re not really clean, but I can dream, can’t I?)

Then, they shiver uncontrollably and complain about being cold.

After I’d pointed out dozens of times that our closet contains not only clutter but also several perfectly good waterproof jackets with hoods, not to mention umbrellas and boots, I stopped listening.

Instead, I just steer them directly into the hot shower, where their wet clothes will miraculously rise up off the floor and into the washer. (That’s their version, anyway).

Even Buddy the Wonder Dog doesn’t want to go outdoors. He left us a little present in the living room last night, apparently deciding it was too wet outside to do his business.

After the kids dry off and get warm, leaving a trail of wet towels behind them, they only have one thing in mind: going back outside.

The alternative to letting them catch double pneumonia outdoors is forcing them to stay inside, which my insurance agent says I’m not covered for.

The whooping and hollering, the chasing each other around, the bickering, the tennis balls bouncing off surfaces they were never designed to strike.

It’s like living in an episode of “SuperNanny.”

This is the only time I wish I lived in a McMansion and could exile the kids to their upstairs suites, or maybe the indoor basketball court.

If you have one, maybe you’ll let us come over and use it.

We could go to the movies, of course, but that really does not get them tired out.

The perfect movie for kids would be one that they watch while they’re on treadmills, don’t you think?

Then, by the end, they’d be pleased and tired both. And, if you added a popcorn holder, they would even have their snacks.

Unfortunately, they’re really too big now for fast food restaurant playlands, which saved my sanity so many times in the past.

Carl’s Jr. has a special place in my heart because that’s where I took my kids on their official visits, when they were living in foster care and I was preparing to adopt them.

It was 104 degrees outside in July, and they lived in an awful little town, so Carl’s Jr’s playland was the big exciting place to be, if you were a little kid.

These days, we mostly stay away from fast food, but, let’s face it, playlands were the best inventions ever.

Too bad no one’s invented a playland for tweens.

Oh yeah, they did. It’s called the mall. No thanks, can’t afford it.

Marla Jo Fisher was a workaholic before she adopted two foster kids several years ago. Now she juggles work and single parenting, while being exhorted from everywhere to be thinner, smarter, sexier, healthier, more frugal, a better mom, better dressed and a tidier housekeeper. Contact her at mfisher@ocregister.com. Read her blog at http://themomblog.freedomblogging.com/category/frumpy-middleaged-mom-ma rla-jo-fisher/.