Thursday, December 16, 2010

Pizza Crusts


















My boy finished high school, recently turned 18, and doesn't know what his next step will be. For now, he's home, feeling he's "not very mature yet" (his words, I understand) and wanting time to feel his way ahead. I'm all up behind that because, really, what is the rush? He's happy. I think this is the first time in years that he hasn't felt pressured by homework, and he's loving it.

It's not as if he lies about all day picking his nose, scratching his balls and playing videogames. He puts in four hours a day at whatever I assign. He's paying his room and board this way for now and, though I don't work him hard, I do work him. I haven't washed dishes more than once since the beginning of September. Tomorrow he'll probably clean the bathroom, since it's overdue and the young gal who agreed to do it for us every two weeks is stuck in town with a car that won't run and no money to fix it. Darn it. He'll hate that, but he'll do it. Not as well as Megan, but well enough. On Monday he made bagels. Sometimes I have to scrunch up my forehead for a while to think of jobs for him; that's what the list on the fridge is for, mind you. Yesterday in Kelvington I bought a couple frozen pizzas, as I usually do when they're on sale 2 for $10. I hate the damn things even if they do fill the hole; they taste like shit after you've eaten them too often and for too long. And I'm sure they're made of plastic.

Everett's pizza crusts are to die for, though, and healthy — 100% whole wheat. This morning a pizza crust marathon was my command, and he is hard at it, and loving it. He's listening to a favourite CBC radio show, WireTap, on his laptop, and laughing away as he mixes his dough on the kitchen table. It's taken me a few years to appreciate this program, but now we chuckle at it together all the time. I rant about how Jonathan should dump those so-called "friends," Gregor and Howard, and Everett thinks this is the funniest thing. "With friends like them, who needs enemies?" I always say.

He's just come into the office to inform me that, "You know I'm making all these crusts to freeze? Well I'm cooking one of them. We're going to eat one."
Oh yeah, I'm all over that.
He'll just put garlic powder and cheese on it, and oregano, and it will be our late lunch.

There was a documentary the other day about how kids don't leave home at 18 and stay away anymore, like they did (and couldn't do it fast enough, as I recall) when I was just finishing high school. They can't afford to now, apparently, due to the dearth of jobs and the cost of living. Me, I couldn't wait to have my own place and my own money and be in the city where I must have thought all the action was.

Everett is definitely not me.

He is not difficult to have around. In contrast, my parents were probably relieved to see me go.
Everett will do what he is asked, with very little fussing, if any. Me, at that age? Doubt it.

The bottom line is that I don't want to push him out of the nest. I want him to be ready to go on his own. He is not there yet. I'm okay with this; patience is the big lesson of my life; still learning it.

 I am glad he's here, and I trust that he will strike out when there is an adequate beckoning. Surely at some point he will run screaming from his mother's house. Don't they all?

***

Mmm... here we go ... midafternoon lunch ....




















Check out this link on Everett's page; it's good for a few laughs. He wonders if the British would find the Canadian way of speaking as humorous as we find theirs.

Click here:

http://goldengrainfarm.blogspot.com/p/what-amuses-ev-nov-15.html

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10 comments:

  1. LOL, We don't all run screaming. Some of us, just go because we feel it is time. Time to spread out our wings and fly or fall. I remember my mom saying I couldn't leave home until I was making $1000.00 a month. Now you hear that wouldn't even pay the rent.. nevermind the mortgage and groceries and all the other household expenses, plus the fun. And that wasn't that long ago!! (at least in my 34 year old mind... LOL)

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  2. My kids love wiretap too & I don't understand it at all.

    I heard some of that program on kids (not) leaving home & couldn't help but think that, again, is a rural/urban gap. Alot of farm kids stay home because that is where their jobs are. My husband stayed home on the family farm till he was 25 when he married me & I moved in with them until we built our own home. I always joke that we built as close to them as we legally could (500 feet away from their barn)!

    Well, since then, they babysat for us and now the roles have changed and we do alot of elder care for them.

    When we finished our basement, we purposely designed it so that if our kids came back to live as adults it would be comfortable and private for them.

    Maybe times haven't changed that much for some families and I see nothing wrong with waiting for a child to be ready and keeping a home for them to stay in or return to as long as you can.

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  3. I'm with you there, Maggie ... I like having my kids around, and as far as that goes, when I've been lucky enough I've enjoyed having my parents and the rest of my family nearby too. Right now we have Scott's parents, brother and brother's family just a mile away, and for several years we were right next door in the farmyard, only some bush between us. It was pretty handy for everybody.

    WireTap is an acquired taste, for sure. Or else it's improved in the years since it began. When I first heard it, back in 2004/2005, I was pissed off at CBC for broadcasting a program I did not find funny at all. I thought it was a real "dumbing down" of content and that even though they were changing their aim to reach a younger demographic, this so-called humour was an insult to the intelligence of young adults as well as older ones. But it has grown on me and I'm glad, because Everett and I don't share that many interests.

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  4. As much loves it and as good as he is at it, why not try a culinary course. I bet he would be great as a healthy pastry chef and he could earn money as well. I know I would like to special order some of those frozen pizza crusts. They look great, so does the pizza.

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  5. I'm wondering what your son thinks of this post. Perhaps your compliments on his pizza crusts and the link to his page have made him okay with your less than flattering characterization of him. Perhaps he would be okay with this post anyway.

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  6. I'll have to ask him. I don't see anything in my entry that is less than flattering. He's pleasant to live with, he's a great cook, we share a sense of humour and as far as I'm concerned he is just right, exactly as he is.

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  7. I miss having the kids at home. Enjoy your time together. Mmmmmm pizza!

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  8. Hello loveable_hombody. I looked at the post and, through all my insane ways of looking at it, could not find something to complain about, except for some things that she "quoted" from me. While I have trouble ever getting flattered by something, I don't feel put down by this post at all. Thank you for your concern, anyway.

    -E-

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  9. I wanted to open the link but because I'm in bed, sitting next to my sleeping grnaddaughter, I'll have to wait.

    I have to admit to getting distracted by your comments section but before giving in to that, I wass thinking how much your post today reflected The Four Agreements posted in your sidebar. I have the jacket from the book in my bedside table---it feels good there.

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