Fashion Models:
Courtney and Chloe

I'm going to tell you ...

I was afraid.

I have watched a lot of TV - Phil Donahue, Montel Williams, Sally Jesse Raphael.

I have heard many horror stories and ... it was something I was not looking forward to.

I had imagined the worse.

I had tried to prepare myself.

I was not looking forward to the day that ...

My little children grew ...

Up ...

To be ...

Teenagers!

I was not looking forward to the day ...

That they would begin to roll their eyes at me ...

That they would become brave enough to talk back to me ...

That they might very well grow taller than me ... and look down into my eyes from a higher altitudes!

I was sure ... it would be traumatic!

I was certain it would be frightening!

SCARY!

But ...

But ...

Let me tell you ...

It is sometimes those things - YES.

But ...

But ...

Let me show you ...

Here is how it also is ...

(Make sure you turn up your volume)

Not only is it NOT all that scary ...

Not all that horrible ...

Not all that frightening ...

It's pretty darn WONDERFUL - most of the time!

Even FANTASTIC!

Even the FABULOUS loud Kelly Clarkson music coming from their room!

They are fun!

They are funny!

They are loving and social and happy!

They are a joy to have around!

I am so glad I was wrong.

I'm so glad that I am surprised that ...

I LOVE IT as much as I do!

Footnote: These two got their lisences yesterday, after many months of parent taught drivers ed. YAY for them and YAY for me for surviving this course! It will be a while before I let them loose driving on their own - but, we are one step closer to getting 2 more official drivers to help drive around here - YIPPIE!

My twins always have some friend over at our house.

Recently, their friend T came over to spend the night.

She brought with her, a package of refrigerator chocolate chip cookie dough.

They baked these cookies in my oven.

I could smell those yummy cookies all the way up in my bedroom.

I searched them out - on a plate - on the lap of one of my girls.

I reached in to help myself to a cookie.

"THEY'RE OURS!" my sweet daughter SCREAMED into my shocked face.

"I can't just have a few?" I asked sadly.

"THEY'RE OURS!" my sweet daughter SCREAMED again into her mother's face.

"Just 2. That's all I want - just 2," I begged with my eyes.

"Give her the cookies," my other daughter said from across the room.

"But ... THEY'RE OURS!" the one stingy daughter SCREAMED again... (*sigh*)

She finally gave her poor mother 2 cookies.

No more - just 2.

So ...

The following morning, I went to clean up the family room and I picked up the empty glasses, wadded up napkins and two red plates that were stacked together. I walked the mess of dishes to the kitchen.

Just as I flung the dishes on the counter next to the sink, the plates separated and this is what fell out:

FIVE of THEIR COOKIES (I already ate one of them)!

What do you think I did?

Do you think I SCREAMED through the house:

"CAN I HAVE ONE OF THESE COOKIES?"

"IS IT OKAY IF I EAT ONE OF YOUR COOKIES?"

"DO YOU MIND IF I HAVE ONE OF THESE COOKIES?"

Noooooooooooooo!

I threw those cookies on a napkin, hid them behind my back, tip-toed like a quiet little cookie-eating mouse out of the kitchen and ran as fast as I could, up to my room.

On the upside ... I know - I probably didn't need all 5 of those cookies - I DIDN'T CARE! Sometimes you just have to eat all 5 cookies ... because you can - ya know!

I hear a ruckus coming from the family room.

Fighting.

Complaining.

Whining.

"What's going on - what's the matter?" I say, standing in front of Courtney and Chloe, who continue to bicker and ignore my presence.

Finally, Chloe stops with the yelling and turns to me,"Our internet is not working! It's been down for 3 days and NOBODY cares," she is not screaming, but she is talking very loud. "If it was YOUR internet - I'll bet it would be fixed by now," she has the nerve to say and then jumps from the desk chair and throws herself onto the couch.

"What do you mean, it's not working?" I make the mistake of asking.

"It hasn't worked for 3 DAYS!" now she screams.

"The rest of the computers are working - what have you done to it?" I ask.

"We didn't do anything," Courtney says, "It just deleted IE and we can't get it back on."

I sit down at their computer and open a few windows *click, click, click - peck, peck, peck*

"YOU ... are never going to be able to fix it," Chloe spits from across the room. "Dad has looked at it, we've looked at it - YOU will never be able to fix it!" *rolls eyes*

Now, keep in mind - they are probably right. I have never been the techie person in our family - the person to go to fix anything having to do with the computer of anything electronic, but ...

"Don't ever underestimate my talents - darling ones," I think to myself.

*peck, peck, peck --- scroll, scroll, scroll --- click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click --- peck, peck, peck, peck ...*

All done.

I get up from the computer and walk towards the kitchen.

"I told you," Chloe snarls. "It's BROKEN!"

"It's working now," I say nonchalantly and walk out of the room. THANKS, MOM - YOU ROCK!" I yell sarcastically in their direction.

I hear two teenage girls scrambling across the family room to get to the computer.

On the upside ... Hey - if there is one thing I can fix - it is the INTERNET CONNECTION! You can't BLOG without an INTERNET CONNECTION! If it is fixable or anywhere within a 20 mile radius - us BLOGGERS can get you, find for you, steal for you, manufacture for you, barter for you ... an ... I.N.T.E.R.N.E.T C.O.N.N.E.C.T.I.O.N!

They should have asked ME 3 days ago - sheesh!

-

I am working in my room.

My room is where my bed is.

Where my TV is.

Where my CD player is.

Where my computer is.

Where - NO KIDS ARE!

I love spending time in my bedroom.

ALONE.

It hardly ever works out.

Alexis often searches me out.
Little Billy often searches me out.

Now ...

Those two older girls.

They seldom search me out.

They tend to avoid me - at all costs.

I have learned why.

I am the one who assigns the ...

CHORES!

They know this.

So ...

I sometimes will be in my bedroom - with the door partially closed.

I will get up - swing the door open and ...

If the older girls are anywhere within view - they will ....

SCATTER!

Like large Texas roaches ...

Back into their rooms.

Quickly into the bathroom.

Fast as a sprinting puma down the stairs.

They think all this sudden scattering is a ... distraction.

That I don't really see them.

That they are faster than light.

Like they are as quick as a wild animal.

I see them!

And ...

I hear them - even if I can't see them - CLUNK, CLUNK, CLUNK - SKID!

When I am sometimes sitting on my bed and the door is open and I can see into the hallway ...

I can also see when ...

Courtney runs as fast as she can across the hallway - from her room to the bathroom - hunched over with a low profile to the ground - hoping she is so fast and quick and quiet - that I don't see her.

I see her.

And ...

I hear her - even if I don't happen to see her - CLUNK, CLUNK, CLUNK - SKID!

I can also see when ...

Courtney stands in the threshold of her bedroom door - waits for exactly the perfect moment and then ...

SPRINGS - like the biggest jack rabbit you have ever seen - across the hallway and into the bathroom - in one very loud LEAP!

I see her.

And ...

I hear her - even if I don't happen to see her - CLUNK, CLUNK, CLUNK - SKID!

These are not tiny girls.

These are not clever girls.

These are not sneakin'-like-quiet-little-mice ... girls.

I see them!

And ...

It always cracks me up!!

On the upside ... They can go on trying to hide from me. They can go on scattering like bugs and fleeing around corners in attempts to quickly escape my spying eyes. They can keep up this practice of long jumps and high jumps and quick jumps across the hallway and down the stairs and into other rooms. I see them. I hear them. And ... it makes me laugh!

When they were little ...

They clung on my every word.

They followed behind me like ducklings in the path of their mother.

They searched me out.

They cried my name.

They ran across entire rooms to climb onto my lap ...

Kiss my face ...

Share giggles and tickles and hugs.

Then ...

They were nowhere to be found.

Their footsteps were no longer behind me ...

But ...

Far out in front of me.

The words I spoke ...

Began to fall on deaf ears.

The hugs were seldom.

The kisses gone.

The giggles became laughter - but ...

Only amongst their friends.

My little girls ...

They grew up.

They pulled away.

They found their spaces and places and it was not ...

Near me.

But ...

In recent days ...

They have come back.

I don't know why.

I don't know for how long.

But ...

We are talking - more.

We are hugging - more.

They laugh at my jokes and smile from across the room.

They walk beside me instead of way out in front.

They ask my opinion.

They search me out.

They crawl up on my bed and ...

We talk.

When they were little they said ...

"I never want to leave you - I want to live here with you - forever."

I always knew that those words would not hold true.

But ...

I loved those words.

I had hoped they would be true.

I'm glad they are back ...

At least ...

My girls - my twins - love to read.

They have been known to spend hour after hour after hour - reading!

They love Harry Potter - LOVE IT!

They have read all the Harry Potter books over and over again.

They love the Twilight series!

They love many different books and lots of different authors.

Given their choice of buying anything they want - they will ALWAYS choose books!

If I take them anywhere near a book store - their eyes will begin to twitch and sweat will bead on their foreheads and they will begin to drool - REALLY!

Well ...

As much as they love to read ...

They are not all that happy about reading books they are required to read - such as ...

The Grapes of Wrath.

It was a summer reading requirement.

I know, I know - it is a classic and lots of people love the book, but ... not my girls - NOPE!

We bought one book at the beginning of the summer.

Courtney began to read the book at the end of July.

Chloe - believing that Courtney would certainly finish the book in a couple of days - waited for her sister to finish before she would be able to begin.

Needless to say - a week before school was to start - Chloe had not yet read the required book and Courtney was still not done.

These are girls that can read a new Harry Potter book - cover to cover - in 18 hours or less. But ... The Grapes Of Wrath Courtney found ... bor-ing!

So ...

The twins' father suggested ... "Courtney - once you get to the middle of the book - let me know and I will cut the book in half and give the first half to Chloe."

*Tee Hee*

This sounded like a good idea to me.

Not that destroying a perfectly good classic by John Steinbeck, was a good thing - but ... it made little sense to purchase a second book - especially one that they hated so much.

Even I - thought this was not a bad idea.

But ...

Chloe worried.

Worried she would need her own book.

Worried they would need their own books in class during the review - during the discussion.

Worried ...

She would have to tell her teacher ...

"Uh ... Page 231?"

"Can you wait a minute ..."

"For me to go across the room ..."

"To get the other half of the book ..."

"From ...

"MY SIS-TER!"

She worried ...

Worried ...

That ...

She might have to tell her English teacher ...

"Yes ..."

"We chopped it in half ..."

"The Grapes Of Wrath ..."

"Yes ..."

"My ... redneck daddy thought it was a good idea ..."

"Yes ..."

"That's just the way we do things ..."

"In the ... On The Upside --- household!"

On the upside ... We bought another book. Chloe was relieved. For a while there - I think she was scared we were actually going to do it. And ... I think she might also have been a bit scared when she realized that I - her mother - was in agreement with her redneck father about this book-chopping idea. It had never happened before where the mother agreed on any redneck idea the father had. It definitely seemed to worry her.

Come to think of it - that's not a good sign.

Once upon a time ...

There was a Texas boy.

Who got married and ...

Had himself a set of twins.

It didn't take long for those darling babies - those precious baby girls ...

To grow ...

The years just flew by ...

Until one day ...

Those baby girls were ...

16 years old .

Playing high school basketball and ...

Needin' cars!

So ...

The cowboy ...

Being the true Texas boy that he is ...

Searched ...

And searched ...

And searched ...

Far and wide ...

For the ...

Perfect car ...

For his twin daughters.

Until ...

One day ...

He found it!

"IT'S A MUSTANG!" the twins exclaimed!

"It's NOT YET!" the mother muttered.

"It will be beautiful," the cowboy stated - in a thick Texas drawl.

And then ...

He put those girl twins ...

To work!

Courtney sanding a fender - or something.

Chloe - holding a fender - or something!

Note the Texas dog in the background with the red bandanna around his neck!

The trio - hanging fenders - or something!

Shuffling the body parts around the yard.

Chloe inspecting a fender - or something!

Sanding some more.

Courtney - looks like she knows what she's doing!

They seem to enjoy this Texas - let's build our own car - stuff!

Well ... I don't know that "enjoy" is the accurate word!

The cowboy is in heaven.

Building a car.

Spending time with his twin girls.

Making a BIG OL' REDNECK MESS OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR DRIVEWAY!

On the upside ... One day - It WILL be a car. I have no doubt. It will have an engine. And doors. It will even have seats and a steering wheel. When that day comes ... I will take a picture. And ... that will be the end of the "car building" around here ---- that is ... until that boy child turns 16 .... and we'll likely do it all over again!

*Note - To those new readers that have come to my site to read this post through Stumble Upon - welcome! And ... thanks for coming by. While you are here ... I hope you will take time to read some of my other posts - I'd love to share my stories with you. If you like my site - please subscribe to my site in your reader, as I post new stories daily and would be honored if you came back again . I'd also appreciate a thumbs up on this post if you liked it - thanks - Kellan