MyColdCoffee.com"I don’t have a problem with caffeine. I have a problem without caffeine!" -Author Unknown

I have come to a realization that my daughter is just like me!  It’s absolutely terrifying the first time you look into your child’s eyes and see yourself!  She was having one of her “I’m right and I know I’m right and you’re wrong and I know you’re wrong” arguments with me, then I got a cold chill down my spine and realized I had this exact conversation with my parents when I was 16!  Wow, she’s advancing fast and I’m completely at a loss as to what to do!

You have to understand something; I was a good little girl growing up, until I made it to High School! For most people that know me, they find that hard to believe!  But, seriously, I was a little angel as a child.  Then hormones and the idea that I knew everything and there was no one, especially my parents that could tell me anything!  Well, minus the hormones, she is me!  She is ALWAYS right and there is nothing anyone can tell her to make her change her mind because once she has it in her head, it is written in stone!

It’s so frustrating to raise a strong-willed child, when you are a strong-willed adult!  It’s hard to tell her how to control herself, when there are MANY times; I have no idea how to control myself!  This is a project we have to work on together and I have no idea where to start!

So, now what do I do?  How do I help this little person try to understand and control what she’s feeling and saying, when I’m still trying to understand and control it myself?!  She is so strong and smart, and I do not want to do or say anything that will crush her wonderful outgoing personality.  So, what do we do because it’s not just her that needs the help?  We both have to figure out how two strong-willed girls can live peacefully in the same house!  Poor Daddy!

I don’t know how many of you are following what’s going on in our government right now.  For those of you actually concerned for our country’s well-being, well hold on, we are in for a nasty ride.  It will almost be like driving on a road in a foot of snow that has not been plowed yet.  You might make it to where you are trying to go, but more than likely, you will be stranded on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck to come pull your dumb butt out of the ditch! Unfortunately for most of us, there is no tow truck coming to help us, unless you drive a Bentley or own a bank!

I’m sorry to go off on a tangent about the government again.  But, when there is a panel of people created solely to help the middle class American, and the panel is made up of individuals who have never worried about money or lived from pay check to pay check, something is wrong!  They are never going to get to the heart of the middle class unless they actually put middle class individuals on the panel.  Get some of those people who have lost their jobs, or those who struggle every day, or better yet, put a few public school teachers up there!  Let those people tell the government what will work for them, and then maybe our economy will have a chance.

Bailout the banks again!  Are you kidding me?!  Whose idea was this and how is this going to help?  Who is going to have the credit or the money in this economy to actually qualify for a loan to start up a new small business?  No one.  Why not help those small companies on Main Street that have been in business longer than most of the politicians have been alive and who are struggling to keep their doors opened?  Seriously, are we really going to give more banks our money so they can give their employees bonuses?  Why the banks?  I really don’t understand the concept behind giving the banks money!  I don’t get it!

So, while most of Americans are sitting on the side of the road waiting for our tow trucks, the Bentley’s and private jets are whisking by us laughing all the way to their banks!  Personally, I’m tired of all the bull, tired of all the crap the government keeps promising us with nothing to actually show for it except for the deficit that will cripple and plague our children!

I have no idea what the government officials in Richmond are thinking, cutting the most important programs and giving that money to programs we can do without!  Right now in Virginia, the government has cut funding for programs such as mental health and education.

We received a letter from my daughter’s school the other day.  It basically was informing us that the school would be facing a $5 million deficit next school year.  They wanted parental input regarding which programs would be cut next year.  Now, that is sad!  Then I heard on the news that the government was cutting funding to mental health institutions.  Why are they picking on the people that need the help the most, the ones that cannot help themselves?

Education should be the very last program to face budget cuts.  They are already working with very little and now they have to find a miracle to keep our children educated.  Teachers are going without a pay raise again this year.  Most teachers in the current school system have never seen a pay increase, not even cost of living increase.  I understand the economy is difficult right now, but teachers are the single most important people on the planet.  They are responsible for educating the future leaders of this country.  Teachers have to work in cramped trailers and overcrowded classrooms with very little to no money to help them.  Our teachers have to ask parent’s for supplies for the classroom because there is no money for paper towels!  How sad for our children.  We may not fully understand the impact these cuts will have on our children and their education, but there will definitely be negative consequences.

Speaking of sad, cutting from mental health programs?  Come on!  What are the government officials doing in Richmond?!   They are going to cut funding to mental health facilities which house mentally ill patients who cannot take care of themselves and whose family can no longer help them.  What are they supposed to do?  The mental health program provides aid to parent’s who can no longer take care of their special needs children or the parent’s have passed away. The program provides vital care for those individuals who cannot help themselves, how can the government just take that funding away from them and still sleep at night?

I know the government is a complicated system, but I’m sorry, there is nothing complicated about keeping funding for the programs that are actually needed by individuals who cannot help themselves.  I just cannot understand what the officials in Richmond are thinking.  Do they not know someone who has benefited from one of these programs?  Have they really been out of the education system that long that they forget how important these programs are to the people they represent?  I believe all the elected officials need to take a week and actually go back to school!  They need to sit in a classroom and see how the teachers struggle to educate the students in an overcrowded classroom, with little or no money, and with old or out dated classroom material.  They also need to visit the mental health facilities that will be affected by the budget cuts and talk to parents and patients about the impact these programs have had and the potential devastating affects the cuts will have on their lives.  The officials need to be made aware of what they are cutting and the horrible impact the budget cuts will have on everyone!

So, my two year old can’t leave anything alone!  We call him Mr. Destructive!  I’m serious.  I avoid taking him over to my friends’ houses because I can’t afford what he will break!  Don’t get me wrong, he is not a bad kid at all, he just has destructive tendencies!

Do not leave anything out that he can get his hand on that you don’t want destroyed.  From computers to cell phones, he can mess it up within seconds.  He has mastered the art of taking the letters off a laptop!  And, he can completely delete important information on your cell phone.  It’s crazy.

Normally, I’m not the type of person who invests in a product warranty, but when it came to my new laptop…I jumped all over that one!  I had to ask the sales guy if the warranty included juice spills, drops, button removals, and anything else my kids can manage to do that would destroy the laptop!  Pretty sad, right?!

Welcome to the insane life of living with a two year old!  So, what have we learned from this?  Keep all electronics out of his reach, keep all breakables locked up in the highest cabinet we can find, never leave him alone in a room with any kind of electronics, and follow him all over the house constantly so he doesn’t get hurt or hurt something valuable.  With all of this, why do I question why my coffee is always cold?!

Why does it have to be so difficult to get my four year old out of the house on time?  Seriously, she takes forever to get ready in the morning.  She takes her sweet little time doing the simplest tasks.  It drives me crazy!  It literally takes her 20 minutes to brush her teeth because she has to talk and sing to herself in the mirror and fluff her hair and pucker her lips and twist and turn in the mirror!  And God forbid she has to put her shoes on by herself!  That would be me speaking another language to her, she doesn’t understand.

I get it; she’s only four years old.  I get it, trust me!  But, if I don’t stay on top of her in the morning, she would miss the bus!  I have to get myself ready before we sit down for breakfast or it won’t happen!  I love her to death but she gets in her ‘moods’ in the morning.  This child is so not a morning person!  She loves to sleep in, relax in front of the TV before breakfast, and just take it easy in the morning.  If you start to push her to do anything before she’s had time to relax and wake up, you better be prepared for a fight!

Then there are those mornings when she wakes up in a bad mood and man you know it’s going to be a hell of a morning!  If she wakes up cranky, she makes the mornings hell, literally!  She won’t be able to brush her teeth, eat her breakfast, and put any article of clothing on without breaking down into a full blown meltdown!  She kicks and screams and yells, and whines, and throws herself on the floor.  She says the meanest things you have ever heard to anyone who gets in her way!  Those mornings, there is not enough coffee in the world to help me!

But, she is the most amazing little girl I have ever known.  The way she sees the world always seems to leave me breathless.  She sees the world in unique colors only she can see and she only sees the good in everyone.  There are moments when I wish I could be just like her and see the world through this innocent beautiful creature.