I'm Bollixed Up!

Translation: I'm frustrated!

You just gotta love the dictionary and thesaurus. You can learn some really interesting words. Here's some other synonyms for frustrated:

balked*, checkmated, crabbed*, cramped, crimped, defeated, discontented, discouraged, disheartened, embittered, faked out, flummoxed, foiled, fouled up*, irked, put away, resentful, screwed up, skinned, stonewalled*, stymied*, thwarted, ungratified, unsated, unslaked

* = slang or informal

I almost used crimped, as it just sounds funny. So does crabbed, but that could really be take wrong. Title: I'm Crabbed! Nah. I don't think so.

So anyhoo.. I am frustrated today. It's gonna be one of those days where it's going to take extra effort to eat like I should. But I will.

I'm not giving in to these emotions!!!

So here's the scoop...

I'm actually up on the scale today. That normally wouldn't bother me, because I know it's all part of the process. For some reason though, it does bother me. Maybe because I've been trying to break this 166 stall or set point or whatever you want to call it. Instead of going down I went up. BUT, that could be a good thing since it may mean a good loss tomorrow. Either way, I really think I'm just taking my anger out on the scale because of another issue.

My neighbors. Yeah. Gotta love neighbors.

We've lived in this area for less than a year... and Lord willing, when our lease is up we are outta here! I am counting down the days. What's sad is we have great neighbors, with the exception of one. This one family has 4 children, who for some reason, seem to think it's fun to torture mine. As of last night we told our children they were no longer allowed to even walk down the sidewalk past this house.

It started a couple of weeks ago when my daughter and another neighbor girl, we'll call her L, were playing. These boys, who range from 14 to 3, starting pelting them with sticks and rocks. L's dad saw this and called her home, also telling my daughter she needs to go home as well. My little girl came in crying and telling me that L couldn't play with her anymore as long as these kids were outside. I hugged her and told her we'd work something out. It's been like a war ever since.

My children came in a few days ago saying that these boys were throwing gumballs (those spikey hard things that fall out of the trees, not the candy) at them over the fence and hitting them and our dog. I looked out the back door at their yard, which is two houses away and couldn't figure out how they were throwing them that far. Last night I found out.

I heard my daughter scream something so I went to the back door. There she was with a "gumball" in hand ready to hurl it at the neighbor boys. Since we have no trees that drop those in our yard, it had to have come from them throwing it first. I open the door to stop her, when I see the oldest, who like I said I estimate to be about 14, leap over the fence into his yard and tried to hide on the ground. The other child, who isn't big enough to get over the fence, just froze a moment and then ran. They are going into the back yard of the house between us and throwing stuff at my kids over our fence!

My children can't even safely play in their own back yard!!!

This hacks me off to no end!

My daughter then came to me crying and telling me that they had gotten in trouble for throwing stuff last time and they told her they'd "get her" for getting them in trouble. She's scared to even go outside now.

My son also told me that when he was walking by to go to L's house, the oldest grabbed him from behind, put his arm around his neck and lifted him off the ground. He said he struggled to get away and then ran. We told them to tell us immediately if something happens again and we will just call the police. What else can we do? What worries me most is that my husband travels and the kids and I are here alone sometimes. What if the older kid gets mad and gets some his buddies together for revenge? We do live in a rougher area of St. Louis, so it's not an impossibility.

I will not have my kids being bullied! And they certainly shouldn't have to spend their summer indoors just to avoid these morons!

We've known for a while we didn't want to stay here.. but this has been the last nail in the coffin. Now if we can just get moved before my husband kills one of them and ends up in jail. He was so mad last night I thought he was gonna march over there and personally assure they never touched our kids, or anyone else's, again. Can we say NOT GOOD?

Our lease is up the end of September. If we can just avoid a blow-up until then we are good. But it's certainly stress I didn't need. And worrying about my kids safety is going to really make things no fun for them this summer.

So I ask for prayer on this from those of you who pray. I know God can protect us, but it's still a scary situation.

C'mon September....