For Munchkins' 11th birthday, last night, I had arranged a shopping trip to get her special clothes for her 5th grade promotion ceremony. After work, we shopped for 3 hours! Then I helped prepare dinner, and finally fell into bed, exhausted. Three of us woke up at 6:45 and got ready. Guess who stayed up late and was still snoozing? Yep, Winona SD18.

Munchkin was so excited! She had picked out a very pretty cream, lace dress that complimented her well, and I found a matching cream cotton flowing cardigan. We found some pretty strappy cream sandals with bright turquoise and stone embellishments (she is into rocks and stones, and it was a pretty contrast to all the cream!). Her thick, dark, shiny hair was freshly washed and pulled up in a neat ponytail to reveal her sweet, freckled face and dancing brown eyes. She is half Filipino and half irish/german, and looks a bit like her mother, with her father's personality, but when she stood smiling and so proud on that stage, she looked exactly like her daddy!

During the ceremony, we sat next to Tweedle, the boyfriend, and BM. BM was feeling chatty, and then exclaimed that Winona SD18 was "blowing up her phone with texts, and telling her 'you people caused me to miss my own sister's graduation from 5th grade'." Way to play victim and blame others because you couldn't get your lazy, dirty, self out of bed on your own!

I admit this: I was the last to leave the house at 8:30, for the 9 am ceremony, Munchkin and SO had left at 8. Yes, I could have knocked on her bedroom door, and offered a ride. I did not. It is her responsibility from now on, no one is going to struggle and fight to get her moving. Over the past 3 years my home was turned into a battle zone over getting her up, out of bed, and out the door for school. Cleaning her dishes before school. Getting her room clean before school.

So I guess I am the bad guy this time, because I did not wake her up and offer a ride and I was the last one out. Which is fine because I have always been the bad guy! Might as well own it.

So now, I suppose, Winona will whine and cry, about how no one "wants her around", and how we are all bad because we "made" her miss the ceremony. Forget about me, CLove, who took 5 hours of my vacation time for HER stinking graduation from high school, sat in the hot, broiling sun, on a hard metal bench for 4 hours, took some really nice photos that I sent her - I got absolutely no 'thank you CLove, for being there', or 'thank you for sending photos'. NADA. And she has generally been sleeping her way through her days since then, except for one bout with sober grad night, and a shopping trip. 1, yes 1 job interview. 1 this Friday.

Sorry, Winona, my sympathy well has dried up.
YAY for Munchkin!