TROUBLE IN PARADISE -Life of a Teenage Girl & Mom

Well, now I feel as bad as my pre-teen, I feel like throwing a fit because blogger isn't working correctly today. But, I won't, because I know how horrible it makes everyone else feel. I digress.
Today, I made her cry. Sure did. Being a horrible mother again. Mak, pre-teen, spent the night at a friend's. I went to pick her and the friend up to take all the children (sans Pak) swimming at Uncle David's pond. Usually they want to go. Today, it seemed like pulling teeth. I mean, if my own mother would have offered to take me or me and a friend to do things of the sort that I do with the kids, I would have been an ecstatic young lady at age 12. But, no. So I get there to pick them up, Clove and Cam in tow, and they want to show me the pics they downloaded from the camera that Mak took over there last night. When she was walking out with it, I naturally said, "That is Nana's camera. You shouldn't be taking..." as she cut me off with "I know. I'm not taking YOUR camera!" My ill advice was waysided with the roll of the eyes, the huffing and puffing of the breath. So, she took it. They took funny pictures, downloaded them successfully (quite computer savvy at such a young age - that's a positive), and showed me. However, then when it was time to load up and go, alas, Mak has 'misplaced' the case. I was hot. Flames shooting from my ears after fifteen minutes of searching the friend's house, I was irate. Sure, a case, no big deal. Not deathly cancer or cutting off a finger or anything. But still. After the intelligent warning I tried to give the previous evening about taking the damn thing, and the nonchalant response - I was fuming. So, she storms out to the SUV, won't speak, is crying uncontrollably, giving me the "I HATE YOU" vibe and eyes, showing her inner most beautiful self to friend and said friend's mom, etc. I was really angry then. Like it was MY fault it was lost. So, she'll have to work somehow at Nana's or home to earn the money to replace it. She tells me now that "she knows" this. Like I'm some kinda idiot. She refused to put on her swimsuit or get in the pond after this for about twenty minutes. While everyone else swam, she sat in the smoltering vehicle, waiting for someone to appease her. I told her to get her damn swimsuit on and get out there. She finally did. Man was her face ever so constrained into a hideous mess, though. Tough love is terrible. I AM the world's worst Mom today. Just ask her. I mean, taking her swimming? With a friend? What a horrible thing to do. I must be Mommy Dearest. Next thing you know, I'll be beating her with a coathanger.
Does this help my current condition of witchiness? I think not. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and I'll be in Kansas. With Dorothy. Or Glenda the Good Witch. Then again, I could have my legs smashed under my own house, with my sock feet wilting beneath the rubbish. We'll have to see.