Cleaning Machine

I have the feeling I am not the girls' favorite person right now. I am sure they wish I would go back to doing my own thing (usually surfing the web) and stop giving them chores to do. The fact that I am doing chores too makes it harder for them to slack off.

It started when I decided to help DD10 out with the laundry (her normal daily chore) by starting a load before she got up. The laundry room (a place I never go) looked like a disaster area! So, I got to work on that and that got me in the mood to see to it that more of the house got cleaned. Oddly enough it did not get me steaming screaming angry. I am sure DD10 wishes I would just yell at her and be done, but I had a better idea.

First off, she has to clean the downstairs bathroom. She said she would rather do the laundry (now a Mommy daily job) I said she should have thought about that before.

Secondly, she cannot play with the webkins she ordered last Friday until I have the laundry caught up. So, that is in my hands. I don't plan to slack off the laundry just to lengthen her sentence. But the hole I am digging out of is of HER doing.

I suppose I could have said SHE had to do the laundry and that she could have her webkin once SHE had it caught up. But I told her that I was pretty sure she would cheat and cut corners and do a terrible job to get it done fast enough. She can't be trusted with a chore right now.

So, instead of a regular daily chore she gets a variable daily chore. Whatever needs doing for that day that doesn't already have a person assigned she gets it. She said she didn't mind that so much, since she pretty much got those anyway. (Actually, I spread those around, so she might get more than she thinks.)

I got the kitchen cleaned up nicely by taking matters into my own hands. The laundry is going well. I am going to tackle some more "been here since we moved in" piles a little later. Maybe in the sunroom. Right now my ankle hurts and I am going to put my brace on.

DD7 is cleaning her disaster of a room. She has already been caught once just playing. I had to remind her that she could not come out until it was done and playing made that take longer. She isn't sulky about it. She actually looked like she had forgotten why she was in there.

DD9 cleaned her room already, helped me with the laundry, swept the kitchen floor, and loaded the dishwasher. Weird

Oops, dryer has stopped. Time for me to go back to housework funland.

Here is a picture of my DD9 (age 3 at the time) getting her bottom spanked by a peacock.