Terry's 3M's

I really should get busy cleaning house. My current problem with housework is a decided lack of motivation.

When I was a single person, my apartment was a tad cluttered with the current books that I was reading and newspapers lying about. Sometimes there might be a needlework project lying on an end table as well. But, my house was never dirty.

The dishes were done up as I used them; the kitchen floor was mopped once a week; and the bathroom was cleaned almost daily.

When I cleaned, the place stayed clean.

When we first moved into this house, I still was a person who cleaned quite regularly. But, in the past couple of years, I have slacked off greatly.

The reason is easy. I can spend several hours cleaning during the day, only to see all that work destroyed within one hour of the kids getting home from school. Unless I can develop a way to watch all four of them at one time, it is almost hopeless trying to figure out who took everything off the coffee table, etc. If I find someone's name on a piece of schoolwork and tell him/her to pick it up, s/he informs me that s/he didn't put it on the floor. One of the others must have gotten into his/her backpack and dumped it out. And since s/he didn't put in on the floor s/he doesn't feel that s/he should have to be the one to pick it up. I order s/he to pick it up with a lecture on taking responsiblity for one's belongings. But, the lecture falls on deaf ears and the entire scenario will be replayed in another hour or day. They all have their chores to do. But, unless I want to stand over them and watch they rarely get done properly. Sometimes, even when I am standing right there and telling them to get busy, they won't do anything. One in particular gets downright defiant, sits down cross-legged, crosses her arms and flatly tells me that she's NOT going to do anything. This usually leads to her getting sent to her room where she throws a fit, messes up her room, and threatens to run away from home.

Life around here can wear you out on some days.

When the chores actually do get done, one would think that the time spent doing the chore would cause them to stop and think before destroying their work. It doesn't. An hour later, the room is a mess again.

Bill Cosby is right. Children are brain-damaged.

Thanks to for the border background set.