Groaning

I'm getting a little flack from the 11-year old female in our house about my plan for the summer.

Each morning, the children must do their routine chores, then we tackle some other job. Yesterday, it was cleaning off the microwave stand and all the children's school refuse as well as cleaning out the boys' closet while Deanna worked on her bedroom. Today we tackled cleaning their mirrored closet doors, the inside and out of the storm door, all mirrors, and the windows.

The boys pleasantly worked, knowing that good things await those who work hard. They ooh-ed and aah-ed at how much better their closet doors looked and seemed to really enjoy the cleaning chores. The little girl, however, fought me tooth and nail.

Later, while at Pizza Hut (the good thing that awaited them), I explained to her what the boys already understood but she seemed to have missed - my plan for putting order into the house. She made some caustic remark that only teenagers seem to be able to think up.

When we got home from a busy day (dentist's appointment, shopping at a Wholesale Club where we ran into HER godparents, lunch at Pizza Hut, then some fun errands), it was close to 4:00. The boys ran out to play, but she asked to watch TV, which I allowed and, later, to play on the computer, which I also allowed, while I tore apart my Crafts Room to reorganize it. While saying the blessing at dinner shortly after 6:00 (please note that we're talking only two hours after she began watching TV and playing on the computer), she asked the Lord to bless our summer since she was "bored out of our heads today."

She won't be bored tomorrow. I'm planning on spending this evening thinking up about 60 deep cleaning tasks for her to tackle tomorrow to keep her from being bored.

There are some things you just don't say to a Mom - especially not on only the second day of summer.