Saturday, November 17, 2007

Chores, chores, time outs and more


We are happily hosting Thanksgiving on Thursday and as such, the house needs to be clean. I have given up on trying to repaint my kitchen before the holiday of thanks, but the house needs to be cleaned. And as luck would have it, our cleaning people are not due to come until the Saturday after said holiday. So I called in the troops, Queen Aunties to the rescue. QA2 (heretofore known as Queen Auntie #2) came out and guided our house to cleanliness. She is my rock. The kids were up until 9 p.m. last night, their usual bed time is between 7:30 and 8. This does not include Baby who goes to bed at 6:30 or 7. They, OF COURSE, were up at 5:30 a.m.! I was SO insulted.

Being insulted really doesn' t matter much to them, they want what they want when they want it. And bums must be cleaned for fear of rash, so I soldier on. Luckily for me, I fell asleep on the couch, in my clothes, so I was fully dressed when they showed their bright and shinny faces. By 8:20 we were ready for our Saturday morning errands, bank, post office, store. Stop 1 = bank, strike out, doesn't open until 9. Stop 2 = post office, another strike out, doesn't open until 9. So we go to the store. Going to the store necessitates the formal family meeting. It goes something like this; "We are going to the store for wipes and that it is all. I don't want to hear any body asking me for this or that. Do you understand"? "Yes, nothing off the list. What is on the list"? "Only things for the house, nothing for you guys, well I guess wipes are for you guys, well at least the boys". They know the drill. They are coachable.

But here was my fatal mistake. I let them get the cart that thas two seats that face each other. Baby was in the carriage part and Oldest and Middle were in the seats, not buckled in because "they are too big". Uh-oh. I should have stopped right there and then. I didn't. I kept going. By the time we got out of there I had wipes and some other stuff for the house, Oldest in tears, Middle using his best whinning voice and Baby squirming like a bag of worms.

But QA2 came and saved the day. Funny when we were trying to straighten up the laundry room she noticed that they were "helping." She remarked, "They are not working, why don't we put a movie on"?

Welcome to my world, Dear Reader.

1 comment:

Ticket 4 Two said...

I have such great memories from the Thanksgiving we spent with you Bets! Miss you!