I went to lunch the other day with a guy from work, and we headed to this little Indian food dive. It's half restaurant, half grocery store. Wandering through the grocery store, I saw this, and got very excited for a moment. Then I read a little closer...
Sitting on the couch the other night, scratched my head, and noticed that it felt a little thicker around the sides than it did on the top. Hmmmmm, camera phone in my pocket... let's see what's going on up there.... ohhhhhhh... ignorance really was bliss. Guess it's officially time for the permanent buzz cut. I almost considered completely shaving it, but I might have to wait until the tan lines even out (30 more years or so.)
While we were in Michigan, the watermelon plant grew this monster.
Unfortunately, the little hole in the side dripping water was not a good sign. Ewwwwww.
Finally, after a summer of slacking, we instituted a new chore chart. A giant thermometer on the bathroom mirror with 30 spaces. Fill them all up, and you get to go out for ice cream with mom or dad.
I told the kids that in addition to the usual morning and bedtime routine, cleaning the playroom would earn a bar for everyone who helped. Keep in mind that most days when I get home from work, the playroom looks like feral pigs have been rooting through the toy bins all day.
Attempts to get them to pick it up are generally greeted with howls of protest.
They claim they don't know what to pick up. Really? I can't even see the floor where you are standing, but you can't spot anything to pick up?
The next excuse is that they don't know where things go. Really? You seem to be able to find the toys just fine and take them out, so do that in reverse.
Tonight, after describing the chore chart and the play room cleaning scheme, Ella started asking questions...
"So can we pick it up before you get home and earn a bar?" They are volunteering? Ummmmm, sure, more bars!!!
"What if we pick it up more than once a day?" Are you kidding me? More bars!!!
"Can we pick up other things to get bars? Like other rooms?" More clean rooms? More bars!!!
Somewhere in the midst of all the questions, I saw all three of them start exchanging glances and their eyes started getting bigger. And then they all disappeared from the bathroom in a storm of giggles. I peeked around the corner to see three little feral pigs racing around the playroom actually finding things to pick up and finding where they go.
Greedy little capitalists!
At this level of motivation, they will have filled all 30 bars in a few days by continually cleaning every room in the house, and I will need to increase the ice cream budget.
At least I hope so...
I told the kids that in addition to the usual morning and bedtime routine, cleaning the playroom would earn a bar for everyone who helped. Keep in mind that most days when I get home from work, the playroom looks like feral pigs have been rooting through the toy bins all day.
Attempts to get them to pick it up are generally greeted with howls of protest.
They claim they don't know what to pick up. Really? I can't even see the floor where you are standing, but you can't spot anything to pick up?
The next excuse is that they don't know where things go. Really? You seem to be able to find the toys just fine and take them out, so do that in reverse.
Tonight, after describing the chore chart and the play room cleaning scheme, Ella started asking questions...
"So can we pick it up before you get home and earn a bar?" They are volunteering? Ummmmm, sure, more bars!!!
"What if we pick it up more than once a day?" Are you kidding me? More bars!!!
"Can we pick up other things to get bars? Like other rooms?" More clean rooms? More bars!!!
Somewhere in the midst of all the questions, I saw all three of them start exchanging glances and their eyes started getting bigger. And then they all disappeared from the bathroom in a storm of giggles. I peeked around the corner to see three little feral pigs racing around the playroom actually finding things to pick up and finding where they go.
Greedy little capitalists!
At this level of motivation, they will have filled all 30 bars in a few days by continually cleaning every room in the house, and I will need to increase the ice cream budget.
At least I hope so...
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