Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Insert Catchy Title Here

Remember a while back our girls were lamenting their poor surroundings and wishing they had a "rich house"? Well, that topic came back up yesterday. I probed a bit further with Little Bit and asked her what makes a rich house. Are you ready?

1. Rich houses have flowers (I think she means in vases)
2. Rich houses have stairs.
3. Rich houses have brown floors. (I pointed to our laminate flooring and she said, "but they don't have carpet." We have carpet in the living room. We are sooo trashy.)
4. Rich houses have plants.
5. Rich houses have fancy cars.

Nice to know. I asked her if rich houses have messy toy rooms and that was the end of the conversation.

I'm going to have to watch that girl. Yesterday S swam with the girls after supper while I finished the dishes and ran to the store for some essentials. (Cokes and something chocolate--FF ladies, please ignore that statement. I was providing for my family.)

While they were in the pool Little Bit suddenly announced she was going to go under water. We haven't encouraged her to do that in summers past because of her $2,000 ear tubes but last night she did. In just a few minutes she was not only going all the way under, but swimming down to touch the bottom of the pool and seeing how long she could stay under. S said he got a little nervous at one point because she stayed down a pretty long time.

I can just tell how teaching her is going to be. She will not do a thing for a long time--won't even consider doing it--and then one day she makes up her mind and that's the end. She's a watcher. She watches, listens and absorbs for a long time and then she just does it herself one day. There is not a process of day by day getting better at something for her. It's going to be interesting.

Yesterday my new checklist from Motivated Moms went really well. It was a lot to get done all in one day! I have been wandering around putting out fires for so long, having an organized list of things to get done felt strange. I did things that, to me, could have waited. For example, yesterday's list had on it to clean off the top refrigerator shelf. Well, it wasn't that bad. The homeschool room needs to be sorted, the toy room looks like a tornado went through, and the sewing room floor is missing, but I cleaned off that top shelf because I know if I continue with the checklists, order will begin to creep in. Before I would have never done some of those things because how can I when there is all this mess around?? See? I got not so much done because I was distracted by how much there was to do.

And so I'm off to get started on my list for today. We already cleaned the bunny house out. Ug. And guess what I have discovered? Little Bit is all about cleaning. She LOVES to help me with housework. Sweetheart, not so much. She does her chores, but more often than not her work is sloppy and has to be done again. Cleaning and housework just doesn't really appeal to her (mostly). But when we are dealing with the pets--Little Bit is strangely absent and Sweetheart is right there in the middle sweeping up poop with a smile on her face. Maybe she should marry that farmer when she grows up like she plans to. Kids are so different from each other.

Have a great, productive day Ladies!!!

5 comments:

  1. I love to hear kids' perspectives on things. Like what makes a 'rich' house. But when you ask about the toy room...that's funny!

    Glad things are working out for you! I need to take a peek at that Motivated Moms list.

    I need help implementing kids' chores.

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  2. Yeah, we've got lots of carpet here, too. And no plants. Or vases. Or stairs. Or fancy cars. Well, Ryan has some. But they are hot wheels. :)

    Okay. So, I am enjoying your newly found motivation. Good for you, sister! And now I'm off to clean the kitchen and do laundry. My family thanks you, Brenda!

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  3. Okay, I will say something about the cokes and chocolate, but only because I enjoyed a very good (if very small) hot fudge sundae for dessert on Sunday and I'm no position to judge you. Still lost a pound so far, though. Hmmm... Just thought I'd keep it real. Now about the rest...

    We have no stairs, no vases (well, actually one with "faux" flowers in it), and very ugly carpet in all the bedrooms, left over from when we bought this place and because this is NOT a rich house, the budget hasn't allowed for changing it. So, you're not alone.

    I think its great that Little Bit loves to clean. I don't like to at all so without my love of lists and checkmarks (I really love a checked off list!), not much would get done around here either.

    Oh, and your title WAS a catchy title.

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  4. Mmmmmm, chocolate...okay, I'm back. Hee hee...

    I love the 5 things that make a rich house. :)
    1. Does a red party cup with wild flowers in it count?

    Loved it...

    Eli FINALLY went under water this summer all on his own and he is 10. Congrat's to the newest little fish. :)

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  5. You're very funny. We have stairs so I'm happy to know that we're rich! Woohoo.

    I used the link you provided a couple posts before to buy a cleaning schedule. That is exactly what I was looking for. I just need someone to tell me what to clean and when. I have a hard time organizing it all into a rational schedule myself. Thanks for the link.

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I don't get to talk to a lot of actual grown-ups during the day, so your comments make me really happy! :)