My Life...

I just might lose my mind for reals this time.

How hard is it to-

-Take your socks upstairs when you go up
-Replace the toilet paper roll (since you've already taken the new roll out and placed it on the counter)
-Take your shoes off by the door, rather than in the middle of the kitchen floor
-Put your bowl in the sink (I'm not even asking you to put it in the dishwasher-just the sink!)
-Put the cereal back in the cupboard-only if there's still cereal left in it please!
-Throw your wrappers in the trash
-Pick the pillows up off the floor and put them back on the couch, rather than walking all over them with your stinky, dirty feet
-Put the blanket back in the basket
-Pick up your costumes off the kitchen floor after you've stripped it off
-Put the Wii remotes/game back when you turn off the Wii
-Turn off a light!
-Pee IN the toilet
-Take your toys back to your own room, rather than depositing them downstairs and leaving them there-under the table, in the middle of the kitchen floor, on the kitchen counter, or in the middle of the carpet-all places they will get stepped on and destroy the foot of the person who has stepped on them
-Throw your backpack on the bench in the mudroom, rather than in the walkway between there and the kitchen or in the middle of the kitchen floor

We just had a FHE last night on our new chore chart. Surprisingly none of these things were mentioned. I just noticed all of this today-because that's when it all happened. They now have daily jobs that they rotate-dishes and table, living room and stairs, playroom. Which we've always had. Unfortunately for them, there will be no more Mr. Nice Mom and letting them get away with skipping a day, or heading off to their friend's house before mom realizes/forgets that the job wasn't done. Now we will also have weekly jobs-clean your own room and bathroom once a week. That's all I'm asking-ONE day a week. And now there are also 3 new required weekly jobs, which used to be bonus jobs they could do for extra money. Dust, take out all the trash in the house, clean/organize kitchen counter. They drew those last night and Bubba got stuck with kitchen counter and threw a hissy already and ended up in his room. I informed all of them that this is to teach them how to work because I grew up in a house where our mom never made us lift a finger-and guess what? I didn't know how to do laundry or iron until I moved in with my grandparents after high school and she taught me. And I really couldn't cook much unless it involved a box. And I quickly learned that I didn't like living in disarray. "I know how to work hard," came Bubba's reply. "Well then prove it," said mom. "I'm not the maid. You are all old enough (minus Coconut) to help out and clean up after yourselves. I still do all of your laundry and cook for you-amongst other things."
Guess what JP did today on his own without being asked-the dishes. And Peanut decided to do the dusting last night because he didn't want to have to remember later in the week. Plus he cleaned the playroom yesterday. I'm still working on Bubba. Although, he did actually go and sit at the piano and practice without me saying a word. I wondered what had happened to my child that "hates" piano and who had replaced him. He begged for lessons for two years and loved them for the first few months-until baseball started (which is way more exciting). Now, I'm lucky if I can force him in there once a week (besides actual lesson day) to sit and play. He was in there playing away today telling me how much he loves his new song. Hallelujah!