If You Open It, Close It

Yesterday morning I was up before everyone else. It was quite nice and quiet in the house and i was enjoying it. Eventually the rest of the rest of the family got up too. Middle Child was the last to get out of bed, he is a teenager. But within minutes of his being out of bed he had already riled me up. He opened the door, went into the laundry room, got whatever he needed, walked out, and tried to go downstairs.

I hollered after him, "Shut the door!" Olaf shot me daggers since I was already raising my voice and the kid hadn't been up for ten minutes. He isn't around near enough to understand what is going on.

"Oh, sorry," and he promptly came back and shut the door.

For some reason this is a daily occurrence for us. He opens a cupboard and leaves. He opens a drawer and walks away. I've been repeating this phrase at least a half a dozen times a day to him over the past several weeks. But it hasn't sunk in. That fateful Saturday morning I happened to be on the computer and decided to post what I tell him constantly. I was amazed at the storm it created!

Apparently I am not alone. There are many other frustrated mother's out there. Here's the stream of responses I received. It made my day that night when I read them all!

Donna

If you open it, close it. Why is this such a mystery to kids?

Yesterday at 10:47am ·  ·  · Comment

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  Cindy, Bruce and Donna like this.
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    Juanita and/or husbands...........
    

    Yesterday at 11:00am · 
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    Heather Good question, how about if you drop it, pick it up or spill it or the list could go on and on!!!
    

    Yesterday at 11:23am · 
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    Jennifer I guess you need another note on the container!
    

    Yesterday at 11:26am · 
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    Donna What gets me is I have a child that when they don't like something in their room and need to get rid of it, they put it in the hall so that the fairy get rid of things will take it away!!! drives me nutts!!!
    

    Yesterday at 11:31am ·  ·  2 people
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    Suzanne I hear you!!
    

    Yesterday at 12:26pm · 
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    Lindsay I think my heating bill was so high this month because my boys always forgot to close the back door.
    

    Yesterday at 12:52pm · 
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    DaNae I have a hard time watching A Christmas Story because that dang kid opens the mailbox, checks the mail, puts it back into the mailbox and then leaves the mailbox open. I spend the rest of the movie shouting at him! Brad says he's fine with the mailbox but when the kid leaves his gun in the snow...
    

    Yesterday at 1:33pm ·  ·  1 person
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    Jen Bo oooo how I wish i knew! LOL
    

    Yesterday at 2:06pm · 
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    Lisa I hate it when they leave an empty box in the pantry or fridge. Why can't they just throw it out.
    

    22 hours ago · 
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    Lindsay Argh! I am getting angry just thinking about it!
    

    21 hours ago · 
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    Rachel LOL
    

    6 hours ago · 
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Painting Part 2

Notice the disastrous mess? Everything pulled out, moved around, out of place. Augh! The painting isn't done yet!

I am so incredibly motivated to get this room done cuz this is where we do our living and I can't handle this mess.

Even the fridge isn't where it belongs. It feels all out of sorts. I've got to 

get it back in place before it gets mad at us and spoils our food.

Even the blinds were pulled down. Now people can see in the front and the back! That would be because even though the other room is completely painted (and looks good, thank you) I bought new curtains and need to embellish them before they are hung. Will someone just tell me to quit making more projects for myself?

But by the end of this weekend things should be back in place. And Middle Child can make the cookies he wanted to make today and I wouldn't let him. Why? Not because I'm a Mean Mom (although I am sometimes) but because I couldn't handle the extra mess. And I will enjoy the cookies as a reward!

Commercials

Baby has had a pretty icky mattress for a few years. About two years ago Olaf put a big, three-inch, egg crate, mattress pad on it.

That satisfied him until yesterday.

Last night he told Olaf, "Dad, you can have the pink pad back."

"I think you'll have a pretty lumpy mattress if you do. You can keep it."

"Not if you get me a Tempur-Pedic mattress!"

Despite my best intentions the kid watches too much TV!

The Ten Commandments

Part of being LDS is Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, it is one of the Ten Commandments. From the time you're little it's ingrained in your head that you don't shop on Sunday. It's taught to the little kids at church and as adults we're reminded in classes on a regular basis. We try not to shop on Sunday but there are times when we've felt like we really needed something and gone to the store anyway.

One such day back when Calvin was probably five or six we pulled into the Kmart parking lot right after church. As we started to pull into a parking spot Calvin hollered from the back seat, "No shopping on Sunday!!!"

Olaf kept on rolling, never stopped, and we went right home. Apparently whatever we needed wasn't so important that we had to have it right away.

Thinking we had great boys who listened at church we praised them. Until the following Tuesday when I went back to Kmart with the boys in the back seat. As Calvin and Middle Child both hollered, "No shopping on Tuesday!!" I began to suspect their Sunday Shopping comment had been more of an effort to not shop, their most despised activity, rather than to obey the Ten Commandments.

What Does It All Mean?

What does it mean when you walk into a house and it looks like this?

And when you see people wearing paint covered clothing? Someone needs some fashion help. 

And when the walls and windows are stripped bare? Hopefully no Peeping Toms are around tonight.

And blue tape on all the surfaces? Maybe it's a dream and you're floating through the sky.

And look at that funky paint job.

It means "Run for Your Life!" I'd say don't come over for a week or so or you may find a paintbrush in your hands!

It's a Birthday!

Last weekend I made a whirlwind trip to see my Sister. It was a quick one. I flew in Friday afternoon and left Sunday evening. But it was perfect! It was short enough that I could keep her to myself, mostly, and not make her family feel left out. Altho we did go out to dinner with them once because it was her birthday! I even made her a present.

It's this cute Hedgehog apron. I spent a lot of time making the bias tape. And afterwards I found out about this nifty little contraption that speeds up the process tremendously! Lesson learned, I now own the aforementioned contraption in several sizes. It was fun to make this apron and now I'm going to make my own. But the best thing? Spending a whole weekend with my Sister! Happy Birthday Sis!

Ed the Warrior

My little Brother loves to draw comics. He's pretty good at them. I think he got all the artistic drawing abilities allotted to our family, or at least my portion. He's got this comic he's put up on his website. It's about a guy who has to defend his company in an unorthodox way, with his sword! Go check it out. He puts up new comics three times a week. Enjoy it and tell your friends about it!

http://minidovecomics.wordpress.com/

Never Ending Traditions

Last week I finally put all of the Christmas decorations away. I had the boys help me round everything up and get it in the boxes. I searched high and low. I was bound and determined to not continue one tradition I hate. That is Forgetting To Put One Thing Away. It seems every year I find something I forgot even after scouring everywhere and double checking the whole house. I even checked the tree this year and it looked ornament free!

I was beginning the think I had done it this year! I was pretty happy. Until from across the room I spied it.

It was something that didn't belong this time of year. It was red and green. I had cleaned the top of the shelf off, I had taken down the stuffed Grinch that was sitting next to this item. But somehow

I had missed the Merry Christmas pillow. It seems some traditions can't be broken no matter how hard I try.

Calendars

This was the year for Olaf to get Calendars for Christmas.

The boys got him the usual World of Warcraft calendar for his office.

But his brother brought him this awesome calendar.

We have it sitting on our kitchen counter so every morning we can have a little Zombie wisdom.

And now you know exactly what a Zombie is, if you were wondering.

The Clock

I went to the gym last night. At my normal time. I got there just early enough to get my stuff out. But, I forgot it was the beginning of the new year. The class was almost full! I had to sit up front. By the teacher. And more painful, the Clock.

I don't like working out. I hate sweating and feeling all dirty and grungy. And in Pilates we don't sweat a whole lot, thank goodness. But it's still a hard class. And to be that close to the clock! Pain! There was no fooling my brain into how much time was left, or how much time had elapsed. Ugh!

I can usually trick myself the last half hour of class into not realizing we're almost done. And then all of a sudden it's over and my brain thought we had another 15-20 minutes! It's like Christmas for Pilates! Not so with the clock right in front of me. I had to bear a whole hour of class, knowing just how long I had been working out.

Tonight, for Yoga I am going early. There's a nice corner in the back that I'd like to claim as my own. Can't tell what time it is and the teacher can't see me too well over the heads of lots of other students. Too bad we can't reserve spots, cuz I'd write my name in permanent ink on that spot!

Pancakes

A few days after Christmas I went to Willam's Sonoma to get something special. When I brought it home the boys were so excited. It was Star Wars Pancake Molds! They were so excited they had to make some the next morning while I was at work. Failed Attempt #1.

Olaf was home the next day and he tried to make them for the boys since their attempt didn't work out. Failed Attempt #2.

Then New Year's Day I decided to show them all how it's done. I sprayed lots of Non-Stick spray to no avail. Failed Attempt #3.

Then Olaf tried it again with the same batch of dough. Finally! Successful Attempt #1!!! Well, sort of if you don't count Yoda's torn ear.