Yesterday, I was sidetracked in my quest to clean DD's room, but got the much needed support when confronting DD yet again about the importance of taking better of her things as well as keeping her room remotely clean and organized. My mom needed some together time with me and I really had no problem with that. We went to lunch and did a little shopping. Of course, we spent most of the time venting over random things that nag at each of us from time to time. Nice little escape for me since I was pulled away from a day full of cleaning just one room in my house. Yep, I was at my breaking point and was going to just get the job done my way so I can focus on other things that need tending to.
Well, after my day with my mom was coming to a close, DD walks in the house after her day of school. She was not prepared to be bombarded with discussing the state of disarray her room still is and how she promised that she would take care of it. Trust me, I rarely ask for much these days. I usually do it on my own. It is a result of all the training I received from my family's lack of motivation to get things done around here. The spilled box of cereal was not going to clean itself up when DD knocked it over yesterday. She needed to catch the bus and apparently did not have 30 seconds to grab the kitchen broom and sweep it up. Same goes for the socks that landed on the floor of my already clean living room... It is obvious that dirty socks cannot take themselves to the hamper in the laundry room just mere steps away (10 to be exact because I counted it). Also, there was an empty bag that once held cheese cubes in it that could not leave the end table next to where DH sat and ate them the night before making it to the garbage can yet again 10 steps from where it sat (yep, counted the steps again on that one). The sink has dirty dishes in it, but the dirty knife that once was clean and in the drawer was sitting next to the sink, mere inches from the darn thing, could not be dropped in to join the other ones that mysteriously appeared after having all the dishes washed from the night before. I should know..... I washed the dishes myself, by hand since we do not own such a fancy devise in my house. Still needing to mop the kitchen floor of the tea drips from the refrigerator that appeared out of nowhere still needs to be done, but I digress..... I really needed to run away from the house for a little while to keep some sense of sanity happening between my ears. I just finished handling the small things that manage to appear shortly after my family was home and I really needed to get my frustrations in check.
As DD listens to my mother instilling the importance of a clean room to her, my mom suggests something that she never suggested to me in my youth..... to put in at least 30 minutes a day actually cleaning her room. That those 30 minutes a day will add up and before she knew it.... her room would finally be clean. Of course, my mom does not know about the inner workings of my teenage daughter's mind, and forgot to cover all bases and possible loopholes..... Sure, she can put in 30 minutes a day to clean her room, but it takes her mere seconds to trash it. The proof is in the rest of my house as she walks through it. Mayhem and foolishness follows her every step, leaving a mess in its wake. Remember the cereal I mentioned earlier? The dirty socks? Basically, her abilities to keep something remotely clean is like digging a hole and putting the dirt right back where she hauled it out from. She is the queen of doing a half-arsed job at finishing what she started. She put in a couple of loads of laundry to wash and dry, but she does not take the clean stuff out of the dryer to fold and put away. Nope, the dryer is now her personal wardrobe that she will pull from when she needs something to wear. I know of another person that does just that, but I refuse to give names to protect my hide from being skinned. Frustrated me to bits when they did this, but fortunately, that person does not live in my house. I now have one of my own to do that to me, and that is DD.
I truly believe that DD would make a great lawyer someday. When her wheels start turning to figure a way to weasel a way out of doing as asked, but making it appear that she is doing as asked.... it is a sight to see. I have called her out on it hundreds of times, and the argument over semantics makes my head hurt. She is relentless!
Well, with that information in mind, I talked to my mom this morning about just that. That her request, as reasonable as it appears, has loopholes that DD will fully take advantage of and she needs to reissue her suggested plan with the revisions that close those gaping loopholes that DD can find so easily and will use them to her advantage. I have decided that I will give DD one more week to get her room clean. As with her ability to weasel out of the responsibility, I have the resolve to let her take as much rope that is necessary to hang herself before taking the bull by the reigns and just do things my way. Trust me.... she will not be happy with what I have planned for doing this my way. With one week to plan my next step regarding that..... I have some time to chisel away at another project that has been nagging at me...... The two closets that manage to get crammed with stuff that should be better organized..... my linen closet and the front hall closet.
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