I may be a mean mom, but my house is clean!

The day started off not like a typical Friday. Usually, around here, Fridays are met with enthusiasm, energy, and excitement. Today, we all woke up cranky. Maybe it was because of the cloudy, cool weather, yet again. Maybe it was because mom didn't sleep so well. Maybe it was due to a busy week. The fact is we were all dragging our heels. We got the basics done in school: Grammar, Math, and Spelling. Lauri did Science; Alyssa did History. I called it a day at that. Then I did something drastic: I locked the kids in the basement.

Okay, not really *locked* them in the basement, so to speak, but shut them down there with explicit instructions to come get me if someone was bleeding or if something was on fire and that was about it. We spent almost all of last weekend cleaning out/rearranging those two rooms downstairs, and now they had plenty to do in plenty of space. I warned them that if I was to be needed for any disagreements that I would start to reconsider our six-weeks-at-the-lake summer plan. They were bickering and pestering each other all morning, so I figured this was an opportunity to show them that they can get along.

Step two was to turn on my Ipod. I can do anything while listening to my Ipod. Especially when I had just downloaded new music on it. Sure, I looked silly dancing around my kitchen (doing a little moonwalking) to Michael Jackson, and maybe I belted out some Grease 2 songs a little too loud, but when those ear buds go in, the world gets shut out.

Step three was to try a new approach to cleaning. I am a very random person (maybe part ADD?). When I look for clothes, I dart through the aisles going back and forth. When I'm at the bookstore, I jump from section to section and back again. So, I tried this with my cleaning- start with laundry, there's always laundry to do with seven people in one house, then begin straightening my room. Go down and finish up lunch dishes, sweep real quick, then head to the schoolroom, back up to my bathroom- vacuum the girls' room so Lizzie could take a nap, clean the kids' bathroom, do a little deeper clean in the kitchen, another load of laundry, vacuum the schoolroom, finish the last bathroom, trash out, put some more things away, finish up my room, start to tackle the living room.

For anyone keeping track, the boys' room was intentionally avoided. We worked so hard last week in our room, the girls' room, the computer room, and the two basement rooms, that the boys' room was completely ignored. I desperately need to clean out their closet and dressers, their toys, their stuffed animals, but I'm procrastinating. I need another burst of "nesting". (NOT a pregnancy-induced version).

Amazingly, the kids held up their end of the bargain. They stayed downstairs, with only one instance of Gavin scaring the cr*p out of me. Imagine yourself completely unable to hear due to your Ipod blaring, scrubbing a toilet, when all of a sudden out of the corner your eye, you think you see something. And there's Gavin just standing there staring at me. He can give you this blank stare that rivals those of kids in horror flicks.

Now I'm off to make some yummy enchiladas that we'll eat after we go to the Y which we'll do once Brett is home. So, not a bad end to a crummy start of the day, just wish the sun would come out!!!