Chores, please do them

My best friend of 40 years may arrive tomorrow (I say may, because the appearance of Dawn is always a crap shoot).

It was like that when were young and it is now.

Nevertheless, I'm trying to convince my daughter to clean up the bathroom, and I"ve actually tackled the rat's nest under the phone, which will probably start growing again 9 am PST tomorrow. But for now, it's clean.

I know and Dawn knows I'm not the best of housekeepers. But I figure it's been 3 years since I"ve seen here (she lives in Denmark with her family), so I'll make the effort.

Getting this house clean means making an attempt to clean up the small piles, not the entire house. That would just be too discouraging.

Two walls to go, so far so good

I came home with trepidation tonight, wondering what mood I'd find my family in. But apparently not to worry, Gary seems resigned to brown and red walls, although I agree with him on one point, the rest of the room should be beige.

I think one of the reasons Jennifer's pushing to get the room done, no matter what the color, is she wanted to hang out with her b-friend and shoot hoops at his house and go ice skating. Yes to the ice skating, no to the hoops without an adult around.

She whined that his mom would be home, since she works the night shift. Okay, let's amend that. A conscious parent has to be home.

I suggested that b-friend could come over here and help her paint. But she said she didn't want him to see the room in a state of disarray and looking like a "little girl's room," and I think unspoken, our house is always a mess, and while she's fine with that, she's not fine with anyone else seeing it.