Tuesday, January 22, 2008

why Maria is Grounded For Life

Maria's room is a pit. I would post a picture to embarass her if I wasn't so embarassed myself. And we are missing a library book, one that has been missing for months, has been renewed the maximum amount of times so as to give optimum time for it to return from whatever hole it has hidden itself in, and still it has not turned up. In the meantime, I have cleaned all the rooms it could possibly be in, sorted through all of our bookshelves, dug through both cars, and still it has not turned up. The only room that hasn't been cleaned since, oh, October or so, is Maria's room. Back in October, *I* cleaned her room. She went to visit my parents for the weekend, and I went into her room with three large black trashbags, cleaned it myself, and threatened her with early death if she let it get that way again. Well...it's that way again. And, well, I'm not really allowed to kill the children, even when they trash their rooms to the point of being considered a geniune health hazard. So, this morning, when the library officially billed me $15 for the book, I went into her room myself and dug through piles, crawled around on my considerable belly to dig under her furniture, pawed through her closet and drawers and nightstand, and got a first hand look at just how disgusting her room really is, I pronounced her Grounded For Life from the TV, the computer, and any activities we don't have prior committments to attend. Ok, so it's not for life, it's until her room is clean, which may mean the same thing at this rate. Oh...and the library book? It still hasn't turned up.

3 comments:

Entropy said...

Don't worry about finding the book now because it's yours. My library won't give you your money back once you've paid for it even if you find the book. Isn't that insane? Not that I ever find the book I had to pay for. No. Not even when I'd really like to have that book, The Boxcar Children, the stupid thing has still not turned up.

Sarah - Kala said...

That was a hefty fine! My daughter is 12 and I keep threatening her, and, in the end, I keep cleaning her room . . . The madness has got to stop! I believe my girls room is going to be a sty all her life until I just leave her locked in there all day until it is clean. At least get the junk off the floor, right? She has a hamper, but where are her clothes? All over the floor right next to the hamper. Uff dah!

mel said...

ha! Yep, my kids do that too. I used to just have hampers in the bathroom, and then I thought maybe it was too much to expect them to card dirty clothes there, so everyone got their own hamper. Hasn't made a wit of difference.