I'm not newsworthy!

I don’t have much to share at all, but I know many of you wonder how my mother in law is doing, but are reluctant to ask. Ask away, I’m an open book. Unfortunately, I don’t always have much information to share.

The way things are in my family, we discuss almost everything in detail. I thought I was partially Irish until we went to Ireland and I found out I am actually more Scottish. (That would explain my odd attachment to So I Married An Axe Murderer, which Sara and I watched at least once a week for years.) For years, I blamed our “discussions” about nearly everything on being Irish and loving to tell a tale. Now I have no excuse. The Scottish are a pretty tight lipped bunch, from what I hear, so I guess we’re just windy.

My point is, if it were my mom who was succumbing to the cancer, we’d be in constant contact and I would know exactly what was going on. This isn’t the case with Brandon’s family and I keep reminding myself everyone handles situations differently. Then I bottle up my annoyance until I have a full blown Scottish temper tantrum.

I will say I am overwhelmed by sweet, generous offers of help and prayer. Again, I’m reminded of the importance of friendship. It’s such a comfort to know people are praying and to feel the love that so many of you have extended. It’s very much appreciated!

While we wait in limbo, I’ve been making every effort to have our house company ready at a moment’s notice. I wish I could tell you my house is always ready for viewing, but it isn’t at all the case. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I can’t keep up. Yesterday, our plan was to clean in the morning, and see a 3-D movie in the afternoon. I worked on the downstairs, while the kids were tasked with cleaning up the bonus room, which includes their playroom. They had three hours for a job that took 15 minutes of focus.

Now, I realize kids need a great deal of direction to clean an area on their own, but you should see the focus they have while dragging out all the toys. For heaven’s sake you should see Alex organize his classroom at school. I know they can do it. I am trying to encourage more responsibility. I have a really bad habit of just cleaning their rooms and the bonus room myself so everything is done the way I want it done. And I wonder why I can’t keep up! I had enough to do yesterday and decided Alex and Meredith were old enough to handle it on their own. I even put on cleaning music for them.

They came down to eat lunch in the middle of their cleaning and assured me it was going well and they were nearly done. So, imagine my surprise when I went up to mop up tears shed over a broken pearl bracelet when nothing, and I mean nothing, had been accomplished. I blew my top and told them the movie was off the table and they had thirty minutes before the garbage bag made a dreaded appearance. Evidently, that wasn’t motivating enough. I yelled out five minute warnings from downstairs over the whir of the vacuum. Three times. Guess what I found when I went upstairs?! Three Legos and two dolls had been shelved. The rest still looked like Bourbon Street.

Remember the Scottish temper tantrum I mentioned earlier? It’s hard to say who had a bigger one. Alex or his mother. Meredith was wise enough to keep her head down and pick up at lightening speed. Which is ironic, considering she will avoid work at any cost. I bagged up enough junk to fill three garbage bags and it’s all hiding under the cover of a blanket in the garage. I told them they could earn their toys back with good behavior and helping with additional chores. So far, it looks as though several Playmobil knights are going to spend a long chilly month under the tool bench.