Things my kids do that annoy me....

1. Get stuff out of the cupboard, and leave it open, and out on the counter so it can go stale/get knocked over/one of mickey's family members can have a free snack.

2. Make themselves something to eat while Bee and I are out and leave a mess of "food stuff" on the stove. Leave food (usually mac and cheese or pasta) in the pan on the stove, so it's now caked on nice and good.

3. Pile their dirty dishes in the sink after just watching me unload the dishwasher (I understand some mommies would kill for the simple task of the dishes making it to even the sink but really?)

4. Yelling, from the kitchen, in front of the dishwasher when I am upstairs, in the living room, or the bathroom, "Is the dishwasher clean or dirty? Then, having to seek me out (or me seek them) to ask me 17 more times on the way, when they could have just looked. (I did this to my mom more times than BAYER has aspirins)

5. Shoes. Shoes by the muther furken door. There is nothing I hate more than walking into the house and finding a sea of shoes left in front of the door that I usually DON'T see, until I trip over them. (Their dad is the BIGGEST offender of this)

6. Cups. Ok, while dishes in the sink irritate me (always have, I think it's because my kitchen doesn't feel clean to me if there are dishes in the sink) I appreciate the kids putting theirs at least in the sink. They are good about at least making it that far. When we first moved, they would get 75 drinks of something in an hour and want to use a new cup each time. I put the kee-bosh on that. One cup per day. Now, the problem is, they leave them on the table. Always 3 cups on my table...they get forgotten, and new cups appear the next morning. They also get knocked over, and stuff spilled everywhere.

7. Milk/pop. We make the kids drink water. Milk, pop, juice, iced tea, etc, is expensive. Not to mention, with three in the house, they suck it down like it's going to spontaneously combust at any moment if they do not consume it right away. In fact, we had a new members meeting after Church yesterday, and the Pastor sent us home with 4 bottles of pop that were all mostly full (one wasn't even open). They hit that pop so hard, that by 6pm, I had to put a pop ban in place because 3 of the 4 bottles were GONE. We got home from the meeting at 3pm.  Milk is kept in the house for cereal and for the off chance I need it for something I am cooking. Mainly, it's for cereal. Three bowls, times five days, will pretty much kill a carton in no time. In fact, it usually doesn't last 5 days because they east cereal as their go-to snack. So, when I see C with a big ole glass filled to the brim for her beverage enjoyment, it frustrates me because it's hard enough to "budget" the milk enough so they have breakfast everyday.

8. Chores. I tell them to do their chores. They half ass them. Or ignore me all together.

9. *In a whiney, sing-songy voice* "I didn't know", "I forgot", "I don't remember". They got busted for not doing their chores on Saturday. They were off school Friday and the last thing I told little man before I left for work was "Make sure you guys do all your chores today" He promptly told C she had to do hers and clean her room, but Saturday, when they were busted, he hadn't cleaned his. His defense was "I didn't know I was supposed to" Also, all three of Bee's kids are super intelligent. Little Man and C are not just super smart, but they have common sense as well. J is a teenager and likes to be flaky and play the "I'm the dumb one of the family" card all the time, but it doesn't fly with me. I know better. That was my schtick all through jr. high and high school. Try again, sista.

10. Leaving their stuff lying around. Ok, let me explain something that is kind of a "thing" with me. I grew up in one house. My parents moved into their home in 1977. It was just the two of them. In 1980, I came along. Then, my sister in 1985. They still live in the same house. They don't really like to throw anything away. Mama was (and still is) and excellent mama, however, she never was one that kept the house tip top. Now, it wasn't nasty, or dirty, but working full time, some times a second job, and raising a family, she didn't feel like deep scrubbing her floors, or going through that stack of "stuff" on her end table. My childhood home was small, and therefore cluttered. I hate that feeling. I always felt like the walls were closing in. When I lived at Bee's old house, it was a mess. He had given up, and the house showed it. He didn't say otherwise so the kids lived like heathens when it came to taking care of their things. I refused to have any house I lived in and helped pay for look like that. So, I am kind of a Nazi about clutter and mess. YOU do not pay the bills. YOUR stuff doesn't get to lay around. Put it in YOUR space, mmkay?


I must add that I think I was a pro at all of these things growing up. The mother's curse is real!