What Do You Mean I Can't Put "Crafting Time" on the Family Chore Chart?

Well, fine then. I was going to put "X Box Time" on there, too but forget it, now. Humph.

This cartoon is patently untrue. Captain Hubby would never wear plaid.

Maybe I didn't really try to put Crafting Time on the family chore chart I made, tempted though I was. It would be awesome!

"Mommy, can you help me with my homework?"
"Sorry! It's Crafting Time! Says right there on the Family Schedule!"

"Honey? Can you help me put out the fire in the kitchen?"
"No. It's Crafting Time. Look at the schedule I made and STOP BOTHERING ME!"

OK - I see your point. Doesn't mean I like it.

So, after about 13 years of being tired of waking up to a trashed kitchen, I decided that - as a family - we would a) start eating at the table and b) clean up the dining room and kitchen AS A FAMILY. Cleaning up everything after dinner - including making lunches from the leftovers and putting food away - only takes us about 20 minutes. It was awesome. So I decided to take it a step further and actually make a schedule to keep our afternoons and evenings on track. This was also so that I would be better about getting Em to sit down and do her homework each day. If she doesn't have homework, she works on other stuff or starts her chores. Not liking anything I found in the stores (as per usual), I decided to break in my new glue gun, use up some materials I wanted out of my basement, and make a family schedule and chore tracker for Em. This was the result:

I have no smarty-alec comment for this board. It's that awesome.

We wanted Em to have some responsibilities other than her regular daily chores. These are the ones we came up with. Thanks to Abi, I will probably be adding one more to it - cleaning out the fridge.

"Mom? How come all these chores are the chores you and daddy hate?"  "Oh, are they? Huh. Imagine that."

 Once upon a time, I asked Em to do something for me. Being a snotty girl at times she declared, "YOU are not rich and I am NOT your servant!" I laughed right at her and informed her, "Sweetheart, the reason poor people have children is to have servants." She was not pleased with this information. She did not find it relevant to her interests.

I also really love quotes. Our friend's children go to a parochial school and they have a family memory verse that they post on their family bulletin board.I knew Captain Hubby wouldn't go for that, so instead I found this quote by Mother Teresa.

Like I'd add a smart-ass comment underneath a quote from Mother Teresa. Bad enough her death got overshadowed by Princess Diana's.

Imagine that wall a pretty, buttery yellow. Now imagine the board hanging on the wall you can't see. Awesome, right??

I brought it up from the basement to show Captain Hubby and the guys. They were nonplussed. Exactly as they usually are when I bring up a finished project. They look at me like I'm a cat that has gone outside, hunted down a vole, caught it, and then brought it back into the house like a trophy: Impressed that I have accomplished something they couldn't and yet totally unsure as to why I am bringing it to them.

My choices are to catch you, kill you, and give you to my mom OR I could go inside and macrame a nice plant holder.

And that, my dears, it that. I took my second Willpower and Grace class tonight and my ass has thoroughly been kicked. And I love it. But I'm tired and I want to go to bed.

It just occurred to me that I need to make a projects list and start crossing them off. Maybe I'll start that here.

* Joseph's quilt
* Baby Girl's quilt
* Em's purple flannel pjs
* Blankets for St Joes
* MY fleece blanket
* Abi's knitting needle holder
* Em's DS holder
* Line the living room curtains
* Place mats and cafe curtains for the dining room
* Curtains for my office

Oh hell, too many to list. But at least I have a place to start, right?

Talk to you later when I'll tell what a chem lab has in common with a pencil holder. I swear it.

Love to you all,
The Empress