And then I realized....

Well I did get the ironing done. Finally.... I'm not going to lie. It was a little liberating to do it.

And then it was on to Wednesday... Mending.  I didn't really have anything to fix per se clothing wise, but I did build two Pinewood Derby cars with the boys.  That counts right???  Mending things around the house could mean so many different things in 2013, but as I was talking to my boys about what I was going to mend, they said, "Oh, are you going to sew all our Scout patches on?" So I'll be doing a little mending on Thursday, Churning Day.

Our Churning Day isn't about making butter.  We are churning out the chores and most importantly cleaning the rooms.

My sweet little angels, my sweet, sweet, sweet, little angels are discovering the value of simple living.  From the mouths of babes came this profound statement, "So, let me get this straight. If we never trash our rooms, you won't get upset and we will probably be able to find everything and our clothes will always be clean?"

My response was, "I can't guarantee that I won't ever get upset with you, but I can tell you if you keep everything where it is supposed to be, it is very likely you will be able to find it when you need it."

Do things go missing in your house?  I am convinced we have a poltergeist or a mischievous elf that steals or moves things in the house. Having admitted to that, this otherworldly creature particularly likes to transport TaeKwondo belts, glasses, left shoes, and soccer balls to another dimension.

As we finished up La Purga (the purge) of the extraneous from the house, the boys looked around this week and said, "Wow. Now we have room to spread out all our Pokemon cards!" Hmmmm......

But what we did discover as a group, was where the elves hide all their stuff.  Ok, some places were weird, other places like the other shoes for instances were in completely ridiculous places like oh I don't know... THE SHOE BIN!!!!

I sat all day Monday and worked on the little guys' room.  They helped dig out from under the beds and match pajamas and wash their clothes.  I made huge progress with them on living simple.  I will post some sweet photos of their "new" room on my Facebook page. They got it.  Those two cuties threw out and donated so much it was amazing.

The older two however, well let's just say that my new spiritual rule of life has become- not to become completely possessed by a mad crazed screaming banshee when I attempt to walk in their room.  They chose instead of decorating in a crisp, clean, organized style to pull a play from the horders book.  Ugh.

How am I going to get through to these boys about keeping everything organized?  I looked at their little faces yesterday and just asked them, "Are you happy with the way your room looks? Can you find everything you need? Are you tired of stuff getting broken because we step on it?"

With cute little freckled faces they looked at me and said, "What does that have to do with anything?"

And then I realized; they didn't get it. Cleaning their rooms and hanging their clothes, putting their shoes up and putting away their TaeKwonDo uniforms, in their minds has absolutely NOTHING to do with cleaning their room and being able to find what they need, when they need it.  I pondered this synaptic failure and just walked away.

See, I can't fix that mode of thinking. The best screaming, yelling and tantrum throwing in the world is not going to breakthrough that mode of thinking. All I can do is show them by doing your chores you will live a happier life.

Yesterday the epiphany happened. It was an AH-HA, in your face moment, KABAM moment, because there were no socks, no shoes, and of least importance to a 9 year old boy, no underwear.  "MOOOOOMMMMMM!!!! I can't find anything." cried a little voice from upstairs.

"Did you put your laundry away? Did you bring your dirty clothes down on Monday? Did you put your shoes in the shoe bin?" I asked smirkily.

"Ugh. Mom stop being so rational. NOOOOO. Ok NO. I didn't do any of that. So can you help me find my stuff."

"No. I put your things where they belonged. You moved them, transmorphed them to another dimension in the blackhole that is your room. I already did my part, and as you so famously tell me everyday, it's not my problem." and then I walked away, like a boss.

The simple response from my sweet freckle angel, "Well played, Mom."

It was a rough 4 days and the learning curve was steep, and by no means is their room cleaned, but at least I know today after Scouts my older guys are working on their room and the little guys.... Well they have a date with around 10,000 Pokemon cards that "mysteriously" came out of their binders onto the floor.

Let me know how you mended and churned.  I for one am churning out the chores today!!