Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Monday Memories on Tuesday



Monday Memories: Did I ever tell you About The Clothes in the Driveway?


I've been wanting to tell this story since my cousin, J, called me last week telling me about her messy teenager. According to J, her son's room is a disaster - clothes on the floor and stuff everywhere. She put all of his clothes in trash bags and tossed them on the porch. I told her she was too nice - that Grambug tossed mine in the driveway for that very same infraction. J couldn't believe it! I had Grambug call her and confirm the story...

The story goes like this:

Our house was a ranch and my room was right off the kitchen. You could pretty much see my room when you walked into the house. My mom is and always was a neat person -- a very neat person. I, by nature, am not that neat. I'm cluttered. I can't help it... I just am. I'm better than I was, but....

Anyway - we had 2 rules. Make the bed every morning and keep the room picked up. Sounds simple... My biggest faux pas in my room -- my tiny room -- was clothes on the floor. I had a hamper. I was too lazy to walk over to it (we're talking maybe 3 steps) to put the clothes in it, so I'd toss the clothes in the general direction of the hamper. More often than naught, they'd land next to the it. In my mother's world, that was totally unacceptable. (As an adult, I can understand it -- but as a kid -- um... it made no sense to me what the big deal was.)

One day she gave me an ultimatum - Get those clothes off the floor and into the hamper or I'll throw them all into the driveway. Now, when Grambug issues and ultimatum - she always follows through. I made sure all of my things were in the hamper and that the cover was on it. I took off for school - secure in the knowledge that my clothes -- including my unmentionables -- were safe in the hamper and would not land in the driveway for the world to see.

Auntie was one to always test Grambug. She wanted to see if Grambug would really toss the clothes into the driveway. She snuck into my room and put a shirt on the floor next to the hamper. (Yes, she was and still is a little scamp!)

When I got home, I found all my clothes on the driveway. I was mortified and furious!!! I assured Grambug that my clothes had all been inside the hamper with the cover tightly closed. She told me that the cover was off - as a matter of fact it was on the floor. Then she gave me a look - a look that told me she knew who was behind all of this....

She confronted Auntie - the 1st grade scamp - as she walked through the door after school. Auntie confirmed her suspicions and had to appologize to me.

So - yes, my clothes did end up in the driveway -- not in bags on the porch. I'm thinking that clothes in the driveway are far more effective than bags of clothes on the front porch....

LadyBug

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3 comments:

Katherine said...

Oh that's great! My husband's father did the same thing with clothes and shoes left out. It's a hard line - but it works! I can't believe your sister did that!

Anonymous said...

I recall no such infraction. I think you are mistaken! I do recall a weekend that the grambugs and I had to clean your otehr room and found a cup with milk that was so old it curdled into cottage cheese. That was gross!

Renee Nefe said...

Wow! I'm so glad that my mom never heard of that idea.

I've found that the best cure for clothes strung all over is to have hampers all over. DD has a rule that the clothes are to be in the hamper or on the washing machine, (I need to buy a hamper for in the laundry room). Any time the clothes aren't where they belong, I ask "Does this look like a hamper?" and she pickes up right away.

That was awefully mean of your sister.