Best Laid Plans

Now let me tell you this first, I am an organized person…not a fanatic, or anything, but I do set reasonable goals for myself. I take pride in usually accomplishing what I’ve set out to do. One reasonable goal for this particular day, was to clean the bathrooms in my house…not a real thrilling job, mind you, but certainly not an insurmountable task, either!

I guess I should mention, too, that I have three children: ages 2, 6, and 8. They’re basically good kids, but this was a rainy day, the day after Easter, and a day off from school as well, so who knew what could happen?

I heard the crashing of glass, so I ran downstairs to see what was going on. My older daughter was in the dining room teetering precariously on a chair, trying to reach her Easter basket on top of the hutch. Little sister was “helping” and lost her balance. A glass terrarium was in her path downward. Fortunately, no one was cut. I quickly banished everyone from the immediate vicinity, and set about cleaning up the disaster. “I’ll get to the bathrooms, eventually,” I thought.

After that was squared away, I specifically told the two older children I’d be upstairs cleaning the bathrooms, which translates roughly to “behave yourselves and keep an eye on your little sister,” in my mind. An air of peacefulness settled upon the house, but any mother knows this is not normal, so, I went back downstairs to find my old daughter quietly reading a book, my son, playing amicably with a friend, and my youngest child no where in sight!

I inquired, “Where’s Jessica?” My son nonchalantly replied, “Oh, she’s outside.” Now, although it is supposedly springtime, it is far from warm, and , as I mentioned before, it’s raining buckets outside! I looked out, and sure enough, my two year old was planted smack dab in the middle of a puddle having the time of her life! I scooped her up, glaring at my son, expecting him to feel at least a little guilty. He shrugged and said, “She was having fun, Mom!”

After Jessica was dried off and changed into a fresh set of clothes, I thought I’d try one more time to scrub the bathrooms. “Maybe I need to modify my original plan,” I thought. “If I can just get the master bath done now, I’ll worry about the kids’ bathroom after they’ve had their baths this evening.”

Well, my day began to get better. I was elbow deep in scouring powder, and finally making some progress. Of course, whenever this happens, the phone rings. True to form, the phone did ring, and I grabbed a towel to dry my hands. It was a wrong number. Back to work, the phone rang again. This time the caller hung up as soon as I answered. What did I do to deserve this aggravation?!

If you can believe it, I eventually succeeded in cleaning ALL the bathrooms. A feeling of accomplishment engulfed me, until I heard the water running upstairs. “I wonder what they’re up to now,” I though, as I raced up the steps, two at a time. My daughter said, “Our paste was dried up, so I’m trying to make it wet again.” I sighed, as I saw the white splotches of creative genius all over my clean handiwork.

WHO NEEDS CLEAN BATHROOMS, ANYWAY?