Rules of the House

Yesterday I went diving into the depths of the laundry piles in the girls' rooms to find all of the bath towels so that I could wash them. What is it about teenagers and bath towels? I found eight of them in The Tall One's room. What does a 16-year-old need with EIGHT bath towels? Little Bit had four, one of which was draped elegantly over her pillow. This is so the pillow doesn't get wet from her hair after her shower. I'm thinking a hand towel would suffice, especially when The Boy, bless him, has no towel the next morning because they are all lost in the black holes of clutter that are his sisters' rooms.

When the girls got home from school I pointed to the (now clean) pile of towels in the rocking chair in the living room (which is where all the clean clothes that are waiting to be folded go) and announced that I had placed a magic jinx a la Harry Potter on them so that if they were out of the bathroom for more than 10 minutes they would emit an electronic charge that would zap out the cable. I think they took me seriously for about 30 seconds, which was enough for me to get my point across. Maybe.

We have house rules. They are simple, straightforward and must be followed at all costs. To wit:

1. If you make a mess, clean it up. This applies to dishes, bathrooms, school books dumped on the living room floor, dog toys in the basement, etc.
2. If you get it out, put it away. See Rule #1.
3. If it breaks, tell Dad so he can fix it. Do not tell Mom, because Mom can't fix anything. She gets Dad to do it.
4. If you drink the last of the Kool-Aid, make more. Not following this rule will get you clunked over the head with the empty pitcher.
5. Do your laundry in a timely manner. This rule is designed to avoid the bath towel fiasco described above. It also cuts down on the lovely aroma of sweaty gym socks permeating the entire house.
6. Treat each other with respect. No explanation necessary on this one.

That's it. That's all you need to know to get along in our house. I told you they were simple.

The WGH is off today and it's time to go grocery shopping. Hard to replenish the Kool-Aid when you don't have any in the house. I'm itching to get back to work on the book. Had a long chat with J.T. yesterday afternoon about where I'm going with this story and what category it should fall into. Is it a thriller? No. Romantic suspense? Too many characters. Traditional mystery? Maybe. I might be able to make it work as a traditional mystery. My new character, the homicide detective we created a few weeks ago, could be the hook that pulls this whole story together. I just have to make sure I get everything balanced. The BMWs meet tomorrow night, so we'll see how it goes from there. The biggest advantage to being in a critique group is that you get feedback from several different perspectives. Especially when the group in question is the awesomest bunch of women on the planet (that one I've thrown at you before).

On the Radio: The John Boy & Billy Big Show. I love them because they're funny and clean. Usually I listen to them first thing in the morning while I'm checking email and trolling the blog circuit. After their show is over I switch over to the CD player and sit back to wait for the inspirations to hit me. At this point, the thing I need most to write is our grocery list.

Read a book. It's good for you.

=) JB