Why, yes, I CAN be bribed......

These are the kid's cell phones.  No, wait, correction:  these are OUR cell phones, which we pay for and allow Clay and Paige to use.  For emergencies.  And which we recently took back from our dear, sweet, children because...
A.  they are not toys, and they are NOT something which they are just entitled to.
B.  We didn't like their attitudes!!
and
C.  Their cousin was texting while going down stairs recently, and fell and broke his leg.  He had to have surgery and has two pins in his leg.
D.  They have been (progressively) textiing TOO MUCH.  

So....technology lockdown for a while (to coin Holly's phrase, which I love!!)

Paige asked me this afternoon if she cleaned the entire house for me, would I let her have "her" cell phone back.  I said.....YES!  Are you kidding me?  This house is a mess.  I can definitely be bribed.  After all, I can always take it away again - right?

Clay then asks me if he cleans his room, if he could have "his" cell phone back.  Now, you might be thinking, "well, that's not really fair - Paige is cleaning the whole house and Clay only has to clean one room?"  My answer to that is that you haven't seen his room.  Trust me, it's fair.

I can only assume that my darling boy isn't really interested in having his our cell phone returned because I found him just staring out his window.  Not cleaning.  And, by the way, I think that even from the very small corner of his room which is visible in this photo you get an idea of what his room looks like.  I have been asking him to clean it all week, month, year.  That's OK....I'll go "clean" it myself tomorrow - with a Hefty bag and a box for Goodwill.  My philosophy is that if it is sooooo messy that the poor child cannot manage to clean it, he obviously has too many belongings, and it is time to PURGE!!!

A mother's work is never done.