My latest invention

"You are such a stinker."

"This family is crazy."

"Our house is going to be spic and span."

"Mom, you are Eugene-ious." (I think she meant a genius but has been listening to too much Eugene on Adventures in Odyssey lately)

These are the accolades my children were singing to me as they helped me with my latest invention: The Consequences Jars

First, we hav the "Uh-Oh, We were fighting so now we will work together to..." jar. Second we have the "Oops, I failed to put something away so now I have to sing "I Will Leave My Place" while I*..., and finally we have the "Oh Dear, I really blew it this time. To help me remember not to do this again, I will..."

Each jar is filled with possible punishments for each crime. Some of my favorites include:

(For the duo found fighting)
-Make a list of 10 things you love about Mom
-Act out the story of Little Bunny Foo Foo to everyone in the house
-Write a letter to someone out of state and make sure it gets mailed
-Think of 5 perfect ingredients for Party Mix, write them on the grocery list (no more than 2 sugary treats, please). When Mom purchases your items, make the Party Mix together
-Play a King's Strings or Suzuki song together
-Write a song about getting along and sing it to Mom
-Wash each other's feet and clean up the foot washing supplies
-Take the sheets off of both your beds, take the dirty sheets to the laundry room, and help each other put clean sheets on your beds
-Choose one of each of your scrapbooks and look at them together

(For the forgetful one who didn't put something away, remember the child must also sing while completing this task)
-Tell Mom the story of The Little Red Hen
-Research cleaning uses for baking soda or vinegar and choose one to try (no need to sing with this one)
-Rub Dad's feet for 10 minutes
-Make up a new cleaning song and sing it to Mom
-Draw a picture of yourself picking items off the floor with Mom and Dad in the background smiling really BIG
-No singing but you need to say, "I am a cleaning machine" 10 times, in 10 different voices

Of course there are also typical tasks such as vacuuming an area of the house, scrubbing a bathtub, or sorting socks. There are even a few cards that say, "You are FREE!"

Now I just need to wait for my next victim. I mean, test subject.

Oh, here they come now. Let's listen in:

"I'm never fighting with anyone in this house again."

"Oh, yeah? You can't do that!"

"Why not?"

Oh yeah, this should be good.


*The "I Will Leave My Place" song is sung to the tune of "Jingle Bells", Lyrics as follows:
I will leave
I will leave
I will leave my place
Better than
Better than
Better than I found it
I will leave
I will leave
I will leave my place
Better than
Better than
Better than I found it.
Hey!