Things I Say All the Time

Quite a few bloggers have done this recently in some fashion, so I thought I'd steal the idea. You know me. Anyway, sometimes I say the following so much that even I get sick of them:

- close your mouth when your chewing. (My personal little "thing".) Actually, the Ball & Chain does eat with his mouth closed, but he eats Grape Nuts every day and it sounds like he's crunching gravel. I can't even stay in the kitchen when he's having his breakfast.

- sit down, you haven't finished eating (as teen walks away with mouth full of food). Not only is this extremely bad mannered, it also means that there will be crumbs (or worse) on the floor after the meal. I don't even like it when they get up to load the dishwasher, even though I know I should be truly thankful for that little miracle.

- I'm standing right next to you. Not only do I have kids, I have American kids, whose idea of a quiet conversation usually involves them talking to me as if I'm in the next room.

- I'm sorry, it's been a terrible year. Even though we have caller ID on our phone, some crafty charities now show up as a regular, local residential number which I therefore answer. Being British and therefore too polite just to put the phone down on them, I usually take about twenty minutes to extricate myself from the call. Not any more.

- It doesn't get washed if it doesn't reach the laundry basket. Enough said really. They all know where the laundry room is, and it's very close to their bedrooms. And I'm not a slave, contrary to all appearances.

- Why didn't you ask me last night? I have told the kids that I will help them do or find anything if they ask me at least twelve hours before they need to depart for school. However, if they leave it till it's a full-blown international crisis, they're on their own with it.

- There are two types of vegetable on your plate. Pick one and eat it all. Despite the on-going "allergy" to veggies, I insist on my kids eating at least one that's on their plate. No arguments. Just pick one.

(I've just noticed that there's not a nice saying in the above list. What on earth does that say about me?)

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