Yesterday

Yesterday was a mix of up and down. DD14 decided to clean her bedroom--an absolute miracle. She's been working on doing up all of her laundry ever since. She has a long way to go. I was thrilled that she wanted to clean! She never wants to clean anything, and her room is usually akin to a natural disaster site.

On the downside, my steam mop is broken. It won't even turn on :(. I don't know what I'm going to do exactly, as I refuse to go back to any type of conventional mop. They are just awful, and the steam mop is absolutely dreamy. I had this: Haan FS20-Plus 800-Watt Steam Cleaning Floor Sanitizer , and I have loved, loved, loved it. I haven't even had it for 2 years. :( It's known to be reliable, so I have no idea what went wrong.

The only thing I wished was that it would do walls and other surfaces...and guess what? They make one that does! Haan MS-30 Multi-Purpose Steam Cleaner They say it will even clean your sink...and one reviewer stated she cleaned her fridge with it. I don't know if I'll go that far with it...but to be able to wash ceilings, walls, windows, and floors with one item...and no cleaning products...and without a chair to stand on sounds like heaven to me.

Hubby says he will look at the broken one, and see if he can fix it, before I buy the new model. That translates to: It will sit in my way for 6 months until I get tired of looking at it and put it out for the trash. He didn't even glance in the direction of the steam mop last night...and I've been waiting MONTHS for him to assemble one cabinet for the kitchen--yes, my baking supplies are still in a box under the kitchen table because there is no where else for them to go. He continues to tell me he will get to it...I have my doubts. The kitchen is still surrounded by blue painters tape along the ceiling as well--I painted in November, asked him to remove the tape. I'm giving him through the weekend, and if he hasn't checked out the steam mop, I'll be ordering the new one on Monday.

The girls' lessons have been difficult this week. DD14 has 2 very big projects due...a research paper, and a timeline paper. She does not do well with these things, and is procrastinating, crying, whining, and trying everything she can think of to NOT do the work. I am looking into other options for next year's schooling. While Connections Academy is a very good school, it's too accelerated for her. In our local public schools, research papers aren't done until high school English. Prior to OCA, she'd never written more than a paragraph on any subject. For a kid who can't follow more than 1 direction at a time, and has a very short attention span, it's very difficult to pull together a research paper with note cards, source cards, cover page, intro, the paper itself, and bibliography. And...it's not just for Language Arts, it's also required for Social Studies and Science classes.

DD12 is currently working on a brochure about coal. Yes, a front and back, tri-fold brochure about coal. She couldn't get the Word template figured out, so she's going to do one by hand, and scan it in. I'm glad they gave that option. I didn't quite understand the template either. Wish they'd have allowed her to do a Powerpoint presentation--she does very well with those.

I have to wash clothes, and go get a few things for dinner. We're going to have crispy chicken cutlets with cheesy rice and broccoli casserole for dinner, and I need breadcrumbs! Have a great day!