There's Clean, and Then There's a Teens' Bathroom

The girls are supposed to take turns "swishing and swiping" their bathroom.  This means, every day, they are supposed to alternate swishing out the toilet bowl, spritzing the mirror, counter, and toilet with cleaner, and swiping them down.  This only takes about 1 1/2 minutes in the small bathroom they have, and keeps it from needing a "blast it clean with a sandblaster" treatment as much, if at all.

Then, they are to empty the trash can twice a week, sweep and wipe the floor with a damp cloth twice a week, and wipe down the shower as soon as they get done taking a shower.  Again, this keeps it from building up.

Of course, they get confused, and argue about whose day is whose, and i'm now going to post a schedule on the mirror so they won't forget.

Anyway, Bigger Girl finished her final exams a few days ago, so yesterday she tackled giving the bathroom a good sandblasting, so to speak.  She did a really great job (she wasn't a janitor's assistant for nothing).

Little Girl came in from school a bit later, and after using the facilities, came to find her sister.

"Did you get the bathroom so cleaned up?" she asked.

"Yes," Bigger Girl responded.

"Well, if you were getting it ready for the Queen, you forgot the complimentary tea, the Harry Potter reading material, and the ceramic model of a Tardis!"

Both laughed, and then Little Girl turned to me.  "This sock is too big!" she said, pulling it off and showing it to me.

That's because it's one of your father's socks, i noted drily.  The kids are notorious for leaving socks everywhere, losing them, and then grabbing whatever they can find that hasn't been folded yet.

"Do you know what socks are?" she asked, showing off her only-in-sock-clad feet.

What are they? i played along.

"They are 5% warmth, 5% comfort, and 90% fun with sock skating!"  She then took off, skating across the floor in the dining room.


Today is

Apollon Day -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of music, poetry, sunlight)

Armed Forces Day -- US (honoring those currently serving in the US military)

Battle of Las Piedras Day -- Uruguay

California Artichoke Festival -- Castroville, CA, US (lots of fun in the Artichoke Capital of the World; through tomorrow)

Dermott's Annual Crawfish Festival -- Dermott, AR, US (mud bugs aren't just for Cajuns any more! carnival, music, street dances, tons of crawfish and more through tomorrow)

Do Dah Day -- Rhodes and Caldwell Parks, Birmingham, Alabama (fun while fundraising for local animal charities)

Flag and University Day --  Haiti

HIV Vaccine Awareness Day/World AIDS Vaccine Day -- because viruses are so hard to treat, it's easier to develop vaccines to prevent them

I Love Reeses Day -- as voted in by lovers of the candy a few years ago

International Museum Day -- International Council of Museums (ICOM)

Iris Festival -- Greeneville, Tennessee, US (the community's major festival of the year, featuring artists, craftsmen, merchants, food vendors and entertainers from across the country; through tomorrow)

Moonbeam Hopping Gala -- Fairy Calendar

Morel Mushroom Festival -- Muscoda, WI, US (the "Morel Mushroom Capital of Wisconsin" celebrates the end of the peak morel season in style, with everything including an antique tractor pull, Fireman's Steak Feed, and even a parade; through tomorrow)

Lewis & Clark Heritage Days -- St. Charles, MO, US (reenacting the 1804 encampment just before their departure, with activities including a parade with drum and fife corps, and even a church service; through tomorrow)

Mike the Headless Chicken Festival -- Fruita, CO, US (it all started with a chicken that kept trying to eat even after the farmer lopped off his head to prep him for the stew pot; Mike's indomitable spirit and will to live is a legend here and the basis of a two day festival celebrating the fact that you can live a normal life even after you have lost your mind!)

National Cheese Souffle Day

National Learn To Swim Day -- US (with summer just around the corner, remember that drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children ages one to 14, so please, learn to swim and teach your kids!)http://blog.swimways.com/national-learn-to-swim-day/

National Pike Festival -- Fayette County, Pennsylvania, US (through the 20th)

No Dirty Dishes Day -- spread around the internet by a mom who needed the break, possibly; go ahead, break out the paper plates just on this day

O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships -- Austin, TX, US

Preakness Stakes-- Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, MD, US (138th annual; the second jewel in horse racing's Triple Crown)

Restoration of Somaliland Sovereignty Day -- Somaliland Region, Somalia

Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day -- Turkmenistan

St. Eric's Day (Patron of Sweden)

St. Theodotus' Day (Patron of hotel keepers and innkeepers)

Suigo Itako Ayame Matsuri -- Maekawa Ayame-en, Itako, Japan (Iris Flower Festival, with over a million blooms of 500 species, special dance and demonstrations on weekends; through June 23)

Visit Your Relatives Day -- if they are great, go have fun; if awful, go remind yourself why you moved so far away!

Wisconsin Dells Automotion -- Noah's Ark Waterpark, Wisconsin Dells, WI, US (showcase of more than 1,000 classic cars, music, food, and family fun; through tomorrow)

World Goodwill Day -- commemorates the opening meeting of 26 nations in the First Hague Peace Conference, 1899

Wright Plus -- Oak Park, IL, US (The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust’s annual house walk features rare interior tours of privately owned homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries in the historic community of Oak Park)


Anniversaries Today:

Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1152


Birthdays Today:

Tina Fey, 1970
Chow Yun-Fat, 1955
Rick Wakeman, 1954
George Strait, 1952
Reggie Jackson, 1946
Brooks Robinson, 1937
Dwayne Hickman, 1934
Robert Morse, 1931
Pernell Robers, 1930
Pope John Paul II, 1920
Margot Fonteyn, 1919
Perry Como, 1912
Frank Capra, 1897
Omar Khayyam, 1048


Today in History:

The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch, 1268
Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India, 1498
Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy (under torture) lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe, 1593
John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts, 1631
Rhode Island passes North America's first anti-slavery law, 1652
Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec, 1763
The first United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States, 1783
Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate, 1804
The destruction of Saturdays forever after:  Edwin Budding of England signs an agreement for manufacture of his invention, lawn mower, 1830
The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland, 1843
The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal is constitutional, 1896
A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation  of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people, 1896
Bram Stoker's Dracula is published, 1897
The Earth  passes through the tail of Comet Halley, 1910
Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier, 1953
Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon, 1974
Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage, 1980
In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3km/h (357.2 mph), 1990
Photos from the Hubble Space Telescope confirm the existence of two additional moons, Nix and Hydra, around Pluto, 2005
A landmark bill passes in Nepal curbing the power of the monarchy and making it a secular country, 2009