Redecorating

It seems there are various substances appearing in inappropriate places these days. I'm getting mildly irritated by them. There's the red (non-washable) marker on the bathroom door, in which the culprit incriminated himself by writing "Evan", along with a gigantic swirly circle. I just scrubbed peanut butter off the couch. There are at least 2 colors of marker in the carpet, which I'm hoping will fade with the Oxy-Deep treatment. I found a foul-smelling smear on the door-frame of a bedroom upstairs - quite repulsive and I made sure to sanitize it and myself several times. There are masses of disgusting junk stuck to the walls in the children's rooms - I don't even want to know. Moon-sand in the school room carpet. A giant wad of dried glue in the rug in the girls' room. Gobs of gum stuck down inside the couch. And because it's spring, mud, mud everywhere!

Oh believe me, I could go on, but you get the picture.

We DO have rules in this house: No eating anywhere except the dining room, no chewing gum in the house, Art supplies in the school room only, take your shoes off as soon as you come into the house. Are the rules obeyed? Obviously not. But it's hard to prosecute after the fact, when each child vehemently asserts his or her innocence.

I have some "Honey-do's" for my hubby to do while he's laid off, as well as some projects I'd like us to tackle together. We're going to redecorate the girls room via paint and a new loft bed to conserve floor space. I also have other paint projects I would like to get done by the end of summer.

But as I sit here and type, my arthritic shoulder is throbbing from all the recent scrubbing action. I have to ask myself: Is the redecorating worth it?