I got better...

In some ways, I regret it.

The big problem, you see, of coming out of a giant fog of depression is that it is then undeniably obvious just how much has been getting overlooked and let slide as you struggle to do the things that MUST be done to keep the ship from sinking.

The boys are supposed to clean their bathroom every week. The tasks are split in two and I have been taking them at their word that they are doing it as they check it off their list.

To be fair, in the back of my mind, I knew better.

At the same time? I didn't have it in me to face the inevitable argument that would come from checking on it and then the whip cracking involved in getting them to actually do it (correctly).

But today, youngest said, "My sink doesn't drain."

Ugh.

I went in to look and...honestly, I'm sort of (not sort of) surprised that they are even willing to go in that bathroom. Because just ugh.

I poked at the sink and got some drain cleaner working on the clog and then rolled up my metaphorical sleeves to scrub the other boy's side of the sink. And then I made the mistake of looking at the shower.

An hour later and half a bottle of soft scrub, it's a lot better. But I have learned several things:

1) Don't trust them when they say they have done something. Ever.

2) Dr. Squatch soap is from the devil. It's black and it dyes the tub and tiles. Oh, it'll come off with a lot of bleach and elbow grease but good gosh.

3) My children don't seem to throw away empty bottles. They just kind of ...toss them on the floor and walk around them? Like why? 

I know I have trained them better than this. But obviously it didn't stick and if mom's not riding their tail, it doesn't happen.

Yaaaay.

It's almost enough to get sucked back into the depression vortex.