A Life Entitled

How capable do you think your kids are? I’m not talking about their math ability or how well they throw a baseball, but can they clean a toilet? Can they cook a meal? Can they handle an overflowing toilet? Have they ever changed a light bulb?

I’m nearly finished the book Cleaning House: One Mom’s 12-month experiment in ridding her home of YOUTH ENTITLEMENT by Kay Wills Wyma, (This isn’t the review- that will come next week), and I’ve taken her premise to heart. I have mixed feelings about her methodology, but the idea behind it is spot-on. Much to my children's dismay.

Many kids today live a life of entitlement. Very little is asked of them in terms of responsibilities at home. I know, at least in my house, this is mainly due to parental laziness. It’s much easier to do a job myself, especially if I want it done right (interpretation – the way I think it should be done). And I get tired of nagging, demanding, and threatening. I accept half-hearted efforts because “at least they did something.” My kids have very few responsibilities in the real scheme of things, yet they claim that kids at other houses aren’t enslaved as they are in our home. Hmmm.

I’m famous….or am I? No Matter, Like Me Anyway

“Is Cara Sue Achterberg a real celebrity or famous person?” This is the question that Facebook posed to me as I set up my Facebook writer page. I’ve put off the task for some time, but every time I attend a seminar, read an article, or watch a tutorial about developing your writing career I’m assailed with the recommendation to build your own website or at the very least have a Facebook page. So, in the interest of conning the IRS in to believing that I’m a serious writer (even if my writing income can still be counted in less than four digits), I’ve created the page:

Cara Sue Achterberg, Writer

Impressive I know. So far there are only a few posts, but it’s only a matter of time before I fill it with the details of my writing endeavors – successful or not.

But back to the question at hand - Am I a “real celebrity or famous person?” The options are “yes” or “no.” There is no “that depends on who you’re asking” option. Because if you ask me or my 10-year-old, I am famous – if by famous you mean “known to or recognized by many people” and you define many by more than a few.  I have had my picture in the paper. The question seems a bit rude, really.

Recycling the Un-recyclable

I have thousands of milk caps. Thousands. I’m not lying. I started collecting them about the time we began curb side recycling. I put the bottles in the recycling, but couldn’t bear to throw out the bright plastic lids. Why couldn’t they be recycled too? I figured the recyclers would figure it out eventually, and until then I’d save them. But then they never did.

The lids piled up (along with the yogurt containers, sour cream cartons, deli plastic, etc.). Slowly I found solutions to for my rapidly growing bins of plastic crowding the corners in our basement. Yogurt cups make perfect seed starter pots if you poke a few holes in the bottom for drainage. Sour cream containers are just about the right size to freeze chicken broth for future recipes (just under two cups). Ice Cream tubs are excellent for sending cookies to school for parties, and also for refilling with homemade ice cream.

But what to do with all those lids?