A FUNNER New Plan!

My very smart daughter, when she was still young and lived at home, found it her life's mission to correct my usage of one of my favorite words. "Mom! It's 'more fun', NOT 'funner'. Funner is not a word!" So, if you are an English teacher and that word of mine just made you cringe...well... I can't help it, it's just funner to say than 'more fun'!

Anyhoo, I didn't get on here to ramble about my poor grammar, but instead to elaborate on a way to make the 15-minute chores funner. I was once again IMing with Emily, and as I reached into my darling white bowl for my very first pink slip, she excitedly awaited for me to tell her what my first chore would be. I said to her, "And the winner is..." It hit me as those words were being typed onto my IM screen - that attitude is a WINNER! I could've said, "Okay, my first dreaded chore is..."

Do you see the difference? Attitude is everything, baby (well, so is money, romance, blogs, IMs, Brighton anything, BFF trips to the coast, etc.)

So, that was one way to make this 15-minute plan more fun (I had mercy on the cringers, because I do want you to be able to read this blog all the way through, and not miss the fun). The other way came quite by accident. As Emily picked her 'winner' she wrote out what it said, and it was something like: Boys room. And I am the best mother for caring enough about my boys to happpily clean their room.

"Wow!" I cheered, "You wrote all of that?"

"No," she answered, "I just typed it here."

Well, why not add a little encouragement to our chores, hmmmm? She had hit upon Funner-Tip #2 - write a few words of praise, encouragement, or a beloved verse on that slip. I happen to love encouragement, as well as give it. Why not get the best of both of worlds?! :)



This is just an example. It could be as simple as saying, "Woo hoo!"

And last, but not least, not by any stretch of the imagination, because I happen to like this one best of all --- Funner-Tip #3 - Place a few fun things on one or two of those slips. When my kids were little, I would take those colorful plastic Easter eggs, and instead of tossing them after all the fun of Easter, I would fill them with little slips of paper with chores for me and the kids (Oh no! They say that as you age you revert back to things like when you were younger..and now...gulp...here I am with my own chore slips. Can diapers be too far away? AGHHGHH!). But, intermingled with the chores, were eggs filled with dollar bills, or a slip saying, "After all the other kids have gone to bed, one game with mom and dad" or "You get to stop the ice cream truck and buy an ice cream". Stuff like that. My kids looooooooved this way of doing chores. For one thing, I wasn't nagging them, and that was a huge plus. The other thing was the element of surprise. Could that next slip be The Fun One??

My husband used to say that I could make a party out of anything, and why not? Life's got enough ick, that we just have to grab happy moments when and where we can!

I have a Martha, Martha, Martha magazine on my floor that is begging to be perused. That's going on my slip. And if I pick it...ahhhh, 15 minutes - GUILT FREE - of me and Martha's doings!

Oh, and for chores that are huge and will take more than 15 minutes to complete, after pulling the slip, doing the 15 minutes, I will place that slip under the bowl. When all my slips have been finished for the day, I will then fold that slip back up and add it in with any others that need to go in there, until, finally, all those 15 minutes turn into one happy, organized closet. Get it? And then, I'll throw that slip into the trash and make a new one... next fall!

Please send me any ideas you have for making this funner!!!!