The Brat Factor™ - Libby's Diary

Libby's Diary

From Elizabeth Trigg's darling inner brat Libby
May 26, 2006
LETTERS TO NELLY

Dear Nelly,
Hi, Nelly! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written. I think
I was grounded until I started doing my chores.

Well, you'll never guess what! Last week Mom made me clean my bedroom
for 15 minutes every single day and by Friday my room was all clean!
I was so happy about it, I even waxed my bedroom floor and it was so
shiny I couldn’t wait to go to bed in my new clean room! Mom said if
she'd known that was all it would take to cure my insomnia she'd have
made me clean my room a long time ago!

But I think that is really the truth! My bedroom had been so messy that
I didn’t even want to go in there to go to bed at night and that might
be part of the reason I just stayed up as late as I could. Even when I
was really tired! But on Friday night I couldn't wait to go to bed!
Guess what was even better??? Waking up on Saturday morning in my new clean
room, in my freshly laundered sheets, with sun streaming in my window across
my shiny, shiny floor! I felt like a princess! I felt so happy in my bedroom
I even got breakfast in bed! (I had to make it myself but I still got breakfast
in bed!)
My room was so clean and shiny I made my bed as soon as I got up because I
didn’t want anything to ruin my new look. I even bought some wood glue and
fixed the dresser drawers that didn’t work so I could put ALL my clothes away
and now when I go to bed I feel like a princess! I even wear my best pj's now!
I miss you so write soon!
Love and hugs,
Libby

Entry # 21
Dear Diary,
Mom bought me an awesome toy today! You are never gonna guess what she got me???
Give up?? Okay, I'll tell ya! She got me a paper shredder! It was on sale for
only $5 at Wal-Mart (ya gotta LOVE Wal-Mart!!) I love my mom! Together we
mentally divided our clutter into 3 categories; 1. garbage, trash, empty boxes,
potential craft materials like covers and stuff, etc; 2. junk we keep cuz it
reminds us of people who are no longer with us, sentimental things that have no
useful purpose other than memories; and 3. useless paper clutter!

Being a writer, paper is nearly sacred to us. You NEVER throw out a piece of
paper without first looking at both sides of it to make sure some novel plot
hasn’t been scribbled on it in crayon or yellow highlighter that you can't even
read but it was the only thing handy at the time. MOST of all our clutter IS
paper. Paper full of ideas, notebooks, etc, but also Mom's office is filled
with bills months old (if not YEARS!!) because since she does the news and hears
of all kinds of crimes like identity theft, she didn’t feel 'comfortable' throwing
anything with personal identification information into the trash, so we just kept
it and kept it and kept it! Plus for some reason we always feel we'll NEED our old
bill if the utility company forgets we paid them or something.

NOW, today we've developed a system. Our unpaid bills go into the unpaid bills
basket, they get paid and are moved into the paid bills basket. Next month,
when the newly paid bills go into the paid bills basket, the OLD paid bills go
into the shredder!

Now the FUN part comes. For PLAY I get to shred all the old bills and old papers
Mom doesn’t need anymore. Any really really really good ideas on any scraps of
paper can go into the 'great idea box'. I get to shred everything else. Of
course you know I don't want to part with the shredded paper cuz I'm sure shredded
paper can be used to make recycled paper, cat litter, stuffing for something I'm
sure…I'll deal with that later I think.

Anyway…as far as the sentimental junk we have, we're taking the craft supplies and
building a bigger treasure box. We have a small treasure box we built a long time
ago when we started keeping small sentimental things. So, now we've got this big
shoe box and I can store sentimental ornaments and stuff in there, what I can't
hang on the wall. (I don't even LIKE ornaments!)

After the paper is gone and the treasures are boxed, throwing away the junk might
not be a big problem after all. I really want to get rid of it. Time for Mom to
go back to work. I'll write later.
Love,
Libby

Dear Diary,

Well, my mom has gotten REALLY strict with me lately. I don't know WHY and I don't like it one bit! I'm fighting her every step of the way but for some reason she just won't give up.

Our biggest battle is my bedtime. She TRIES to make me go to bed at a proper time so we can have enough rest and she won't get in trouble at work and her other kid, Jy, won't miss the school bus in the morning. HOWEVER, when it is my bedtime, I don't WANT to go to bed. Mom has worked hard all day and I want her to play with me instead, but she doesn’t want to because, you know, the bedtime thing. So, I stay up anyway. Sometimes I watch TV, or surf the net, or whatever. Anything I can do to get out of going to bed. Sometimes I stay up til 4 am!! Mom got mad cuz she got in trouble at work cuz she said I gave her insomnia and now she CAN'T get to sleep.

The other big fight we have is over food. I like to sleep in and my body doesn’t wake up til afternoon. The THOUGHT of food in the morning makes me sick! On top of that, I'm tired of the same food all the time for supper. BORING!!! Well, now Mom got it in her head to get a crock-pot! Not only did she get a crock-pot, she got an electric steamer, a bread maker AND a blender! She said there is no excuse now for us not eating right. She makes all kinds of new things WHILE she is working, but the thing is, I haven’t liked them (but her other kids Nick and Jy have loved the new stuff). I TRY to eat them and she makes me eat a little bit anyway. Tonight we're having stew. I love stew.

The suppertime thing isn’t so bad, it’s when she tries to make me eat breakfast and lunch that I just want to scream and run away. I used to just not bother and she let me get away with it, but now suddenly she won't! NOW she says we HAVE to eat a little something at regular times through the day. She blames ME for slowing down her metabolism and making her gain weight. Who cares??? Well, SHE does apparently. So, now this morning, even tho she over slept, (of course it's MY fault again, huh??) anyway, she made scrambled eggs in the steamer. The boys even ate them. I ate them too. It wasn’t too bad but let me tell you, I drew the line at the whole wheat toast…which was COLD by the way by the time the eggs were done…she REALLY needs to practice with that steamer thing. Anyway, the eggs weren’t too bad, and I DID manage to eat one slice of toast.

I don't like these new routines and they make me cranky and want to just go play instead of doing my “homework.” Mom says if it wasn’t for her good imagination I'd be history long ago. Lucky me…maybe. In the meantime, we're fighting every day now, just cuz she decided to crack down and implement rules and routines.

I HATE bedtimes and breakfast, let me tell you! I'm going to try to sabotage her every chance I get! I really do WANT to cooperate, but I mean, c'mon! WHOLE WHEAT toast??? Gross!

Anyways, I'll write again tomorrow. Mom said I can write for 15 minutes every nite as long as I promise to go right to bed afterwards. Tonight will be our first diary as part of our bedtime routine. FINALLY! Something I ENJOY to do before going to bed. Normally I have to do stupid stuff like brush my teeth, help clean up the kitchen, etc before bed, but now I have something FUN to do as the last thing before bed. Mom says it will make the 'work' stuff go quicker cuz if there isn’t enough time then I can’t write before bed. I'll help quicker tonight!

See ya later,

love Libby

Entry # Two A.D.D. Adorable Darling Disease
Dear Diary,

The thing I hate most is being told what to do. That's me, a rebel with OR without a cause. I do not like to be told when to go to bed, when to get up, when and what to eat, etc etc. A few times I almost convinced Mom to quit her job, but somehow common sense kicked in. The way Mom talks about "common sense" I'm sure it must be my invisible evil twin or something.

So, anyways…I've distracted Mom about 12 times today during her work. She says I have ADD. Hmm…SHE says it means Attention Deficit Disorder. I'm sure it must mean something else, like Adorable Darling Disease. I might have THAT!

Meanwhile, if she thinks she's gonna make me grow up…well, let me tell you this: she's not! Why would I wanna grow up?? Huh?? Tell me that! Grownups never have any fun at all!

So far she said she promised she won't make me grow up but I don't believe her. Why else would she not let me do what I want anymore?

Mom gets way too carried away with things if you ask me, if ANYONE has ADD around here, it's HER not ME! Now she's gone and made a list she is calling her NANNER list. She's great with acronyms. NANNER list means Negotiable And Non-Negotiable Everybody Routines. In other words, there are some things she'll be willing to reach a compromise with and some things she won't. Like, ok, I saw she put "Bedtime" under the non-negotiable side and EVERYONE gets one, even ME and HER! It's great for her 'other' kids, but I don't think it's fair for ME. That means she isn’t even going to give me any choice at all about that! That makes me mad! GRRRR!

I have to go "be quiet" for a while so she can work. I want MY turn on the internet, but Mom has to use it for work. I do NOT like her job. It takes up too much time, but she says if I would let her work she'd get done quicker. I wish I wasn’t so impatient. I can’t wait! I want instant gratification! I want to play NOW! Waiting is the worst thing in the world. Mom says she'll buy me a timer and that will help. I have NO idea what she means by that. She said it is not impossible for me to be quiet for 15 minutes...but she just doesn’t understand me! Ok, she's kicking me off the computer now. Rats!
See ya later,
love, Libby :)

Entry # Three Insomnia?
Dear Diary,

Can you believe it??? Mom put me in reform school!!! I cannot believe this! I thought things were going so well. And now here I am in reform school! Well, if she thinks I'm changing, I'm not…at least not without a fight.

All I did was try to give her a break from her news job…all I did was make her work more interesting…all I did was provide entertainment during her long bleak hours of work, and what thanks do I get??? Reform school, that's what!

The ONLY good thing about Reform School so far is that I've made a new friend named Nelly. Nelly is pretty cool! Why would anyone send someone as nice as Nelly to reform school?? If you ask me, grownups take structure way too seriously!

I guess we sorta made a deal and I can stay up as late as I want ONE night, so I picked Fridays cuz there's no work on the weekend. But I think I SHOULD get to stay up late on Saturday night too but Mom says that will be my "practice" night for getting to sleep on time, to try and train my brain to fall asleep at the right hour. She says the fact that I won't have to panic as the night gets shorter because there is no work on Sunday, will make it easier.

I feel bad that I gave Mom insomnia. I wish I could take it back. I wish I could WANT to go to bed on time. But the closer it gets to bed time, the more I want to stay awake. Can I help it if I'm a night person??? I think Mom should just get a new job where she can work nights and then we'll all be happy and I can sleep in the day.

Today was a tough food day. I Did eat the eggs like I said but I managed to get away with skipping lunch. But for supper we had stew so I ate some and for dessert we had pumpkin custard. It is sorta like pumpkin pie without the crust. Mom just dumped a can of pumpkin pie filling, an egg, 1/3 cup of milk into the steamer rice bowl, and it steamed for 30 mins while we ate supper and it was done by the time we were. It was delicious! So, so far that was really the ONLY good thing I ate today in MY opinion. Mom says pumpkin has beta carotene and that is good for me. Imagine, a yummy dessert that is actually GOOD for me! Go figure!

So, anyways…seeya later.

Love Libby.

Entry # Four Satisfied!
Dear Diary,

Today was a good day. I was totally spoiled. Saturday is our day of rest and fun. Mom says if I get enough attention on purpose I won't interfere with her work in the middle of the week. I guess she's right because I feel totally satisfied.

This morning I woke up early so we could go to the Library. Saturday is our library day. The library is one of my favourite places of all time. I got some really cool books. I got some on house improvements. Mom says looking at pictures of "professionally decorated" houses will inspire us. She's right because tonight I am all excited about our weekly home blessing tomorrow.

In our house, the weekly housecleaning thing used to be stressful. The boys would argue and everyone got in each other's way. Mom found a solution. She calls it the House Cleaning Relay. Her "other kids" and I play. She limits it to the "public" rooms; kitchen, hallway, dining room, living room, and bathroom. She sets a timer on the stove for 5 minutes and we each pick a separate room to start in. She says go and then whatever room we're in we start cleaning whatever we want as fast as we can until the timer goes off. When the timer goes off we move to the next room (clockwise) and the timer is set again for 5 minutes. At the end of about 45 minutes, we've each had a couple of turns in each room. When the bell rings, we move to the next room and pick up where the other person left off. That way, we are all cleaning together, but nobody gets in anyone else's way and no one gets grumpy over being told exactly WHAT to clean. But at the end of 45 minutes the house is completely clean! Then when it's clean we do something fun. I think if mom called it 'house cleaning' instead of a 'house relay' I wouldn’t like it so much.

Today we also made chocolate macaroons. Those are SO yummy and after eating healthy all week, it is SO good to have cookies, yummy!

After such a fun day of playing I don't mind doing chores tomorrow. I'm even ready to go to bed at a decent time tonight, and our kitchen sink is shining! Yay! Tonight I will take a book to read in case I can't get to sleep. As long as my body stays in bed, it might help my brain adjust to a regular sleep schedule.

Tomorrow Mom says she is going to implement the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad E word…you know what word I mean…EXERCISE! I am SO not looking forward to it! I usually do a good job of thinking up something more fun for her to do and she usually lets me get away with it but she says tomorrow she will NOT let me get away with it. I’m sunk! She says we'll work on the plot of her novel, The Writer's House, while we walk…I guess that MIGHT keep me distracted until we get back. I hope!

Mom has tried clever things to sneak exercise up on me…but I hope she doesn’t think I haven’t seen what she's been doing! She PURPOSELY parks as far away from the mall as she can when we shop so that I have to walk ALL The WAY across the parking lot just to get to the store! If we have to go to several different stores she parks the car in one spot and we have to walk to all the different stores. She tries, I guess, I'll give her that. I think what might be funner is if we have an exercise draw, like put different options into a hat and let me pick one out and whichever one I pick I'll do for 15 minutes…that might not be so bad. Like, I'll either walk for 15 mins or do exercises, or work out on the total gym or something for that time. Maybe a variety will do the trick. She's thinking of signing me up for karate like Nick is going to take (her "other" kid)…I don't know if I want to, it DOES look like fun tho.

We made our schedule on the hallway blackboard and tomorrow we will bake bread while we do the relay. Mom says it gives her satisfaction that something is being done that is NO work at all for her and she loves her breadmaker. She also loves her dishwasher and her crockpot. She says it is important to love things that make your life easier and that is why I should LOVE going to bed on time, because it will make my life loads easier, not to mention hers! So, I'm giving it a try. I hate change and I guess I'll be reformed kicking and screaming, but Mom says .as long as I get reformed!

Well, my bedtime is here and my 15 minutes of diary writing are up. I must say, I DO love this part of my bedtime routine and I get to go to bed with a smile on my face. Mom says if I can't sleep, instead of counting sheep to try and count all my blessings. She says that will give me a happy feeling that will make me feel relaxed and I'll sleep better. So, I'll try it!

Good nite J Sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite!

Love,

Libby

ENTRY # Five Mom Loves Me
Dear Diary,

Well…I DID go to bed on time last night and drifted off to sleep after not too much time, but then I woke up in an hour and was up all night! I stayed in bed anyway, like I promised but at 4:45 AM Mom said if I get up and do whatever I want for 15 minutes maybe I'd let her sleep. So I got up and checked my email and read for a while then put the lights back out. I think I went to sleep soon after that so maybe it worked.

HOWEVER…I then slept for a full 8 hours (you do the math, it's NOT good!). So, anyways…we got up and Mom made toast and eggs again. Well, the eggs were better this time but the whole-wheat toast (yuck) today was ..BURNED!!! She really needs to get the timing right! When there was 5 minutes left on the timer for the eggs (while she started bread in the bread maker) she got Nick to put bread in the toaster for her. Well, the bread popped in like 30 seconds while the eggs had awhile to go, so since the bread wasn’t toasted that dark she figured she could just turn the dial to a little darker and pop it back down for another minute, only she FORGOT about it cuz she was so busy putting the bread ingredients into the bread maker and when it DID pop it was BLACK!! Which was kinda ok with me cuz then you couldn’t tell it was whole-wheat (and trust me, you couldn’t TASTE it was whole-wheat either!!) and then the eggs got done and by the time she washed out the steamer bowl and put it in the tray, the toast was cold AGAIN!! So now I had to have COLD BURNED WHOLE WHEAT toast with eggs…but well, at least you couldn’t taste the whole-wheat taste, so all in all, I'll mark that as a step UP! The good thing about Mom is she never gives up (no matter WHAT I say!)

So, anyway, we started out the day behind…but Mom says it doesn’t matter that we're starting late cuz it's not like the housework is going to go anywhere, it will wait for us to get ready to tackle it. So, just cuz I was stressed out from the cold burned black toast and everything I got to check my email and write in my diary before we do the housecleaning relay. And besides, I was GOOD and let Mom start supper in the crock pot and start the bread maker and the towels in the washer and everything! So, a little reward was coming my way in MY opinion!!

Well, Now I have to go do my part in the housecleaning relay (for how that works just read my previous entry)…and then, if I can ignore the fact I'm WORKING for 40 minutes, after that I get to play the piano, watch 30 minutes of TV and then Mom is going to work on one of her novels, which really is fun for ME too cuz I get to play with all kinds of interesting characters that we make up. I can't wait til Mom makes enough money from her writing so she can quit her news job and then her work will be playing ALL the time!

I was afraid that when Mom said she was sending me to reform school that THAT meant she didn’t love me and wanted to make me disappear, but she says it doesn’t mean that at all! It just means that she'll be more productive and I'll be happier and get to play even MORE! She also said she would NEVER want me to disappear cuz she loves me and because of ME she loves her life! Just imagine, because of ME!

*sigh* Mom loves me! I'm sure your mom loves you too!
Love,
Libby

Entry # Six I'm in Big Trouble!
Dear Diary,
My mom is SO mad at me today! The problem started last night. Things LOOKED like they were going good. Yesterday we got the house all cleaned up and I realized that when the house is clean it looks BIGGER and that means I have more room to dance! More room to play! Well anyways, after supper, Mom and me did laundry, folded and put away towels and stuff while I got to watch my favourite show (Yes, Dear)…. anyways it was a Yes, Dear marathon and it was on ALL day but I didn’t watch TV all day so I missed about a bazillion episodes, but that's ok cuz I don't watch much TV anyway! I hardly ever watch TV and couldn’t even tell you the NAMES of 5 TV shows! The only reason Yes, Dear is my favourite show is cuz the only time I was allowed to watch TV (at 5:30 or something) that is what was on so I got to like it.

Anyways…so Mom and Me had a GOOD evening, folding laundry and watching my favourite show…. Her bread was done and because I was so good all weekend, doing chores and stuff, mom had put some cinnamon in the bread. That was SO good! Only Jy (her “other” kid! who is 14 and doesn’t like anything anymore) hated it and so did Nick (her “other” kid who is 17 now) and so she said she wouldn’t put cinnamon in it anymore (rats!) anyways…what happened was this…my Sunday was great, we had yummy homemade bread and spaghetti and meatballs (thanks to the crock pot and Mom finally getting a handle on that steamer) and then I got to play piano, read, and watch TV in the evening AFTER I had to be very quiet for a very long time cuz Jy had a migraine. (No, it was NOT from Mom's cooking.)

So, anyways what happened was this, I was watching my favourite show and it got to be bedtime. Mom said "Libby, don't forget it is time to write in your diary and it is time for bed cuz tomorrow is a work day"…well, of course you know what I did! I whined and complained and said, "Just ONE more episode??? Please, please, please, please???? Just ONE more episode??? It is ONLY a half hour and then I'll go to bed at 12:30, I PROMISE!!!" And …well…at the time, I REALLY meant it….
But then, when that episode was over, the next episode looked SO good and I wasn’t even tired one little bit, so I begged again "Just ONE more episode??? And besides Jy doesn’t have school tomorrow so YOU don't have to get up AS early to get him to the bus stop! You could sleep in til 8:30 and it will be okay!! Please????"

Well, Mom said ok again, "but just ONE more episode!"…well, you guessed it, after THAT episode I wanted to watch just ONE more and it was 2 am by the time Mom put her foot down and shut the TV off and refused to let me stay up!!! That did NOT appeal to me! And then I wanted to write in my diary but Mom said "No way!" and I had to go to bed without writing in my diary.

Well the REST of the trouble happened this morning. Mom woke up at 8:00 but realized she could sleep in so she did! She woke up again at 10:00 and didn’t get up til 10:30!!! She didn’t even have time to have a bath before she started work!! On top of that, her boss had problems with his remote computer set up in Mom's office and mom had to spend a long time on the phone with the cable company!! She was frazzled and VERY mad at me! Especially cuz she didn’t get to work on HER books at all today cuz her news took her right til supper!!!

So, she's MAD! I tried to make it up to her and folded the dishtowels and put them away neatly in the kitchen drawer! I even scrubbed the bathroom sink at lunchtime when I ran in there quick! But Mom is STILL mad and says NO TV TONITE AT ALL!!!

So that really sucks! But tonight I WILL go to bed on time. I promised myself! And Mom!

Meanwhile, she's getting better at the steamed egg thing. It is getting pretty good and this morning we just had plain bread with it (cinnamon bread, yippee) and we couldn’t toast it cuz the slices were too chunky to fit in the toaster. So, the bread was good and the eggs LOOKED like rubber eggs but tasted YUMMY! I had to drink water with breakfast cuz I'm not allowed sugar! Well, that sucks too! More on that later! (And we can’t get sugar free orange juice til we get groceries on Saturday. Boy this is going to be a LONG week!)

I'll try to write again tonight if I don't get in trouble again. Seeya later,
Love,
Libby

Entry # Seven No sugar, Sugar
Dear Diary,

Mom had said we couldn’t have sugar during the week, only on weekends cuz sugar is evil. There's a lot of terrible things it does to your body. HOWEVER…Mom said for me to be quiet AND to not have sugar all in the same day. I’d say she’s tempting the universe, so I get to have her version of a home cappuchino while she works. It’s a small bit of coffee (cuz she hates coffee but says she NEEDS the caffeine if she is gonna get through her work this evening) and mixed with cocoa and hot chocolate. I think Mom was too frazzled from her hectic workday cuz she got out the sugar hammer. See, when Mom buys extra sugar if it’s on sale, she stores it under the cupboard in our food storage, well…we hardly ever use sugar really so when the sugar bucket up in the cupboard is empty, Mom has to dump a new bag of sugar in the bucket, only after being stored so long it is a sugar BRICK (NOT a sugar cube!) and so Mom has a small hammer she got at the dollar store when Jy lost her big hammer. After she made Jy clean his room and she got her regular hammer back, she uses the small one for crushing the sugar brick (she says this activity ALSO counts as fun and is very therapeutic), anyway after she did all the sugar hammering and filled a small sugar bowl, she realized that since she was putting hot chocolate in with the coffee, she didn’t NEED sugar at all so she did all that for nothing.

I MUST go to bed on time tonight, I must I must I MUST!!! I will really really try even harder tonight. Even if I have to lay there still staring at the inside of my eyelids I am going to bed on time and staying there with my eyes closed!!! I hate bed times, really. That is surely going to be my downfall.

Well, now that Mom has let me have hot chocolate while she works, I HAVE to let her actually work for the next 4 hours. That is going to be so dull dull dull!!! I can't wait til she can be a full time writer and give up that stupid depressing news job.

If I had MY way of what I could do right at this very minute, it would be to go to sleep. Unfortunately I know that that is not an option and by midnight I'll be very energetic and raring to go. Mom says if I'm that energetic she's going to make me go for a walk in the dark to tire myself out. I REALLY don't want to go outside in the dark. I hate the dark! So, I'm going to have a hot bath before bed, and that will help. I think.

Meanwhile, the great thing is, I cooperated and helped Mom clean the kitchen after supper so it looks really nice, all clean and shiny. And our dining room is still clean with flowers on the table. I like to go in there just to LOOK at it! And our living room is clean and our bathroom is clean! That makes me feel so at home when I just walk through the house seeing all the cleanness. Mom says it is mathematics; 1 hour of housecleaning on Sunday + little routines like cleaning the kitchen after supper and everyone picking up their own stuff after they use it = 7 days of happiness.

I think the clean house made mom happy and not mad at me anymore. Whew! I'll write after my bath and before Bed, cuz Mom needs the computer now for work.
Love,
Libby

Entry # Eight I Love Making Lists!
Dear Diary,
While Mom was doing her news I TRIED really hard to be good and let her work, but I want to play ALL the time and I just can't help that. Mom says that is normal for a kid to want to play all the time. But in reality I CAN'T play all the time.

So, when I just couldn’t sit still for 1 second longer…Mom let me have 3 minutes to do one of my very favourite things, and that is make a list! I love making lists! It is my favourite thing in the world!

So, we made a list of goals, work goals and goals of when her credit cards will be paid off (in July), and a Quit-Her-Day-Job plan so she can focus on full time writing. In order for her to do that, I MUST let her work at her job so she CAN pay off her credit cards and then it will make MY life better. If Mom is doing a job she loves then I get to feel like I play all day! And believe me, I'm okay with that!

Mom is making a strict schedule for me and says the rigid structure MIGHT help me. She says we will try it for ONE week and if it doesn’t work, we'll try something else. She says we are writing it on paper, NOT in STONE! We are even scheduling in exercise, ugh! I might take karate 3 times a week, Mom says that will count as exercise. I will think about that one some more tho.

Til later,
Libby

Entry # 9 But They Are So Cute!
Dear Diary,

This morning got off to a good start because last night I finally went to bed when Mom said to and we went right to sleep and slept all night. Mom got finished enough of her morning news so we could go soak in the tub for a while. Then I went to the kitchen to get a piece of cake, BUT when I got there, Mom noticed that we only had a half loaf of bread left so she started putting the ingredients in the bread maker and then started steaming the eggs while she was getting the bread stuff in the bread maker. Then, after the bread maker was turned on she figured she better load the dishwasher while waiting for the eggs and then the floor had to be swept cuz we spilled flour on the floor while refilling the flour bucket for the cupboard and a floury floor is SLIPPERY!

So, by that time, the eggs were done and I STILL didn’t get my cake!
Today the eggs tasted pretty good. Mom only let them go in the timer for 10 minutes instead of 20 minutes. They still sorta look like rubber eggs (Mom mixes them up first like scrambled eggs) but they tasted good. Or maybe I'm just getting used to it.

Mom lets me write in my diary while she works on her news. We both use the word program so she has her window and I have mine and we take turns sort of. It keeps me happy and she gets to get her work done.

RATS! Mom said she is going to be REALLY strict with me about some things…the main one being acquiring animals. It was because of me that we ended up with 4 cats (but my favorite cat Fuzzy died in October and our outside cat Navarone got a job in a barn killing mice in the stables, so she moved out so now we only got 2). I could not resist when I saw 2 cute adorable baby identical twin kittens a couple years ago and Mom gave in to me and that was when we got Ishmael and Fishmael (nick and jy named them, go figure) anyway…so now that Fuzzy and Navarone are gone, we only have Ishy and Fishy. Mom never really liked the fact that we got Ishy and Fishy and she even tried to return them the next day after I got them (she says when she came to her senses) but the people wouldn’t take them back so we were stuck with them. For 2 years Mom has offered Ishy and Fishy to EVERY person who came to the door, including 2 Mormon missionaries, 2 Jehovah's Witnesses, the plumber, the guys that delivered our dishwasher, the guys that delivered our new washer, the guys that delivered our new sofa, and new dinette, AND the enumerator, the woman that came around to get Mom registered for voting in the election. Well, everyone said NO WAY and we were stuck with Ishy and Fishy, who now we sorta love and don’t want to give away anymore. Anyway, Mom is writing a book called Two Crazy Cats about them cuz they are..well..annoying I guess. For instance, after we worked so hard cleaning the house on Sunday, and I was SO good and made sure I did my chores like cleaning the kitchen after supper, etc, those crazy cats pull the table cloth off the table and Mom was mad when she went out to tell Jy to do his chores and found the table cloth, clean placemats and napkins and the vase of flowers all crumpled UNDER the table instead of ON it. She didn’t have time to fix it so she just grabbed it and set it all on the table in a big lump! On top of that one of those crazy cats got on the counter and ate chocolate cake crumbs from the compost that I forgot to put under the cupboard and barfed in the hallway so Mom had to leave her office AGAIN to go clean it. That is when she reminded me that we are NEVER getting any more cats! Getting cats isn’t the bad part, she says, it is getting kittens just BECAUSE they're cute! That was MY fault. When we got Fuzzy it was because we had NO cats at that time and really really wanted one and thought about it for a long time. When we got Ishy and Fishy (imagine TWO at a time!!!), that was all MY fault. It was something I decided just cuz I SAW them and held them and thought they were SOOO cute! Mom says she can tell whether it is ME to blame or Her to blame by the reasons we do things. Basically, if it's a logical decision it is HERS and if it is based on "because it's cute" it’s MY fault. Can I help it if I have an affinity to cute things???

The worst thing is, Mom has this rule, whoever is the person that does not scrape their plate and put it in the dishwasher and the cat eats out of it, is the person that has to clean the cat barf. WELL…unfortunately it was ME who forgot to put the compost bucket away and so I had to clean it, GROSS!! One good thing about Mom's rule is that those 2 crazy cats make sure the boys scrape their plates and put them in the dishwasher after meals. Mom says the cats are just being cats but we have to behave like better humans. Well, regardless, it was gross! I'm NEVER forgetting to put the compost away again!!!
I better let Mom work for a while so I can write in my diary again later. Mom says after she works for 2 whole hours I'll get to write again. Yay! All I have to do is be patient.

Bye for now,
Love Libby

Entry 10 The Grocery List
Dear Diary,

Today is Tuesday, the day we make our grocery list. We don’t actually GET groceries til Saturday but on Tuesday I can put whatever I WANT on the grocery list. I can put cookies if I want, ice cream, candy, chips, pop, whatever I want, as well as the regular list. AFTER dinner each night (which means my tummy is full and the THOUGHT of even junk food doesn't appeal to me) I can cross off some things off the list. On Wednesday after supper, I can cross off some more, and on Fridays when we get to have dessert after dinner, AFTER I've eaten dessert and my sweet tooth has been satisfied, I can cross off some more stuff off the grocery list. Our rule is we can ONLY buy what is on the list and by Saturday when we leave to go to town there is NO JUNK FOOD left on the list. It just magically disappears. If it's not in the house and we ONLY get groceries once a week then I can’t cheat and eat garbage! But on Tuesday, when I'm sorely regretting crossing off all the junk food from LAST week's list, I make sure I load up THIS week's list. I think Mom just manages to trick me EVERY single week and we hardly EVER have junk in the house.

Mom says the limbic brain (the seat of our emotions) doesn't know the difference between real or imagined events (which is why we cry at sad movies even though nothing bad has really happened to us) and so by the end of the week, we FEEL like we've been spoiled because of all the junk food we were ALLOWED to put on the list on Tuesday.

Today I am going to TRY to exercise for 5 minutes. Trust me, exercise is NOT my favorite thing!

I have to go make my grocery list now, yay! I'm going to put cookies, ice cream, chips and pop on my list! And…and…chocolate deep and delicious cake! And more chips! Yay! I feel spoiled!

Love,
Libby

Entry # 11 Today Was a Good Day
Dear Diary,

This evening was GREAT! Mom worked extra hard this afternoon (and I didn’t bug her at all!) and she got finished work at 9:30 this evening and we got to spend the whole evening playing. We made chocolate pudding (and cleaned up our mess immediately) and she had to make bread again cuz the boys ate the bread all up cuz they have now decided they LOVE homemade bread. They were kinda hard to convince at first.

Then we watched tv and read. At midnight, we washed the counters in the kitchen and swept the floor and everything is all clean and shiny again. I get to stay up a little later tonight cuz of Mom making bread, she does the news and gets paranoid about freak accidents and house fires and stuff and she won't go to bed with any appliances running and the breadmaker has another hour to go!

Today was a good day. I got to do a lot of writing in my diary and now while waiting for the breadmaker and dishwasher to finish we get to work on a science fiction novel. I love working on those, it is actually playing to me! That is MY kinda work!

Even though I'll miss my bedtime tonight, the kitchen is clean and shiny and I've really done good today. The things I didn’t do are exercise and go to bed on time. BUT, other than that, I did everything else I was supposed to today and I feel good.

I'll write tomorrow,

Love,
Libby

Entry # 12 Libby is a Pack Rat
Dear Diary,

UH OH! Mom is getting worse!!! You are NEVER never never never going to guess what she is going to make me do NOW!!! You'd never guess it in a million years so I'm gonna have to tell you! She's going to make me get rid of stuff!!! *SOB* When I stop crying I can probly write better. I can’t believe she is going to make me get rid of stuff!!! I mean, I might NEED it someday!!! In fact, I'm SURE I will!

Why, just the other day, all those bright red covers (saved from all those Nestle milk shakes we had last summer) came in handy! Well, ok…only ONE came in handy. But see, I was saving them cuz I was going to make a game out of them, sorta like checkers. I hadn’t worked out all the details of the game in my mind, sure…but I mean, I'm GONNA!!!! Mom said if I can REALLY make up a game for them before she tosses them then I can keep the ones I need. REALLY!! Like I can actually make up a game under THIS much pressure!!! Good Grief!!

It gets WAY worse let me tell you!!! Over the years I've collected 100s of magazines and she's going to start tossing them too!!! I mean, c'mon!! There's vintage articles of Shaun and David Cassidy in those!! She says I can clip and save in a section in my binder in sheet protectors the stuff from the magazines I REALLY want to keep. SHE says that in each magazine there is probably 1 or 2 articles that I want anyway and the rest is garbage!! Yes, loyal readers, she actually called my magazines GARBAGE!!!! I am SO insulted! I crossed my arms and said "NO WAY JOSE!! ('cept I'm not entirely sure I'm spellin' "Jose" right cuz I WANTED to spell it like HOSAY but that just REALLY didn’t look right!)

I'm SOOOOO upset! All this eatin' right, going to bed on time, shining my sink (Imagine! Who cares about a dumb ole sink at a time like this!!) and now tossing my stuff!!! I even EXERCISED last night! Yup! Believe it! ME!!! I did it! I exercised for 5 minutes before bed! Sit-ups and everything!!! I will admit, however grudgingly, that after I was finished, I didn’t want to go to bed, I wanted to get up and run around the block! I felt so energized and I just felt so good about myself after just 5 minutes! I can only imagine what 10 minutes will do for me!!! But I DID go right to sleep though.

Mom has a new way to get me up early in the morning now too, she says if I get up at 7:00 in the morning, I can write for a whole half hour in my diary or do whatever I want! Yay!! She says I can even watch TV if I want!!! Imagine, that early in the morning getting to watch TV!!! Mom has NEVER ever ever allowed any of her kids to have the TV on before school (that is why sometimes she drove her boys to school without realizing it was cancelled, otherwise, if she'd at least watched the WEATHER channel she'd have KNOWN!) But from 7:00 til 7:30 I can do whatever I want!!! EXCEPT go back to bed that is! She's tricky, but I must admit, me getting to do whatever I want that early really is appealing enough to get me out of bed! She said it is MY time…Imagine, ALL MINE!!!

BUT don’t you dare think for ONE minute that this makes up for her telling me the Tossing Day is coming soon. That is the day when we will BEGIN to toss. Tell me now, am I really to blame for an inherited packrat gene???? HER mother was a packrat!! And besides, its human nature to want to store and save! I mean, imagine all those cave men just deciding to toss out a corner full of bones and then one day deciding to make a brand new tool after finding the perfect rock (which also I'm not allowed to collect anymore!!! Except for what can fit on top of a tiny stand in the living room on display….I only was allowed to save the ones with fossils in them cuz they were educational…something mom is very big on by the way) …anyway…Imagine that cave man trying to make a new tool only to find out his wife had decided to toss out the corner of bones!! I bet THEN he would have regretted making her toss stuff out!!! He'd be left sitting with a perfect rock and he'd have to go dig up those old bones from some dirt pile!! THEN he'd be sorry!

I KNOW Mom is going to be sorry for making me throw stuff out, I just KNOW it!!! Mom says out of 100 things we throw away, we'll likely only need to buy ONE of them when and if we NEED it! She says that will make up for the thing she WON'T have to buy because she'll be able to find it without so much clutter. What I mean by that is we've had to buy 6 pair of scissors cuz she couldn’t find them and it took less time to run to the store and buy a pair than it did to actually FIND them!! We've also had to buy 3 hammers (2 of which are present) , a million screwdrivers (only 1 is in the tool drawer)…3 TV remotes, but when 1 broke, we found the FIRST one on the floor underneath the TV stand and guess what, it STILL worked!!! Even WITHOUT the little part on the back that covers the batteries! SEE! Good thing we didn’t throw THAT out!

Well, I better get running along! I'm so excited about all the extra time I'm going to have in my day today! Mom is going to start her work early so she'll be done earlier and we'll have another evening to play! Yay!
Hope you are having an extra long day too!

Love,
Libby

Entry # 13 A Break Through!
Dear Diary,

I want pizza!!! Really really really bad!

There, I had to get that out of my system. Mom said "NO."

I also really really really really wanted to go to the store today to get some diet coke. Mom said "NO." GRRRR.

That MIGHT be why I didn’t cooperate well with cleaning the kitchen tonight and tonight, for the first time in ages, we're going to bed with a kitchen in disarray (I think that sounds MUCH nicer than to say it is a mess). We at least washed the crock-pot so we can prepare dinner first thing in the morning. That has to count for something. Mom finally threw out the stew that no one was eating (she made it 3 days ago!!!). Tomorrow we're having steamed potatoes and vegetables and some sorta meat in the crock pot. I hope it has more flavour than last time.

Just when Mom was getting the hang of steaming eggs for breakfast we ran out of eggs so now we have to wait til we get groceries on Saturday to get more eggs. She TRIED steaming oatmeal last week but that didn’t work out too well. It looked like and felt like paste or paper mache. I took ONE taste of that and was SURE that is what paper mache tastes like and I was tempted to try and build something out of it but instead Mom just threw it out.

Today was a very disorganized day, mainly cuz of trouble with Jy's inner brat who didn’t do HIS chores either…so, Mom is going to take away his TV privileges or if he has a problem with that he can take it up with his inner brat she said. She introduced Jy to his inner brat and he said "don't try that stuff on me"…He's a boy and a teenager, that explains everything Mom said. Meanwhile as long as his inner brat gets him into trouble, his inner brat gets no TV!

I did manage to throw out ONE thing today and that is ALL I'm throwing out this week! I threw away ONE pen that has been out of ink for 2 months! That counts! It went in the garbage can so it counts!

I don't care WHAT Mom thinks, I'm NOT parting with all my valuable junk! No way! No how! Not in THIS lifetime!

Seeya tomorrow,

Love,

Libby

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Entry # 14 Yay! It's Play Day

Dear Diary,

Last night Mom finally had a full night's sleep. That's the good news. The bad news is: we went to bed leaving the kitchen in a mess. Mom was too tired to do Jy's chore (empty the dishwasher) so that she could do hers, which was load it and clean the kitchen. So, she was too tired to be stressed out about it so she just went straight to bed and slept well, yay!

This morning I didn’t interrupt her work so for once her work is on schedule. When she took her morning break, we spent it cleaning the kitchen, including Jy's chore. Since we did Jy's chore, as soon as we were done and the kitchen was shiny, we went to Jy's room and took his TV. He was kinda upset when Mom took his TV. I KNOW how it feels to be upset cuz you end up suffering for not doing what you were supposed to. Anyway, Mom told him if I do his chore, I get his TV. Yay! And I get to keep it and use it in my room until he starts doing his chores without being told 100 times a day. (I should have the TV for a LONG time then!) Mom says if he has a problem with that he can take it up with his inner brat that prevents him from doing his chores. Nick does his chores without being told so Mom hardly ever has to take anything away from him.

Meanwhile the kitchen is clean and Mom is back at work in her office.
Oh guess what else??? Nick gave me a video game for my computer! It's The Movies video game and I’m going to get to play it on Saturday! Saturday is MY day to play ALL DAY! Mom doesn’t do any work at all on the weekends and we play all weekend. I get to watch TV, read, play piano and guitar if I want, we go to the mall with the boys, and we go to the library. It’s my favorite Day! Just knowing that I get to play all day on Saturday makes it easier for me to be good during the week and let mom work. I even get to play video games if I want (but not all day long!) I don't really like video games hardly at all but I found a couple that are fun! Like Sims2 , that game is AWESOME, and The Movies, and in Sims2 you get to hire a maid to clean house for you! In Sims2 I always get a maid!! In real life after the house is all cleaned up and everything is spic and span I like to pretend that I HAD a maid and I didn’t have to do any work at all.

I love it when the house is clean and I discovered that THINKING about cleaning the kitchen took up more time than it did to actually go clean it! Isn’t that funny??? Last night in bed I KNEW I'd have to clean it in the morning…and this morning while Mom was working, I was thinking of all the work to do in the kitchen, and then when we went out and actually did it, it only took 10 minutes!!! And that included sweeping the floor and washing the counters!! Tonight I'll spend the 10 minutes doing that before bed and then that way, it will save the HOURS that I've spent THINKING about it!
Today will be a fun day I think cuz I'm being really really good and letting Mom work which means she'll get done sooner and we'll get to read again this evening. I don't mind waiting my turn today. I have to wait til after Mom's work, and after she does school with Nick, and then more work, then cleaning the kitchen and then I get MY time.

Because I'm being so good Mom is letting me write in my diary whenever I feel the urge today. I'll write more in a few hours when there's a slowdown in mom's job again!

Have a great day!
Love, Libby

Entry # 15 Get Off Your But.
Dear Diary,

Mom says I have to get off my "but." She says I'm not allowed to say the word "but" for a WHOLE WEEK and just see how it feels. For instance: I'm not ALLOWED to say, "yes, our sink is shiny BUT the counters are a mess," I'm ONLY allowed to say "Our sink is shiny!" Mom says that no matter WHAT we say, as soon as we put the word "but" in there it means "please ignore everything I just said and ONLY pay attention to what I'm about to say next"…so…I'm not allowed to say, "We had supper on time but it was GROSS!" I'm not allowed to say but anything! I think that is so unfair and it is going to be SO hard to stop saying But. Mom says as soon as I get off my "but" I'll be happier. Hmmm…

I'm not even allowed to say "I love my crazy cat but she drives me crazy!" I can just say, "I love my crazy cat". I must admit…it DOES sorta look better doesn’t it???

Our sink is shiny. Good Grief! The whole rest of me is TRYING to shout "BUT the counters are a mess today! I guess I'll have to practice getting off my but! Our sink is shiny. Our sink is shiny. Our sink is shiny!
Hey, I'm actually doing it! Mom says she's proud of me. (No buts there.) Yay! I'm doing it! I'm getting off my but!
Try it, you'll like it!
Love Libby

Entry # 16 Yay For McDonalds!
Dear Diary,

Well, this morning I didn’t have to eat eggs or whole-wheat toast, but the reason is cuz the kitchen is a total mess. So, I talked Mom into getting us McDonald's for supper and luckily I had Mom's other kids backing me up and before she knew it, she was outnumbered with all 3 of us begging for McDonald’s for supper cuz we've been really really good and haven’t had it for a LONG time! So, today we get to have McDonald’s, yay!

That is the good news! The BAD news is, we're not leaving the house til the kitchen is clean. That is Mom's rule generally and she's made everyone late for the library and everything before just cuz the kitchen wasn’t cleaned and we had to clean it before we could leave. So, as much as I HATE hate hate hate to clean the kitchen, if it’s the only way out of here, I'll HAVE to do it! Mom says we'll just do it for 15 minutes at a time. She says we'll clean for 15 minutes, then I can write in my diary some more, and then we'll clean again. Hopefully we'll be done by 4pm cuz that is when we go get her other kid from the bus stop.

Oh, Mom just got some great news! Our water has been shut off so they can fix frozen and broken pipes downstairs. Yay! There were 7 breaks in the water pipes so that will take a long time to fix so now we have a better reason to go to McDonald’s! We have no water! Yay! I'll use any excuse I can get to have my own way!

Libby

Entry # 17 Oh No, Not a Babysitter!
Diary entry 17
(The FLYING BABYSITTER)

Dear Diary,

We did get to have McDonald’s but we didn’t clean the kitchen first cuz I convinced mom that cleaning isn’t very easy if we don't have any water. Mom said "Well, we can at least load the dishwasher before we go and then it won't look so bad"…but I said "No, we can't do that cuz if we do, we'll be late for picking up your other kid from the bus stop!" So Mom agreed with me, and even though I didn’t realize I was right about that whole bus stop timing thing, I WAS right and we were a little late getting there. "Good thing we didn’t load the dishwasher!" I said to Mom who actually agreed with me. I love it when I'm winning!

So, we came home to a messy kitchen and let me tell you, guess who was forced to put the groceries away in a messy kitchen???? ME that's who!! Did I like it?? Not one little bit! I might have learned my lesson but I doubt it, cuz I did the exact same thing 2 weeks ago.

Mom says I'm more than she can handle SOMETIMES and everything is so chaotic today and we're so disorganized today that now I have to be babysat by the flying babysitter, otherwise known as the Flylady!!!! I HAVE to do whatever she says…right down to laying out my clothes for tomorrow and going to bed when SHE says!! Mom says if I'm not going to listen to her then Flylady will have to baby-sit me!!!!

Grrr! I don't like being told what to do! But, I guess sometimes I HAVE to be if I don't do things on my own. L

So…now I gotta go do stuff, like clean the sink and have a bath and pick out my clothes til morning. It will be fun in the morning cuz then I can pretend my personal maid has laid my clothes out for me. I hope she has good taste. Normally when I lay out my clothes for morning (the odd times that I DO), I find that my tastes have changed and what I thought was really cool the night before doesn’t match my tastes first thing in the morning. Maybe in the morning I'll try picking my clothes out for the next day as well, maybe my morning tastes will work 2 days in a row.

Ah well, I'm off to be bossed around. And did I mention I don't like being babysat????

I'll let you know if I survived this!!
Love,
Libby

Flylady came and Babysitted Me!
DIARY ENTRY 18

Dear Diary,

Last night I had to get babysat!!! Can you believe it??? I couldn’t either! Mom said I was not listening to her at all and so she left me in the care of the flying babysitter, the Flylady!! Well, Mrs. Flylady didn’t leave me any room for arguing or begging. She told me to clean the kitchen and I had to do it, cuz I'm already in enough trouble with mom. If I didn’t obey the babysitter, I KNEW I'd be in even bigger trouble.

So…I didn’t enjoy it but I DID clean the kitchen. And then the babysitter told me I had to go to bed and to lay out my clothes for morning and everything. I never do that, including the going to bed part! But, well, ya know I HAD to cuz mom would have been furious if I'd been rude to a babysitter. So, I had to lay out my clothes and go to bed.

I did feel better about getting up this morning, and it was easier to have my clothes all ready for me. I even had time to have a bath this morning instead of at lunch hour! Mom says it's an improvement so that is a good sign. I figured I was in the clear but mom says she's leaving me with a babysitter again tonight!! *groan*

I don't know if I can handle that 2 nights in a row!!
In other news I got to have waffles for breakfast today! Yay! This is SUCH an improvement over eggs and toast!! Mom says it is an improvement that I'm eating breakfast nowadays. I haven’t hardly skipped breakfast at all in a month. I might have skipped maybe 4 breakfasts in that time, and for a few years I hadn’t eaten breakfast at all! So, I'm feeling better!

Ok, my time is up but mom says if I help with the laundry later I can write in my diary again. Bribery! But it works!
Love,
Libby

It's War on Clutter!
Diary entry 19

Dear Diary,
I didn’t get babysat tonight. I'm not sure that's a good thing either. The reason is cuz mom was too upset about all the clutter in our house. There is so much stuff that I don't want to part with.

Mom gave me a choice tonight. I either organize my clutter or toss it. She ALSO told me to think about my purpose in life. Was I put on this earth to organize clutter?? I can see now that to organize all my clutter would take me the next 30 years. I guess that is NOT my purpose in life. I was never designed to be a clutter organizer.

Mom says having all this clutter around tricks us into thinking we're busier than we are cuz there is always something that needs to be done. Everything is calling out "Finish me!" "Read me!" "Mend me!" "Fix me!" etc. etc. I finally got the message. It HAS to go!

Mom says we're declaring war on clutter; it is either IT or US!
Wish me luck! This is gonna be hard! L

Love,
Libby