Special Thanks!

Thank you to everyone for your valuable advice. There is help in some of these comments if you look deep into them. Dr. John and Betty made me think about what I was doing on my part. Bud made me think about Disneyland and of course my father gave me some really good advice and it worked like a champ.

I asked Belle to clean a section of her room. My father says that sometimes a dirty room to clean can be overwhelming to a child or anyone who tends to have unkempt rooms for that matter. When I asked her to clean one section, it took the pressure off of her and she ended up cleaning more than half of her room. In return, I rewarded her with an hour of free time to do what she wanted. This worked so well.

Then, her father and I explained to her that if she doesn't go to Disneyland, we all don't go. We can't cast her out as if she were not a family member. Telling her that she can't go is like taking away her feeling of togetherness and that is the last thing I want her to feel. So, we put the ball in her court so that she has a little more responsibility and so far, in the past few days, we have seen quite an improvement in attitude and willingness to help around the house.

So, thank you to everyone (you too, Blue) for your thoughts on this situation. I appreciate it.

On another note. IT'S MY BIRTHDAY ON SUNDAY!! It's a very merry birthday to me!

Have a great holiday weekend and remember to honor those who gave you your freedom! I will be thinking ESPECIALLY of our troops this weekend.