In The Name of Science.

Lately visitors, to our very classy home, have been favored with viewing a piece of green, moldy bread, neatly encased in a Ziplock bag in each of my windows. Each bag says Jeremiah on the outside and probably should include the start date, which window and a few other vital pieces of information that sixth graders tend to forget when they conduct science experiments.
The other day when organizing my freezer this is what I found. This was one of Joshua's latest science experiments; another of Joshua's, in the last three months, was three shoe boxes with different colored Christmas lights poked through holes in the top to give light and warmth to the seeds in dirt filled plastic cups. This one was in the corner of the living room throughout the holiday season adding, an oh so lovely accent, to the decoration boxes I couldn't seem to get emptied and back to the storage unit, piles of school papers, the mountains of laundry, the half finished neighbor gifts everywhere.

Not to long ago my entire dining room table was a pinewood derby workshop complete with every tool we own, sand paper and spray paint, nails, stickers, string and a few two by fours that Joshua was cutting down to build a special launcher so that he could experiment with running his car on CO2... Oh and did I mention a saw. On my dining room table folks which is the first sight you see when you come into our home.

I could just chalk all these exasperating messes up to being the number one, on the job joy of raising boys, although I had already given given that dubious honor to the bathroom, but then I got to thinking...what if I blamed all the housekeeping tasks I let slide daily as being science experiments?

Brilliant, these aren't dirty dishes in my sink. This is an important experiment to determine how effective dish detergent and fingernails are on dishes left sitting for longer then 24 hours.This is not lint left on the dryer because someone didn't return my garbage can to the laundry room after three days of asking, pleading, threatening them to dump it in the outside can. This is a study on the absorbency of dryer lint...it's possible that all those lost socks weren't eaten by the dryer, just maybe, lint is powerful enough to actually absorb socks.This suspicious looking spill down the front of my fridge is not there because I don't wash down my fridge daily. No, this is a Nobel prize worthy trial on the possibility that three year olds can adversely effect gravity by making spilled chocolate milk run up a white fridge instead of down to a brown tile floor.And, for my favorite, laundry, this is not stacks and, stacks, of never ending laundry; no, cruel world, this is a highly scientific approach to seismic reinforcement for my, not up to earthquake safe, home. When the 'Big One' hits I will be safe buried under mounds of dirty laundry, which, being stacked to the ceilings, kept them from collapsing. All you efficient, well organized, fold it out of the dryer types out there will be neat little pancakes, buahhaha (evil mad scientist laugh). That' s my scientific theory and I'm sticking to it.