Thanks For The Help, But NO THANKS!!!

Remember the blog I had called,  “It Is Not as Easy As It seems?”  That is another story of our “help”.   My little brother was always coming up with these ideas to “help” mom and dad.  He somehow always talked me in to going along with these projects.  That blog was about how we totally wasted the flooring they had purchased and messed up the floor.  This “help” did not ruin anything.  At least I can say that I bet mom and dad were not as upset at this “help.”

This particular story is about the time that he decided we should organize and clean her kitchen cabinets out . . .  Top, bottom and extra high top cabinets.  After all, as he said, the tops were so messy and he was right, but I do not think it would be a good idea to say that in front of mom. They had a large kitchen and so, so many cabinets.

His idea of how to best do this project was to first empty out all of the bottom cabinets, then we proceeded on to the row that we called the regular row.  That is the row that most people could easily reach where the glasses, plates, etc. were stored.  Then there was the way high up row!  That was where everything that was never used was kept.  It was never too tidy.  We had to stand on the counters to reach these cabinets and even then we had to stretch.  We had every single cabinet emptied at last. My idea was to do a row at a time, but he thought it best to get everything out where we could see it and perhaps organize it better that way.

There was stuff everywhere!  All of the counters were full, the table was totally full and the floor! This seemed like it took the entire morning.  We were worn out and truth of the matter, probably bored with this project. We were children still, you know.  This could not be expected to keep our attention very long. What a big job!  So, we decided it would be best to go outside and play for awhile. This idea I wholeheartedly went along with.  He did not have to ask me twice.

Mom and dad returned from their errands.  We smiled and hollered hello to them and kept on playing.  Let me just say that we were certainly able to hear my mother clear outside when she discovered our “help!”  As we approached our mother, my little brother was all smiles and told my mother that we were helping her clean the house and that we got this started for her.  He informed her how messy those top cabinets were.  He went on to tell her that she would not have much to do since we began it and she needed to go finish it now.  I was cringing as he was telling her all of this.  Her face was beginning to look more angry with each sentence that came out of his mouth.  He just kept smiling at her and talking and talking.  He did have the cutest little smile, but his charms were not going to work this time! Even I knew that was NOT the best way to handle this.

He just kept smiling, but not for long.  My mother was not having any part of this!  She informed us that we started it and we would most certainly get right back in there and finish it!  What a chore that was!!!  I do not recall what all my little brother said while we were finishing our project, but I know that he was back tracking on the things he said and pleading for help.  Nothing doing, my mother was “kind” enough to let us finish our good deed all by ourselves.

I think we learned right then and there that if we were ever going to clean again, it would be a little bit at a time.  What a mess we made!  Hopefully I learned not to go along with my brother’s ideas again.  I imagine I did not, though.  I am sure some other “projects” will come to mind eventually.

I was talking to my husband about this and saying that you would think we would not have wanted to “help” anymore but that I was sure there were more stories.  He just laughed and said he KNEW there were more stories and started listing them.  He said he was sure there were more stories than he knew about because we two were mischievous.  I reminded him that I was talking about the times we tried to help them.  He laughed even more and said that we may have called it help but we were mischievous.  Hmmmm…. surely not us!!