My Diary From The Boys' Locker Room

The days that's probably the best title I can come up with for this episode of my life. Every week there are multiple entries that could be made to this diary. Our three middle school boys make me laugh everyday in some way. Sometimes I just can't let them see that I'm laughing!

Last week my husband was insistent that the basement smelled "like the SPCA" as he refers to it. Now, the three dogs do stay in the basement while we are at work and they sleep down there. However, there are also three middle school age boys that live down there too. They shower every day. Well, every weekday. I find dirty clothes in their beds and who knows what else could be in there. The boys just aren't particularly big on cleanliness. Now, on the days that we clean, they do vacuum, sweep, mop, fold and put away laundry and assorted other chores. They aren't exactly detail oriented so we have to check over them often before clearing them on a task.

This brings me to the point of my post. The origin of the smell that had my husband so upset. I came home that night and had my oldest son help me start cleaning the basement. As usual, I gave him the vacuuming to do and I went for the room his younger brother usually cleans - the bathroom. Three boys, one bathroom. As I cleaned, I began to come up with nicknames for each of them based on the offense I know they commonly commit. I have one who doesn't really create a problem. The other one I decided to call flush. I figure if he hears it often enough, he may remember to do it. Then there's the worst, the one I call splash. Now the other two may be guilty of missing the giant hole they are supposed to go in from time to time, but splash doesn't even acknowledge the hole! Cleaning this room was about much more than cleaning the toilet. It was about taking down the cloth shower curtain and washing it. Cleaning off the side of the bathtub. Cleaning the floor and the baseboards.

The whole time I was cleaning, I was thinking to myself, those Brady boys must have had really good aim because as whiny as the Brady girls could be, I never heard one complain about Bobby peeing all over the toilet. They did have Alice however and I do not. The boys make things smell!