I don't wanna

Today has been declared "family clean-up day." We are all going to descend on the basement and clean it out. Then, once that is done, it's on to the bedrooms. It needs to happen. It's gonna happen.

But I don't wanna.

There is nothing on the calendar from 11:30am on. Do you know how rare that is? (Well, if you're a parent of school age kids, you probably do.) There are no games, no plays, no birthday parties or sleepovers. So of course it's the perfect day for a much needed deep clean.

But I don't wanna.

Because it's also the perfect day for reading the book on my Nook that I am thoroughly enjoying, even though I can't remember the name of it. It's the perfect day for watching movies, tooling around on Facebook, writing a few blog posts.

In the basement there are Legos and video games out of control and Christmas stuff that is waiting, boxed up, to be put in the storage room. In the bedrooms, there are mountains of laundry -- probably not all of which is dirty. (You know how I feel about that.)  All those things need to be dealt with, I know.

But I don't wanna.

What I want to do is take a nap and thumb through catalogs and in general laze about the day.  I don't wanna be the grown up, cracking the whip and barking orders. I don't wanna be the foot soldier, carrying out those orders and hoisting bags of trash and Goodwill items. But I will. I will pull on my big girl panties and fix my eyes on the prize of a clean basement and bedrooms that do not threaten to do bodily harm via ill-placed piles of clothes. I will cheer on the troops and lead by example.

But I don't wanna.

The pros and cons of 12

Consider the number 12.

It can be a nice number. There are the 12 days of Christmas. The 12 months of the year. 12 eggs in a carton. The 12 apostles of Jesus. Charlie's 12th birthday this summer.

Even the sound of the word is a bit sophisticated. "Tw-el-ve." All that blending of syllables seems a little aristocratic.

There is size 12 in clothing, which may or may not be a good thing depending on which side of size 12 you stand on. Personally? I'd be elated to see a 12 again.

A shoe size of 12 might make you happy if you are a man (or are married to a man with a size 12 foot). Although a size 12 in the women's shoe department does not carry quite the same badge of honor.

But the worst 12 there is? The most unhappy 12 I can think of today?

The 12 loads of laundry I need to deal with today. (There are so many, I can't fit them all in the picture, plus 2 are in the washer and dryer). 

Once they are all clean, only half of those items are going back upstairs. The other half will find their way to the Goodwill today -- even if it takes me 12 trips to get them there.

What is your favorite (or least favorite) 12?