No notebook, no cry

My computer seems to have bitten the dust. I was typing on it the other night, and bam...it shut off. Called HP and he walked me through a bunch of fixes that I had already tried. I listened very carefully to his instructions and responded to his questions very courteously. Funny part is, I was not trying these procedures or following his directions. I was having a coffee and driving the car. I think he caught on after a while, but didn't seem to care.

He arranged to send me an empty box and I agreed to put my computer in it and send it back to him. 6-8 business days and I will be getting my fixed computer back.

Today we all went shopping for groceries at Safeway. Tannis took Mitchell and I took Brooke. Tannis managed to full an entire cart with everything we will need for the next 10 years in the same time it took me to fill my basket with the items we would require for our dinner that night. I definitely enjoy the journey more than she does. Brooke was marginally helpful. She picked out a marinated vegetable salad that, although it looks tasty, probably tastes like shit. She also picked out some Bugles, and cinnamon and brown sugar Eggos. Those two choices are classic Brooke. I think she chose the veggies first so that I would agree to the other two later.

We had grilled paninis and caesar salad. Then we cleaned the house. Except for Mitchell...he cried. And then he fell down the stairs. And then cried some more. I chose this time to yell at him. I gave him the whole "Stop being a suck" and "I'll give you something to cry about" speech. I could just bend and let him suck out and go to bed. But I want him to learn early that if there is a job that needs to get done, you get it done. Then you do what you want.

Brooke, surprisingly, was a cleaning machine. So much so that Tannis saw it fit to reward her with a Skittle or two. Mitch saw this and wasn't impressed. So he cleaned up a few things and then asked for a skittle of his own. The answer he got was not what he expected. We explaned to him that you don't do chores for the reward. You do chores for ... well, because you HAVE to. I explained that Brooke got a candy because she worked hard right from the beginning and didn't make a fuss or have to be reminded to keep cleaning. This was quite unpopular with Mitch. But I was firm. I gave him a hug, told him I loved him, and reminded him that when we clean up in the future he needs to help out more without causing a fuss. Or I will kill him.