Grounded...

I've grounded the kids.

The short story is that they disrespected their grandparents again, upsetting the balance of my Supermom Universe on a weekly basis. So, I thought it was time to bring out the big guns. No DS, no Wii, no Game Cube (yes, we still have one of those things), no computer, and No TV. In short, no screens of any kind. For two weeks. And so far, here's what we've learned.

The TV remotes will not work when you unplug the TV. No matter how hard you push the button.

My oldest son's fingers have finally stopped twitching from lack of DS time.

My youngest is in fact a superstar of tennis. On the Wii. In real life, not so much. Actually, he sucks. My oldest is not that great either, but at least he managed to not hit himself in the head with the racket.

The garage got cleaned in less than 1 hour with the help of my two mental midgets. Both, by the way, loved cleaning and organizing all the outside Christmas and Halloween decorations that were once a hopeless tangled mess of lights and pumpkins. Oh, and that pile of metal from the garage door installation last year finally got recycled. We were even able to dig out all the old oil paint from 20 years ago to bring to the landfill on hazardous waste day. Now I just need to remember when that is...

My children are playing with toys they forgot they had. I have actually forgotten how amazing their imaginations are.

GI Joe has died in my bathtub, along with several of his men, via water pistol.

Lastly, I am enjoying the silence. I really, really am. No screaming over the TV, no automatic "yes, as soon as I finish this level" answers, no fighting over turns on the computer. Yes folks, this silence, as they say, is golden. But, as the days pass if I find silence's golden color starts to tarnish, I've discovered that Duct tape now comes in all colors, and I'm not afraid to use it.

To Be Continued....