Orange Over Achievers

Everyone knows absolutely NOTHING rhymes with orange. That is until #2 comes downstairs, from an afternoon "cleaning" his room, and informs me that door hinge rhymes with orange. Items are still left strewn about, the bed is still unmade, drawers still stand askew, but we now know what rhymes with orange. Maybe I should just close the door on its door hinge and not think about it. I went upstairs last week to help #2 with some school work that needed printed out. While I was trying to fix the printer I kept smelling something like a dead mouse. "Go around there and see if you find a dead mouse," I ordered #2. What I meant was go into the attic crawl space and see if a mouse was in there. What he did was crawl under the printer stand and FIND A DEAD MOUSE!! It had obviously been there a few days. He removed it, and I washed the area with Lysol and sprayed an odor neutralizer. On second thought maybe I should take the door off the door hinge. ---------- "We will be working on Cumulative Records this weekend," I informed #1 last week. The look of excitement was precious to behold. Cumulative Records are a three years' summation of what a kid has done in a project area. You are allowed to turn in two a year after you turn 13 in 4H years. This is #1's first time to be eligible, and of course we are turning in two reports. #1 is fond of saying, "You don't have to be an over-achiever, Mom!" "If you are born into this family you do," I snidely reply. Anyway, as we worked on the prestigious Cumulative Record, #1 asked yet again why he has to do this. "Honor Club," I replied. "But I don't want to be in Honor Club," he whined. "Yes you do. You said so." "When did I ever say that?" he asked with annoyance. "Every time you asked me in the last couple of years how many points you have toward Honor Club," I shot back. He just grinned and went on typing his report. He is an over achiever even if he doesn't want to admit it.