I am still having hot flashes, and my husband is still disappointed. He thought for sure hot flashes would have me disrobing all day long! No, I just turn on the fan. I was finishing up errands yesterday about the time that the high school let out. Another big mistake. Why do these kids not ride the bus!? Today is our last European Geography co-op. The boys have Romania and Bulgaria. We also provide a food from the country. There were recipes for liver pate, jellied brain, chicken livers...we decided to go with dessert. We made a custard from Bulgaria and ice cream from Romania. The ice cream only has 1 cup of cream in it! I guess they emphasize the ice part more than the cream part. Yesteday we registered for co-op. I got there about 10-15 minutes early and was way behind at the end of the line. They must have started taking names at noon. Anyway we ended up with a history class, PE, sign language, violin, economics, and NC history. Now I have to find out what size violin I have to borrow or rent.

Today I take the boys to register for co-op classes. This is the fifth co-op, I believe, that our support group has sponsored. The boys have taken lots of neat classes, and we all enjoy the fellowship with other homeschoolers. The 4-H provides lunch as a fundraiser, so it becomes a very full day for my family. I have always taught at co-op. In fact, I have often taught all 3 hours of co-op. This semester I am not teaching at all. I know several people are wondering if I am ok or what is up. It is just that I felt that God may not be wanting me to teach this time. I prayed about it and asked Him to let me know by Thursday evening if I was not to teach. I knew that Friday, the deadline, would be too busy to submit my classes, so I planned on submitting Thursday night. Thursday evening I got a phone call to go to the hospital and help a friend in distress. I ended up bringing her two toddlers back here to spend the night, and no way did I have time for co-op stuff that night. As I lay in bed thinking about that, I realized that the hospital incident might be my sign. It certainly wasn't the sign I was looking for, but Jesus certainly wasn't the Messiah that the Pharisees were looking for either. So I decided not to teach. I am a bit sad about it; I love to teach. I did have classes picked out and ready to go, but this just seemed what God was saying to do. So today I will go early to stand in line and register my children for classes. The line can be amazingly long, and you often do not get your first choice of class; that is one other reason I always teach, teacher's kids get first chance at classes. We'll see what God does with this.

Sometimes I feel like I have things under control. The house is clean, the kids are washed, school is great, the laundry is done; and then there are times that I lose any trace of control. I seem to be in the latter stage right now. I wanted the boys to clean out their room because once again it had gotten beyond safety regulations. It has been several days now that we have been working on it. I wanted to take it slow so that I wouldn't lose patience and yell at them like I do every other time. The problem seems to be that they have too much stuff. I know I say that every time, and we do get rid of things, but there seems to be more and more to add to what we keep. So now the hallway is full of stuff, the room is still not clean, and I have lost control of the rest of the house in order to try and clean out their room! Ugh. Actually it isn't all their room's fault. We started back to "real" school this week now that camps are over, and that leaves school things all over the table. I also started cleaning out the attic of things that I have good intentions using in school, but know deep down that I won't. So the hallway is full of those things too. I did sell a few things last night at the meeting and I gave away some things. Then we had to go through clothes to get some pants out for #2 that fit, so clothes are hanging around in large lumps. It all adds up to one big mess. Sorry for all of the complaining. I just wanted to make all of you homemakers feel better that you aren't the only one with a messy house.

I am about to rant and rave, so step back. Last week when I was having the day camp here at home I needed to go pick up some kids one day. In order to do that I left a little early, knowing that I would hit traffic when I went past the high school. I was NOT prepared for how much traffic I would encounter! I sat through a traffic light 5 times. Then I had to sit while 3 police officers directed traffic. I came back a different way! The trip would normally take 15 minutes and it took 42 minutes!!! Now I would not rant and rave so much if it were busses that were causing the traffic, but it wasn't. The parents are taking the kids to school and dropping them off. Now do we or do we not pay taxes so that there is a bus system for the public schools? If you aren't going to take advantage of it then I want my tax money back! I rode the bus when I was a kid all the way through high school. Now sometimes my mother did drop me off if I had practice early in the morning, but I would get there before the busses. That was not the case last week. The busses were arriving at the same time as the parents. And how in the world do the teachers get there on time with all of that traffic? I would be so frustrated if I had to pass through that every day. ------------ We were planning on working yesterday until about 11:00 and then going down to the beach. At 10:45 we got a phone call from a friend asking if we wanted to go boating on the river. So we changed plans and headed to the river. The kids had a good time on the tube being pulled behind the boat. We went to a dock and tied up to go find lunch and then went out again and enjoyed swimming in the river. It was a fun day, but of course now my back is making me wince. The waves were a bit rough coming back.

Well the plan right now is to work this morning and then head to the beach this afternoon. I can't let a day get away from me without some work, but it is a holiday! So we will try to combine work and play into our day. I need to go through things in the attic. That's where I keep all of our schooling materials. Tomorrow is a HOME meeting and I will try to sell some things there. I was in the attic last week getting some things out and realized there is a lot up there that I have good intentions of using but know deep down that I won't. So why not sell them and let someone else have good intentions? The boys are in crisis. They got rid of some things out of their room in the yard sale, and now they don't know how to clean the room. They used to just throw everything in the desk or toy box and we sold both of those. So today they are getting a lesson on organizing. I hate these lessons! I honestly do not think my mom taught me that; I just knew how. It is not a part of their innate behavior, however.

There's just nothing like an hour and a half in bed on a Sunday afternoon. When I start getting the "baby bug" I just have to remember how many years go by without a Sunday afternoon nap, and the bug doesn't bite so hard. It was a long month- August- and though I had fun, I am glad it is over. Would you believe that Friday, after a week of mornings together with the same friends, a field trip with them on Tuesday to Durham, and a co-op together on Friday afternoon, my boys still wanted to go to their house and build a tree house together? One of the kids responded, "Why wouldn't we? Friends never get tired of each other." I wasn't here when they came back 4 1/2 hours later, but Hubby tells me they were sweaty and smelly. They told me the next day they worked until they couldn't see anymore. So now it is September and we are enjoying a mild day. It was cool this morning, with a hint of autumn on the plum leaves. By the time church let out it was about 85 degrees, but the humidity was low. There is a different air blowing, finally. Now if we can just have a little rain to fill the ponds and lakes. I guess it is too late for the farmers, but at least the drought could be over. Well you are probably wondering why I needed such a long nap today when I was going to spend Saturday in bed to recover from August. I didn't spend it in bed. No one is surprised, I know. I saw on Friday that a friend was having a yard sale on Saturday and I called to see if I could join her. I had been wanting to have a sale on Saturday, but I just didn't seem able to get to it in time. So I threw things together and joined her. The boys went through their things as well and we all made a little money. #1 made $10, #2 made $17, and I made $110. My money goes toward the furniture I have to pay off by March. #1 is saving for a book and #2 will blow his on whatever suits his fancy when he has the money in his pocket. I am trying to break him of that but it isn't going so well. He actually made a little more than that, but at the sale he spent it as fast as it came in. He wanted a Beanie Baby my friend was selling. I allowed one item and no more---we are cleaning out, not gathering! was my mantra. I started calling him Floyd for my father-in-law; neither one can resist a stuffed animal. After the sale we went to the movies to see Mr. Bean on Holiday. We are Bean fans; I guess you have to be to enjoy it enough for a movie theater. As we were leaving the theater, I thought, "Oh how wonderful! I don't have to do anything this week." A while later I remembered 4-H, HOME meeting, co-op registration, Geography co-op, a picnic, registering for soccer, and I didn't feel so free and relaxed anymore. So tomorrow's holiday may be spent trying to deal with issues at home so I can be relaxed the rest of the week; or maybe we'll go to the beach!

I have one more day to be a working mom. Tomorrow is our last day camp day. I am tired of having to have the house cleaned up, lessons ready, and animals cared for by 8:15. I have really enjoyed the camps, and I know the boys have had a great time, but my sacrificing is over for a while. On Monday I sent #2 to the mailbox before everyone came. The school bus was coming down the road as he ran to the box. The bus stopped for him. I later found out the driver called out to him, "Which school do you go to?" "I don't go to school," he replied. Oh great, I guess I should be watching for social services now. Last night as I read to the boys before bed, #2 said he had an idea and disappeared under the end table. I didn't pay attention and kept reading. All of a sudden the lights went out and blue light and sparks flew out from under the table. I went over to look, and out crawled #2 breathing hard. "What in the world did you do?" "I thought I would try to make a light under the table so I could see if I missed cleaning up any parts." He had put a copper wire from one of our experiments into the outlet and hooked it onto the little lightbulb that we used. Thank God the wire was insulated and he wasn't hurt. Those 10,000 angels that guard him were working overtime. Maybe I should put him on that schoolbus!

This week has been Science Camp at my house. I have 6 students, including my own 2 kids, and each day is devoted to a different branch of science. So far we have done Biology, Botany, and Chemistry. Tomorrow is Astronomy and then Physics. We are doing as much hands on as possible. I am tired! Yesterday a friend and I took our kids to Durham in the afternoon to see The Bodies Exhibition. I guess we were prolonging the science exposure. It is a traveling exhibit that we missed when we were in Philly last year. I had heard from a friend there that it is good, so we checked it out. It was quite amazing, but I think the big people got more out of it than the kids did. It is real bodies, dissected to show the different systems of the body. All of the bodies came from China. The interesting part to me was seeing the things that were wrong with the body, like polyps in the colon, cancer throughout the body, stroke in the brain, and a massive heart attack. Also of interest was the amazing intricacies of the body. The 3 bones in the ear are SOOOO tiny. The perfect little toes on a 13 week old fetus. The strands of capillaries. Someone has a lot more patience than I do to dissect all of that apart. ---------- #2 is a nut case. Last week he told me threw up a little bit, but he swallowed it down. Well don't do that I said, you should spit it out and rinse your mouth. "No," he replied, "it has nutritional value in it. It's like an animal eating the afterbirth for the protein." I assured him it was nothing like that and don't do it again, but he wasn't so convinced. Ugh.

I feel like a kid going through puberty. The year I turned 36 it all started. I could tell within a month that things were different. Here I am, a year and a half later, still trying to figure out this body. Things don't work like they used to, I am HOT almost all of the time, my hair is changing texture, and things don't fit like they used to. Nobody tells you in high school health class that this will happen again in life. -------- Hubby was reading an interesting thing to me this morning. There is something called a "freegan" now. It is someone who tries very hard to eat organically, live eco-friendly, and does as much for free as possible. This includes raiding dumpsters. The loot they got from a dumpster was amazing, though. There was even toilet paper still in the packaging. Americans' need for fresh and best is nauseating at times. I was driving by a housing development earlier this week and it made me sick to see the huge houses. It must be a nightmare to cool them in this heat, and how many people live in those monstrosities anyway? Someone was telling me this quote from a source in the 1920's: "Why is it that the most people live in the small houses and the fewest people live in the large houses?" Things haven't changed much. -------- We went to the beach yesterday for a few hours. It was a very pleasant day. I like that we live close enough to drive down for a day. My husband likes that we live close enough to go for a few hours and then leave before he is french fried. There were a lot of surfers there yesterday; that was the first we had seen surfers there. We got a couple of skim boards and tried that out. I hurt my back doing that---back to that puberty thing again!

Yesterday I decided that I need to work as a top executive for some big company. In less than half a day I had taught many subjects, given a piano lesson, cooked, cleaned, done laundry, paid bills, organized a child pick-up from school, put out a couple of fires, and rearranged an event due to illness- which involved a little bit of public relations. Later in the evening I was telling hubby this and that I need to make more money. #2 assumed I was serious and told his brother that mon is going to get a top job with the NY Times because she needs to make more money. I have to be careful what I say! ------------- School has worn out my extra kids too. Today the youngest two were having meltdowns. Of course, you have to take into account that they are 3 and 5 and that stage of life has a lot of meltdowns naturally. We got through school rather quickly today. There were tears during math, but I stuck to my guns and we got through it. I guess we will see how much is retained tomorrow. It was double digit multiplication. I kept trying to remind myself what it is like to learn something for the first time. ------------- I went back to the chiropractor today. He did a good adjustment today when I told him that yesterday didn't help any. I think he knew I had a free coupon yesterday and was trying to get me to come back today. I didn't tell them that I had a coupon today too, and I got a good adjustment. Makes you wonder.... Anyway, he says don't dig or hoe and stay out of holes. As I was vacuuming and carrying a load of laundry out to the line I wondered if these things were counted among the "holes." I can't stop and do nothing! If I did I would have to see a psychiatrist, and I am sure there are no free coupons for them!!

I went back to the chiropractor this morning. I think I am going to have to go every couple of months. I have needed to go back for a while, but I just seem too busy and so I put up with the pain. When it gets to the point that it hurts to lie down, stand, and sit then I suppose it is time to get some relief! I have to go back tomorrow for another adjustment and then I should be ok for a while. ---------- We finished up school this morning fairly well. The extra kids are here this afternoon and we still have geography to work on. I'll see how that goes, but it doesn't usually go well to school when they are here to play. They are here all afternoon tomorrow as well, so we do have to start it this afternoon. This was the kids' first day of school. #3 did an acrostic poem, #4 didn't know what he did, and #5 didn't finish his red logs (whatever that is). I told him he could finish it tomorrow, but he assured me he doesn't want to do it ever. My niece started Kindergarten last week. She stayed on the bus one day and missed her stop. It was just too fun to ride the bus, that she didn't notice she passed her stop. This week she slept until 9 a.m. She goes to afternoon Kindergarten. In her words, "That Kindergarten weared me out!"

The dog now belongs to my husband. During the night she left the boys' room and came to our room. She kept stirring and licking herself, so I put her out and shut our door. She waited a couple of minutes and then barked. "Great," I thought, "she's going to start barking at something and keep us up." But she didn't; it was just the one bark. Then, she evidently came into the office here and used the carpet for a toilet. Now she belongs to him! I have washed it and spread baking soda on it, but I will have to shampoo it. It really stinks in here now. ------------------- Yesterday was my first day back with the "extra" kids. They have grown over the month or so that they were gone. Of course, so have my two. We went to the state park to swim and play for the day. The water was a good 6 feet lower than where it was about 6-7 weeks ago. We need rain desperately. ------------------- Today is the annual 4-H club pool party. The kids look forward to it all summer. We swim at a member's community pool, eat pizza and snacks, and have a fun time together. So this morning will be busy trying to fit in school work and play.

One of the funny things that happened while camping: We went swimming at the beach for an hour before getting ready for our play. After swimming, I told the kids they had to shower so we could go to the drama. Alex, 6 years old, was obviously not happy about this. I sent him in with his sister to help get the sand and seaweed off. I heard his sister say, "It's not so bad. You don't have to get all your body in, just stick in the sandy parts." Then in a joyous voice Alex responded, "Hey! No soap either!" The world would be a lot stinkier if there weren't any women. -------------- Tonight ended up being guys' night out, but I joined them for dinner. Then we went our separate ways: me to grocery shop, and them to the library and store. At dinner I told them we had big news for them. "Actually," I said, "Your father has big news for you." Their response was as if I had said we are having another baby! Their faces were shocked, their mouths hung open, and their words were incomprehensible. The news? Kelly is to be an indoor dog now. This is my husband's decision, but I guess I have to go along with it. She has been visiting the neighborhood across the field from us. It started as a place to go when we were out of town. I think she would get lonely and scared during storms. Then she started visiting when we would just go for a night, and we are starting to wonder if she is visiting while we go to the store. One of the neighbors stopped me the other day as I picked her up. She has been trying to get in their house through their doggie door. So in order to keep her from bothering others, she is to be a house pet. The guys went to get shampoo and flea medicine this evening. The boys are happy to have her stay in their room now, and #1 wanted to know if she can sleep in his bed. He is on the top bunk! I guess washing the dog can now be added to my list of chores.

Economics is over. I think it went well, and I had a lot of good comments from parents. They told me several things their children have gone home and talked about, so I think they learned a good bit. Taxes were a big issue with them. We went through a pay stub and looked at all that comes out of your pay, and they decided to do away with taxes. Then we discussed taxes and what they do for us, and most ended up with a grudging willingness to pay taxes. One girl said absolutely not though. I had fun teasing her mother, who is a Democrat, that her daughter is an extreme Republican! I took #1 with me last night to run some errands, and had him do some comparison shopping at Food Lion. He picked out the cheese sticks, Q-Tips, and garbage bags with help. Then I had him look for 2 boxes of cereal while I ran to the restroom. The cereal was a lot harder because it came with the stipulation of 10 grams or less of sugar per serving. He was able to find one box, but I had to pick the other one. He didn't care for the other options. _______________ We went camping on Friday with 4-H. We went to the Outer Banks to see The Lost Colony outdoor drama. It was good; one 6 year old member said it was the best historical play he had ever seen. I think the indians jumping out of the bushes had a lot to do with it. The camping was ok. We got back about midnight and storms started rolling through about 1:30. #1 couldn't stand it and cried to go home. I was afraid he might be sick, like a friend who didn't get to go, so I was up worrying what to do if vomiting started. Finally around 4 a.m. I was able to sleep, though not well since the air mattress had a hole and deflated on me. Then the other kids woke up about 6 a.m. and we were off on another busy day. We let the kids swim in the FREEZING cold waters of the Outer Banks, and then we had lunch and went to the Elizabethan Gardens. It was a fun trip. We love our 4-H club so much. _________________ The trip made us especially tired since I had been called away to the hospital on Thursday night and then cared for two toddlers through the night. One of the ladies I have met through the shelter needed to go to the hospital and she had no choice but to take the kids with her. The nurses were having a terrible time with the kids in the room and asked isn't there anyone who can come and get them. The poor thing has no family and very little in the way of friends. So she called here looking for help. I can't imagine letting my young children walk off to spend the night with what amounts to a stranger.

Yesterday we discussed non-renewable resources you find in your home. I had the kids make sculptures of some, and one kid made a clock. He said it was "time" because you can never get time back. I thought that was very clever. The classes seem to have gone well. Today was an exchange for the kids to learn about markets. They couldn't wait when they got there to make their exchanges. Some learned that, just like spinach Poptarts would not be a good idea, you should have brought something somebody would want, to be able to exchange. The producers and consumers rely on each other. Tomorrow starts the "Big Kids" class, grades 3-8. I don't know all of the students so I am hoping it goes well. -------- We are going camping with our 4-H club on Friday evening at the Outer Banks. We plan to see The Lost Colony, an outdoor drama. I'm not sure if hubby is going, so it may be me and the boys. We are also taking 2 other kids whose parents can't go. It is just one night, so it can't be too bad, but August is not usually a great time to camp. There is also a chance of a storm Friday night, so it may be quite exciting.

The Economics Seminar is going well. Yesterday was the class for K-2; I had forgotten how funny teaching Kindergarten is. As we talked about specialization, we discussed what our parents do for a living. I liked the one that said, "My Dad talks on the phone a lot." Her dad is a real estate agent. Today I had 20 students grades 2-5 and they seemed to have a good time and catch on to the concepts well. Tomorrow the students are to bring an item to exchange with other children as we learn about markets. I had no idea this would be such an ordeal. "Do we have to?" "Can we have it back?" "I can't find anything." They don't want to part with any of their things. Perhaps materialism is the lesson we will learn. --------------- Tails. They sure are cute. In the mornings when the kids get let out of the coop, they run to Millie and wag as fast as they can while they gulp down the milk. The ducks waggle their tails as they eat up the corn that the goats drop. Kelly bangs her tail on the floor whenever you pass by in hopes of a belly rub. The cats twitch their tails to show annoyance or disapproval. A friend was telling me the other day about her daughter- age 3- that walked in on Dad as he came out of the shower. "Mommy! Daddy has a tail!" That's going to take a while to explain!

I had a flashback yesterday of my professional teaching days. I was trying to think about the lessons for next week, and those for the other week of day camp lessons, and I had just finished the week of environmental lessons and was reviewing my success at that. I then remembered the days of lesson plans and was glad to be done with that! The environmental camp went well. Yesterday we made molds of the goat hoofprints. We were supposed to walk around the woods and look for animal prints to mold, but without any rain for so long it was going to be impossible. So we improvised and got our own tracks. I think the kids' favorite lesson was one about how much can land support. They were to take trees and water drops off of a grid as people moved in and see how long the natural resources lasted. I'm not sure why it was the favorite, but it was. Finally we have some relief from the heat. The last 4 days had temperatures in the hundreds and humidity that would soak you as soon as you stepped outside. The air conditioners couldn't keep up, and you tried to stay inside. The poor rabbits looked miserable, all sweaty and panting. We iced them several times a day, but I am sure they wanted more ice. Yesterday evening we finally got a good soaking, blowing storm and cleared the humidity out of the air. It was pleasant when I went to milk this morning. I know it was a soaking, blowing storm because I was in it. Hubby and I went out on the porch to enjoy the storm- I was enjoying, not him- and then he went inside. I decided to wait a few more minutes. When I tried to get back in, as the storm worsened, the door wouldn't open. I thought he was being a smartie pants and had locked me out, but actually the door jam screws had come loose and were catching the door closed. So I had to run around the house to the back door. It was kind of fun, actually. The door is now fixed.

Something interesting happened yesterday. There was a 4-H meeting at our church building. My husband, the minister, went home to work in peace. As we were leaving, a man came by asking for the pastor. One of the ladies sent him to me as the pastor's wife. He wanted to talk to my husband, he worked for the city. So I thought there was some problem with the utilities and offered to call hubby. The man's face lit up and he asked, "Could you really do that?" "Sure," I responded. So as I called and waited for it to be picked up, I asked the man what the problem was. He said he needed prayer. He got on the phone and talked to my husband, they prayed, the man became very emotional, he hung up, thanked me and left. I later asked my husband what it was about. It seems that a family member asked this man for some money. He went in the house and got some for him. Later, the family member came in and stole the safe. Now he has to tell the family what this person did, and he is upset to have to tell everyone. He wanted someone to pray with him about telling the family what happened. It was so encouraging to see someone come for that kind of help. So often people come by or call and want a hand-out. I certainly understand sometimes needing financial help or food, but so often it seems expected that we must help them. It reminds me of Jesus asking why people followed him, and some followed because they knew he could give them bread and fish. They just wanted a hand-out. Jesus offers so much more: peace, comfort, friendship. They come for water, not knowing living water is flowing past their door. Yesterday was a very hot day, and Jesus gave a refreshing drink to a thirsty man.

I started reading a book about lectio divina when I was on retreat. I have finally picked it back up. It is by Tony Jones and he has a great way of putting spiritual things on a level I understand. Here is an excerpt: "You might think "the Bible is living" is a weird idea. You might have a Bible near you right now. Look at it. It sits there, inanimate, made of dead trees and maybe bound with the hide of a dead cow. That doesn't seem living in any way. The Bible lives in another sense: Because it's God-breathed, it has the ability to breathe God's spirit into us. Think of it this way: The belief of Christ-followers is that, though the Bible is done being written, it's not done writing. The Bible writes its truths on our hearts, speaking its words constantly into new situations, new times, and new cultures. God's spirit is alive and well and enables us to read the Bible in faith. No other book can make that claim." The book is called read, think, pray, live (yes, lower case). It is short and easy to read. I recommend it. -------------- The first day of camp went well. I had 5 students, tomorrow I will have 3 and then the rest of the week I will have 6. Anyway, 2 of the 3 experiments didn't work well, so it was a trial and error thing, but the kids had fun chasing goats and climbing trees anyway. Tomorrow we look at pond water.

I was embarrassed today. I could feel my face turn pink. Hubby announced to the church that I had won the grant to teach economics. He never says anything personal from the "pulpit" (we don't actually have a pulpit), and it took me by surprise. I'm glad to know he is proud of me. He even looked up how many winners there were, something I hadn't done. There were only 2 in NC, so I guess that speaks well of me. ______ We finished The Long Winter, and are now on Little Town on the Prairie. The Long Winter intrigued me. I can't imagine that happening now. We would get food to those in isolation, no matter the weather. Katrina showed us that it might take a few days, but it certainly didn't take 7 months! People nowadays wouldn't know what to do if the food didn't come with directions of "add water and 2 TBS of margarine." Anyway, it has had me curious. The indian's warning was this happens every 21 years- a really, really bad winter. That means that last winter, 2006-2007, would actually have been time for the bad winter. I don't remember hearing anything about it. I wonder how much global warming has affected that. -------- Tomorrow starts my first day camp. It is environmental studies and has a lot of experiments. I hope I have everything together. I feel like I do. So today, as much as I don't like to on Sundays, we are cleaning house. I spent yesterday helping with the church Water Day, and then finishing up the planning for the economics seminar. So that left today for the "dirty work." Since #1 had no clean underwear this morning, it also meant doing a load of laundry. I have no idea where his underwear went. I gave him a bunch to put away on Tuesday. He either hid it really well (I have looked too) or he just stuck it all back in the dirty hamper so he wouldn't have to put it away. Who knows. Maybe this will teach him to take care of his laundry when he is to put it away. Probably not, clean underwear is not that important to a 10 year old boy.