i had had about all i could take of ashley's ( my 14 year old stepdaughter) laziness, lack of doing chores that she has ALWAYS done in the past, and her missing school for no good reason. but NOW she is REALLY trying to make me mad. her brother gave her his old cell phone( the throw away kind) which we didn't approve of to begin with but i was too tired ( as usual) to deal with it and her father just let it go.

ANYWAY, monday night she woke me up while she was unplugging MY cell phone and plugging in HER cell phone. i said" ash, you can borrow my charger during the day, but i use my cell for work and it HAS to be charged up at night. don't unplug my phone again, okay". she responded with a lame "okay".

THEN, wednesday morning( TWO DAYS LATER) i woke up at 5:00 am to see that she had unplugged my phone AGAIN and so the beep wouldn't wake me up she had taken HER phone with MY charger and had it plugged up in her room!!!!!!!!

i was LIVID!!!!!!!!!!! i snatched the covers off of her head and said"DO NOT UNPLUG MY PHONE AGAIN UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO YOU

UNDERSTAND!!!!!?????"

then, after i had time to think about it i decided to pull a "mike brady" on her. i figured if he could raise three step children in 30 minutes a week, i could raise ONE in a lifetime. so, i calmly laid it out to her. the first time i had really TALKED to her since the stroke. i told her i was sorry i had'nt been there for her like i should and why, told her i needed her help NOW more than ever, told her how sad it would be that after 11 years of friendship we suddenly became enemies, and i hugged her and told her i loved her.

THEN i asked her what she thought could be done about the situation. she then informed me that i needed to SET BOUNDARIES. ( i got REAL interested then)

she said i needed to be stricter on her and make her do more. i said" oh REALLY?" i then told her to make me a list of everything that she thinks i should and shouldn't let her do and i would take it under advisement.

well, wednsday night she handed me "the list" and i was SHOCKED!!!!! she had chores on there i hadn't even THOUGHT about. she had things on there i didn't even KNOW she had been getting away with!!!!! I SURE WOULD HATE TO BE her KID!!!!! so, today is day two of our new "BRADY LIFE" and things are running smoothly SO FAR.!!!

we'll just wait and see if it keeps up!!!!!