Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Chore Chart





We interrupt the ongoing series on "Big Decisions" to bring you this breaking news bulletin. Taylor is now a fashion consultant. As you can see from the photos of Princess Olivia, she's either getting hitched today or playing in the dressup clothes box. We assume it's the latter. But here's the background to why Olivia is so fashionably attired. When we got home from Oregon in June, Julie took it upon herself to design, coordinate and implement the infamous "Chore Chart" that outlines each child's duties each day. Miraculously, the husband of Julie and father to the extraordinary brood of children, managed to escape being placed on the "Chore Chart." Perhaps there's an age limit involved. Either way, as you can see it's quite extensive. Even detailed. Dishes, mopping, vacuuming, bathroom cleaning (trust us, with little boys in the house who are still working on their aim, that's the one detail that you might not want) and the list seemingly goes on for eternity. But we here at Team Sabo headquarters view the chore chart as a thing of beauty and a way for each member of the family to pitch in and truly make this "Team Sabo."
So today Taylor had "Olivia Duty" beginning at 11 a.m. This involves keeping the wee lass occupied while Julie instructs various Sabo children in homeschool and the father of the house "works" for the newspaper by writing newspaper blog entries, calling sources for interviews, digging up dirt, afflicting the powerful, etc., etc. Today Taylor thought Olivia might like to bide her time by trying on dresses. Specifically wedding style dresses. This type of dressy endeavor works for both girls and boys, as Taylor's youngest brothers can attest. Olivia thoroughly enjoyed the experience, parading around the house while Taylor held up the train of her dress. I must say, the tiara was really working for her. Wouldn't you agree?

2 comments:

  1. Wow, it looks like it takes a degree in Engineering just to make the chore chart...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been working really hard over the past few months on a website called called PowrHouse (http://powrhouse.net/). In such a complicated situation (8 people and chores with descriptions), I think it would be a HUGE benefit to you (as long as everyone doing chores can either use email, or you don't mind checking their chores off for them).

    It's currently in beta, but it works well (we're using it in our household). You add everyone you live with (kids, spouses, roommates, etc.), add your chores (names and how often they should be done), and PowrHouse keeps track of whose turn it is to do each chore (and sends email reminders every night, with links to click to signal that you've done the chores).

    If you do end up using it, please contact me (my info is on the site) and let me know what you think, as I'm trying to make it as useful to as many types of households as possible. If not, thanks at least for reading this far :)

    ReplyDelete