(((((Jinny))))) I just avoided one of those arguements myself. My youngest came back from spending two nights at his friends. His first comment "the livingroom doesn't look any different." 1) that is a mess that he and his friend made before he left and I am NOT cleaning it up, which means that I haven't been able to steam clean my carpets either. 2) I was cleaning the kitchen, the kind of cleaning that makes a huge mess until you're done (cupboards and drawers) 3) I KNOW he didn't mean it the way it came of, my kids are respectful if nothing else.

I've had 10 hours of sleep in the last three days, and if I would have responded to him when he made the comment it would have created a bigger problem than it would have solved. So I simply said "your mess, you clean it." And I shut myself back up in my bedroom. I'm going to take a sleeping pill soon. But when I wake up, he's going to learn how to use the steam cleaner!