That felt GOOD!

I'm sure, if you're a parent you've done some version of this at some point... tonight, as I put the girls in the bathtub (apparently they have so much dirt in their ears that they can no longer hear me) a brilliant idea came to me. I went down to the garage and grabbed 2 lawn and leaf bags. Then back up into their DANGEROUSLY cluttered, messed up, you could hide the Loch Ness monster in there-rooms, and bagged it all up! They had no clue. Finally, as it's time for bed;
"Mom, you cleaned my room!"
"Nope, not really - it's all in a trash bag in the storage closet."
"WHAT!" as if I had slapped them in the face. "Where's my this! Where's my that! Where's my other thing!!!" They desperately cried.
"Well, tomorrow if you clean up your room, I'll take you down, and we'll get one thing out of the trash bag. And the next day, if you clean your room again, we'll go down and get another thing," I said.
"Mommy, I'm telling on you, YOU'RE MEAN!" (says Abi, with big sad puppy tears marching off to find Dad)
Later I found Abi had managed to choke back the tears long enough to start straightening up her desk, so she could get a jump on tomorrows chores. Good night, goodnight - "And tell Daddy I'm sorry I spilled his drink!"

So, for 4 days I've been telling them to clean up their room, and for 4 days they've been ignoring me. Now we shall have clean rooms and brushed teeth for at least a week! Then they, and I, will loose interest and move on to the next big thing. But for now, it feels Good!