September 15, 2008

How my kids spent Saturday night

Sunday morning, I woke early and stumbled down the stairs to get a bowl of cereal. I couldn't help but notice a swirl of sticky notes, in the shape of a snake on the wall below the stairs. The notes spelled out a very long word: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. As I looked around blearily, I noticed sticky notes everywhere, stuck to walls and furniture and pretty much every object in the house. On my laptop, I saw a note that said, "Don't panic," and two others that said, "You may need to purchase some new sticky notes for some reason."

Yes, during the night, the boys had decided to play with sticky notes. They'd written on them —adding song lyrics, lame jokes, quotes from books, corny puns, lines from movies, scientific formulas, or random facts — and posted them all over the house. They'd used 500 of them. Yes, FIVE HUNDRED sticky notes.

The note on the water jug near the door, the one Shaggy Hair Boy takes to Ultimate Frisbee games, read, "Dihydrogen Monoxide." A pink note on the vacuum cleaner said, "I suck." Attached to the fern plant was a note that said, "Fact: Fern Gully is one of the best movies ever made." The note on the piano said, "Play me. Harder. Better. Stronger. Faster." The metronome had a pink sticky that said, "My beat is correct." Two books on the shelf were labeled, "Impossible Germany" and "Unlikely Japan, " which shows that my kids have been listening to the Wilco CD I've had in my car all summer.

The note on the refrigerator said, "Put food in me," a line from the Simpsons. Even the photos on the refrigerator received captions. I've always liked the photo of my niece, with her pale skin, flyaway hair, and mysterious smile, but now it seemed creepy when accompanied by a note that said, "I will eat your soul." The grocery list, which itself is sort of a post-it note, hangs on the refrigerator. Under the list of food items, Boy in Black had added another item: sticky notes. And then he attached another sticky note with an arrow and the words, "Now that is irony."

The more I looked, the more sticky notes I found. They were inside the cupboards, inside the refrigerator, inside the freezer. I pulled a china plate from the bottom of the stack, and found a note that said, "Eat me." The note on the revolving corner cupboard said, "You spin me right around, baby. Right around. Like a record player." The fortune cookie that had been left on the table had a note that said, "Often wrong." Inside the dishwasher, I found a note that read, "This is not dishwasher safe." I stepped on a note that was just lying on the floor. I pulled it from my sock. It read, "Don't tread on me."

All yesterday and all today, I kept finding notes. Some made me roll my eyes, some made me laugh. It was like an Easter egg hunt, except with paper and words. Shaggy Hair Boy assures me I haven't found them all yet, that they will be popping up for months to come.

One note said, "500 sticky notes + nothing to do = fun time."

26 comments:

Zhoen said...

Awesome. Simply.

Phantom Scribbler said...

Okay, but did you get the reference to the revolving corner cupboard note? Because if you did, I am awarding you major pop-culture bonus points.

jo(e) said...

No, I had to ask my kids. The funny thing is that one of my kids put that lyric on the ceiling fan, and another on the revolving cupboard, and they only noticed later that they had both used it.

Probably half of the 500 notes went over my head .... I am not so much on top of pop culture.

Brigindo said...

Love it! Especially "don't tread on me."

My friend went through a messy divorce and subsequent move. Unpacking she found her ex had put cryptic post-it notes in all her belongings. For about a year she found creepy reminders from an unstable man. This is a MUCH better use of sticky notes.

jo(e) said...

Brigindo: Oh, that's not the first time I've heard of bitter divorcing spouses leaving nasty notes .... it's so passive aggressive and childish.

These notes, on the other hand, were lots of fun. I'm still finding new ones. And With-a-Why has been explaining some of them to me -- all the references I didn't get the first time ....

EmmaNadine said...

Can I be one of your children? Or at least one of your extras? I love your home.

Anonymous said...

*laughing*

chichimama said...

Huh. My 1st grader just went through 250 sticky notes labeling everything in the house (door, windoe, flor)while I was trying to finish up a project. Glad to hear that in a decade or so the notes will have better spelling and more amusing wording...the lazy susan one cracked me up.

Kathy Rogers said...

Hilarious.

Not dishwasher safe.

Your kids are awesome.

Teri said...

what they said--i want to live at your house.

Busymomma66 said...

I'm definitely not letting my son read this post!! That is hilarious--and very clever. It'll be especially great when you run across one of the "lost" ones on a dark cranky day.

landismom said...

I can't wait to see if my kids grow up to be half as interesting and inventive as yours!

That is teh awesome.

landismom said...

and BTW, no pictures??!!!

Liz Miller said...

Your kids are so creative and fun!

Bardiac said...

Your kids sound so darned fun. Don't they want to come here for college?

RageyOne said...

ha! so that's why you are purchasing sticky notes as your facebook status said. too funny!

ScienceWoman said...

Oh I do hope Minnow grows up to be half as cool as your kids. Can you share your secret recipe? :)

susan said...

In my house we refer to the revolving corner cupboard as an industrious Susan, fwiw.

And to think people say that kids these days don't write enough! Clearly not true.

Rick said...

I really enjoy the "Don't panic." note on your laptop. You're kids are clever and hilarious.

Anonymous said...

Your kids are the greatest! :D

BrightBoy said...

So, you need to adopt me. I have a feeling that my brothers and I would have fir in very well there.

I'm actually going to share this post with other people because I think it's that funny.

Silver Creek Mom said...

What a wonderful idea for 100 day at school!

Kathryn said...

Oh...LOVE it. Thank you, Jo(e)'s boys (now that is a cultural ref that even I can pick up) for such entertainment :-)

What Now? said...

Too funny! Thanks for a good laugh, which is exactly what I needed at the end of a long day.

timna said...

I didn't know "put food in me" was from the Simpsons. that's been on my refrigerator since one of my nephews came in May or June and played with the label maker.

Marcia said...

How fun! Your kids are so cool.