With my kids being nearly six years apart (and different genders!), I thought that I might have dodged the bullet called "sibling rivalry". Bu-buh. No. When it suits them, they are capable of playing nicely together, but when they go off, boy do they go off!

Competition is the big one. For example, N. my not quite 5 y.o daughter, likes to empty the letterbox. No big deal, you think. Life is good, quiet, peaceful. Until J. my nearly 11 y.o son decides he wants to do it. Why? I don't know. To cause trouble is my main train of thought. N. of course goes off like a firecracker when he does things like this, and let me tell you, she doesn't go quietly! Oh no, the whole neighbourhood likely can hear her! And don't get me started on the fight for the front seat of the car!!

Which brings me to yesterday's effort with the wheelie bin. Week after week, the garbage truck does its rounds in the morning and N goes tearing out of the house to drag the bin(s) back down the driveway. Some days it's early, around 7-7.30am. Like yesterday. When J decided that he was going to go and retrieve the bin. Predictably, N went off like a firecracker. But you know the worst of it? He didn't check to see if the bin had been emptied first!! I mean, N lifts the lid and checks. Did J think to check? Noooo...he was too busy concentrating on beating his sister to the task. And silly me, I didn't think to check either.....until 2pm. When I happened to walk past and notice a little slip of blue bin liner hiding at the top of the bin. Aaarrrgghhh!!!!! So, no nice empty bin to fill over the next week. No, our is chockers and we've still got 6 days left til next collection day!

The worst of it is, J shows no interest in doing this job. Week in, week out, he sits on his butt and lets N do it. So why now? Why me???