Friday 9 May 2008

It's a hard knock life ........................... for them!

I'm all in favour of child labour - when it is my little monsters doing the labouring!

tidying the garden and washing the "patio" - 20p

Dusting - 10p

Hoovering cobwebs - 10p

Cleaning out the fire - 20p

Taking all their mess out of the sitting room and leaving it looking like this?
Priceless!!!
- okay then, 50p!

So what prompted this industry and money making fervour?

Crazy Bones - 95p for a pack of 3 - the latest "craze" and muggins-mummy has agreed to let the children collect them - but they have to earn them and they worked really hard.

Here they are enjoying playing with the fruits of their labours

and with a nice tidy sitting room again, Mr Locket and I were able to sit back and relax too.

Child Labour? Brilliant! So it's a real shame that all the local shops have sold out of Crazy Bones and don't know when they will be getting them in again - I could have got them tidying upstairs this weekend if only I had more bribes!

Staying on the Little Locket/Locket Household theme I thought I would share this with you


Goldfinches in our garden! I'm so excited - I think they are nesting next door and coming to us for seed and the fibres from the hanging basket liners for their nest.

One evening this week I needed to distract Fred because he was upset about something so I got him to look out for the birds in the back garden with Dorothy's bird book so he could look up the birds he saw.
He really enjoyed watching for them and showed off his reading skills too and he has carried on bird watching after school each evening.

When I was getting ready for a craft stall last night he came and asked me for something for his "nest" but I was rushing around and didn't really pay attention (I know! Bad mummy!!!) But I was really touched this morning when I went outside and found this on the lawn

a special bird's nest to encourage them to come so Fred could watch them - complete with bird seed round the edges!

And I'll leave you today with a photo of the young man himself doing his sewing - so cute!

Hope you all have a great weekend - I spent the morning staking out the postie as I am expecting 3 parcels but all he brought was one for next door - meany! - but that means there should be some yummy post tomorrow!!!

Lucy xxx


P.S. I had a quite successful evening last night at the craft fair but have some new stock that will be appearing in my Etsy shop over the weekend so watch this space!

22 comments:

trash said...

Good job Locket mother, make those slavey children work! Oops if you are waiting for a parcel from me, it is undergoing a few minor adjustments - I was very not happy with the face! Next week now.

Locket Pocket said...

Make that 4 parcels then Trashy!!!

Anonymous said...

hiya

should you give the little lockets more money for doing the house work?
hope the parcels are good when you get them
guess what?
i finshed my SATS yay

cya em

Monkee Maker said...

I'm with Em - surely that level of cleaning deserves more then pence?!

Your children obviously need some lessons in the art of bartering. Send them round and my two will give them a tip or three.

I hope the God of Parcels smiles on you tomorrow.

:)

French Knots said...

Could you send the children round to me next, I'll give them a cleaning badge for the Ladybird Club! They are cheaper than my two, but then I often forget to give pocket money so I suppose it works itself out.

Charlie P said...

Do the little lockets fancy a job in Germany? There are tumbleweeds of dust on my lovely orange lino floor :S
Fred looks so sweet with his sewing! I love his little bird nest too, I hope there's a Ladbird Club bird-watching badge.
Can't believe CrazyBones are back! If only I was at home- there's a whole tin of them somewhere in the loft from about 13 years ago.
Enjoy the tidy house!
x

p.s. the you-know-what (wink wink, nudge nudge) is coming along nicely and should be ready some time this coming week

Lina said...

Well they've got to come in useful sometimes right?!!!

Leah said...

If they want to earn extra pennies then send them down to mine!!

Anonymous said...

Ahh, how sweet is he with his little nest, my parents get goldfinches in their garden too. If I'm lucky I get a seagull !!
Lisa x

Kitty said...

Awwww, hope Fred is feeling a lot perkier. His nest 'store' is wonderful. Surely a 'wildlife' Ladybird Club badge has been earned?

x

. said...

Can't beat a bit of child labour. I don't pay mine though, I make them work for food ;)

For some reason your mention of Goldfinches has the Goldfinger theme running through my head. Thanks for that - I'll be singing it all bloomin' night now! :P

xMx

Unknown said...

So much for First Class Post! Mmm the postal service is going to the dogs! As for working for their cash I'm all for it - mine don't have priced tasks and receive £1 for each year of their life per month until they get a part-time job, for this they're expected to help with housework a good amount of the time including dishwasher, vacuuming, tidying up after themselves etc despite plaintive cries of 'None of my friends have to do this!' Our curt response to this is 'It's not a hotel and we have to work too so do as you're asked please'. To be honest when Sarah went on a school trip to France aged 12 she was aghast that none of her friends could pack their cases to come home - she observed it was probably because Mum had packed them for the outward journey and acknowledged pretty quickly that the offshoot of being made 'to do' at home was she could cope on her own with tasks when she had to. Tough lesson well learnt I'd say

Thimbleanna said...

Just look at those adorable locket children! You're a brilliant mummy to give them such a wonderful incentive!

Blossom said...

I am all for child slave labour too........mine get a ticket per job...and then at the end of the week.I tot them all up.....
money is a great thing ;-)

I LOVE the nest your boy made for the birds.......it really touched me......

quiltdude said...

I tried out the "work and I'll pay you" scheme but they wanted more money, better working conditions and and age related pay!! So I told them to go find their own jobs!
Love the picture of your boyo sewing.

X Clare

Unknown said...

Those poor locket children, what about minimum wage??? I think a quiet word needs to be had with their leader, Dorothy, she looks old enough to handle the organisation of a revolution.

JuliaB said...

Always good to get them started young! I can't help noticing what a beautiful floor you have!

April said...

No harm in a bit of child labour!

Goldfinches - wow!

April xx

rachelmp said...

Good work kids! I'll have to show my kids that they are not the only ones :) Just wait until Ayden goes to King Island for a term in July and has to live with 4 other teenagers... I hope the postie is not boycotting you with all the parcels! x Rachel

Annie said...

I agree with you at every turn Lucy and fancy Fred getting all into the bird watching and making that little nest. There are so many great things to do - you're doing a great job!

Mrs Moog said...

Good to see you are making those baughty children earn their keep!

I hope you exercise the 'children should be seen and not heard' rule that my love M-I-L was extoling this weekend (is that how you spell extoling?? - probably not!!).

Your postman needs a slap - fancy taking stuff to the neighbours when you're expecting a parcel from me!!


xxx

Leanne said...

I will be ringing children's services if this child labor continues.... that bird feeder reminded me so much of our time in England, Tony's uncle had them everywhere and had such a lot of lovely birds and squirrels in his garden.