Your project's due WHEN?

Here's the Mama Kat post I'm inspired by today: "Relay an entertaining conversation or string of emails you recently had with someone." This conversation began yesterday on the way home from school.

ME: How was school today?
JACK: Fine.
ME: I bet it's hard to get back in the swing of things after being off with a long weekend and then snow days. Do you have much homework?
JACK: Nah, not much. Do we have three pieces of poster board at home?
ME: I may have one or two, but not three. We can stop by Target on the way home if you have to have them tonight. Are they for a project?
JACK: Yeah.
ME: When's the project due?
JACK: Tomorrow.
ME (on full alert now): What does it involve?
JACK: Oh, it'll be really quick. It's just a demonstration speech and it has to have posters with instructions and stuff.
ME (blood pressure rising): So you have to demonstrate how to do something, give a speech, and present posters detailing how to do whatever it is? That sounds pretty involved. How long have you known about this project? Because when I asked you while you were out of school you said you didn't have any projects to work on.
JACK: Mmmm, well . . .
ME: HOW. LONG. HAVE. YOU. KNOWN. ABOUT. THIS. PROJECT?!
JACK: Two weeks maybe, but I guess I forgot about it until today.
ME (trying to focus): And what are you planning to demonstrate?
JACK (happily): Juggling!
ME: YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO JUGGLE!

Several hours, a full-blown psycho-mom rant, and TWO trips to Target later he had a project put together that involved not juggling, but shirt-folding. And yeah, he's SOOOO grounded. He'll thank me later - probably MUCH later, when he's being tortured by his own school-age children.
Mama Kat's Writers' Workshop

Thank Me Later Thursday

shirt folding on YouTube