As part of her massive birthday celebrations, Mom received a bucket of tulips. This was chosen as part of our family’s “earth friendly”policies, because the metal bucket they came with for a container is perfect for holding hot ashes from the fireplace in winter. It turns out that if you put those in a normal garbage can, it can catch on fire.
Mom gave up on the tulips today freeing the bucket for the ashes. I told her to put it by the fireplace. I also told her to tell the children to play with it. That way, when the bucket goes missing, at least we won’t also have disobedient children.