Spring Break Brings Fun Or Work?

Marlee wanted to go to Marleewood. She couldn't understand why they hadn't been to Marleewood in such a long time. Grandma B explained to her that she and a lot of her friends had had the flu this winter. So much illness in the clinics and hospitals this year. Marlee had forgotten she had been sick for a couple of days too. Many of her friends had had high fevers and were finally getting back to feeling like getting outside to play or go back to school.

As Grandma B turned the corner to Marleewood, they were not a bit happy. They saw trash on the parking lot. They saw that weeds were growing up in among the spring flowers. Marlee didn't see anything wrong, but the Grandmas were not a bit happy. It was just amazing how just a few weeks of not doing their daily chores was now a really big mess to clean up. Grandma B said, "Oh dear, we are supposed to have a birthday party this month. If the outside is this bad, I sure hope that the inside is better. As much as I don't want to, we had better go look in there."
When they walked in the door it smelled musty and had a closed up smell. "Oh my, the windows need to be open to let some fresh air in. Wait, the windows need to be washed. This place is a mess. I hope we had everything out of the refrigerator before we closed up. They went to the kitchen. There was crumbs and trash on the counters. The microwave had a cold cup of hot chocolate in it. The refrigerator had leftovers in it that were green! Oh no. How in the world will we ever get this place cleaned up so we can have our friends here to have a birthday party?"
Grandma Lu said, "Well, I have an idea. We can't possibly get this place cleaned up by ourselves in two (2) or three (3) days. We need to have help. Let's call our friends and ask them to come in and help us." Grandma B thought that was a great idea. They each had a list of people to call.
Grandma Lu called her cousin. She acted like that was something she wanted no part of. She told Grandma Lu that she had fun things to do and didn't want to work inside.
Then Grandma Lu called her friend.  She said, "What do you want me to do? Work inside? No way, I want to have fun with my friends."
Then Grandma B tried calling some of her friends. They were at the zoo and having fun. They sure didn't want to come and clean up Marleewood. The grandmas were busy busy on their phones. No one wanted to help them clean, but they all wanted to come to the birthday party.
Marlee tried some of her friends, but they were having fun making mud pies at their grandma's house. They even had a friend over playing. Well, this just wouldn't do. This was reminding Grandma Lu of a little story she once told her children many years ago. The story of The Little Red Hen. She said as much as she was going through the rooms and picking up things.
Marlee wanted to know what the story was about. Grandma Lu said, "It's a little story that teaches us that we need to do our chores before we can have fun. In the Little Red Hen's story no one would help her work to plant the wheat or to do any of the work, but they all wanted to eat the delicious bread that she made."
Then Marlee understood. She said with a mischievous grin. "I have an idea." The grandmas held their breath. Most times when Marlee said that she had an idea an adventure would follow. Marlee continued. "I will tell all of my friends that they can bring their pets with them if they come and help clean up. Lots of my friends have new kittens and want to stay home with them. They will think it's fun and get to be outside weeding and picking up trash. Some of my friends won't mind coming inside to help if they can bring their kittens and puppies with them. Let me get on my tablet and see what they say."
Enjoy the Golden Book YouTube video.