Do I Need to Hire a Babysitter?

For my 15 year old exchange student???

Common sense is apparantly very uncommon...

Here's a re-cap of the "intelligent" things she did this weekend(and why I CANNOT adopt a teenager):

1. Spilt boiling water on her knee. She was cooking her Korean noodles and thought it would be a good idea to bring to bowl full on hot water into her room and EAT THEM ON HER BED!! Two huge blisters formed on her knee from the burn and her new comforter was ruined (I'm not sure if she stained my new mattress)

2. Broke my Washer AND Dryer. Why wash two loads of clothes when you can put a thick comforter, blanket,and a few towels to wash at one time. Hey, the lid closed, so there was room. Sorry to sound mean, but her dad IS paying for the repairs.

So obviously, the clothes were still soaking wet. L put the comforter on a couple spin cycles and we left the house for about an hour.

3.Bathtub as a washing machine. Since the washing machine was unavailable, L walks in her bathroom and finds the bathtub full of wet clothes! Including the comforter that he had finally spun all the water out. It was now soaked again!

After 5 months being here and knowing how to use the washing machine she comes up with, "In Korea, we wash our clothes in the bathruh." I am soothing L's temper at this point.

4. Nearly Burnt Our House Down! Or at least our utility closet! She has also had several months experience using the iron with no problems until yesterday. Instead of letting the iron cool, she placed it back in the cabinet steaming hot. L smells burning and opens the cabinet to find the towel next to the iron black and smoking.

So, after burning the hell out of her knee, breaking my washing, flooding my dryer and nearly burning my laundry closet down, we have some new rules for So Young:

1. Do not touch the washer or dryer without asking. When you are ready to wash clothes, one of us will supervise. Under no circumstances are you to wash sheets, towels, blankets or comforters. Put them in the laundry room and we will wash them.

2. No eating or drinking ANYTHING in your room. Use the kitchen table

3. Do not use the stove when we are not home.

4. Do not use the iron when we are not home and without asking.

5. You may use the microwave if you do not do something stupid with that like putting aluminum foil in there to cook.

This is not a cultural misunderstanding, so don't think I'm just being ugly. She was just outright not paying attention. She knows how to operate our appliances.

I hope her brain is now back in working order.