No longer a Silent strike

I couldn't take it any longer.  I couldn't look around my house.  The mess is getting to me.  I think I was even beginning to drive my father insane with it.  He was in the know and I shared it all with him.  The few ups and many downs.  Today my father came to down to my house and looked around.  Then he told the children, "Your house is a trash pit.  Do you even realize it?"  They looked at him with blank stares.  "Your mother has gone on strike.  She is done cleaning up after you and doing Your chores."
The children, specifically the oldest, were angry.  They told him they didn't know what their chores are.  That they didn't leave any mess.  He told them to look around.  And that they are lucky to have me as a mom, because he would do much more than go on a silent strike.
So how did it come to this point?
Let's go back to yesterday.

I let my husband in on my strike while we were out yesterday.  He's not completely on board.  He's very skeptical.  He is sadly a small part of the problem.
When we came home we found that someone had knocked the shower curtain and rod down.  I was willing to leave it there, until one of the children noticed it.  He decided to ask them if they knew about it.  Of course Nobody knew anything about it.  My husband put it back up.

The youngest hate's to wash a dish for eating.  He has been moaning and groaning about it for the past two days.  This morning I asked him, "Do you know why there are no clean dishes?"  He told me, "Because you haven't run the dish washer."  My reply, "Because there aren't enough dishes in the dishwasher."  Again I asked, "Do you know why there aren't enough dishes in it?"  His reply, "I don't know."

Really!?!  How can know one realize that they are the cause of this mess?  It just baffles me.

Here's why I'm not just being Silent anymore.  I am supposed to be having my sister and her fiance over for New Year's Eve tonight.  I can not bear the thought of them coming into my house looking the way it does.  That's where my father comes in.  I shared all this with him and he decided to let the kids know.

I have decided to change my strike rules.  I am going to only tell the kids once.  After that I will put forth the effort to deposit their garbage, dishes, and any other mess they leave in their rooms.  This way I don't have to look at the mess, which is driving me insane, and I won't be nagging or cleaning up after them.  I will continue to only clean up after myself. 

I am hoping by changing the rules up a bit, that I can stay sane and the kids will relearn responsibility for themselves.

~Earthy Mom