My fabulously opinionated, often indignant and perhaps slightly delusional,  second eldest daughter, just walked into my bedroom…Angry! Furious!

She was steaming having discovered that her sister, the next one down and almost three years younger,  had stolen three, (not one , no,  not two, but) THREE! of her shirts.

In her words, her sister ‘bleeps me to tears”.

Despite the lack of tears, she expressed her fury at this clothing indiscretion, as she wore a pair of orange, skinny jeans that belonged to the said thief sister.

And she had in fact made the unbelievably outrageous discovery as she herself was rifling through the bandit’s wardrobe to try and ‘just” borrow some of her clothes.

I didn’t laugh out loud.

This is an example of the rule-setting that goes on under my roof, when I have no vested interest in the establishment, outcome or learning experience of any of these rules.

The rules are often adhoc, hypocritical, unenforceable, non-consequential, skewed, unjust but in the sister-universe, accepted and fair.

Unless of course they’re broken.

For years the girls had a policy that they could borrow each other’s clothes, as long as they washed, ironed and returned them to the borrowee.

There have been a number of  hitches along the way.

For instance…when one was ousted from the clothing club but continued to borrow anyway.

When borrowed items were not washed for weeks, let alone ironed and returned.

When borrowed items were ripped, stained and marked and the borrower had no funds to replace the item.

Of course they tried coming to me to get a satisfactory outcome, but as stated above, not my rules, not my problem.

A major amendment to the clothing rule occurred when the second eldest started working and earning and then buying.  Not only purchasing a greater number of items, but more expensive thus valuable ones as well.

So now the rules state that if anyone wants to borrow her clothes they must call her or text her and ask her. She will then make a determination.

If they are given permission, the return of the outfit must be completed within a certain number of days.  ( I am not privvy to that clause so am not sure what the timeframe is but then again I don’t care either)

And upon return, the ironed item must be hung in the correct manner so that the hook of the hangar faces the inside wall of the wardrobe.

I think there’s also something in the fine print about which way the clothing faces on the hangar as well but don’t quote me.

Of course the reverse does not apply.

For some reason the second-eldest thinks the original rules apply to her and the newly improved rules apply to the others. For an even stranger reason I understand the others have accepted this alteration.

So it’s ‘different” when she borrows without texting, calling or asking, and apparently they are ‘fine’ with it.

But of course the others completely disregard the newly-set  rules when it suits, siting a clause, whereby if the text or phone call is not answered (or I suspect even made) then it’s open cupboard season.

You can see the cycle, my confusion, subsequent lack of interest and total enjoyment.

There are a few other sister-established rules which follow a similiar pattern, that I won’t even try to outline.

Agreements that relate to itunes vouchers, songs and videos.

There’s policies on entering bedrooms, eating products baked by someone else, collecting toilet paper and first showers.

I’m just not sure whether to be proud that my girls respect rule-making or concerned that they so easily break them.

But at least, they all look good in orange skinny jeans, no matter who owns them and what wardrobe they end up in.