After many times of cleaning up my house and finding pieces of chewed off fingernails on the couch, ottoman, hardwood floors, etc. I finally figured out who the culprit is!!

I got into my clean car (I did a complete detail of it one weekend) and when I reached over to retrieve something that had fallen off the passenger seat I noticed pieces of chewed off fingernails!! They stood out like a sore thumb on my clean black floor mats.. I was totally grossed out as usual, but thought to myself "hmmm.. this might be how I finally figure out who is doing this all over the damn house!!"

Since DH took my car to pick up step kids the same day I cleaned it, I called him and asked who rode in the passenger seat.. It was sk14 (who I initially always thought was the one doing this, but had no proof and he denied it)..

Then, the following weekend we picked him and his brother up from their grandmas... he rode in the back behind the drivers seat and "lookie here" more chewed off fingernails.. seriously?

To some this might seem like a witch hunt or petty, but to me this is just the overall attitude these skids have.. slobs. Messy, slobs who think the world is their trash can and we all have to cater to them.. entitled much? Fingernails, combined with all the other assorted crap they leave around for others to clean up, really begins to add up and get on your last nerve.

Plus, how nasty is that? Chew off your dirty fingernail and spit it wherever you are? In someone's car? Couch that everyone sits on? On the hardwood floor as you walk through the house?

I shudder at the thought at what other bodily parts, secretions I'm sitting in now.. bleh! Uh.. he's 14.. think about it!

So, after talking this over with some of my friends that are non step parents (lucky them!) one of the ideas was to just gather up all of his nail debris over a small period of time, put them in a zip lock bag and present them to him while kindly asking him to please not do this anymore - in front of everyone in the family.

Anyone else have to deal with this? How did you handle it?