A challenge accepted:

It must be difficult being a 14 year-old girl.

Miriam refused to do the dishes. Mary asked her to do them, but it was a nice day on Friday, the "first nice day", said Miriam. Miriam wanted to go outside and go to a friend's house, but had kept on telling us that she would get the dishes done. The problem was that Miriam would be going to her Dad's house in less than 2 hours, and if she didn't get the dishes done, Mary and I would be stuck doing the dishes, again. She balked. She screamed, cried, and protested.
Mary calmly explained the facts: If she didn't get the dishes done, there would be consequences. Mary said that if the dishes weren't done by the time Miriam was to leave for her Dad's house, then we would clean her room for her, and she wouldn't like what happens if we clean her room.

That was a huge consequence. Mary and I thought that we could clean up Miriam's room in a couple of hours, no big deal.

So Miriam kept on protesting, saying that she needed 5 minutes to get a hold of herself, and continued to cry. Mary called Miriam's step-mother, Shannon, and explained the situation, and they agreed that Miriam could stay here longer to get the dishes done.

After the deadline of 6 pm, which is when Miriam should have left for the other household, Mary and I began the arduous task of cleaning the girl's bedroom. Miriam did not stay in the house, and went outside to "get a hold of herself." Long story short, by 9 pm, dishes still weren't done, and we drove Miriam over to her Dad's house.

Mary and I continued to clean the room. It turned into a weekend project. We found 12 boxes of books, more clothes than 4 girls need, and trash strewn about the room. Miriam had also stashes of candy and food hidden in her room, and that provides a health hazard. I took it upon myself to get her laundry cleaned. 9 loads of laundry. Mary and I finished up about 3:30 Sunday. It was not the easiest thing to do, since we had to figure out places to put all of the stuff. We took out several bags of paper for recycling, and many more trash bags. Other items are stored either in the crawlspace or the attic.

What Miriam is going to have to deal with tonight when she comes home is a "shopping" trip. Mary has folded and sorted all of the clothes taken out of Miriam's room. She will be allowed to choose 10 tops, 10 bottoms, 10 bras/camisoles, 10 pairs of socks, 10 panties, 4 sweaters/sweatshirts, 2 dresses, 1 heavy coat, 1 jacket, concert shirt, PE uniforms, and 2 swimsuits. There will be additional shopping if she handles the first section well: She will be able to pick more, 10 tops, 5 bottoms, and another swimsuit and dress to be earned back by keeping the first batch neat. This will allow Miriam to learn to keep her room clean, without all of the clutter that was stopping her before.
So Miriam has the opportunity to earn some of her clothes back, as well as adding a few of the "most precious" items that have been removed. Since Mary and I don't know what those items are, Miriam will be able to earn a few items back every 2 weeks that she keeps her room clean. But if she leaves the house with "gear adrift" as they say in the Navy, she will lose that gear, and not get to earn it back.
Mary and I will not allow the kind of mess that her room became to happen again. Neither of us has the time or energy to clean that room again like we did this time. So if there is clutter, messiness and "gear adrift" on the floor, then it will go away, and Miriam won't have to worry about having too much stuff.

So I'm sure this particular parenting adventure will be the subject of many books in Miriam's writing future. If nothing else, she will have ample things to talk with her psychiatrist about when she is in her 30's.