Givens at our house

These are the things that are "givens" (the only term I remember from HS geometry -- which I barely passed and still don't understand the purpose of that class) here no matter what:

1. My washer and dryer always have clothes in them: dirty, clean, wet, dry, wrinkled -- laundry may be the death of me!

2. We have 3 laundry baskets. Usually only one is empty, sometimes all 3 are full.

3. Our 18-1/2 year old cat will start it's nightly yowling as soon as the kids are in bed and quieted down -- extremely annoying.

4. Our phone will ring at dinner time -- 80% of time it's Aaron's dad (maybe he's hinting for an invite).

5. On days I'm stressed or in a bad mood, Aaron doesn't have time to empty the dishwasher and there's no diet mountain dew to be found in this house.

6. Ethan will walk at a snail's pace if we are in a hurry or late to an appointment. Otherwise he's running everywhere else.

7. On days we are really late for preschool, I can only find one of my shoes because my kids were wearing them but now don't remember where they are.

8. I am starting new projects. I usually begin a few each week, then they are forgotten or put aside. The excitement part of beginning is usually overtaken by the limited amount of time and various interruptions that keep me from giving it my full attention.

9. A child is always crying for some reason here when they are awake.

10. At least one child will spend part of the night in our bed.

11. No matter how many times I try to get our bedroom cleaned up -- it always is cluttered with stuff "waiting" to go somewhere else. Sort of like a temporary or long term storage area. I hate that.

12. My scrap desk is always covered with a huge pile of everything.

13. I will spend several minutes a day searching for stuff: pacis, shoes, coats, papers, coupons, cups, craft supplies. I have a "issue" when I cannot find something and cannot let it go until I find "it".

14. When I plan to get up really early before the kids, they will get up before me.

15. On days I am tired, sick, or stressed, Aaron will have to work late.

16. As soon as something comes on the news that I want to hear, the kids get unbelievably loud and by the time I get them to quiet down, the story is over.

17. There is way more stuff to do in one day than there is time -- this is true for everybody, isn't it?