Things that make me oh so happy

1. This, my new bulletin/whiteboard [on sale for $3.50 at walmart]. And my new magnetic markers with erasers. [When I was a kid, I used to tell my mom I was going to look at the office supply isle while she did the shopping.]

2. And my new chore schedule. It makes me laugh at my self [you can too], but also makes me so happy. During the school year our house goes from pristine to disgusting pretty fast. We clean it up [one of the reasons we love having guests over] and then it just gets bad again. It got worse with Hazel since she likes to chew stuff like paper and toys up. See a very mild version of the destruction below. I vacuumed this at least a week ago.

And then I found this daily chore list online from this site. Why do I like my new chore chart?

• It makes you feel like you're really cleaning house, but not having to do it all in one day.
• It keeps the house from looking out of control during the week.
• Most of the chores only take a few minutes to do.
• Brett can choose what he wants to do to help out and pick the ones he likes to do. It's a lot easier than asking him. Not that he doesn't want a clean house too; he just isn't thinking about the air filter while he's going to bed like I do, so now the list can tell him instead of me ;-D.
• If I keep up with it [don't know if I will] I won't have to spend my days off catching up on laundry and other cleaning.
• I like how it has stuff I wouldn't think to do.
  

On a funny note, I was looking over the chores that you are supposed to do on a daily basis and I was shocked to see that laundry was on there every day. I can understand with kids how you might have to, but just two people?! But, then I remembered my closet with clothes all over the floor and thought maybe, at least for a while, it might be a good idea. Here are next week's chores. If I had photoshop I'd put it together, but here it is.


3. Also, the new piano in my bedroom makes me happy. Brett got a free piano a month or two back and it's been awkwardly sitting in weird places in our living room, but now it's in our bedroom. Even though it's weird to have a piano in a bedroom, we don't have much furniture in there so it looks more homey now, so I like it. More pictures later....I have a feeling Brett would be annoyed if I were taking pictures at 6 am while he's sleeping. Persnickety, eh?

4. And, lastly, a three day wedding weekend and getting to see some good friends and the fam in Austin make me happy.