Other Lessons Learned...mostly obvious

Black dogs shed black hair everywhere. White rugs (no matter how many brightly colored flowers abound on them) must be vacuumed every 90 seconds to compete with shedding black dog. Fresh flowers on clearance at the grocery store bring delight to my whole family. My children want our house to look like a "jungle", with houseplants galore. Ikea furniture is wonderful, but the dressers are tippy... especially when all the drawers are pulled 3/4 of the way out to be used as stairs. Lined raincoats are fantastic. Jeans from Goodwill are a crazy good deal. 5 year olds who wipe their own bottoms need smaller laundry baskets and more frequent washings. None of my children relish the fresh scent associated with frequent bathing.... as they get older I care more about this. Conserving water by following the rule "If its brown flush it down, if its yellow let it mellow." is not a popular concept in the States. 15 minutes of cleaning is better than 0 minutes of cleaning. Socks must be worn in the winter. Children may only wear socks for one day. Socks carelessly thrown on the floor will be eaten by Jazz (the aforementioned black dog). I overbuy candy for any event. Removing junkfood from my house simplifies my life. Prolonged screen time results in worse behaviour and is addictive. Some screen time is helpful. No one prefers to go to school on Monday mornings. Attaching brightly colored artificial flowers to pens and pencils with floral tape insures that they remain at home, instead of being snarfed up in backpacks. All horizontal surfaces attract clutter. There is always a need for one more bookshelf. Freshly baked bread provides a lovely smell for the whole house. Facebook is fun but a time-sucker. Netflix is wonderful. Almost all prime time TV shows can be viewed online after their broadcast day. Sometimes washing the floor by hand is quicker and better than using a mop. Libraries are a consistently wonderful. Learning Greek is still hard. Watching the news makes me better informed, but mostly sad and anxious. My super secret hiding places are NEVER a good place to put things, as they are so random and secret I always forget where they are. If it is daytime, sunscreen is always a good idea. If it is summer, a hat and sunglasses should be added. Putting medium grade gas in an older car rather than the cheapest helps the transmission, somehow. The fairies do not clean out the car every month, it must be done by human hands. Some lipstick tastes good, some tastes bad. Children are grumpier when they haven't been fed.... and to prevent that personally I'll close here and dash off to fix lunch.