House Rules

Everyone has house rules such as cleaning up after yourself, being helpful, and expressing gratitude. Well, I would like to take a moment to list a permanent record of my house rules, since my family seems to keep forgetting. Yes, I'll openly admit that many of them are anal retentive, though I refuse to apologize. It's just the way I am, and the way I want to stay, too. After all, you have to admit that anal retentive persons keep a cleaner house and run a tighter ship.

Here is my list of rules, in no particular order:

01) Do your chores each day to the best of your ability, remembering that quality counts.
02) Be helpful to others, particularly those who are younger, smaller or shorter than you are.
03) If you're going to play music, play it loud!
04) Do not sit at my kitchen table and expect to eat before you have accomplished everything that is expected of you.
05) Display common courtesy.
06) Use common sense! (Richard, this includes you.)
07) Compliment others liberally and lavishly.
08) Never say "hate". Instead use "dislike" or "I don't care for".
09) Do not tattle tale.
10) Wash and flush after using the bathroom.
11) Be affectionate.
12) Be observant. (If the floor has just been mopped, don't walk across it; if someone is sad, give them a hug; if someone is sick or hurt, ask what you can do to help.)
13) If you make a mess, clean it up. We don't employ a maid.
14) Do not chew with your mouth open, speak when your mouth is full, or shovel food into your mouth as if you haven't eaten in days. No double-dipping.
15) Do not exclude anyone who wants to play with you.
16) Use kind words and do not name-call.
17) From kindergarten we learned: take turns and keep your hands and feet to yourself
18) Say "I love you" countless times a day to your friends and family members.
19) Tell Mom what sounds good for dinner.
20) Remind Mom and Tera when you have an early-release school day.
21) When vacuuming, make clean straight lines.
22) Make sure homework is done in a timely manner.
23) Do not waste your time, or the time of others.
24) Remember that dinner is only served once a day, so come when you are called.
25) No nose picking, nail biting, throat clearing, or expelling noises or smells from any part of your body.
26) Unless it is an emergency, do not interrupt a personal or telephone conversation.
27) Do not throw anything in the house!
28) Do not leave hand prints on Mom's stainless steel appliances.
29) All of President Hinckley's B's apply: (Be Grateful, Be Smart, Be Clean, Be True, Be Humble, Be Prayerful...). So do the Ten Commandments.
30) Do not waste time, money, food, electricity, water, gas, heat, soap, shampoo, etc.
31) And most importantly, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

And the list could go on, but I will spare you and my family. Ahh... I feel better now that I have gotten that off my chest. Being the type of person that I am, I will likely think of other rules I wish to add to my list--probably in the middle of the night when struck with insomnia. It's my lot in life--it's not a lot, but it's my life!

Cara