Dog Food and Tulips

There is a bowl of dog food sitting on the bathroom sink which is next to a bouquet of tulips. This is my life right now. The beauty of having a family -- children running into my arms when I get home, going to watch a 'G' rated movie on Saturday night, the kids jumping on the bed every night before bed time -- also comes with it's own dish of dog food.

My List of Dog Food:

• dog poop in the backyard
• finger prints on the living room window
• the ketchup stain on the Dining room wall
• baby spit up on a cashmere sweater (from 3 years ago)
• crinkled window blinds
• shrinking house
• salt covered car with a booster and toys in the back seat
• the mailbox that has fallen off the house
• the scratched enameled flooring in the kitchen
• the ripped open garbage strewn across the house by the dog when left alone
• the stack of miscellaneous ever present paper sitting on my desk

So this is only a phase, I know. Soon this era will grow itself out, and I will live in a bigger, cleaner house; the dog will have passed away; and when faced with the troubled teenagers of the future I will long for the days of jumping on the bed and night time stories.

But for now, can someone please pick up that damn stack of newspapers in the front yard?