Happy Chinese New Year

Today is Valentine's Day, but it is also Chinese New Year. My husband and oldest son are both Tigers, and Danielle will also be born in the year of the Tiger. Our family is a little Tiger heavy. Connor is a Horse and debates with Brandon about which runs faster....a tiger or a horse. They have agreed to disagree. Nicole is a Monkey, which I think is quite appropriate. Our Andrew is a Rabbit. The rest of the kids pretend to pet him. Today we looked up Togo to see what he is....he was born in the year of the dog. Togo would have thought that is obvious.

My parents went to China a couple of years ago and brought the kids back personalized stamps with red ink. The kids like to stamp their papers they write with their own personal seal.

Anyway, on Chinese New Year you shouldn't sweep the floor, because you might sweep away your good fortune. I was grateful for yet another excuse to not sweep the floor, which got me thinking about housework.

All responsible women face the inevitable housework. I had a grandmother who was a compulsive cleaner. She even scrubbed behind the fridge once a month. My mother was much more relaxed in her cleaning style, often to my embarrassment when I had friends come over. I was probably leaning more toward my grandmother's style until a defining moment in a child psychology class. We were discussing family cycles, and I brought up the differences between my mother and her mother. My professor asked me how I was going to be. Up until that point I think the pendulum was going to swing the other direction. But I looked at it and decided I didn't want to be either of them. I wanted to be somewhere in the middle.

Anyone who homeschools knows that some other things have to give. I must admit that my house is never spotless. It is a physical impossibility, when your children are always there, but I think I have also found a balance.

Before I became pregnant, I knew that I would need extra help with the house when the nausea and exhaustion came, so I started training my kids to take on more of the chores. They can now all do their own laundry, do the dishes, clean their rooms, clean the bathroom and they do so every week. It is so wonderful. Even though they complain, they have told me that they are glad that I have taught them to do these things and that we don't spoil them by doing everything for them. I told them that today they didn't have to sweep, because we didn't want to sweep out all our good fortune.

I was born in the year of the Ox. I looked up my forecast for the year of the Tiger, since we have so many Tigers around and this is what it said:

Tiger style is not conducive to your peace of mind. This is not the time to march forth boldly into battle heedless of the consequences. You will have to pick your fights and show much restraint if you want to be successful overall. You are only likely to have two great months this year; make sure to take advantage of the opportunities they provide. The rest of the time you need to tone down your efforts and press ahead carefully with ongoing projects.

Well I guess I'll have to be careful, since I'm only going to have two good months this year. I'm also a Scorpio and am crying out in dismay, because Pluto rules my sign. Now that Pluto isn't really a planet at all reading my daily horoscope may be a futile waste of time. (Christine Lavine)

It's a good thing I'm not superstitious. But I'm still not going to sweep my floor today.