Another dinner rule that my mom had was no television during dinner. We keep that one now that we have children, mostly because they forget to eat if the tv is on.

My mom didn’t allow anyone else in the kitchen while she was cooking either, but that was because there was almost no room for two people to work in her kitchen. I have been tempted to reinstate that rule sometimes when I am preparing dinner, because sometimes it’s really hard to focus when the kids are underfoot. Case in point, last week I was trying to make waffles and pancakes (one child likes waffles, the other likes pancakes) and I was running late and distracted by kids underfoot and forget to spray down the waffle iron in advance. What a mess.

The only hard and fast rules I remember were:

–NOBODY is allowed in the kitchen when she was cooking.
–No games.

The first, didn’t bother me until I needed to know how to cook. I was 19 before I could do more than heat up Campbell’s soups. I think she really liked the peace and quiet for at least that short time in the kitchen. Maybe she smoked pot in there. I don’t know. Kitchen was off limits.

The second rule was a weird one. She made it sound like games were the work of the devil or something, but honestly, I think she just didn’t want to play with us or have to step on pieces of Monopoly or something.

My mom was kind of weird.

I guess my mom was pretty lax – she was a SAHM but definitely not the organised, cleaning type, we lived in total chaos bordering on filth. She did always tell me to not eat gum-balls when I had braces, and I did it occasionally anyway. (She was right.) Also she hated it when we drank or ate anything while lying on the living room couch, for obvious reasons. She was right. However, now I still eat and drink on my OWN living room couch with predictable results, BUT my couch is the colour of spilled coffee for a reason!

The only thing I follow more nearly than I would like has to do with clutter: I grew up in a household of serious hoarders, and there was never a place to put anything away properly. Consequently, I never learned strategies of how to put things away, so I have to put an awful lot of conscious thought and probably unnecessary expense into getting things stored properly. It didn’t help that I ended up buying a house that didn’t have any storage space to speak of. I’m slowly dealing with that via remodeling, and my goal, when I finish the remodeling, is to have nothing sitting out that I don’t want out. Fortunately, I am really good at not buying too much (because I’m both picky and cheap), and sticking to a minimalist Zen-modern decor (which makes the out-of-place stuff stick out like a sore thumb).

The thing my mother taught me that I do follow is this: live your life as if it is going to be printed on the front page of the newspaper. This has saved my bacon more than once: It means I can’t be coerced into doing anything or putting up with anything to protect a secret or to save face because I don’t care who knows what about me. That doesn’t mean I haven’t made mistakes – rather it means that I always accept full responsibility for my mistakes, have come to terms with them, owe nothing as a consequence of them, and am not ashamed of them. This strategy makes life a lot simpler.

The other rules were no friends over until your homework was done, get real I did it every day because no one was home until 8 or 9 pm. Ahhh where was child services when I was growing up. I let myself in every day after school and never lost my key. I cooked dinner for everyone and did my chores starting at 7 years old. My 7 year old barely knows where the kitchen is.

I am completely in line with you on the fridge and the hangers