I've discovered the secret.

Let me take a moment to publicly thank my sister for giving us her car.  This summer has been the best one in three years.  The past two summers we have had to move out to either corporate housing or my parents' house for Brandon to go to work, and he would take the car every day (unless I wanted to wake myself and the kids up at 7:00 to take him.  Nope.) I was away from my friends and on most days, stuck without a car in a house that wasn't mine. I honestly started to wonder if I had some kind of reverse seasonal depression during the summer.  No, it wasn't depression.  I just hated it.

It was much better during the school year, but since Rice charges $400 per semester for a parking pass, I still had to drive Brandon to school every day.  It doesn't sound that bad, but I couldn't leave the house before he was ready to go each morning, and I couldn't start making dinner until we were back every night (which was at least 6:00).  The worst part was when Violet would fall asleep in the car on our way to pick him up and then think she could stay up till 10:30 because she had a 15-minute nap.  

Now, since Brandon's company is nice and doesn't charge him $400 for a parking permit, Brandon drives himself to work every day.  He also works close to home, so we didn't have to move out for the summer. Oh my gosh, it has made such a difference in my life.  I can start making dinner at 4:30 instead of 6:30.  Last night we had TWO sides with our dinner.  That's two more than I normally make.  Since we eat earlier, I get the dishes done right after dinner instead of having to put the kids to bed first.  My house is actually clean before I put the kids to bed.  And since I can leave the house earlier, we can get more done and still have Charlie home on time for his nap each day.  Is this how all the other moms manage to stay on top of things?  Is this why everyone else seems to have a handle on things while I could never seem to get myself together?  Well, now I know.  The secret to keeping order in your house isn't in waking up early, or doing a full load of laundry every day.  It's having a husband who drives himself to work.