I need therapy.

If you've been a reader of Family of Five for any amount of time at all you probably already know how much I despise doing laundry. 

However, you might not know (and I'm not even joking) that I love to vacuum.

I thought for a while it was because I love the lines it makes in the carpet - making the huge rug in the living room look crisp and clean when someone walks in our home (and it is about that a little, I'll be honest). I also thought for a while it was because I hate dog hair so much and vacuuming the whole house (the wood floors and the carpeted bedrooms) on a daily basis keeps it at bay.

Today I realized the real reason I love to vacuum.

When the vacuum is going, it's so loud that I can't hear my kids arguing, yelling, and screaming at each other because it's summer and we all have a tendency to get overtired and cranky. It drowns out the, "BUT MOM, HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO KEEP MY TOY FOREVER AND NOT EVER GIVE IT BACK!"

I mean, come on. Forever? Really!? You share a bedroom, for the love of Jack Johnson, where is he going to keep it from you!?

So, for my sanity's sake, I'm doing vacuuming therapy over the summer.

For especially nice days, when we're outside and the screaming is louder, I'll move straight on to mowing-the-lawn therapy. A louder, longer, more therapeutic version of vacuuming.

It just makes life a little more pleasant for a while. Lines in the carpet lawn and all.