Weekly Plan - I Finally Have One!

Confession time:
I have laundry that was washed 2 weeks ago that is still not put away.
I have not done a focused cleaning of the bathrooms since we had company over a month ago.
I cannot even remember the last time I mopped the kitchen floor.  
The house is kept to a standard of "sanitary" (after all, no one licks the kitchen floor, right?) but it is certainly not ready for company at a moment's notice.
This is, I believe, part of why "virtual coffee" is such a great idea. :)

About 2 years ago I was home, not working anymore, and pregnant.  Following Rachel Anne's Home Sanctuary blog, I decided to create a real housekeeping schedule.  I went a bit crazy with it, using Excel, and outlining pretty much everything I would ever do to run a tight ship, right down to separating the mirrors and the bathtub from the bathrooms in general.  It was quite successful.  And then, the baby came. 

There was a readjustment period, as you would expect.  But the readjustment period probably shouldn't have lasted a year and a half.  Seriously.

So here I am again: home, not working, and pregnant.  And my house is a shambles.  Part of that has had to do with having Sam at home.  I don't know exactly what that's about, but there's something that paralyzes me when he's not working.  Maybe I think it's a perpetual weekend.  Maybe I feel obligated to keep him company.  Maybe I use it as an excuse to be lazy.  I can't get anything productive done, and if I do, it's in spurts of about 4 minutes at a time.  That, and the kitchen was always a mess because there was another adult making food and not cleaning it up.  A minor complaint, but sometimes in my head it got really major.  Oh, the joys of pregnancy hormones.  But he's working again, and all is right with the kitchen. 

This week I was inspired to get serious about making a schedule again.  It is a very simple one.  It allows for ONE major item per day, and one or two other minor items per day.  Laundry is broken up into 3 categories and takes 3 days.  My Fridays' "major item" is "catch up" - allowing myself plenty of flexibility.  There is nothing written on the weekend days.  I want to consider those my "off" days, even though there are still the daily minimum requirements to making the house function.  This is a schedule I think I will be able to maintain after the next baby comes.

Housekeeping Schedule - 2011

Not listed are those daily things.  They are:
Dinner prepared/cleaned up
Pick Up (Minimum Maintenance - or some variation thereof)
Dishes (sink and counter clear by bedtime)
Sort mail/eliminate junk papers

These things alone will make everything less stressful.  Wanna know why?  Because I haven't even been doing them.  Granted, I was too sick to stand up for a while there, but that's over and we're done with that phase.  (Thank God!)

So I have been slowly but surely making my way to getting things picked up since Wednesday when I drew this schedule out on a piece of paper.  Yep, it's just a large page, no white board, no dates.  Simple as can be.

That's the way it's gotta be to work around here.

Now I'm off to finish watching Sid the Science Kid with Lizzie.  Sid is her latest TV crush.  Oh, she loves him.

Calling All Mommy Bloggers

Today's nap time has been long-awaited.

We went to the doctor's office for our belated 15-month appointment (yes, she is almost 17 months old; there was an insurance kerfuffle, but it's fixed now so we're finally back on track) and had her royal highness checked out.  She's got a mild to moderate head cold.  Really?  That's all?  She does seem to be feeling better today, though

This week I've had some fun during the afternoon nap:

I went grocery shopping.
I made lots of lists.
Vacuumed.
Washed lots of dishes.
Got some reading in.
Had a few cups of coffee.
Visited more blogs than I can shake a stick at.
Paid the bills.
Made dinners.
Drafted blog posts for my busy days or ones in which my creativity flatlines.  (I have a few recipes I want to share with you soon!)

Today during this nap I have managed to:
Finish the laundry, clean the bathroom, help Sam practice his martial arts stick work, change and wash the sheets on the bed, have a brief but uninterrupted phone conversation with a friend, set up a linky tool (yay!), and compose a blog post!  And the girl is still sleeping--maybe I'll wake her up too early to get her out the door to an appointment more often!

I did want to show you this quick little Before and After:

Lizzie was starting to reach into the silverware drawer and remove anything she could reach.  The knives were in front.  Bad planning, Mommy.  Bad planning.  So a re-do was necessary, and I did it on Monday.

Yes, those are coffee grounds in the corner.  Don't ask.

All this was rattling inside the drawer.

Ta-da!  Now the knives and forks are safe from little fingers.

Have you accomplished anything that you'd like to tell about or show off?  Link up!

Here are the qualifiers for the Nap Time Warriors:

Just mention something you accomplished, whether leisure or labor, in an effort to use your time wisely.
Please link to a specific post on your blog at the linky tool below, and somewhere in your post, please link back to this site.
If you want to grab the button, please feel free to!  I'll try to create the tool this afternoon.
You don't have to have a napping child to participate.
If you're not a blogger, post in the comments.

Bibs

I just realized that we gave Lizzie her first bites of solid food A YEAR AGO.

It gave me a scare for a moment not unlike the moments in which you realize you can measure your life in DECADES.

We've come a long way. The first thing she ate was avocado. She loved it.

These days, Liz will eat almost anything except for avocado. The texture gets to her. I guess it reminds her of baby food. And she is such a big girl that she wants nothing to do with baby food.

Now she eats green beans. Whole. Frozen--especially when she's teething.

(Speaking of teething, we are almost done. Praise Jesus! The last incisor is through and is working its way into its position. Oh, the relief!)

Ever since teething began, along with the buckets of drool, bibs have been part of our daily routine.

Until recently, they have been wadded in one of the few drawers in the kitchen. The same drawer that holds the hot pads and towels and cloth napkins. And it's pretty small. You know how it is trying to cram too many things into one small drawer. It was frustrating, so I began not putting them away. That never helps the frustration level go down, because then they're just out where they don't belong.

Here is my solution:

This picture only shows two bibs hanging, for clarity's sake. Normally there are about a dozen. And the way this kid eats, we go through that many between laundry days.

They are now hanging on the wire shelving behind the door of the pantry. The bibs that clasp are wrapped around the wire.
The bibs that don't clasp--the kind you have to pull over the head like a t-shirt--are looped through a plastic link.

This has solved the bib problem!

Since I'm talking about bibs, and mentioned laundry, I also realized that bibs should be washed inside mesh lingerie bags. Even if you close all the Velcro tabs before you throw them in, there is no guarantee they won't catch on something you really didn't want to have frayed.

I'm giving the "Works for Me Wednesday" link up a whirl. Because I believe this will help more than just me.

So far I have linked up with 3 different sites this week. It is so much fun to meet new people through these sites. I don't know why I haven't tried to do this before!

Keep a Quiet Heart About It

I felt compelled to pick up Elizabeth Elliot's book "Keep a Quiet Heart" this morning. In 1998 I read it along with several girlfriends in my youth group, and the time impacted and shaped my growth in many ways.

The very first page has this quote, which I think I am going to have to print and frame or keep on the bathroom mirror or the refrigerator--or both:

"I think I find most help in trying to look on all the interruptions and hindrances to work that one has planned out for oneself as discipline, trials sent by God to help one against getting selfish over one's work. Then one can feel that perhaps one's true work--one's work for God--consists on doing some trifling haphazard thing that has been thrown into one's day. It is not a waste of time, as one is tempted to think, it is the most important part of the work of the day--the part one can best offer to God. After such a hindrance, do not rush after the planned work; trust that the time to finish it will be given sometime, and keep a quiet heart about it."

--Annie Keary, 1825-1879

Oh, Lord, help me. The part that struck me with conviction the most upon reading this is the phrase "getting selfish over one's work". I realize that the work that I do and that I get so stressed about is more about me and my day than it is about it being a service to my family. If my family interferes with my chores, then what does it say about my priorities? It bears repeating: Oh, Lord, help me.

Seriously, how do you do it?

I have had one of those weeks ... admittedly, for a few weeks. One of those weeks in which nothing gets done. OK, truth be told, I did a lot of playing Farmville, and playing "throw the ball to Mama," and wanting nothing more than to sit on the couch with a cup of coffee and my new Runner's World magazine. (Yeah, forget that running business--I haven't done anything that qualifies as exercise in a full 15 days.)

Now, fortunately I have managed to keep dinner on the table every day except one (plus a time or two when we have gone to get a meal), and all our bills are paid. And our clothes are clean. And mostly put away (except for the baby's, but since it's hard to put them away when she's awake, and when she's asleep I don't want to go in her room to put them away, the clean clothes live in the hamper in the living room for a few days).

But the table ... well, do you want to see what the kitchen table looks like?

Yikes. We just push everything over at dinner time to eat off of one half of it.

And the living room:

Those are gift bags (top left) from the end of February when we did our family birthday lunch. And Sam's t-shirt(s) on the couch. And the baby laundry on the chair. And the mail on the piano bench... because there isn't any more room on the kitchen table. And cedar chips to go in the dog house outside - then why are they inside still? And the toys...... Sigh. These are small pictures, so you can't see too much in detail.

But the bathrooms have gone too long. Really, there will be no picture necessary.

So, how do you do it?
How do you keep things up? Do you budget your time? Do you say "no ____ until I finish ____"? Or maybe you have children who are done with teething and no longer eat leaves when you're not looking? Perhaps you actually have people come to your house regularly, so you have motivation more than once a month, to keep things picked up.
Of course, why would I try to pretend I keep a nice clean house for company, when I just put pictures of my disaster area online for the world to see?

Do you have secrets to keeping your sanity? Or do you have weeks like this, too?

The past week, however, has had some milestones:
On Saturday Sam, Lizzie and I went with Jessa to the vet's office, and only Sam, Lizzie, and I came back. After 14 years, Jessa had her 3rd strike, and we had to put her to sleep. It was sad, but it was the right time, and I had a peace about it. It has actually been a huge relief to us to not have to take care of her anymore. Though of course I miss seeing her around the house, sleeping like a log, and I keep thinking I can throw the odd table scrap to her, but then she's not there. Lizzie kept looking for her for about a day - Jessa used to always follow me into the room whenever I went to pick Lizzie up from a nap or go for a diaper change. So every time Liz looked down, there was the old yellow dog. She's stopped looking now.

On the brighter side, Lizzie popped 2 teeth in one day, so now she has 5! Two on the bottom, and three on the top. The top ones are slowly coming down more. I wish I could get a picture of them, but that would require her to hold still while I hold the camera, which is not a skill set we have mastered yet. Now that she can bite down into things, she loves to take her Cheerios and put them in her mouth just to hear them crunch between her front teeth. She also spent several days testing the sound her teeth made when she crunched or ground them together. I am glad that's stopped for the most part. Terrible noise.

Lizzie now throws the ball. She's actually pretty good at it!


She also dances to music or a beat. Here is a short video:



Please excuse the misspelling of the word helicopter. I don't know where the spelling brain cell went.

Isn't she fun? I do love having her around! The fun of watching her learn, play and understand is probably a fair trade for the chaos that sometimes surrounds us. Though I do hope that before long we'll have less chaos and just as much fun.

Quickie

Gonna be a short one today.

There is not a whole lot new here this week; Sam is working on homework (is actually not going in to work this week or next, to get his projects done). Elizabeth is sleeping.

E has been getting better at sitting up on her own. She can actually stay up for several minutes, until she wants to go somewhere else.

Speaking of going somewhere else, she can get around pretty well now. She still does her little army crawl, but can get her knees up under herself and push forward. Lately she has started to scoot backward, too, which frustrates her. She doesn't quite know what she is doing.

Sleep has not been as much of a struggle lately; I've been feeding E around 6 or 6:30 (solid food), then giving her a bath (a necessity after eating), getting her ready to sleep, then giving her another chance to nurse. By 7:30 or 8 she is in bed, and is out till about midnight. At that point, she sleeps till sometime between 3 and 4, when she wakes up hungry, and then wakes up for the day between 7 and 8. That works out really well for her to take a nap at 9:30 or 10.

I've figured out that the morning nap is the only chance I get to accomplish anything. I wish I was good at kicking myself into gear.

Wednesday afternoon was spent mainly working on my revised chore list, where I laid out the weekly tasks in month calendar form. I had one of these set up long before Elizabeth arrived, but of course with a new baby, everything except survival flies out the window. Now that we have regular naps and bedtimes, I can actually try to get more of a handle on things to keep myself and the house under some semblance of control. The advantage of this list is that I have things marked down on certain days - some things a few times a week. Ideally, they will get done on the day they're listed. But since I am not that fond of any of this cleaning business, I will most likely not do all of the things. In fact, I have not done any of them since I made the list a couple of days ago. And the beauty of this set up is that if I miss it on one day, I know I can catch it the next time it shows up on the list. There are things listed that must get done for the continuation of normal life (groceries, laundry, etc.), and they are the main goals for each day. Then there's the other stuff - sweeping the floor, or exercising.

Well, the old dog is fussing to go outside, so I should probably listen to her. It makes a good stopping point for me to quit and post this for now.

But first, here is my current favorite picture of Elizabeth:

The plan for the day

Good morning!

I just put Elizabeth down for a nap about 25 minutes ago, and I am going to try to get a few things accomplished before she wakes up. Hopefully I'll get another hour out of her.

First, I want to get some chicken started in the oven. Going to try to just lay it out on a pan and roast it - it's a whole chicken cut up (totally worth the extra $1 in my mind). Normally I have a solid plan for every meal for the week, but this week has kind of been a mess in that regard. I don't know quite what happened. I guess we will eat baked chicken tonight (with veggies and rice or something), and tomorrow I can start some chicken soup. I think that's what I'll do. We'll see.

Then, it has been my goal for the past week to clean the bathtub. It has been way too long since it was cleaned last, and it's embarrassing to think about it. Fortunately, I've put it off long enough that today if I do it, I'll get points (ha! maybe that was my subconscious excuse for not doing it - aside from the fact that it is my least favorite chore in all the world).

Off topic - what is the chore that you most detest doing?

If I still have time afterwards (not likely), I will drag the glider/rocker out of the garage and clean it up. We picked it up from somebody's curb, and threw it in the back of the Suburban a couple of months ago - apparently they were cleaning their garage. It still will need a new cushion for the back and seat, but I'll be that much closer to having something I can sit in to rock Elizabeth.

On another note, Elizabeth is now 5 months old on the 8th. I can't believe how quickly it has gone by! For some reason I kept just anticipating when she would reach 3 months old - I'm not sure why - and so that made me relieved, and now every month and every milestone after that I have been so thrilled!

She sits up, kind of wobbly, but for longer periods of time each day. She also scoots herself with a pretty good "Army crawl", where she drags herself along by her elbows and pushes with her feet if she gets some traction. Every once in a while she puts her knee down and pushes off, like a real crawl "step," but she hasn't learned to anticipate the forward motion to catch herself with her hands, so she throws her face into the floor. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to mind the nose dives.

Last night Elizabeth ate a whole container (2.5 oz) of Prunes, and she ate more at one sitting than she ever has (of solid food, that is). The reason I bought prunes was because she had been having some issues getting the solids to come out.... well, those prunes work wonders! I'll have to remember, though, that even though she loves them, she should not eat a whole container in one night. Or maybe they should be mixed with something else. Like bananas.

Twice this week I have gone for a walk around the block, which is a 1.1 mile loop, about half of it involves some uphill climbs. The weather has been perfect, and Elizabeth loves to sit and look at everything. It helps to wear her out, too. The great thing is that I am finally getting some exercise. It's something I need to work into my routine. I think that if I schedule it, I should be able to make myself exercise at least two times a week - three would be ideal.

We have finally gotten a sort of routine down for the day. Elizabeth goes to bed around 8 PM (more or less), and she still wakes up twice during the night. I could definitely live without the middle of the night feedings, but this too shall pass. She wakes up for the day around 8 AM. Then she goes down for a nap between 10 and 11 AM, sleeps for about 90 minutes (on average), then goes down for another nap around 1 PM. When she wakes up around 3 or 4, she is up for the rest of the afternoon, unless it gets to be a really long day, so she'll take a short nap later. During that afternoon nap, I try to work on dinner, and then I feed her some kind of solid food, and out of necessity I give her a bath, let her play while Sam and I eat dinner, then nurse her and put her to bed again. This has worked pretty well for the past week, with some deviation once in a while. I could definitely get used to having a solid routine!

I just made waffles, because my dear friend Stephanie just gave us the waffle maker that they were given for their wedding and never used. We are thrilled. There are 4 or 5 waffles sitting out that need to be packaged and put in the fridge or freezer (as if they'll make it to the freezer), so we can throw them in the toaster for breakfasts for the weekend.

Well, I hear Elizabeth crying, but she needs to go back to sleep. I will go turn on the white noise and see if that calms her down.
Maybe I will get my plans accomplished. Maybe not.

Off I go! Have a good weekend!

Friday Coffee: 2 minutes of our life

Coffee time is earlier for me than usual - everybody woke up before they normally do. I've already had breakfast (2 eggs and 2 oatmeal cookies - a very balanced meal, wouldn't you say?), and I'm half way through my first cup of coffee. It's not very hot anymore, so I may have to make more, to warm it up.

Elizabeth is in her Jumper ... not totally happy, but I know she's alright, so her whining is not truly bothering me.

Since Sam is in Houston for Andy's reception tomorrow (yes, for a various number of reasons, he left and I am here with Elizabeth and the zoo), I made this video for him. It's short and kind of cute, and shows what our life is like for a couple of minutes. Basically it's me being entertained by the baby and the animals. Pretty much the story of my life right now.



That's about all I have time or patience for at the moment, but thanks for joining in today!

** edit: after Elizabeth went down for a nap:

It's been kind of wild not having Sam around for the last couple of days. I don't feel like I'm "alone" because I have E with me, so that's nice, even though it's not like she is any help, of course. But I'm not by myself and I'm certainly not bored.

The funny thing is that I feel like I will have opportunity to do a bunch of odd projects that I have been wanting to do for a long time. For example, last night I spent a long time, broken up into 15 minute spurts, filing away all the unemployment and COBRA and Medicaid and current health insurance and dr. appointment and bills/invoices and birthing class papers that had stacked up (on the piano of all places). Yes, and all of those items had gathered in the same piles.
We shall see if I get any other projects done. Or if I at least clean the bathroom or vacuum. At this point, I'd be doing well to unload the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen.

A year ago today I was laid off from work as a customer support rep. I'm so thankful that for the last year I have been able to collect unemployment over the past 12 months while being at home being pregnant and taking care of an infant! God is good!

Home group is tonight. I might invite myself to Steph's a little early tonight. Yesterday Lynn came over and played with E while I cleaned up and "found" the top of my kitchen table and coffee table. On Wednesday night we went to Becky's and watched 'The Proposal' with her and Steph, Amy, Kristi, and Carol - that was great fun. Tuesday we went out for dessert (and I left E with Sam!) to celebrate Rebecca's birthday. I haven't laughed as hard as we laughed those two nights, in a really long time. I really need to laugh more often; it's so much fun.

Tomorrow I have a Pampered Chef party to go to, if Miss E will cooperate. Hopefully I'll stop by my parents' house while I'm in the area and visit with them; they've been out of town since Saturday, getting back today.

Nesting

It's hit.

Prior to the last few weeks, I had no idea the amount of work a prego can get done when the inspiration strikes. I have a feeling the house is going to be cleaner than it has ever been within three months. And my guess is that it will probably never be as clean again.

Within the month of February, other than the general maintenance of the house and laundry, etc., I have accomplished the following projects:

* Cleaning and organizing the wet bar, which had been a catch-all (sort of a very large scale junk drawer) since the day we got a key to the place. Now it has potential to be used as storage (in the cupboards below) and a wet bar - or at least as an attractive part of the house, instead of pretending it's not there. I have visions of some shelves on the back wall, on which artwork or photos can be displayed.

* Cleaning the walls of what we have affectionately dubbed "earshot". Our orange cat had an ear infection which lasted for months, and part of the fun of said infection was that when he would shake his head, often there would be stuff flung in every direction. It landed on walls, furniture, doors, you name it. It was pretty nasty, but a losing battle until the infection was cleared up.

* Setting up and beginning to fill a "Costco overstock shelf" in the garage. We go to Costco and buy large amounts of things which somehow must find a home. Finally they have a shelf on which they should belong. Of course, to make room for the shelf, I had to find homes for other things that were haphazardly put there.

* Cleaning the washer and dryer. Well, they were running while I wiped them down with cleaner, but they have been cleansed of 2 years of dust and dripped laundry soap. I also moved some of the random things that landed there into places that make more sense. Not much more, but a little more.

* Reorganizing the small bookshelf between the kitchen/dining and living rooms. It has contained 2 baskets that serve 2 purposes: one is to help hold up the books from flopping over, and the other is to hold the things that land on the table and don't have a more permanent place to live. So years later, the baskets are the permanent places (think junk drawer again). I finally went through them to make sense of the junk. One now holds scratch paper and pens and tape, the other holds ... well, junk. But at least I know what the junk in it is.

* Rearranged the living room furniture to make it easier to watch TV (really important, right?), as well as making some space for another chair and/or a bookshelf.

There are other things, little things that I can't remember right now, that have been huge in the moment that I've completed them, and that have given me those little feelings of accomplishment. One of the most significant things that has helped me be able to move on to these little projects is the creation of my chore list. It's changed the way I view the routine necessities; when I know the things "to do" I can focus on them and check them off. If I miss it one day, or one week, I know I can pick it up again the next time it rolls around on the schedule. Because I can see when I crossed it out, I know how long it's been since I have, say, swept the floor or cleaned the bathroom. And I'm such a geek, I made out whole month-long lists, through the end of the year. Needless to say, in a few months I will need to revamp the schedule, but for now, it is working for me.

Now it's time to get back to reality and get the sheets out of the dryer, and find something to eat.

Girl's Night In

Tonight I should be figuring out what to do for food, since I'm hungry already and have no plan, and picking up a little bit. But I'm not at the moment, obviously.
Fortunately, the housekeeping schedule that I made up a couple of weeks ago has pretty much transformed my domestic life! I have a printed out Excel sheet with a list of everything to be done in a given day, broken down over the whole month. So far the house is cleaner than it has ever been, I believe! There are some things that are consistently skipped over, like sweeping, and putting away clothes, but even those will one day be crossed off.
The greatest comfort of this list is that if I skip something one day, I can either go back and tackle it the next, or just wait for the next time it comes around on the rotation and not sweat it.

Because the house has been in better shape than usual, it's been easy for me to invite a friend to come over and watch a girl movie while Sam will be out this evening. Yay!

The Beginnings of the Nursery

Since we have finally gotten the crib situation straightened out, I now feel free to share what we're doing with the baby room.

The room had until recently been "the farthest room," also known as "the guest room," in which were stored many, many boxes and odds and ends that had no home. Last weekend I went on a cleaning streak and found places for most of the homeless items, to clear out a corner in which we could assemble a crib if we managed to find and buy one.

Through the amazing community of craigslist.org, we found a crib and dresser set that is quite lovely, in very good shape, and really sturdy. Another bonus is that from all the research I did before buying any furniture, this crib hasn't been involved in any recalls. They're not technically a set, but close enough that we're happy with them. The drama associated with them was that we thought the couple was selling both pieces for a certain price, but they thought they were clear in saying they were each being sold for that certain price. It was truly a simple misunderstanding, and with some negotiation, we split the difference. Anyways, thanks be to God, we were able to get both these pieces, plus a barely-used mattress for $195!

The trick in decorating this room is that it is still going to be a guest room, so it can't be overrun with girly, pink baby colors and decor. I've found the bedding that I believe I want, called Cherry Blossom, and it's not ridiculously babyish. I like that it is red, pink, and white, with chocolate, rather than pink, pink, and more pink.

The room is now coming together with some order, and will be rearranged a bit more pretty soon. The white desk that is in the corner is covered with craft materials (not that I do anything with them, but I have plenty in case I ever want to), and soda and water bottles, because they have had a tendency to burst if we keep them in the garage lately. Eventually we will move the desk into the office where it belongs, freeing up a little more space.

I had one organizational epiphany last week, and after making a long and arduous trip to Ikea on Saturday, was able to execute it. Because a friend's daughter gave us a huge bag of baby girl clothes that had either never been worn or grown out of already, I realized that I needed to come up with a way to keep some semblance of order to this baby's paraphernalia, even before she comes on the scene, or I might just lose what remains of my mind.

The solution was to buy boxes to store clothes based on size, and have them easy to access and label. Ikea had these media (CD/DVD) cubes with zipper closures and pockets for labels for only $8 each so I picked up 5 of them. These are about a square foot in size, so they'll hold a fair amount of baby clothing. I like how sturdy they seem to be, and the zippers work well. They're labeled "0-3 months", "3-6 months" and so on. One box is not labeled and has blankets, bibs, etc., in it.

I figure that whatever size she's wearing at the time will go into the dresser/changing table drawers, until she outgrows it. Once we move on to the next size, the clothes that are too small get put into a bin with the right label (and/or gets passed on to Goodwill or the next baby in line), and the next one goes into the drawers. I figure this may be the way to organize kid clothes as time goes on.

This weekend we will have a friend's 14-year-old daughter staying with us, and she will stay in the room, so we have to make it guest-friendly this week. But with all the progress we've been making, it's not too far off!