Today was Janice's first full day of employment with us. As I type this, it's still a bit odd to know she's now living with us and sleeps in a room in our garage! I'm bummed because I really wanted to take a picture of her room before she moved in but I wasn't able to do it. We had a "handyman" named Nauzer come by on Saturday to put her bed together and I had planned to take a picture afterwards. Instead, Janice requested to come by and wanted to clean her room and move her things in later that morning. I just didn't feel right asking her if I could take a picture at that point. Since she's the only one with a key I can't get in now and wouldn't go in if I had one anyway. Maybe someday there will be an opportunity to take one but for now I'm sorry, you'll just have to take my word for it that it's actually a nice room for her. I'll do my best to satisfy your curiosity at a later date.Overall, she did a great job today. There were a few things that will just take time, but she made breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Ethan and me and did the cleaning, organizing, and laundry in between. She takes her break (1.5hr.) break during Ethan's nap time which for now works out great. Later, I'll have her here so I can maybe run errands and such during that time but we'll work those things out in time. She's agreed to stay in our house (living room) on Saturday night, while Ethan sleeps and Jeff and I have our first "date night." Coincidentally it will also be Valentine's Day! We'll stay in the Plaza of course this time. Should be some well deserved time together and I'm really looking forward to it.
There are the obvious things that are just awesome about having someone - especially Janice, here to take care of ALL of these domestic things. It's so nice to not have to worry about "all the things to try to get done" while I'm trying to spend quality time with Ethan. It's nice to be able to trust someone to watch him while I get ready, take a shower, or run a quick errand to the Plaza. It's very nice to have meals prepared (well) for you and to have your laundry taken care of on a daily basis. It is, however, difficult to be the "boss" for me and to give up some privacy in your own home. It will take some getting use to for all of us and I imagine that in time this will all be second nature. Probably just in time for us to come back to the States!
Ok well, so far that's it. I'll definitely keep you all up to date on how this "new" living arrangement is working out for us. And if you wonder if I feel "spoiled" with having a helper now - yes, I do, and I look forward to the opportunity to spend this time with Ethan, but I also feel like I've just accepted and started a new job myself to oversee the "manager" of our household. This should make for quite an interesting blurb on my resume in the future!
Everyone here has been telling us about how bad the humidity is here and how we have to buy dehumidifiers for our house and closets. Apparently that time is now! If you don't then your clothes, linens, etc will all mildew and mold. We have one appliance that Jeff found for us that has been working well and yesterday I bought the closet "boxes" that must be changed monthly. Right now, some days are worse than others but eventually it will be everyday. The appliance we bought has a "tank" that fills with water from the air about every 6-8 hours. The truth is we really need to get one more of these since our place is so big and has an up and downstairs. I've posted pictures of these things so that you can see what they look like.....they are still odd to look at and to consider to be a "normal" home appliance since this is still such a foreign idea to us. But better to be safe than sorry, though I personally wouldn't mind if I have to go shopping for more clothes again! :0)
