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Sometimes I feel like life is so much easier now that I have the perspective that I gained from living in China. For example: laundry. Doing laundry is a breeze, whereas before my China stint it was my least favorite chore. Once I lived there, and had to hang dry every single thing, plus iron many things (because they were wrinkled from being hang dried) I now realize that doing laundry with a dryer is a snap. No big deal. I do it much more often than I ever did (every other day vs. when it was over flowing and no one had any clean undies left.) The same principle goes for dishes. In China I had to hand wash all my dishes and now that I have a dishwasher, filling it up at the end of every meal is no big deal at all.

However, there are other aspects of living in China that now make my life seem much, much harder. Mostly, Nanny Zou's presence. I miss her help. Heck, I miss her period. I know we had our ups and downs and I had didn't really jive with her at the time. But I miss having her around, helping me with the sometimes overwhelming task of running a smooth and orderly household. She always cleaned the floors, every day. I grew accustomed to always having clean floors, but I personally don't have the time to do it more than every few days (and that's if I'm lucky). *sigh* I suppose I'll have to get used to dirty floors again :) I love having hard wood floors as they are just so beautiful, but they do seem to get dirty more easily (I do realize that on carpet the dirt is just disguised more, but its still just as dirty.) I like that we have our kitchen table in the kitchen now instead of on a carpeted area, as it is much easier to clean up the food that is spilled during every. single. meal.

I do feel like I'm finally settling into this house, getting things put where I want them. Today I'm going to hang up pictures, but I feel a bit daunted by the task. I'm not talented when it comes to interior decorating. I don't naturally know where to place art work so it looks the best. Maybe I'll do a little online research for some tips before I begin. My bathroom is completely white, as decorated by the landlord. Initally I loved it. A lovely white rug, and a white cloth shower curtain, with stainless steel hooks. So pretty. Now that reality has manifested itself in the form of three dirty little boys, I realize that white will never work unless I want to wash that bath mat every single day. It always has dingy foot prints on it. So, my plan is to choose one of my large China art works to hang in there above the toilet, and then decorate the bathroom in less-dirt-showing colors that will match the art.

I'm sure this post wasn't nearly as fascinating to you as it was to me. Usually I just need to vocalize these thoughts so they will leave me alone and I can get on with my day. Thanks for your indulgence.