The effect

is remarkable.

Having a clean and organized place to live is more than just appealing on a visual level. It affects how I work. It affects how I mother. My patience. My thinking. It is so much more than about things looking nice. It is about liking where I am. Thinking clearly. Walking around without grit sticking to my feet.

I feel less like a stranger in a strange land and more like me in my apartment.

On Saturday Dave and I invited friends over for dinner. Partly for a deadline. For the have-the-pictures-hung deadline. So Saturday we worked. Hard. Organizing, cleaning, decorating. Fun, but exhausting. It worked. We met the deadline. There are still little things we want to do. Frame a few photos. Add a few plants. But we are there. This place doesn't feel stressful anymore. I like being here.

So today? baking. I know, finally! It's been three weeks without firing up the oven and today is the day.

Picking back up where I left off.