Mrs.Van - Starting from Scratch

[Mrs Van]

Around middle January I'll be here for nigh on 6 years. For the last year+ I slowly but surely lost almost all my fitness. I've maintained some strength but nothing like before. So here goes... getting back on track to become a Super Woman - Super Wife - Super Mom.

 

I'm an early bird, no matter what I try. I can easily get up at 5am, make coffee, feed the pets, then get back in bed and sleep some more. But I've decided I'll leave that for weekends, so that it is a real treat. At the moment I'm not home schooling our two boys, so I'm "on holiday"... sort of. I am trying to catch up on doing our finances in between taking a break.

This is close to the schedule I used to run a bit more than a year ago, before I realised I was heading for a huge fall and needed to take things slower.

• Get up at 5am on weekday mornings (I naturally wake up that time, winter or summer);
• Put on the coffee! Exercise! Feed the pets;
• Start with breakfast for the four of us (hubby, myself and our two boys) at 6am, pack hubby's lunch;
• Get the house sorted: unpack dishwasher, make our bed (boys do their own), tidy the house, etc. etc. Quickly go on Fb or NF;
• Start home school day at 8h30. Finish around 13h00-13h30;
• Lunch break;
• Either house work, finances, or extra-murals for the boys from 14h00 on wards; There isn't much of the latter;
• Start dinner prep around 16h00-16h30; Feed the pets; Have dinner around 17h00-18h00;
• Do whatever needs doing OR play games OR read OR...
• Go to bed around 21h00.

Those highlighted activities ^^^ are what I'm going to focus on, as well as the schedule in general. There are going to be days where I don't exercise in the mornings, because Murphy happens, then I'll try to do it in the afternoon if possible. If I don't get to it... mmm... I'll cut myself some slack. Let's say 3 passes throughout the challenge.

 

EXERCISES:

• Mondays and Wednesdays: (exercise inside)
  • High knees X elbows 20x
  • Reverse lunges 10x
  • Pushup burpees 10x
  • Band rows 20x
• Tuesdays: (exercise outside)
  • Jumping jacks 30x
  • Tire pulls 10x (tire weighs 7.5kg pull for ~10-12m) - I jog down our driveway with the tire, put it down, jog back to the end of the rope, pull the tire in; repeat 10x
  • Tire flips 20x (old tractor tire weighs ~15kg?? I actually have no idea anymore, but it isn't very heavy) Squat, put hands under tire, lift up, flip, repeat 20x
  • Russian twist 20x (15kg weight plate) Sit on floor with knees slightly bent, leaning a little backwards; hold weight plate in both hands, twisting from left side to right side of bent knees; repeat 20x to each side
  • Jump rope 30x
• Thursdays and Fridays:
  • Walk around the neighbourhood for ~ 30min. We have very steep hills. This would be a good start on cardio again.

HOUSE WORK/FINANCES/EXTRA-MURALS etc.:

• Mondays: Vacuum and dust furniture; R's music lessons will start again middle to end of January, then we'll have to drive to neighbouring town if I can't arrange online lessons
• Tuesdays: Laundry/Washing AND/OR Saturdays (depending on how much there is to wash)
• Wednesdays: Clean bathrooms  and those odd places and things in the kitchen (wiping down machines, bins, other than the regular everyday cleaning)
• Thursdays: R's fencing lessons start around middle to end of January again. Drive him to neighbouring town.
• Fridays: Do Finances. This is my weakness. I hate finances. I'm really going to try and do it once a week, and not procrastinate. Also making some changes, and there'll be changes to banks, etc.
• Saturdays:
  • 1st Sat. of the month: Wipe down all the open shelves and on top of wooden curtain boxes;
  • 2nd Sat. of the month: Wipe all the light switches, electrical plugs, door frames, those kinds of things;
  • 3rd Sat. of the month: Wipe all the inside window sills, ceiling and wall corners that gather dust, etc. We have pets, this accrues frequently;
  • 4th Sat. of the month: After washing the wooden floors, oil/polish them. Wipe down all the skirtings;
  • 5th Sat. of the month: Only in those months that have a 5th Sat. and no consecutive months, so this will happen roughly twice a year - Wash all the windows inside and out.

 

[Mrs Van]

First day was yesterday, Monday 28 December:

• Exercises done at 5am;
• Housework done;
• No extra-murals yet.

Second day - Tuesday 29 December:

Oldest (A) woke me up around 2am when he had wanted to go to the bathroom. One of the dogs had had a runny tummy. Down the passage, right into the front rooms. Luckily I couldn't smell it (sinus due to mozzie stuff burning), but I had no choice but to clean it up... at 2am. Cleaned it, washed the floors, then decided I might as well use the floor wash liquid that has an oil/shiny thing in for wooden floors. So I used that, and did that too. Was back in bed just before 3am, couldn't sleep for a bit, but finally fell asleep around 3h30-ish. That was the last I remember looking at my cellphone. I got up at 5am, put on the coffee, got back in bed and got up 5h45. Did all the rest except exercise, which I did now just before 14h00. It is terribly hot and humid, so I've dunked my head under cold water hoping not to get a heat headache. It seems to be helping somewhat.

• Exercise done at 14h00;
• Housework done; (yesterday actually as I had a lot of towels to wash - so nothing for today)
• Nothing else.

 

EDIT: I'm doing well with finances - catching up nicely. I think when everything is up to date, I'll try out GnuCash, but it might just be better to stay with the spreadsheets and keep sending them to B's mom, and the accountant to put on accounting programmes, and do the official taxes part for tax/SARS.

[WolfDreamer]

I love your goals, and you have some very specific ways to achieve them. And that looks like a solid first day! I commend you. 

 

Here to cheer you on. Let me know if I can help in any way. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

What housework do Brandt and the boys do?

Can Brandt take over the financials for a while as you pick up something he hates?

[Mrs Van]

2 hours ago, WolfDreamer said:

I love your goals, and you have some very specific ways to achieve them. And that looks like a solid first day! I commend you. 

 

Here to cheer you on. Let me know if I can help in any way. 

Thanks, and thanks. Really appreciate it. I'm hoping to keep a better balance between things I have to do.

1 hour ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

What housework do Brandt and the boys do?

Can Brandt take over the financials for a while as you pick up something he hates?

Brandt... is supposed to keep his desk and workspace clean, and he has started fixing and doing things outside the house again (like checking on the water filters for the water tanks, regulating the chlorine levels, fixing things here and there, etc.)

The boys help me to dust/polish the furniture on a Monday. They also keep the XBox, and their computer tables clean and tidy, as well as make their own beds, keep their room tidy, and wipe down their bed frames and their walls (don't know how footprints get on there! Must be a child/boy thing). They also take turns in picking up the dog bowls every day, I just put the food in the bowls, and they are always willing to help me with no complaints if I ask them for help.

Since Adam started doing his own washing once a week ( I remind and check on him using the machine), Rocco has now decided to do his own washing too! So I just tumble, fold and pack away, because I insist on neat cupboards. Adam will also now start to make one meal (breakfast, lunch or supper) on a Saturday. I think Rocco will probably join in too, as he is very keen. Brandt isn't willing to do any cleaning in the house, he is willing to pay for a lady to come help with cleaning once a week again, but then I sit with the hassle of the person and all the admin for government, etc. I'm not up for that level of grief yet.

 

Nope, there is no way that he'll take over finances. He dislikes it more than I do, and I already do a lot of the other things (like driving to town to buy things he doesn't want to get, making almost all the phone calls w.r.t. finances or things that have to be arranged, changed, etc.) which he doesn't like doing. I put my foot down with regards to buying spare parts for the cars, especially when it comes to buying parts where there can be an if this, then that, otherwise this... and most things to do with his racing. And he fixes and services the cars.

I told him now that I'm going to change things, do the finances in a way that suites me, not his mom or the tax accountant, and he said to go for it. He'll back me up if they complain. He does however do his own invoices and checks on payments received. He does handle his clients personally. I just basically have to handle everything else.

 

-------------------------

Eish, the heat caught me this afternoon. I've been battling a headache for the last hour. I've just taken a headache tablet and am going to lie down for a bit. I'm even having trouble spelling and thinking of words to use.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

13 minutes ago, MrsVan said:

I told him now that I'm going to change things, do the finances in a way that suites me, not his mom or the tax accountant, and he said to go for it. He'll back me up if they complain. He does however do his own invoices and checks on payments received. He does handle his clients personally. I just basically have to handle everything else.

 

That will help you hate finances less.

[Rhovaniel]

That sounds like an awful way to wake up! Well done on getting in your exercises in  

 

Following, of course!

[Mrs Van]

16 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

That will help you hate finances less.

Yes, and I've just figured out a way to do it! Still spreadsheets, but I'll incorporate the monthly budget with everything I have to enter every month. All the income and expenses (and capital expenses, etc.) will link to the budget spreadsheet, update automatically. Then I still have the detailed tables that show how much was spent at which shop (because tax offices wants this information), but I have the summary in the budget, and I only have to enter each transaction once! Then check it all at the end of the month to the bank statement, which makes it twice, but not three or four times that I have to go over the same stuff. It will already make the work a lot less, and I love setting up spreadsheets.

I'm also looking forward to going through the tutorial lessons that I got for free from a prof. in Florida on all the LibreOffice programmes. That's what I'm going to do with the boys as part of their computer learning for this year. But this work will help me to become familiar with macros, etc. again, and I can fine-tune the finances spreadsheets as I learn again.

I'm going to do it in a way that suites me, but give B's mom the printouts/pdf files, etc. in a setup that suites her, and how she has to work.

11 minutes ago, Rhovaniel said:

That sounds like an awful way to wake up! Well done on getting in your exercises in  

 

Following, of course!

It wasn't a nice way to wake up, no, but... shrug. I want animals and this is part of the package. Luckily the good parts are way more and rewarding than the bad parts.

I was also super glad I managed the exercises, but truth be told, this headache is a reminder to respect the heat and humidity, and maybe take it easy on such afternoons. And DEFINITELY try to exercise in the morning rather than later! If I have to exercise in the afternoons because Murphy happened in the morning, then keep the heat in mind, and do something, rather than nothing, but maybe not everything. Or keep more cold water handy to tip over my head in between exercises.

 

Oh the headache tablet is working! Bliss!

[Elastigirl]

Glad you are back on the boards! Hope the headache clears quickly. 

[Mrs Van]

16 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Glad you are back on the boards! Hope the headache clears quickly. 

Thanks, EG. It took a couple hours but the meds started working and took the headache away.

Have you set up a new challenge yet?

 

-----------------------------------

I think the headache was a combo of heat and over taxing my eyes on the computer. I've been doing a lot of finances the last two days, sometimes without my glasses. I'm taking a break this morning w.r.t. the latter, as I sat till midnight setting up most of the new spreadsheets. I'll do a test run on December finances to see whether I've got everything. Compare it to the December totals on the 'old' system.

 

Fetched the vegetables from the farmer who delivers it fresh on a Wednesday morning. Our neighbour doesn't want any, so I put together a bag with spinach, cabbage and green beans for Eric. He is working in their garden today. The rest of the veg will probably last me at least till end of next week if not longer. It is a small box (R120 ~ $7.50) and has 1kg (~2lb) tomatoes, 1kg onions, 1kg baby potatoes, 1kg carrots (that's standard every week), then a mix-match of what veg he could get from surrounding farms. This week had more spinach, green beans, cabbage, baby marrows, butternuts, and a brinjal. I still have spinach from last week (flash cooked and frozen), but I think we'll probably have ratatouille sometime this week.

 

Just arranged with Rocco's fencing coach that he'll only start again beginning of February. That should give her (depending on the other parents) some time to sort out lock down and other rules again. Our government just put us in a level 3 lock down again - no social gatherings of any kind allowed for the next two weeks. Not even a sad, commiseration wedding. Yes, I'm sarcastic as funeral gatherings with 20+ people were allowed (till now) but no weddings - otherwise weddings with fewer than 6 people, and only small church gatherings < 12 people? So some people registered a gathering for a funeral with the police, but held private weddings on their properties - people in our area did that. So for the next two weeks, no gatherings at all, after that, they'll see. And this goes hand in hand with curfews of 9pm-6am. I'm so glad Covid can read time; that it only comes out at night. Wonder whether that would put the criminals in danger of contracting it? Anyway...

 

-----------------------------------

Third day - Wednesday 30 December:

• Exercises done at 5am (but I slept again from 8h00-9h00);
• Housework done;
• Fetched the veg.

Ok, I'm going now because I'm rambling because I'm tired. Today is a blessedly cool, less humid day, and it is now time for coffee!

Enjoy the second last day of the year.

-----------------------------------

PS-

@Bouncer_the_Lovable I thought I'd place two pictures for you of my planners. One is on my desk and is what I use to prioritise what needs to be done for the household, etc. The other one is for my NF challenges. Seeing as you are looking around and wanting to do something. Maybe it will give you ideas. I'm putting it in a spoiler due to size. Yikes it is pretty blurry. The exercises in green in the NF book (top photo) is written in green in my planner book. The housework written in orange in the NF book is written in orange on the planner. The finances are written in red, to get my attention not to forget (or procrastinate). It's probably overdone - written down twice - but it works for me. Normally I just write a small key word on the planner, then have more detail on the NF page. Colour absolutely work for me. As do pictures.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[Elastigirl]

No, I haven't done my challenge yet. Mr . Incredible has this week off work, so I've been spending time with him doing things. Sounds like a good amount of veggies from the farmer. Our mandates and lockdowns drive me crazy too, they are so arbitrary. 

[Mrs Van]

11 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

No, I haven't done my challenge yet. Mr . Incredible has this week off work, so I've been spending time with him doing things. Sounds like a good amount of veggies from the farmer. Our mandates and lockdowns drive me crazy too, they are so arbitrary. 

Enjoy the time with Mr. Incredible. Brandt doesn't take leave, except for the public holidays, but things are slower than normal, and he still works from home on Thursdays and Fridays. He and the boys are seeming to bond more over games and discussions.

Hope you have a lovely New Year's eve, and New Year's.

 

----------------------------

(My week 1, your week 0) Day 4 - Thursday 31 December:

It may still be the 30th where you are, but...

 

• I did not go for a walk as it was raining softly, on and off. What put me off the most though were the thick cloud of smelly gas hanging in the air. Don't know whether it came over the ridge from a factory there, or from the drains (rotting plant material), but it was bad. Instead I did 20 plain burpees. Just to get the heart rate going and work on cardio a bit.
• I started reading The Warrior's Dance last night. It's already given me some insight into situations I had this past year - taking offense, giving offense (unintended), forgiving and letting go. I'm hoping to read little bits after workout every morning, or at least sometime during the day.

 

Nothing else on for today, so I'm going to love you, and leave you. Hope you have a magical last day of the year, and that the New Year will be blessed with opportunities and possibilities that come true!

[Loveable_Bouncer]

On 12/29/2020 at 11:21 AM, MrsVan said:

don't know how footprints get on there! Must be a child/boy thing)

My mother has pointed I always have this issue.... for me it's a tactile thing.

 

Thank you for the planners ideas! 

 

May you have a wonderful new year! 

[Rhovaniel]

I hope you have a wonderful year ahead Elize!

[Mrs Van]

On 12/31/2020 at 7:38 AM, Bouncer_the_Lovable said:

My mother has pointed I always have this issue.... for me it's a tactile thing.

 

Thank you for the planners ideas! 

 

May you have a wonderful new year! 

I think for the boys as well - w.r.t. footprints on the painted walls.

Have a great New Year.

On 12/31/2020 at 10:04 PM, Rhovaniel said:

I hope you have a wonderful year ahead Elize!

Thank you, and you as well, Rho.

 

---------------------------------

I don't know what it is, maybe all the exercise I've done this past week, and this morning (ok and broken sleep due to thunder, rain and fireworks the past two nights, come to think of it), but I have slept SO MUCH Friday afternoon and again now on Saturday. Like in solidly, out like a light, didn't wake up for anything, until the washing machine's alarm went off. But I was snugly and warm under the duvet, as it is rainy and miserably cold outside (feels especially cold after 38-40C days earlier in the week).

 

I still have November and December finances to do, but I did work more on the new spreadsheets, until late last night. Went grocery shopping this morning, and we are eating their pre-prepared food: first was a platter with small samoosas, short sausages, crumbed chicken bites, mini veg spring rolls, and mini chicken drumsticks (drumlets) in a 'Texan BBQ sauce'. Then tonight we'll have flame grilled chicken with left over veg and fruit from yesterday.

 

The neighbour's one twin boy has a very bad tummy bug. Common around Natal in South Africa. They had to take him for Covid tests, which was negative, but the doctor still asked that he be kept away from other people and kids for the next 10 days. He'll just be allowed out when their school starts for the new year. He isn't happy, as Rocco now can't play there either. This coming week is our last week 'off' then we'll be starting school as well.

[Loveable_Bouncer]

Cold spells do make exercise less thrilling... but get yah on the sleep thing. Calling in the new year with rest!

 

May you and your boys enjoy this last week off healthy.

[Elastigirl]

Glad you got some good sleep in. All that food sounds yummy

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

How was the "Texan" bbq sauce?

[Mrs Van]

14 hours ago, Bouncer_the_Lovable said:

Cold spells do make exercise less thrilling... but get yah on the sleep thing. Calling in the new year with rest!

 

May you and your boys enjoy this last week off healthy.

Still slept like a log last night, after all the day sleep I've already had. Even the boys are taking cat-naps during the day then sleeping solidly at night, but they've had a couple nights where they stayed up throughout to download games onto their new computers.

13 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Glad you got some good sleep in. All that food sounds yummy

Thanks. All the food was/is yummy, especially since I don't have to cook, either yesterday or today.

9 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

How was the "Texan" bbq sauce?

Delicious. Very similar to Buffalo wings sauce, but without the bite. There might have been a scraping up of the left over sauce on the platter, to make sure nothing goes to waste

 

------------------------------------

Woke up at 5am. Let the dogs out. Locked up behind them when they came back in (10min.), then went back to bed and slept solidly till about 8am. Got up, heated up the coffee Brandt had brought me at some point, then sat in bed to enjoy it, after feeding all the animals (only 4-legged, the 2-legged ones made due with rusks and cereal). Then Brandt sprang the 'surprise' on me. At some point during the night/early morning someone had accidentally pushed over our 2Lt container (flip lid) with milk and cream mix; the latter is now decorating the bottom of the fridge (we use a box freezer as fridge on fridge setting). "Huh!" was my first reaction. Brandt was grimacing. I told him that since he hadn't cleaned it up in the last hour or two, it could probably wait another hour till I was ready to get up and clean up the mess. He didn't make the mess, he said, but none of the boys fessed up, he just thought it accidentally tipped over, as it wasn't standing flat on the shelf. It happens. I got up after having my coffee and I cleaned up the mess. It took nearly an hour, because the milk got in everywhere! In the cling wrapped pizza, the baked pudding, the vegetable baskets...

 

Anyway it is clean and we are having pizza for brunch. I'll have to wipe down the bottom of the fridge everyday for at least the next week, because the silver lining isn't sealed at the bottom, so some of the milk got in under the lining. It is coming out little by little, and I sprayed an anti-fungal, anti-bacterial cleaner there. This won't affect the food because everything is either in plastic baskets or packaging.

 

I'm doing some more washing, and after having brunch (while I'm typing here), I'll start cleaning the kitchen shelves, seeing as I didn't do it yesterday. I have also already cleaned part of the stoep floor. LOL Brandt is cleaning his desk! He made a metal stand for his laptops, but first have to take everything on top off, clean it (a lot of dust, which I have refused to clean), then pack everything back on top. He gave me his puppy-dog eyes, but I did not fall for it! I gave him two cleaning cloths, two different cleaning liquids, and told him to have a good time. Then sat down to eat. He is actually cleaning, sorting and throwing stuff away, re-arranging his desk and finding all sorts of things. I told him he had to share any gold he finds, but other things he can keep.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Dang, look at you with all your healthy boundaries!

Well done. This will go a long way to preserving sanity.

[Mrs Van]

4 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Dang, look at you with all your healthy boundaries!

Well done. This will go a long way to preserving sanity.

I try. No gold was found, but I can live with that. Examples set as well.

 

 

I did all my cleaning today. Off to bed now because tomorrow is a 5am morning with exercises, then a lot of things have to be done in town. Rocco's music teacher has postponed lessons till beginning of Feb, and then it will most likely be online, because of Covid restrictions, etc. In the meantime she'll send Rocco some lessons to practice, and we'll take it from there. That is more pressure off me, which I'm grateful for.

 

There is a new "tree tops experience" adventure sport/group that started in our botanical gardens (close to us). At some point I want to take the boys to see what happens there. It will have to wait for another week I think (restrictions). I'm hoping they have some low level obstacle climb-kind of activities, but so far the photos I've seen are only of higher up tree-top kinds of activities. Totally safe, but none of us like heights that much.

 

Good night y'all!

Have a good week.

[Elastigirl]

I hate it when stuff spills in the fridge!  And no one else  ever notices it, so it is typically up to me to clean.

[Rhovaniel]

Nice job with the boundaries! M and I have an unspoken agreement that whoever finds the mouse/mouse remains/bloodied entrails cleans it, but somehow, M never seems to notice them. 

 

 

[annyshay]

Hi Gryffindarling! *hugs*

[Mrs Van]

On 1/3/2021 at 10:35 PM, Elastigirl said:

I hate it when stuff spills in the fridge!  And no one else  ever notices it, so it is typically up to me to clean.

Yep, that's the way it seems to work here too, except I'm also told about it, but no one else does anything about it.

20 hours ago, Rhovaniel said:

Nice job with the boundaries! M and I have an unspoken agreement that whoever finds the mouse/mouse remains/bloodied entrails cleans it, but somehow, M never seems to notice them. 

 

 

Thanks. Having two boys made me come to the conclusion that selective hearing and vision is ingrained in male DNA. And yes, no one sees the dead geckos, the mutilated frogs, dead moles... I've had to clean those up these past few days as well.

19 hours ago, annyshay said:

Hi Gryffindarling! *hugs*

Hallo! ❤️

 

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We're having electricity and internet problems (city wide), as usual. Please bare with me if it takes a day or two before I reply. As I mentioned before, the city's electricity infrastructure is collapsing - the main boxes (substations) are so old and haven't been maintained, they can't even find spare parts for it any more. One again burst into flames Sunday evening. Apparently it will take ~R70million ($4m) to replace one substation. Our city is bankrupt, and has been for the last couple years. Even the interim people who are trying to get it to break even have given up. They find more money stolen and problems wherever they dig and try to fix things. W.r.t. the internet (adsl copper lines) - it is being stolen faster than Telkom can replace it. We are waiting for fibre (has been laid) and we have an appointment with a company to install our connection beginning of February. But then it will still take time before they 'switch it on'. In the meantime we continue as best we can. It is manageable with some juggling.

 

Along with this news ^^^ was the bad news when Rocco's computer failed to switch on, on Monday. Brandt is running all kinds of tests and checks, and it looks like the brand new hard drive failed. It happens. This last check should finish tonight, then if there are bad sectors we'll send it back and ask for a replacement. Otherwise it means Win.10 conked out, and we can just wipe the disk and reinstall EVERYTHING. The poor boy didn't take it well when we realised what had happened, but Adam and I are giving him computer time on our machines, and he is keeping himself entertained on the XBox, playing outside with the dogs (when it is not raining), and with board games. Whenever he is on my computer I either sort out slips (invoices, the paper work), or now that finances are done, read on my cellphone. One author sent us a link to various genres being sold on New Year's eve on Amazon, for free. I think I got about 50+ books out of the hundreds available. Some are really short, others are a bit... racy , others are proper science fiction and action, supernatural, then good, clean romances, rom-coms, or just funny. All fiction to relax with. I have to think enough with the other things I do. I have finished a couple of the shorter ones already.

 

I also managed to finish updating ALL THE FINANCES! I'm sorting out the final kinks to the new spreadsheet system. I'm going to change the way I do the budget to my old way, otherwise there were just one or two little mistakes (formulas, etc.) to fix so far. I've sent Brandt's mom the old spreadsheets up to November to update her systems and send on to the tax accountant.

 

Challenge wise: This week Day 1-

• Exercises inside;
• Vacuumed and dusted;
• Finances done.

Challenge wise: This week Day 2-

• Exercises inside (was raining outside);
• Very little washing, but done;
• Finances almost completed - sorting out the last kinks.

And that's it folks! Hope you have a great week, and things work out for the best, for you.