emmhip, I have four, so I understand. I was a single mom for 10 years and even after I remarried, the DH and I worked opposite of each other. I've always had kids underfoot when getting things done. No way I can put off housework until they are occupied or out playing. Every mom I know faces the same thing. I use Flylady's system and our house is fine. Four is old enough to really participate and they DO love to help. Let her use a feather duster. I have a really small vac which has a handle that telescopes. My six yo has been running this vac since he was four. It's his job to clean under the kitchen table. All of our kids pick up their stuff daily. We set a timer for a few minutes and "room zoom." Mine have made their beds since they got out of the crib. Just throw up a comforter. They always folded the pillow cases and wash cloths as well as put away their own clothing. I tried the housekeeper route and found it didn't solve the problem for us. Picking/cleaning up daily works much better with little ones around. They want your attention, but will love the attention while doing laundry, loading the dishwasher or just about anything. Quality time doesn't have to be spent doing just a kid activity. They love to do the things you do. The reason Flylady works for me is the tasks are divided into very short times and I never need more than 15 min. to devote to cleaning. With six of us in the house, it stays in really good shape on les than 45 min. a day (and that's divided up-not all at one time.) Gloria

I don't know what BBB are carrying but the ones I own are very durable. I believe they're by Hunter Douglas. One set is behind the kitchen sink and I've washed spaghetti sauce off with no problems plus when they've gotten crushed from the cat lying against them they pop right back into position. I highly recommend their UltraGlide cord system. Personally, I wouldn't want to go around everyday raising and lowering 12' of cordless roman shades. Keep in mind that when the cellulars are down you have total privacy but no control of light as you do with blinds.

My SIL used to wash the kids slippery slide down every day and she used to make the kids sit in the laundry tubs to wash their feet after playing outside - no wonder her kids were always sick and one has asthma. Mine have been allowed to play outside as much as they want, often getting soaked in the rain and splashing in the mud, used to eat the occasional dirt and they have all tried the cat & dog biscuits (actually I still catch my 4yr old eating the occasional cat biscuit - much to everyone elses disgust). My kids get no more than the usual couple of colds, rarely need to go to the doctor for illness (excluding the odd broken bone, etc) and are otherwise healthy. And yeah, no doubt they still do some excavating in the nose - yuk. I'd rather let my kids risk the odd broken bone than wrap them in cottonwool - how else can they experience the ups & downs of life and learn how far the body can go. We have a slippery-slide, monkeybars, swings, see-saw, trampoline & plenty of trees to climb at home but I'm always nervous when certain friends come over and would prefer they didn't get on them for fear of their parents suing me if anything happened.

Valkyrie, I think your rose actually looks pretty good, all things considered. Since you are new to roses, I think you should give yourself some time and figure out what your own personal level of bs tolerance is. In my experience, honestly, I don't think you run the risk of killing the rose by not spraying. I grow over 200 roses, and I don't spray. Some of them get bs, some of them don't. As an example, I have had Joasine Hanet for about 10 years. Every year, about this time, she gets bs, but she just keeps growing and blooming - she's a big healthy thing with never a sign of die-back. I think most of them sort of just shake it off. The few who don't, well, if they are weakened enough to die off over a cold winter, then I guess they are just not hardy in my garden (and truly, I have not had a lot of cases where this happens - mainly its when I know I'm kind of pushing things zone-wise). For me personally, spraying isn't worth it. Due to my work, the amount of gardening time I have is pretty limited, and I really don't want to spend it spraying chemicals. I'm far from 100% organic, but I do try to not use chemicals - I don't like touching them, and I worry about our birds and butterflies, rabbits and all the other creatures in the garden (and the humans too!!) I want my garden to be beautiful, but it doesn't have to be perfect. Though for some people, the answer is to only grow very disease resistant roses, for me personally, I deeply love some of the ones (like Joasine, or Mme Isaac Periere, or Zephirine Drouhin) that do get bs - I wouldn't be without them, so I just tolerate the bs. I think those of us who don't garden as a profession are lucky - we don't have to please a client, just ourselves and the people and creatures we share our gardens with. So since I really, really don't think some bs is going to kill your rose, then if I were you, I'd just give it some thought and decide if the bs bothers you too much, in which case, yes, spray (probably not a bad idea to research organic sprays, however, like the milk one people suggested in this thread); or if maybe you can live with it as it is. And I'd also highly recommend getting more roses, lol! That way, the ones that stay healthy and blooming will distract you from the ones that are troubled by bs. Good luck with your rose and your garden!!!