Cleaner
Three weeks ago, I cleaned most of the house, excepting my room (and didn't finish various things, like vacuuming). I'm pleased to report that I've managed to keep things at about that level of cleanliness ever since--in particular, I've been very good about putting all dishes in the dishwasher immediately after use, and emptying the dishwasher immediately after running it, so the usual vast fields of dirty dishes have not been piling up on my kitchen counters.
And today, two women from Emma's Eco-Clean came and cleaned my house (again excepting my room), so now everything is really clean, not just not-messy. The carpets aren't covered in bits of stuff. The windows are clean. The sinks were already empty, but now they're clean. The bathroom mirrors are clean. It's very pleasant. And I highly recommend Emma's for anyone in the area who's looking for cleaners--I hired them a couple years ago and was quite pleased with them then, too.
I've asked them to come once a month. Don't know whether that'll be sufficiently often (if it isn't, I'll move to a more frequent schedule)--and in the past, I've never managed to maintain even a semblance of non-messiness for more than a couple weeks at a time, so I don't know if I can keep that up--but if it works out, it'll be really nice. My goal is to have my room in good enough shape by a month from now that they can clean there too.
In other news, my new office chair arrived the other day; I put it together late last night, and cleared some space around my desk, and am now sitting in the new chair, and I like it quite a bit, especially when I remember to sit back in it to get the lumbar support.
I also acquired some nice new wooden bowls and lovely cobalt-blue glasses from Cost Plus, and will be going back in the next couple days to buy some dining-room chairs to replace the ones that are falling apart. I'm planning to get the Chemia chairs, which are not only attractive but very comfortable to sit in. I would love to get the Chemia table to go with them--it's attractive and it matches the chairs--but I think it would overwhelm my tiny dining-area space; it's as wide as my current small table is long (and my current table is already a little big for that space). The other table I was looking at was called the Mason (don't know how long that link will work); smaller, and vaguely similar looking, but significantly darker, and doesn't have those nice round legs.
Anyway. I'm mostly asleep, so I'll sign off here. Mostly just wanted to brag about the nigh-unprecedented state of cleanliness that my house is currently in, 'cause I don't expect it to last.