Life Moves On (the Clean House Edition)

I actually did go into work this afternoon, after learning that a few others had made it in, and I had no trouble. There were branches down here and there, but not on the road, and other than feeling a little jumpy about it, and one traffic light that was blinking yellow instead of three-color, I found it a pretty normal drive. There are still plenty of people without power (and oh, am I grateful to have mine), but for me, life has gone back to normal pretty quickly. I went to acupuncture tonight, I have a dentist appointment in the morning ... stuff. Life. With an extra dose of gratitude for its normality.

And what's on my mind, post-storm? It's actually something out of the ordinary for me: house cleaning. Last month, I saw a Groupon deal for house cleaning, and decided to bite the bullet and get it. I'm not a good housekeeper; I'm too lazy to do much around the place, and that means that the corners start getting furry long before I get around to doing anything about them. I doubt I'll become a regular client, but the occasional deeper clean would be a Good Thing. The deal is for two sessions (it cost a total of $89, and I suppose I should tip on top of that, right? anyone know what's standard?), and I booked the first for this Saturday.

So what does this mean? First, I have some tidying to do! I used to laugh at my mother when I was a kid and she was tidying up for the cleaning lady. Now, of course, I understand better that in order to clean it, they have to be able to get at it. (Whatever it is.) And to be honest, a little external motivation to tidy up isn't a bad thing for me. There are things about living alone (well, without other humans) that I very much enjoy, but there's a line between 'enjoy' and 'abuse' that I don't want to cross. No, I don't have to do the dishes the instant they're dirty, but how long do I want to leave them? Even if there are other things I'd rather be doing?

Each session is supposed to be two hours, and I'm planning to bring Carlos out to the car and hang out with him there. Miri's on her own, I'm afraid; I'm just not willing to shed blood to catch her, and honestly being caught and then being with me in the car, even with it unmoving, would likely stress her out as much as playing hide-and-seek with the cleaners will.

Do you have outside help with cleaning, or anything else? What's your experience been?