I'm almost afraid to say it, but things MAY be looking up.

I got two new clients this week. They both seem like really nice people. I'm a little worried about the job I took on for Mrs. G. It's a LOT of square footage that needs to be cleaned, and, naturally I think I probably underbid it. But, what the heck. At this point I'm happy to have the work. Besides, the customer herself is 80 years old and has a bad back and the place looked pretty darn clean - so I figured if she could do it, I should be able to knock it out in a couple of hours!! I would have never ever guessed her age if she hadn't told me. I thought she was right on the edge of being eligable for my senior citizen discount (for folks over 65) and was trying to think of a way to diplomatically ask her. Even with her back trouble, she moves, talks, wears her makeup and conducts herself as a much younger woman.

I guess Mrs. R, the other new client whose apartment I have agreed to clean, must be close to Mrs. G. in age. Her age is a little more apparent because she has macular degeneration, but she talks and laughs and goes on so that you quickly forget that she has any disability at all. Her apartment was designed with seniors in mind, and consequently it is laid out in a very easy to clean way with lots of open space & not a lot of molding to collect dust etc.

And I have Friend Will to thank for cluing me in to a really great product - those swiffer dusters. Those things are great! I tried it out in my own animal-hair-everywhere home & was highly impressed. Who knew Friend Will had a domestic side?

We finally got the Christmas tree down. It is, barr none, the yearly job I hate more than anything else. Thankfully, The Hub did most of it. The agreement is that he'll put all the Christmas stuff away and I'll put the room back together after he's done. Since he loves to organize stuff each in it's own special box and I can't wait to make the room look normal again we turn out to be a good team.

I'm looking into replacing my digital camera and getting a new cell phone. I found models the same as my old one on ebay. Many of them were just the camera with nothing else, which would be fine in my case, since I have the cable and softwear. But I can't help but get the feeling these things have been ripped off from some other poor soul, and with vendor names like "FastCashPawn" from Nevada, I just don't have a good vibe about it. I did buy a new handbag on ebay for .01 but it cost $7.50 to ship it.

The Hub says we ought to sue company that makes the pickled herring we eat for luck every year.

"But Honey, they don't make the claim that it's supposed to be lucky." I said.

He looked at me in mock surprise and said, "They can't think people are eating it for any OTHER reason!"

Yeah, good luck, Hub. Sue the herring!