Voting, Cleaning and Rewiring Electrical Fixtures - Work Never Ends

So, to start things out, please vote for my writing on "America" that I posted last week. Here's the URL for voting and, as always, it's under Engarian. 

https://www.dreamwidth.org/poll/?id=27243 

There are fewer of us this time around, and the field keeps shrinking, yet I'm still in the mix - the new kid on the block. I'm thrilled and so honored to be with these talented people. 

I've been having a great time with LJ Idol and am always 
amazed that I'm holding my own with some of the talented 
writers in the group. We're getting down in numbers now, 
and I'm still very much a part of the mix. Huzzah! LOL

Today is a dental cleaning and checkup day, so I'm cooling down after my morning run and I'll make sure to eat breakfast and thoroughly clean my teeth before heading over there. I find it amusing - and I'm sure each one of you does the same thing - that I'm cleaning as much as possible before seeing the dentist to get a semi-annual clean and check. We don't like to look like mouth slobs - LOL. 

I really hate cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen, although 
I'm always cleaning the shower and the kitchen anyway. 
But it's like those two rooms are never truly clean because 
they are always being used. 

My mother used to do the same thing before her cleaning lady came. She had a woman who came every one or two weeks to clean the bathrooms and the kitchen for her. When I was younger, it was every week, but in her later years, it was every two weeks. Mom would make sure the house was thoroughly picked up and ready to go, then whichever person she had hired at the time would clean the bathrooms and kitchen, and sometimes also do the vacuuming (especially when Mom got older). When I was still living at home, the three of us would always go out to eat that night so that the kitchen would stay clean for one day. 

I have all of the supplies, and I'm perfectly capable of 
deep cleaning, but I usually just don't have a ton of extra 
time available for such things. So I do a lot of 
smaller cleaning jobs - one wall of the shower, or scrubbing 
the kitchen sinks thoroughly along with the counters. 

I always wished I could hire someone like that, but I also don't like strangers in my home, and I'm capable of cleaning, even if I don't get to it as often as I probably should. Cleaning will move up my list once I've retired, simply because I'll have the right equipment, and the time to spread it out over several days - a little at a time is the best way to accomplish bigger jobs sometimes. 

There are so many different ways to wear braces 
these days. They can be in front or in back of 
the teeth. They can be metal, or the fittings 
can be clear plastic with minimal visibility. I 
don't know the plusses and minuses of each 
option, so a consultation with the three orthodontic 
people I am interested in hiring is probably 
justified. 

I'll also speak to my dentist about orthodontists and braces. I think I'm going to have to break down after more than 60 years of saying "No", and get braces for my teeth. They're getting too crooked and they're interfering with each other in a not-so-good way. I can't allow that to continue much longer without getting it resolved, because it's getting worse and worse. So, time to do something about it, despite the expense (which will be considerable - sigh). 

Our fixtures are similar to this, although ours are 
10 feet long and this is only eight. Ours are also 
more than 12 feet off the ground - we have very high 
ceilings. So getting up there to do the work is 
also challenging. I only have one ladder tall enough 
to get up there. 

One of the other things I have to do today is contact my landlord for the shop. We've been revamping our fluorescent fixtures at the shop, but the two we tackled on Saturday night still aren't working properly. Something is messed up in the wiring. I'll need the landlord to deal with those two for us - either by sending a minion or by coming by himself. It might be a late night if Gary needs to work on them after-hours, but I'll deal with that as it comes. I need to get light back into that part of the store. 

On that bright note (LOL), I'm out of here. I hope you have an awesome and uneventful Monday. Sometimes less drama makes for happier days. Please consider voting for my "America" entry and I'll be back tomorrow.