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a good cleaning

PengAiYi is here now. She's our cleaning lady. Okay, so I said I didn't really need help cleaning but the break would be nice. I couldn't clean the way this lady cleans. I guess I could but I just probably wouldn't unless I was being paid. She's amazing. She walked in the house talked to Maddie for half a minute and started cleaning with a vengence. Now I know why everyone else's apartments look SO good (several teammates use her, too). Needless to say, I'm happy she's here.

Thanks to those who commented on my dishes. I'm glad you like them. If you come to visit you can eat off of them - hint, hint.

Maddie's still sick. Today she has a fever. The good news is that she slept through the night again. We used the air purifier last night. It makes nice white noise so maybe that will help Maddie sleep, too.

Phil's out walking with Maddie right now. Even though she's sick I know she'll still enjoy her walk. Plus it helps her to stay on a routine. If she seems better this afternoon we'll go to B&Q.

Peter's coming over late afternoon. He'll hang out with us for awhile and have supper here. I think I'll make rice and curry - on ol' Steiner standby. I don't know if Peter will like it but I'm never sure if he likes anything he eats here.

Last night I went for a run. It's been a long time since I ran so it felt really good and really horrible all at the same time. It was after 8pm before I left the house. I ran around the complex. It's big and safe so that's nice. I'm hoping to do it on a regular basis. I really miss running. Once Maddie's weaned I hope to start morning runs - which I really enjoy.

So I just checked on PengAiYi because it was very quite and I was curious. She's sitting on Maddie's big bed folding laundry. Thank you! This is very nice.

In Ningxiang we had a house cleaner for about a week. I hated it because it was just me and Phil and she barely had anything to do. Plus I had a lot of extra time. So it was really weird to sit on the couch reading while she swept around me. She also started asking for more money because her friend who was helping the other foreign teachers was getting paid more - because that family had 2 kids and she did all their cooking. Anyway, we let her go because I hated it plus no one had house keepers except the foreigners and I didn't like that. I'm not sure that other Chinese people in our complex here have house cleaners but I wouldn't be surprised. For some reason it doesn't bother me now.

I do have other things to do today besides chat about my house keeper...I'd better start painting my nails.

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