The dust bunnies have formed a union. Entering the bathrooms requires a current tetanus shot. The sludge in the crisper has acquired sentience.

It’s time to… get a maid.

Seriously, we did. And it was INCREDIBLE. It was like the Clean Fairy came while I was at work. Except it was Andrew and Amanda, and instead of a magic wand they used Tilex.

They did SUCH a good job – the house both looks and smells clean. I practically had to shield my eyes from the gleaming chrome in the upstairs bathroom. We are so going to keep this up. I figure we’re reasonably orderly folks, so it’s just the heavier cleaning stuff that needs done. About once a month should do it, and divided by 3, that’s money well spent.

One huge advantage of having a sparkly bathroom was that I had a shiny tub to test drive a few of the items from my massive Lush purchase. For the unenlightened, Lush is a British/Canadian company started by a former partner in The Body Shop that branched out on his own. It’s not in the US yet, but they have a great website that should give you an idea of the kind of stuff they have. I’ve walked by their shops on visits to Vancouver and Victoria and been nearly mugged by the multiple fragrances wafting from their storefronts.

Basically, I ended up buying way too many bath bombs than are good for you and spent an hour in the tub taking one of them for a test drive. Aaaaah, Butterball. Smells yummy – a light, clean fragrance – and your skin gets beyond moisturized. I also tried Angels on Bare Skin (not fond of the fragrance, but it feels great). Gumback Express (KILLER body exfoliant), Skinny Dip (a really creamy shower gel) and Sympathy for the Skin (a hand and body moisturizer that looks and smells like mashed banana custard). By the time I was done, I was clean, exfoliated, hydrated and smelled like a sugar cookie. I couldn’t stop smelling my arm! I plan to work my way through the six more bombs, and the two other shower gels, and the two other soaps, and the two ‘bath melts’ and the ‘bubble bar’…

Sigh. I don’t live close enough to Vancouver. I can already sense a relatively expensive addiction rearing its ugly head.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. (You’d better have called your Mom.)