We’ve been cleaning house madly all day, and we finished one and a half rooms and the hallway. And one of the bathrooms. Oh well, it’s a start.

I’m going to reward myself by sitting quietly and watching Ben Hur with Charlton Heston. (The movie is with CH; I’m going to watch it with whichever of the urchins I can corral.) He’s old enough to be my dad, but still Mr. Heston is a good-looking Judah Ben-Hur. And it’s a long movie. I’ll get a lot of rest.