The HVAC guy just left after an expensive couple of hours in the basement. The water heater, a gas-fired instant-on thing installed in 2009, has definitely reached the palliative stage of life-cycle maintenance, but it's good for a while yet. The humidifier needs a new wick of a type that the technician did not keep in his truck -- ain't it always the way -- and therefore requires another visit. Furnace and air-conditioner are fit and healthy, what a relief.

Especially after the expensive adventure of the water softener. Is it too much to ask that only one major appliance should fail in any given year?

The wardrobe reduction of last week resulted in *two* empty chests of drawers, one of which is now scheduled to find a new home. That leaves me with three: one in my bedroom for normal clothes, one in the box-room with clothes (mostly fancy) that I wear rarely but expect to want in the foreseeable future, and the empty one in the guest room for, y'know, guests.

The departing chest of drawers is the only one in the house that is less than 150 years old. It's apparently made of veneered "manufactured wood" (aka pressboard), and it weighs a young ton -- much too heavy for me to move by myself. Fortunately, it's in perfect condition without so much as a cat scratch in the finish, so the Habitat for Humanity ReStore should be willing to take it off my hands.

The box-room is also considerably clearer, and I intend to NOT acquire any clutter likely to end up in it. My long-term goal is to empty it of everything that isn't off-season clothing that I will actually wear when it's in season again, and the vacuum cleaner.