Gettin' stuff done is exhausting.

Even when you're simply supervising.

I have had an ever-growing to-do list for quite some time now. Those of you who know me well, understand how much I HATE relying on other people to do things that I want done. I am all about instant gratification. When I want furniture moved, I move it. When I want pictures hung, I hang them.

This becomes increasingly difficult, even impossible, when baking a baby. The difficulty doubles when your husband is out of the country.

In comes Dad. Dad rocks. He came this week and did a professional job painting the baby's room. He also sanded and painted some patch jobs in the living room; put a new screen on the sliding door; hung hooks in the basement for ski equipment; painted the chair rail that he installed the last time he was here; put up a hose butler for the side of the house; watered the garden; moved furniture to prepare for Stanley Steemer; and will stay for Stanley Steemer, who is coming tomorrow. To do every rug in the house (we have a lot of wall-to-wall carpeting that has NEVER been cleaned, to my knowledge). And Dad always finds assorted odds and ends projects in between the big ones. I'm sure there are many more things he did that I am having trouble remembering. Love Dad.

Love Mom for letting Dad come to Milton, which meant she was alone in CT all week. She's a trooper (although secretly I think she enjoyed a little quiet time, too....).

But Dad alone is not Superman. He cannot lift couches or move heavy furniture by himself. Enter Kevin and Sam, my co-worker's son and nephew, who hauled a large closet's worth of stuff up from the basement to be left for Salvation Army; took a sectional couch, a workout bench, an entertainment unit, and a large carpet to the dump; moved the heavy furniture to prep for Stanley Steemer; carried my grandmother's sewing machine from the basement to the front hall; moved the bed out of the baby's room; filled in a large puddle pothole with gravel; and killed and dug up two large pricker bushes. Love them, too.

And what did I do so far, with all this activity going on? Well, I managed to windex and dust.

And with the windows open, both chores were pointless. The pollen got all over everything after I dusted. And the dogs were nose to glass all day, because they could hear everything with all the windows open. Next time? Close the windows.

I was also able to sweep the basement. And do two small loads of laundry (except the laundry is still going, at 10:00 at night). And pick up pizza for dinner.

And now I'm going to bed, because I am physically exhausted.