Oddly, it wasn't as horrible as I expected. I think I half-expected the potential housekeeper to come in, blanch at the horror, and say in hushed tones, We can make it right ... for a price!

It wasn't anything like that, really. We talked about the square footage of the house, and we talked about how frequently I needed help, and some of the crazier chores I needed help with, and what day of the week was best.

It has been a hectic few months. Travel enough and you have this constant, vague sense of displacement; wake up, and you wonder for a moment, where am I today? You are frequently a timezone ahead, or a flight behind, or some combination of the two, and every hotel room has an alarm clock that works in a slightly different way.

I finished the top for Pentagon papers tonight. I don't have any photos, because it's dark and it's late and it's Friday and ... do I really have to make more excuses here?

... yeah, thanks.

I need to flip the quilt top over, trim any seam allowances that are too large, and then press it ... but of course, pressing it means re-filing all of the fabric that I've pulled out this week to finish PP. It does seem like every round of tasks comes with seventeen codicils these days, but it is what it is.

I knew I'd flown one too many times this past week when I walked up to the coffee stand and said, "Oh, when did the coffee machine break? It was working when I was here a few days ago..."

I spent a few days in Washington DC, at Matthew's house. It was an actual vacation, albeit a short one. I felt vaguely ashamed at how I roosted on the couch for the entire weekend, barely moving, but I wasn't ashamed enough to actually get up and do something about it.

My vantage point:

Two trips coming up. I'm in a frantic rush right now, looking to my to-do list every few minutes to make sure I'm accomplishing the Things That Must Be Done, for the countdown to takeoff is looming in my ears.

I'll be hitting the East Coast for both trips; one trip is business and the other is pleasure. I'll mark "Massachusetts" off my to-do list of states, and that's a win, right?