Tons of sense, Kristin. Give yourself rewards as you go. Once you pick up the living room and put everything away, you can spend 10 min on b.org. Once you clean the toilet, you can have a cold pop.

I do that to myself all the time.

Kristin, if this is elbow-grease therapy, then here is me shaking my pom-poms for you. We want you to do what will make you least stressed, and by we, I mean all the Bitches, and your Dad, too. Put on some dancing music and boogy the mess outta there. If you are having trouble getting started, maybe make a deal with yourself to have some sort of treat if you accomplish a certain amount.

I had to promise myself brownies in order to get myself to shower and leave the house to apply for a job, and yet once I got going, everything was fine.

I had to promise myself brownies in order to get myself to shower and leave the house to apply for a job,

Brownies are a great reward!

It totally makes sense. Just do whatever the minimum is to allow yourself to be comfortable having your dad in your space, and don't run yourself ragged. I'm sorry it's been such an emotional and financial whammy of a day.

Poor Kristin. What a crappy day. I'm glad you'll have your dad at the end of it. I totally understand the cleaning thing. Plus, at the end, you'll have clean apartment, which is also nice.

Holy crap! [link] I gotta say, not a lot like this generally happens in Boston, at least not in heavily trafficked areas.

I hope you'll all understand when I say that I have to clean.

When my mother is coming to visit, I become insano cleaning girl and find myself doing things like taking off the HVAC vents and washing them. My normal standard of clean is to be happy that nothing seems to be growing anywhere or falling on my head.

t tangent, about clothing as usual

Oooh! Wouldn't this be cute with, say, a pink petticoat, pink & black stripy tights, a little velvet bolero jacket, and oh, maybe a top hat? And a pink & black choker?

(Yes, I am being driven crazy by work and am trying to distract myself. But it's still a cute dress.)

We went by the Gap (because there just aren't a lot of decent clothing stores in walking distance), where I tried on tons of cute things, and got... black pants and a belt. Well, that's what I needed, after all. But I tried on this chocolate brown part-cashmere short-sleeved v-neck sweater that looked so good on me... particularly when I bent down, when there was a little bit of woo! cleavage! action. I decided that I actually have plenty of non-teaching clothing, and if I'm going to spend $30 bucks on a top, it'd better be something I can wear teaching. Dammit.

I like it Jilli!

I want this dress: [link]