Mid-Week Freak Out

So, my mother arrives tomorrow and instead of starting on the list of things that should be done, I'm lolling around with Miranda, waiting for Alex to come home from his last day of school, thinking about taking them to get their hair cut this afternoon. Why, you ask, am I so complacent?

Well, she is my mother (if you know her, you know how wonderful she is) and she will forgive me for a little bit of mess around the house. And last week, and this week have been rather exciting. I feel like Inigo in The Princess Bride:

Inigo Montoya: Let me 'splain.
[pause]
Inigo Montoya: No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

• Rather unexpected remodeling of Miranda's room on Sunday (more about that on Friday) which meant Marshall spent the day ripping out the carpet, the baseboards and the carpet tack strips, and then vacuuming up everything that was underneath. Ewww.
• The people we had asked to create for us a real asphalt driveway (what we have now is mostly weeds a what's left of a driveway from, like, 1984) said, "We can start on Wednesday." Okay, then.
• I am still the perpetual laundry machine and, for the first time in a long time, becoming weary of it.
• Miranda can create a mess in a clean room in a few seconds flat, in the time it takes you to turn around and watch Alex run by in the other direction. "Helping" her clean up is rather like pulling teeth out of a mid-size shark. 
• Remember, my mother arrives Wednesday, which means a trip to the airport with children in tow and then we're straight off to a birthday party for a dear friend. 
• Marshall has needed to spend longer hours at work to finish up important things, which is fine because we like his job and want to keep it. It just means less help for me at home. But, considering all the work he did on Sunday, which was Father's Day, I am so grateful for all he does for us every day.
• Remember that sinus infection, well, it's still healing. Which means my head will still feel like it's exploding every time I bend over to pick up after Little Miss Mess-A-Lot. 
• And then there's the cross stitch that I should be spending every spare moment on so I can finish in time!

We're running on high anxiety here, which is only useful when it comes along with high adrenaline. 

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, has mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Please.