I started feeling really stressed yesterday, and it has continued today. You can feel the tension in my body, particularly in my back. It is partially because I have a lot of stuff to catch up on and get done at work. Today I made it through most of my list, which was exciting. But also because Mom & Revis are coming this weekend and stuff at the house isn't ready.

You see, neither of my showers has been in complete working order since St. Valentine's Day weekend. It is a constant reminder that life's been in something of an uproar and mess since then. Both showers sprung leaks at that time. The leaks got fixed pretty quickly, but the holes in the wall haven't been patched or tiled back over. Mike, the building supervisor at work who does odd jobs for folks, has been saying he was going to get to it ever since. Well, he started work today. But he had to leave because his mother-in-law got sick, so right now neither is working at all! And Mom & Revis never saw the guest bathroom after I finished remodelling it last winter.

In August the garage door broke. We thought we had it fixed, but it wasn't. Since last Wednesday, when we tried to fix it again, it has been completely unusable, basically in the same state of disrepair it was when it first broke!

The fence between me and a neighbor that's been leaning for over a year finally fell. It is really the neighbors' fence, but no one lives there at the moment. I'd be willing to split the cost of fixing it, but there is no one there to go talk to about it.

And I've not gotten around to painting the trim on the new back door (it broke last October, I had the money to shop for a new one in April, and the installation was completed in July) or the tuck-pointing that I did on the side of the house LAST FALL! And some critter seems to be crawling under my house, though I've not heard or seen anything other than the disturbed dirt and bricks near one of the vents.

For the whole last year I've been playing catch-up on house projects and haven't been able to make the improvements I've been wanting to make. Plus I need brake work on the car, probably new tires, and definitely new glasses.

Just keeping up with work, having a social life, taking care of a house, and finding time to rest is overwhelming. So, you teenagers, quit trying to grow up too fast.