So I am now officially unemployed. So far, it's not so bad. It took forever to fill out the forms and go through all the rigamarole at the unemployment office, but that should be the last time I need to go in. From now on, I just call and they send me a check. Eventually.

My parents arrived yesterday, and we're fixing and painting and repairing and generally doing things. I was not even close to getting all the dust off, so we spent most of yesterday dusting and vacuuming and mopping and dusting again. Mom was pretty much appalled. It's not that I liked the dust -- I wanted it gone. But I was willing to let it take quite some time to be gone, over several months, perhaps. I'd be happy to dust an item, set it down, nap, read a book, watch some TV, play with the cat, then dust something else. Apparently that is not the optimal way of getting things done. My mistake.

Mom and I had a brief conversation earlier about whether she was sure I was, in fact, her child. Because she and Dad go about this dusting-painting-cleaning-working thing much more naturally than I do. At one point during today's painting, Dad said "There is something you could do, Sarah..." and I responded "Sit on the couch and read the paper? Sure!" (It didn't work.)

They're so energetic and efficient that they've almost finished all the things I needed done. I'm going to have to invent new tasks -- preferably ones that involve me sitting on my ass. I had thought about putting a new closet organizer in my bedroom, but that would necessitate my cleaning out the closet, and that's just not right. Sigh.