Ready!

Well, almost ready to head off to Germany, if you want me to be honest about it.

I had all the business-type stuff done on Friday: articles finished and sent, invoices sent, bills paid. Thought I was cruisin'....

But Friday was a stressful day -- what day hasn't been for me recently? -- and as a direct result of the stress, I made two mistakes yesterday and today.

The first was that I overestimated my energy and enthusiasm for trying to make this place sparkly-clean.

The second was that I simply got carried away. I saw things that needed to be thrown away, not just stashed in the closets until the next cleanup. So instead of doing a nice superficial job as planned, I started in as if I had a week ahead in which to finish.

Obviously, I need to finish tonight. I will.

I pack quickly -- for a week-long trip, I can usually be done in 10 minutes -- and have nothing else to do tomorrow but get in car, drive to airport, get on plane.

So if I'm a little groggy in the morning from the combined fumes of tub/shower cleaner, floor cleaner, tile cleaner, all-surface cleaner and Windex, it won't matter much.

And I'll thank me for all the hard work when I get back home.