is there an end?

the past 2 days have been like a whirlwind. i can hardly believe they're over and in the midst of it all, it felt like it would never end. we've known for a while that we were going to replace all the carpet in the house (except for the basement). it wasn't in the best condition when we moved in, and of course, after 4 kids tear through it for 4 years, it's in worse condition. stains everywhere and parts where it was bubbling up because it was never stretched right during install. in a buyer's market it's hard to see past the cosmetic stuff. we found a great deal at home depot and went ahead with it. then everything seemed to drag on... the quote, the order, etc. we had been waiting for the call saying the carpet was in and we could schedule the install. the call came monday and the doc said he could take wednesday off to be here while it was being put in. all of the sudden the race was on. we had to pack almost all of our stuff to get it moved out of all the carpeted areas so that the furniture could somehow be jammed into non-carpeted areas. it was a process of moving furnture out of some rooms and into others, ripping up carpet and pad, then moving furniture back onto bare floors to rip up carpet and pad in other rooms. then there was the tearing out of all the staples and bits of foam padding still stuck in the floor. not to mention the piece of floor that had to be taken up in one room so a new piece could be put in its place. the kids and i packed like mad monday afternoon and most of the day tuesday. but the rest all had to be done between the hours of 5pm tuesday evening and 8am wednesday morning when the carpet installers would show up. it seemed to me like an insurmountable task. doc M figured he'd just stay up all night tuesday to get it done. but then, in came the most FABULOUS home teachers in the world. they moved boxes and furniture. they tore up carpet and pad and hauled it to the curb. they even took a food break. we had 4 bedrooms, a hallway, stairs, and 2 other rooms to do. it was all ripped up and out of the house in 3 hours. it was amazing. of course we still had all the staples to rip up, which we did stay up late to do and were still doing when the installers got here. but we would've never been able to do the rest without help. we didn't plan on getting any sleep, and we did, so that was a bonus.

then wednesday was spent tearing up staples and moving more furniture. installers would finish one room and we'd move all the stuff to the newly carpeted area so they could then carpet the next space. they left around 1pm and we looked around and saw how many areas that needed to be painted. and what better time to paint than when all the furniture is out of the room? the afternoon and evening was spent painting walls and trim in 3 rooms. 8pm rolled around and i was wondering how we were going to just throw some beds together real quick so the kids to go to sleep. i wondered how we managed to get everything done in such a short amount of hours with 4 kids running around, 3 of which are sick.

i woke up this morning with my bed in the middle of the room, surrounded by boxes and stacked furniture and an empty closet. i think of how this is the scenery i will be looking at for probably the next 6 months. i think of unpacking all the boxes i've filled the past 2 days and ask myself why i would want to do that when i just have to put it all into a moving truck in 3 months. i think of putting furniture back together, only to have to take it apart again in june. i think of all the painting that still needs to be done, along with a million other things, just to be able to take pictures and list this house; things that should've been done months ago. i think about the fact that even if everything was put away and furniture was in its proper place, there would still be laundry, dishes, dusting, vacuuming, school, bills, packing, and whatever else to do.

when someone figures out where the end is, maybe you can let me know so i can be on the lookout for it.