Life, and things

I've read quite some blogs over the past few years, and every once in a while there's a looooong pause followed by a "Not dead!" kind of post, in which the author exuces him/herself for the long silence and vents on all the things they have been doing in the meantime, and tells the reader that everything will be better from now on. This is exactly that kind of post, except that I can't tell you that everything will be better, because I'm expecting everything to get even worse for a couple of weeks.
So what have I been doing? In short: working. That's right, I've got my first fully grown-up job as a project manager for several science school books. It's 3 days a week, which means I'm expected to sit in an office 3 days a week (or attend meetings elsewhere). In practice, it's 7 days a week, since I've got people emailing me about important things almost every day (sad fact: the first thing I log into when I start my computer is my work email, not my private email). This week was my first week, and as all first weeks go it was pretty confusing and energy-consuming, but at least I now have a basic idea of what I am expected to do, how I am expected to do it, and who I am working with. Sadly, the person whose work I'm taking over has not been able to come in due to a back problem, so I've been trying to figure these things out mostly on my own. But now I know, so that's good.
In other news, on Wednesday evening I sent out my dissertation yet again, hopefully it's now good enough to go to the second reader, which means it is nearing completion.
On the house front, things are moving slowly but steadily to the desired end. We (that is to say: mostly my parents and boyfriend's father, as 'we' have been busy working) have painted and drilled and hammered and sanded (sooooo much sanding) until the top floor is entirely done, and most of the first floor (that's second floor to Americans) too. On Monday the carpet guys will come to install (is this the right word?) the carpet, so then these floors will be reeeeaaally almost done. Most of the hallway downstairs is also done, plus half of the living room walls, and with the carpet in there we still hope to move the last weekend of February (or the first week of March). This weekend we will clean the whole thing, as it is veeery dusty (did I mention the sanding?), so that the carpet can go in nice and clean.
And once it's in there we can start packing things and moving things, as the place we live now is steadily filling up with piles and piles of books and other stuff which does not fit into the closets anymore.
Oh yeah, did I mention the two classes and short internship I'm taking this semester start next week? Lots of reading to do!

Anyway, I think that pretty much sums it up. Lots to do, all fun things, all things that make me happy, but also all things that leave me very little time for other stuff, let alone for thinking about other stuff. So it might be quiet for a while longer here, until we settle into the new home and my dissertation is finally approved. Then hopefully, we will have some more breathing space!