More dissertation drama...

Well, I got up bright and early to work on the Big D only to be thwarted in my efforts most of the day. My mother-in-law is in town to help watch the toddler while I am at work, and to help us move in 1.5 weeks. I know she is already burned out and bored of watching kids and staying home all day, every day. I felt guilty making her watch the kids all day again, so I stayed home and tried to work on my dissertation. I was able to do a lit search for a few hours, while the toddler intermittently would come and sit on my lap, ask me to read a book, ask for a drink, demand to watch Dora the Explorer, or Elmo's World, etc. I then tried to type up some of the information from the lit search, and had the same problems with the toddler and our 5-year old too. Then the landlady called to inform us that people were coming to look at the house between 1 and 3, so we had to clean for about 1.5-2 hours (doing the deep-cleaning, like vacuuming where the carpet meets the wall with the hand extension, etc. Then I had to run Abby to her friend's house and run to Costco to get my photos to ship out and pick up milk and eggs. I got back home and was able to do a tiny bit more on my dissertation, but then had to go pick up Abby. Then the kids made dinner (and I helped a little bit) and finally I decided to just get out of the house. At 7 PM, I finally arrived at my office and I have been working steadily for the past 5 hours. :) I feel I have accomplished a lot. I might have to abandon ship again tomorrow and find refuge in my work office again. I feel bad for my mother-in-law, but I will feel worse if I am unable to graduate in August and have to wait until December. I think I will also come here all day Monday (Memorial Day) as I don't have to work...it makes for a pretty boring weekend though.