Oh, kids, your old pal JT is really having a rough time. The whole moving thing is so stressful because, like wedding planning, it takes exactly as long as you give it and makes you crazy the entire time. Now, we have not one but two apartments that are in chaos, and it's driving me and DH over the edge.

Also, it's brutally hot and sticky in Chicago. The kind of hot and sticky that keeps you from taking deep enough breaths, ya know? We have two AC units -- one in our living room and one in the dining room (right outside the boys' bedroom), but even with a couple of standing and ceiling fans, we just can't keep cool.

I have been resorting to sleeping on the sofa until I wake up at around 3 am, and then slipping into the bedroom. But by then, I can't sleep and just drift, with all the have-tos streaming through my broken brain.

Here now, my to-do list:

1. Teacher gifts for Jake & Danny's teachers
    A. Main teachers (4)
    B. Assistant teachers (shit, there are a lot of 'em....)
2. Shrink at 3 pm if I can sneak away from work (done)
3. Four pages of test cases that I must enter today by 2:30 pm (done)
4. Pack bedrooms, kitchen, stuff that's in drawers in living room & dining room, closets
5. Buy more newsprint paper from storage place for all the dishes (done)
6. Pack an overnight bag with enough stuff for a weekend (kids' version) (done - Thanks, Alberta!)
7. Pack suitcase with weekend stuff for me & DH
8. Bring cats to new apartment Friday night, with their food, water fountain and litter box
9. Get keys copied
10. Bring kids to my parents' Friday night
11. Take out cash to tip movers
12. Stock up on water, iced tea, coke etc at the new apartment for the movers (that one six-pack of Gatorade will just not do)
13. Get license changed
14. Get Jacob's birth certificate
15. Register Jake for kindergarten and bus service
16. Get Evanston parking permit & registration for car
17. Get season passes for Evanston beach before the prices go up
18. Assemble all the bookcases I got at IKEA this weekend (only $17.99 each!!!!)
19. Think of something nice to do for DH for our anniversary, which is, oh, this Thursday
20. Ditto Jacob, who graduates from preschool, also this Thursday
21. Wrap Father's Day presents, and get FD card for my dad (DH hates cards)
22. Write meaningful, funny thank-you notes to all the teachers to go with the gifts that I still don't have for them
23. Pick up roses at Costco on Thursday to present to the teachers at graduation (Let's just skip this one, shall we?)

Is it any wonder I can't sleep? Oh, and if anyone has suggestions for the teacher gifts, please pass them along -- they're almost all women, and they're all young. I would get the one guy beer mugs, but most guys I know just drink out of the bottle -- or hell, out of the tap.

["Thanksgiving," Mike Keneally & Bryan Beller live acoustic version]