It was a dream of a possibility -- that we could, in a single week, actually catch up on all overdue chores, excavate our teetering piles of mail and school memos, rearrange the closets, clean the basement and thus achieve, for one brief, shining moment, a state of organizational grace.

The siren song of total completion of household errands sang out. If I could accomplish such a thing, I imagined, time would seem to stop -- to hover for one delicious moment between the discharge of all my outstanding duties and the immediate accumulation of new ones, let me sniff the rarefied air and finally, guiltlessly, put my feet up and read a book.

Hang Halloween decorations -- check! Buy and mail birthday presents -- check! Get hair done -- check! Go to thrift shop for Halloween costume paraphernalia -- check! Buy purple nail polish for daughters -- check!