Vacation Time

What is this thing called "a vacation?"  Fio understands children having summers and holidays off from school, but what is "a vacation" to adults?

From what people tell her, it involves going to a new locale--a beach or a resort or a city they're unfamiliar with and "taking it easy," which is a concept Fiorella does not understand because Fio is  always busy.  She cannot envision herself without a task at hand and several others scribbled on lists taped to the doors of the corner cabinet in the den.

So much to do, so little time.

Overload

Why is Fiorella always so busy, with a continuing list of commitments and responsibilities?  Why aren't other people trapped in this web of constant activity?  What is their secret--elves, fairies, magic wands?  Where are Fiorella's little helpers?

Well, so much for the gritching.  Got to get back to work, which means finishing my laundry and sending out a chapter of one of my unsold masterpieces for critiquing.  But maybe those two are one and the same.