All Together Now!

Stress is a funny thing...it can creep up on you slowly or it can explode in your face all at once. My stress has been increasing over the past few months. Little things being added here and there. If these things had happened individually, I wouldn't have considered them stressors. But piled up on top of one another, it started to feeling extremely overwhelming to the point where I didn't know which end was up.

Stress can disappear in the same manner as it arrives...it can slowly trickle off or it can instantly disappear. For me, it feels like most of my stress was alleviated in the past few days. Don't get me wrong...there will always be stress in some shape or form. But these seemingly huge issues that I've been dealing with as of late have almost been worked out (at least to the point where they are a bit more manageable and I feel like I can breath again).

The basement has been one of these sources....would they get it finished before the end of November?
Would things be done properly?
Would we end up having to pay more than our deductible?
Would insurance jerk us around and not give us fair value for our lost goods?

While not all of these questions have been answered, some of the bigger ones have been. I would guess that the basement will be semi-normal or liveable within the next month. Phew. So far, the workmanship is very well done. Yes, we will have to pay more than our deductible for the things we chose to discard (like the toilet and shower that were not wrecked). BUT the carpet place is trying to milk us for an extra $1100 beyond what insurance will pay and this is turning into a bit of a headache. But I have faith it too will work out appropriately. Lastly, insurance has been more than accomodating. We can get cash back on the lost goods instead of repurchasing the items, but they only give us 60% of the value. Hmmmm....looks like those beds, books and armoir we need to replace just had their prices marked up :-)

The other huge issue has been work, or lack thereof. I took time off in the middle of July to try and combat the nausea/depression. When I was ready to work in the middle of August, there were no hours for me at that time. My boss said maybe in September. I spoke with him on Tuesday and, it turns out, there are zero hours for me. So the question of the hour would be whether I can go from regular EI to mat leave AND whether I had worked enough this year to be eligible for either. Long story short...my old claim from last December (when I went on sick leave to the in-vitro) is still open and I can go on regular EI until Dec.28. BUT did I work enough (600 hour at least) from January until July to go on mat leave (there were LOTS of missed days in there)?

I had it figured out that I would need at least 75 days of work to be eligible. I phoned my boss on Friday and asked if he could count up my days. I nervously waited for him to phone back. The grand total? 76 days!! I have 608 hours...by the skin of my teeth, we will be okay!!

So between the basement, work issues and not putting the cats to sleep yet, my stresses are now "lesses". I am looking forward to having the next couple of months off. I have started making lists of all the different things I want to do/get done over the next 15 weeks. I want to:

- start drawing again,
- take more photos
- prepare casseroles/meals/baking for after Baby arrives
- repaint the kitchen
- re-arrange the upstairs living room (and get our TV set up in here)
- purge, purge and purge some more
- have more coffee with my neighbour (not Klopek, but the young mom who's married to the police officer)
- clean the entire kitchen
- reorganize the bathrooms
- aquasize classes
- agility classes with Shandi
- perhaps some prenatal yoga!

That's all I have for a list right now. I'm sure things will be added over the next little while. I'm just happy to be focused on these fun tasks, rather than the not-so-fun thoughts that have been invading my mind as of late. It's nice to be getting back to the land of the normal.