I really felt I had everything well in hand before Thanksgiving -- now I'm starting to feel over-extended and a time pinch. I'm slogging away at holiday cards (which I actually designed last year, but didn't get printed until very late November), and right this minute I should be packaging up my mother's gift to mail to Milwaukee -- getting that ready to go (or rather NOT getting it ready) has been keeping an undercurrent of stress in my life.
Mostly making lists and checking things off the lists. It's not just holiday things, but I'm trying to get preliminary stuff going for a new p/t ad sales job (and my employer and I haven't actually worked out all the details yet), and an old client I thought was going to close up shop earlier in the year wants me not only to do some more print work for her, but be involved in her website, at least in an advisory capacity because she loves the clean-ness of my design work (and all that's GOOD) -- but that means I have to learn A LOT more about web design and I need to learn it NOW. And despite all the scrambling, there's not a lot of cash coming in right now to keep body and soul together. And that's stressful even if one's not actively thinking about it (how AM I going to pay for the blood sugar monitor for my cat?!?).
Singing DOES help. And snuggling with the cats (one of whom is diabetic and we're still working on getting his blood sugar regulated -- more stress -- and the other one is trying to clean her muddy, wet paws on my leg & lap right now).
Gotta go make the Scotch shortbread for the party tomorrow, finish packaging my mother's package, get the tree up, bring in firewood, get some more cards addressed, change the bed, do laundry, and, oh, yeah, check my list and see exactly what it is the list says I should be doing!