Giving Thanks...and caution

Well, it has been quite a while since Lazy Gnome provided progress report on the garage and landscaping work in her yard...well, she has not only been lazy, but also working through some "issues"....Judging by the last post, LG is guessing that the stress started when the Store began making the errors in delivery...and, as the Garage Guy recently pointed out, each and every error or change delays things.

And so, here we are, October 11 and the garage is not finished. Well, it is nearly finished, but not yet. However, it is finished enough that the landscapers have begun their next phase of work. As it is so late in the year, only the grading and the paving stone pathways will be completed this year. The rest will await until Spring, which is also going to be easier on LG's wallet. (Given that the earth around the foundation was disrupted when the waterproofing happened, the landscaper recommended that it be allowed to settle, another reason to let things sit for a while.)

So, LG has some catching up to do, but will pace herself--and yourselves, dear readers--in providing the frustrating and embarassing details. LG has some concerns that providing a detailed history will cause her to re-live it, and wonders whether continual posting throughout the events would have been better therapy than the bottle that rests beside her now...beer: we might be moving up to gin very soon.

Well. For this first post after more than two months, let us just say this: the mind is a powerful thing and sometimes it really works against you! So, take control of it dear readers, lest you find yourself worried about being institutionalized. Coming out of the haze of stress and "depression" has been interesting; it has not all be caused by the garage, but it has been focused there as LG seems prone to blaming. So, for your enlightenment and hopefully in order that others may benefit from LG's recent experience, offered below is something that I truly hope you DO NOT identify with. Please consider it for its educational benefits, and watch for these signs in those you love:

"Top Four Ways to Tell if YOU are Stressed" [a.k.a., one bad week]:

4. You yell at a contractor working his butt off on your behalf to provide information you asked for and over which he has no control, resulting from a MAJOR change request you made at the last minute. Poor form.
3. Your eighty-four year-old mother has better short-term memory than you do. You phone her to apologize for forgetting to give her some left over turkey, while she is eating a sandwich made of said forgotten-given white meat.
2. You fork over $1700+ to the emergency veterinarian hospital after they treat your 3 and 1/2 year old, huge male cat for a urinary tract blockage usually caused by crystals; however, in your cat's case, the blockage is due to an inflammation which the vets suggest is caused by stress. But he's such a sensitive boy-cat--and you are therefore the stress carrier.
1. At the hair salon, while receiving a scalp and neck massage which is administered by a young man who is wearing more eye make-up than you have ever owned, you start to cry.

...and what you should do about it should this be your level of stress:

3. Practice avoiding the stress by thinking positively, not obsessing about what else can go wrong, appreciate what you have, and all that jazz. Today, Lazy Gnome addressed her Christmas cards while the plumber kept finding more "surprises" in the pipes under the kitchen sink. The strategy is to avoid the pressure of doing the cards in the third week of December when she will be tired of "Ho, Ho, HO!"; when they get mailed is another question.
2. Seek professional help--why is handling day to day stuff getting more difficult? This must be included in every list.
1. Self medicate with libation of choice. Use your imagination and feel free to share; readers and LG especially are interested in suggested new approaches for gin...

Someone famous said something like this:
How quiet the woods would be if only the birds that sang well, sang.

Lazy Gnome.

My wish is for you and your loved ones to have a really good Thanksgiving weekend!

Lazy Gnome...