Friday was the first day of work where I felt like I could breathe in a while.  I felt productive and like I had a path in my head I was prepared to follow.  I am sure I'll be reporting more stress and dismay in the next month, but this glimmer of hope was quite the relief.

Today Avery and I did more than our share of running.  I'll say more than my share of spending too... damn you Sam's Club.  But at least I left there with a few Christmas gifts purchased.  I had a bit of a panic the other day regarding the need to get that shopping underway.  Admittedly I bought 5 of one item... one for me and then one for my sister, niece, would-be MIL, and would-be SIL.  My creativity isn't high, but I genuinely liked the item and think they find them pleasant too, we'll see.

I've been stressing out a bit regarding the clutter around here too.  I have a pile of clothing I intend to donate on the dresser in my closet and another pile of books on a shelf.  I need a few extra hours in a day to comb through things to round out the piles and get it all inventoried.  I think my anxiety over the stuff was amplified because I had to comb through containers in the basement this week looking for something that I managed to hide from myself.  At least while I did that I tidied a bit down there, but I really should get rid of some stuff.