Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Stress has been the dominant factor of the past week for me.

Factor A: There was a whole bunch more “emergency” TAOM ad work. Someone’s failure to follow through and communicate created a “crisis” situation for TAOM, and therefore for Mark, and therefore for me. Fortunately, it was “just” a matter of taking the ad I had designed back in February, making a few changes, and then adapting it to fit the size specs of several different publications.

Factor B: The TOPS convention was a mixed experience. I really enjoyed hanging out with some of my chapter members and getting to know them better. However, due to poor organization/planning/circumstances-beyond-their-control/whatever, what was supposed to have been the highlight of the convention turned into major upset, anger, frustration, and disappointment for our chapter and many others.

Factor C: The agreed upon due date for the TAOM program layouts I’m doing was this coming Sunday. Well, I, of course, hadn’t included the time spent on the ads (since I didn’t even know I was going to be doing those at the time), and I had completely forgotten about the TOPS convention when I agreed to that date. Now I knew the date wasn’t set in stone, but I’m the type of person that when I say I’m going to do something, I get it done. On time. No excuses. But the layouts are just not coming together as quickly as I had hoped.

I finished up my creative team assignments on Sunday, and have been working on the TAOM layouts every spare minute since – no boards (other than bare minimum check-ins at RAKScraps), no email, no blogs, no Soduko, and only just this afternoon have I gotten to the point that I would even consider them half done. There are just too many distractions for me to get very far in one spurt during the day, and I’ve been so darn tired since the $^*$# time change, that I haven’t been able to stay up as late as I normally would.

So I have been just over the edge with stress the past few days – mentally cursing Mark for getting me into this in the first place, barely holding it all together, and trying with all my might to not lash out at everyone around me, not always successfully. So this afternoon, Mark talked to the guy doing the program and got me another week. I am relieved, but haven’t quite wound down yet.

And then, just to add a little heart attack to my day, as I was getting the mail just now, I was greeted by a ginormous gecko in the mailbox. I think I screamed and jumped back about three feet. Good thing there wasn’t a car coming.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Comments

Robin said…
Oh Kim! Let me know if there's anything I can do! I'm sure you're projects are going to be awesome though. Hope you get some time for yourself too!
karin said…
Oh, Kim ... sounds like a very stressful week .... definitely a "full moon" kind of week! And about the gecko - well, C would have been THRILLED here! :o)

That at least had to put a smile on your face ~ maybe a little after the actual incident though, right?

keep breathing ..... in, out,in, out.

(((hugs)))
Natalie said…
Wow. I'm amazed that you had a chance even to answer the short email I sent earlier!

A gecko in your mailbox?!? Are you sure it wasn't just a Geico commercial?

:)

Hope things ease up soon and you find some way to destress and relax a bit!
Gina said…
OMG, a gecko in the mailbox? I would have messed my pants and died, right then and there. My biggest fear is opening the mailbox and finding in it a creature that has more legs than me.

{{{hugs}}} Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate and I hope things calm down for you soon. It sounds like you could use a weekend away.