Doubt it, Connie. (A) you've been through enough badness, a little while of smooth sailing is not going to put anything out of balance and (b) if something big does hit there's no reason to suppose it's because you've "missed something". You don't have to spend all your time trying to figure out what terrible thing is coming so you can be ready for it. There's no being ready, mostly.

Sales brought donuts this morning (not quite a donut fairy, they made sure they got credit) and now I am full of sugar-fueled feistiness.

JZ, that's awful about your friend, and so hard on his daughter. I'm sorry.

I keep dealing with fires and low hanging fruit, so the stuff on my list now is stuff that has been put off so long it might raise issues once I start acting on it. I expect to hear "I thought this had been taken care of already" at least once today.

msbelle, this is exactly my sitch all week. Everything now is highest priority and everyone wants their thing immediately. I just want to set it all on fire and walk away dramatically in slow motion.

you've been through enough badness, a little while of smooth sailing is not going to put anything out of balance

Yeah, you'd think a mind could relax better than that. Huh, maybe I do have a bit of PTSD, I can really relate to people who can't let go of the heightened paranoia. I stare at people who blithely believe that things will mostly work out OK with disbelief, and it's dawning on me that mine is possibly not the most rational reaction to life.

Oh, and finances, the horror of finances. I'm almost maxed on all my CCs, holidays are coming, and I'm going to London at the end of the year, why did I decide to replace the downstairs flooring NOW? I dunno, I've been living with this ratty old petstained carpet for 7 years, thinking I'd replace it eventually, and I just couldn't take it anymore. So I'm hanging on and not thinking about finances until January 3, and then I gird my loins and focus like a m'fing laser shark on paying off all my debt. For real. Really. No, seriously. I mean it. You just wait, you'll see.

We're buying a car, and we've been diligent little savers, so we're paying for it outright, not financing it. And that prospect, rather than being AWESOME because no car payment, is TERRIFYING because oh my god so much money what if we need it elsewhere like to buy a kidney or something oh my god so much money.

Buying a car is WAY more adulting than anyone should ever let me do. As is giving me the responsibility to spend 5 figures' worth of money in one go.

Focus on the awesome, Steph! Deep breaths! It's okay! It's good!

I feel ya - every time I let go of a large sum of money, I have to take a deep breath and mantra for a second.

Just think, every month you can save the amount of money you would have been paying in car payments, and soon you'll have a nice safe cushion of lovely cash again.

Peanut! Stop procrastinating! Be born! There's plenty of time for procrastination when you get a job and start posting on the board.

Lee, I was going to ask you if you thought one of the librarians at your firm's outpost here in DC would be willing to lecture in my ALR class next semester (Read = would be willing to give me a break from teaching my own class).

and then I gird my loins and focus like a m'fing laser shark on paying off all my debt. For real. Really. No, seriously. I mean it. You just wait, you'll see.

YOu and me, Zen. We will be laser sharks together. Who don't do anything that costs, money probably.

Yay car and no car payment, Tep!

Our ERP is inaccessible again. So I'm trying to be productive by doing my open enrollment stuff but I am stymied byt the flex spending options. I know I tried to pay attention last time I refilled my one expensive prescription, but I can't find anywhere where I, like, made a note of how much it was and how much it would be annually.

Let me ask around ,sparky. It might be tomorrow though