If this is the Calm Before the Storm, We're in Trouble

It's the day before I start my new job, and I'm feeling pretty stressed out. I expected yesterday and today to be fairly relaxing days, with lots of house cleaning and lounging on the couch. No such luck -- yesterday was spent wrapping up a freelance project, meeting with a bank to discuss mortgages, several hours worth of errands, and finally some chill time before book club. Thus far today, I worked on a V21 volunteer schedule, met with a pet sitter who's going to help us out with Marty (forgot she was coming, oops), and did some random house chores. Later today, I'll pick Ak up from work so we can go visit with another bank, then I have to pick up my clothes from the tailor and swing by the pet store. Today's tasks are compounded by having a baby kitten shadow who's torn between his deep love for me and his discovery of a new plug under the TV that is apparently lots of fun to bat. That's definitely a perk of going back to an office -- a cat-free work space. Have you ever tried to type while a cat chases the words on the screen? It's exciting.

I think most of my stress is stemming from the sheer volume of tasks I see before and around me. I feel like it's the day before vacation, and I'm frantically rushing to get everything done. I grant that this line of thinking is fundamentally flawed. Yes, going to the pet store and the grocery store on my days off is a good thing to do because that's one less thing I have to worry about this week. However, those things are going to need to be done again... and again... until, well, pretty much forever. And if there're things I don't get to before I start work, then I'll just get to them over the weekend. There's definitely a mindset change that needs to happen here.

Another stresser -- house hunting and all the fun that goes along with that (see above conversations with mortgage lenders). We had a really successful outing last weekend and found several houses we were interested in. We're heading out again this weekend, and the tentative plan is to pick our finalists after that and start narrowing down to THE house. This is all very exciting; we've seen some houses that we would love to live in. But picking a house and finding a lender and all the other bazillion processual tasks associated with this is definitely stressful.

I have a feeling things will be a lot better next week and even better the week after that. Until then, there's yoga and red wine!