Phew, let me see if I can remember all the ups and downs and productivity of this week. Throughout it all, I felt pretty under control. I was actually surprised how on top of things I was, given my two weeks of utter sloth over the holidays.

I haven't started my creative goal (editing my NaNoWriMo), but I've been hammering away at my three organizational goals. The first one, clearing out my work and personal inboxes of about 3500 emails total, I accomplished over several days. The last few dozen in each inbox lingered because they were attached to some task I'd meant to handle. So whenever I had free time at work, I checked off those tasks so I could get rid of the emails:
- Signed up for a required training course for work
- Responded to a charity I'd donated to who had emailed me
- Posted several links AS had sent me onto my Ordinary Savers Facebook page
- Sent photos of a stroller to a company to get a safety add-on, so I can sell or give the stroller away
- Figured out what to do with AA's cashed-out CD to get it into her mutual fund
- Requested time off for every upcoming trip and daycare closure I need to cover
- Did a bit of work for the college reunion I'm on the committee for
- Emailed pics of the alumni holiday party to my contact at my alma mater
- Got AS to narrow down the family photos our neighbor had taken so we could request files from him
- Found some boxes and gradually packed up my stuff for the upcoming move to the next floor

And maybe some other stuff! Then my second organizational task was to gather info to go down to the city planner and ask about the potential for an ADU with a real person. So I gathered what I could from the assessment from when we bought it, and then measured for the info that wasn't there. I took pics just in case, and today my friend who would like to live in the ADU accompanied me to the city planner.

Somewhat to my surprise, he confirmed there was only one zoning requirement we didn't meet -- we only have 1.5 feet setback from the side property line instead of 3 feet. But he also said that was something we could request a variance on.

Then he said we needed to talk to the building code people in his dept. to see what they thought of our intention to convert the existing garage into a residence. We didn't have time today, but we'll try to go back next week. My friend and I were really excited that at least the idea didn't get shot down at the first stage, though there are tons of hurdles still to clear to make this reality.

I got lots of other stuff done this week too:
- Went to the dentist to see about my achy tooth. He said it didn't seem damaged, but said if I get another infection later, after I stop taking antibiotics, I'll need to go to the surgeon. So we'll see.
- Got my annual checkup with my OB/GYN. Finally asked her about a nonserious but intrusive chronic problem I've had for several years. She referred me to a specialist, and I've scheduled an appointment with them for Monday.
- Got a call about a late dentist bill, and remembered I'd left a message with them disputing the bill and never heard back. After a rather long conversation I conceded defeat; I owe $52 for some X-rays they took on SL's teeth at her last appointment.

As a matter of fact, it was a week of bad money news. - First, I saw that we got charged a $105 foreign transaction fee for our UK plane tickets. Kind of wiped out the benefit of buying directly from the airline site.
- NT brought home some initial estimates for bills from his shoulder issue. So far: $3700, and we're not sure whether that will go down or up. Ouch!
- A gift box we'd bought for AS charged us for a second month even though I'd asked for a cancellation. Luckily they finally got back to me today to let me know they would cancel it and refund our money.
- Found out I'd left one carshare with less than a quarter tank of gas, triggering a $20 fine.
- We're going to get itemized estimates from our contractor for the various tasks of fixing the basement bathroom, since NT is injured and our neighbor who was the other person on it seems to have lost interest. So we'll just see how much it costs and decide whether to hire him for all or part of the work.
- I'm not sure how much my followup appointment for my chronic issue is going to cost, or what tests/procedures it might lead to.

Crazy, huh? But I sat down with NT and AS last night, estimated our annual surplus as best I could, figured out the needs and wants that would need to come out of it (rather than our regular budget), and then identified what we thought we would cut out first. We trimmed a little of each category: travel, retirement, home improvement, medical, charity, entertainment, etc. It's just a rough outline but at least it makes me feel like we can control what we cut back on if the medical stuff turns out crazy or any other expenses arise.

As if the week wasn't insane enough, the newest proofer I'd hired turned in her resignation. She is fantastic, and had just finished training in on this complicated task that takes months to master, so it was a blow. Oh, and my main proofer, who's always had punctuality and attendance issues, emailed me to let me know that recently her mental illness had been flaring up and she was struggling. Honestly, I hadn't noticed any more punctuality trouble than usual; she's always been terrible at getting in on time (or at all; she asks for work from homes more than I'd prefer).

I've been trying to groom her to take over as supervisor, but the attendance stuff is frustrating to project management and now the mental health issue is worrying. So I'd been turning it over in my head that as soon as my company got its crap together and hired the newest proofer full-time (right now she's a half-time contractor, and they'd made promises but dragged their feet on following through), I could maybe think about grooming HER to become supervisor. It would maybe be awkward but not unheard of for a newer person to get promoted over a long-termer. But now that she's leaving, I don't know what we'll do.

I'm half thinking recommending that we just hire for an editorial supervisor and bypass this whole dilemma. I mean, it would be awkward, but hopefully not a total surprise. Every year we deal with punctuality in her performance review, and unless I ride her constantly, she just falls back into bad habits. Plus, if she's struggling, she might not want to become responsible for a team anyway. So I don't know. Lots of thoughts swirling through my head. I can't wait to hand over the reins to someone and divest myself of the proofing department, just focusing on my writing role, but I want to make sure it's a good transition and everything is as stable as possible before I do it.

Oh! And I met my new boss yesterday, finally. It was just during the HR walk-through to introduce him to everyone, so neither of us acknowledged that he was going to be my new boss, which was kind of weird, but I just didn't want to say something and have it be overheard or have the HR lady get weird because we're not supposed to talk about it yet. But anyway, he seems really really nice, so I've got high hopes that this is going to be a good change for me.

Considering everything, I should feel just crazed. But I don't. I'm pretty exhausted this evening, but I feel OK about how I've been handling everything that's been coming at me so far this year.