Dealing With Stress

Although I'd promised myself to do more walking, this morning found me out on my bike again. As it wasn't raining or windy, I chose to hop on my bike and do my usual 9 mile circuit. As usual, the not raining lasted only until it started getting lighter, which, today, was about half a block.

I thought of turning around and putting the bike away and then thought, to heck with it, I'll ride anyway. At first it was only a light sprinkling, hardly requiring a hood, so off I went, enjoying the feel of the rain on my cheeks. The rain was intermittently heavier at times, requiring me to put my hood up and down like a cheap hooker's drawers. (That's a joke, so for those who want to be offended, you might want to stop reading here).

I haven't been on my bike all week, and I've really missed my 'route'. The mama cow and calf are not in the pasture anymore, so I'm guessing they're either inside, or perhaps they're in a different field. Riding down the gravel road near the reservation, brilliant red blueberry bushes stretch for acres on my right, while the scent of the recently harvested Brussel sprouts fills the air on my left.

Down the tree lined dirt road towards the old ferry landing, yellow leaves still cling to bare branches, predecessors covering the road in a thick, glossy brown carpet. No crunching through leaves today. Instead, the soft whir of tires over soggy leaves. Clouds hang low over the surrounding mountains, sucking the brilliant colour from the landscape, wisps floating low over farmlands.

Rain has started in earnest by now, soaking my bike seat every time I dismount for a photo. Embers of an untended fire burn hot and low, smoke drifting west with the wind. A stack of pallets awaits their turn next to the glowing fire.

Returning home, my wet clothes go into the dryer while I pull on a warm pair of fleece pants and sweatshirt. I really needed the bike ride after a super stressful three weeks. I had transferred a significant amount of money from my PayPal account to my bank account on Oct 9 - and it never showed up in my bank account. When it didn't show up, I contacted them every single day, and received no satisfactory answer at all. In fact, I got told to go to my bank, which is 4 hours drive away (there and back), and find out what happened to it.

So I did. When I get there, my banks says, not our problem. We don't have it - it originated with PayPal and they're the ones that have to look for it. So time wasted along with gas, and I return home, still without my $$ and still no answer as to where it is.

Phoning every single day and ranting at them about my money, and two weeks later they finally tell me it's their issue, and there was a 'bug' in the system and the engineers are working on it. They tell me the money will be in my account Nov 1 - three weeks later. So come Nov 1, nope, no money. By this time, I'm furious. So more phone calls, and they finally tell me, no they can't tell me when the money will be in my account. They can't tell me whether 50 or 500 people were affected.

This morning, the money finally shows up - over three weeks later! I demanded compensation and they have ponied up with it, but it doesn't make up for the stress and time spent having to deal with their bs. Although, I'm relieved to have it in my account.

On a more positive note, I'm receiving more and more requests for my calendar. So my initial forecast is going to be totally off. I'm in a Christmas Craft Fair on Nov 16-18 and have requested and been granted permission to sell my calendars at the craft fair. Yes!!!

Now that I can focus on the calendar again, instead of PayPal, I have to choose and get the photos laid out this weekend and get a webpage up for the calendar pre-orders, then get enough product made for the craft show.

Amazing how lackadaisical PayPal was with MY money. If the tables had been reversed, we all know it would have been a different story.