It amazes me how worked up we can get over little things.  Conversely, it amazes me how easily God can make those worries go away.  Maybe not conversely – I’m not exactly sure what the word means, but it seems to fit well in the phrase.  You know what I mean, right?

We go to a dental office where we know and love the staff and they know and love us.  We have a lot of teeth in our household and we bring them a lot of business.  They show their gratitude by treating us well – unexpected charges or those denied by insurance are often reduced or written off, and they do they do their best to accommodate us in other ways as well.

But when Megan lost a relatively new filling, I was less than happy.  I have a mouthful of fillings, many of which date back over 25 years.  I have never lost one.

When they charged us to replace a nearly new filling, I was even less happy.  Instead of paying the bill right away, I set it aside to discuss the next time I was at the office.

Then Megan lost a second filling, also nearly new.

When I called and left a message politely disputing the charge for the first and mentioning the second, I didn’t receive an answer.  Maybe it was just pregnancy hormones, but customer satisfaction levels were plummeting at this point.

A couple of weeks passed and I was finally in the office last week for two other children’s appointments.  My stomach was tense and I was not looking forward to talking to them about the filling issues, but I also didn’t want to let it slide.  I finally gathered my nerve and went to the desk.

“I know I need to make a payment today, but first I want to talk to somebody about some charges – really just one charge.”

She smiled and looked up our account.  She began to run down a short list of charges, and I stopped her at Megan’s.  I began to explain that the filling they were replacing had been very recent and -

“Oh, I’ll take that off then.  We don’t want to charge you twice!  I’m sorry we missed it…”

So I left happy.  Just like that.  All that quiet stress and discontent over nothing.  How much of life is just like that?

Just like every other woman on the face of the earth, I feel a need to wrap up household projects before the arrival of a new baby.  Since our house is a work in progress, this presents plenty of options.

Last time, hubby indulged me by mudding, sanding, texturing and painting the ceiling over the dining room and 2 of the 3 bedrooms in our house.

This time, he has already hung the dining room light (hurray for light! double hurray for no more ugly hole in the ceiling!).  We also worked a bit more on the cabinets under the new computer counter: bought and stained a third cabinet and the panels to finish the sides of all 3 cabinets.  I just might fasten them on today.

He also took his big, manly chainsaw out in the woods and made big, manly noises while thinning the brush and undergrowth so that we could actually walk through our woods.  He came back with blood on his legs.  What a man.

I think we’re also hoping to finish up the mud, texture and paint in the bathroom.  There’s just a little bit to do, but it’s messy detail work, and set up and clean up always take as much time as the actual job.

Hubby has mentioned maybe – just maybe - building a roof over part of the deck.  This would be wonderful, because it will give me a shady place to labor in late June/early July.  Last time he rigged up a couple ladders and large blankets in a complicated configuration, but a roof would be so much more classy.

And this is asking a lot, but I would really, really love to extend the kitchen/dining room tile into the living room before the baby arrives.  We already have the tile, so we would just need to buy the plywood to go under.  And we’d have to empty 3 enormous bookshelves for a couple of days.  And move the 2 sofas out.  And measure, cut and screw down the plywood.  And apply floor leveling compound.  And paint the plywood.  And then lay the vinyl tile.

See?  I’m asking a lot, especially since I have a hard time reaching the floor.  But everyone knows how demanding pregnant women can be, right?