Busy, Busy Days!

I'm having a very good "problem." I've had three Elance projects awarded to me during the past few days... well, two and probably a third for Monday. Two are finished (the two largest ones), as of a few minutes ago this evening (if there are no rewrites requested, which rarely happens).

On top of that, my half of the home is torn apart across 50% of its footage, and 75% of the rest of it is piled high with boxes (that will go into the kitchen and bathroom when they're finished). Our contractor has been working feverishly to get it finished, and there's so much forward movement that I'm very cheered by it.

EXCEPT!

The bathroom would have been finished by day's end today except that the walls and the floor didn't dry overnight (GRRRRRR), so Ray had to segue to working on the kitchen area today instead of finishing the bathroom (GRRRRRRR). So I'm without a bathroom for two more days. (GRRRRRRR!) But don't cry for me, Argentina, because my sister lets me use hers...or I'd be using the cats' litter box by now! HA HA HA HA HA

Jackie and I went to Lowe's and Office Depot to pick up the balance of the cabinets I wanted, but the color I used for one cabinet in the bathroom is no longer available (GRRRRR!), so I went to Big Lots (after a fruitless visit to a cabinet maker -- too expensive!) and found an absolutely terrific standing linen closet for $69. Now, THAT was definitely in my price range, so I bought an un-assembled one in a carton and brought it home and swore half the night away putting the flippin' thing together. But it saved me $400, so I'm not complaining (any more).

The cabinets in my kitchen will now be white, since I could get unassembled ones for less than half the price of assembled ones, and the assembled ones weren't in the configuration I needed, even though they were in the color I wanted. But hey, here again, I saved over a thousand dollars by buying unassembled white ones. (Semi-employed people have to watch every few pennies they have everywhere possible.) I'll consider whether they were truly worth the savings when I start putting them together Monday. (Grrrr.... ) I'm just sure they have to go together better than the booger I put together last night. Or I'll commit suicide and all will be well!

Anyway, that's a short story about the past few days.

EXCEPT!

I underbid (by a bunch) on one of the two large Elance projects I did, and ended up doing $400 worth of work for $95, but the fellow is very happy (I would hope so!) and says he'll use me more, at a higher price to make up for the mistake I made while reading the project description. I was under the impression that I was supposed to come up with a catalog of ten possible emails and ten possible articles based on a specific topic, then write just six of them - three emails and three articles- as a "pilot test" to see if we were a good match as a team going forward. Well! I believe we found out we're a good team, but I was a poor discerner of the scope of the project, so I wrote twenty emails and articles instead of six for only $95.00. Heckuva deal, huh?! (Better luck next time.) It took me two full days... but by golly I honored my contract and did all that was necessary to make the man happy. My integrity remains intact!)

My office den is 80% filled with bathroom cabinets, a new toilet, cork flooring in boxes, and a few items I bought for the new bathroom and bathtub, so I'm very crowded in here. But looking around I know I'm going to be very happy in just a few more days. The bathtub I found at a liquidators warehouse for $49 is one of those really deep ones, (I may need a bridge ladder to climb into it in ten years.) so of course I had to get a path pillow, a bathtub caddy complete with book, glass- and candle-holder, a shower curtain and curtain rod... you know, the whole nine yards so that WHEN I finally get in there, I can climb into the tub, hunker down and soak and read until I'm prune-y and educated and happy as a clam. I'VE WAITED THREE WEEKS FOR THIS, AND BY GOLLY I'M GOING TO ENJOY IT TO THE NTH DEGREE FOR AS LONG AS I CAN POSSIBLY GET AWAY WITH IT! MAYBE UNTIL THE NEXT ELANCE ASSIGNMENT COMES IN... SO IF YOU LOVE ME AND DON'T WANT ME TO DISSOLVE AWAY IN THE BATHTUB, THINK OF A WRITING PROJECT TO PAY ME FOR, and maybe -- just maybe -- I'LL COME OUT.

MAYBE!