In my last post, I alluded to the fact that my bathroom renovation wasn't going quite as planned. I made references to looking back someday on the then-current situation and laughing good-naturedly. I implied that it would be around that same time that I'd be able to talk jovially about what happened. Well... I've come to an important realization...I will *never* find the bathroom situation to be light-hearted, amusing or jovial. It was simply too painful, and my psychological and fiscal injuries were too severe. In fact, it pains me to say that the bathroom is still unfinished. The shower works... although the grout is so shoddily done that it disintegrates on a literally daily basis. In fact, everything that my general contractor touched in that room turned into an unholy nightmare (thank heavens that the toilet was not on his agenda!) I was so shaken by the disaster that after I fired him, I could not go back to work on the room myself. Or hire anyone else to fix his incompetence. It was simply too traumatic. Eight thousand dollars spent on... shoddy tilework... damaged cabinetry... half finished texturing... questionable framework construction... and a demolition of my walls, floor and ceiling that were never fully rebuilt. Not to mention that I spent nearly three weeks without a functional shower. Can you blame me for running for the hills and hiding?
I needed something to go right. I needed a success. I needed to tip the scales back to neutral so I could get over this bad patch. A close friend of mine had been employing a very handy worker on his property, and with my friend's endorsement of him I hired him to replace the fence around our property. I scraped together the meager remains of our savings, and sunk it into the purchase of wood for the job.
My property doesn't seem to be that big until you actually attempt to build a fence around it. The size is deceptive thanks to a problem that is undoubtedly unique to mountainous backwoods and like areas. You see, thanks to annoying geographic anomalies like creeks, mountains, and giant freaking redwood trees, it seems that square parcels are not always the most expedient thing to employ in the woods. After weeks of agonizing over county maps with a ruler and a compass, some government employee probably got himself good and liquored up, and just connected the dots. As it so happens, my property received one of these alcohol induced shapes. I'd best describe it as a pentagon with the top point worn down into a curve. Take the creek and the steep hill into account, and the usable land more resembles a piece of elbow macaroni, with the outer curve of the macaroni facing the street. It turns out after some careful measurements, that I needed about 200 feet of fence materials to keep my macaroni noodle private. Hoo boy, that's a lot of cheese sauce!
Still, after a bit of looking I found a decent price for the wood, and my worker jumped in and got started. He was none too pleased by the macaroni situation either, as putting up a straight fence with square fence posts is not the easiest thing to do on a property with no ninety degree angles, for reasons that may be obvious. Nonetheless, after a relatively short time he was finished... yes... finished!! Just like that! A project planned, purchased, and completed... and all inside my budget - could it be true??? YES! It felt absolutely gratifying after my months of despair and disappointment. I danced a happy jig.
Now I would hate to disappoint my good readers with an upbeat ending so perfectly balanced as that, and apparently so would the hand of fate, for the very same week that my fence was completed ... I lost my job. Yes, it's true. My company could not keep up with the competition in the face of dwindling business, and suffered a long, slow, agonizing death. There is no suitable or humane way to euthanize a company... you just have to watch it languish and finally perish with some sort of terrible final gasp. As a result of that death rattle, I'm now among the ranks of the unemployed. Obviously this puts a bit of a damper on my finances. Since my finances were *already* severely dampered by my ex-contractor on top of the fact that I'm now looking for a job, I find myself in the rather unusual role of hiring myself to finish the work on the bathroom and the yard.
Fortunately for me, I will work for food.
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