It’s March 19th already (bonne fête, mom!); I have been here five months now and there is just over a month to go. I suspect the next few weeks will be industrious!

No, I have not made any progress on the renos this work week, which ends at 10:15PM tonight (Friday). I have a very good excuse for that.

My contract requires me to do 10 hours per week to a maximum of 20. Up until this week, there was never enough work to get the minimum 10 hours. This week, there has been. I have been getting up ‘early’ to do up to an hour and a half of contract work, going into the gas station for my eight and a quarter hour shift, and then coming home to do anywhere from an hour and a half to two and a half hours more work at the contract, depending on task availability.

Most days I’ve only been able to do less than than that, today I did more. Their week runs Monday through Sunday, so I have until then to do my ten hours for this week. I am frustrated that there were few tasks available earlier this week when it was too rainy and cold to work on my renos but that the current trend allows me to expect that I will need to put in some serious hours in the next few days, when it will be nice enough to do renos. Gah!

Contract not withstanding, the dishwasher counter is going to be done this weekend. In fact, I intend for every single front room project to be done by Tuesday night. The weather is supposed to cooperate and I am going to make full use of it.

Tonight, I am absolutely beat both physically and intellectually. I have ‘help’ for half of my Thursday and Friday shifts and I always ask the gal to work the cash and do indoor jobs while I go do the outside jobs, which makes both of us happy. Outdoor jobs don’t suck as much as one would expect because you’re outdoors! Unless the weather is really horrible, I’m much happier hauling the garbage, hosing down the carwash, washing the gas pumps (you read that correctly), and sweeping up trash. With it being light out much later now, I can spend a solid two hours doing outside chores.

There was a spring in my step today since I made the decision to switch to my hiking boots. Yesterday was the proverbial straw for me sore feet-wise, where they went from being sore to actually hurting. Working in my boots today was heaven; the only reason I haven’t done so before is their appearance, scuffed beyond redemption and splattered with Nugget City stain. The boots are not yet a year old, but fording rivers, traipsing through snow, fighting muddy bogs, and trekking through sand (not to mention doing hard labour in them) has given them a worn appearance in a very short amount of time. I don’t begrudge them their well-worn appearance as they will be my most trusty and comfortable footwear for many, many years. And they are going to help me get through my next twenty-four or so shifts!

Well, a hot bath is singing its siren song, promising to soothe my aching muscles. I cannot ignore it. 🙂