Will try to catch up on blog...

Thursday, Washingtonian Interiors guaranteed the paper would be there so I started stripping the powder room and ended up priming the whole thing because paper was not coming down easily. Thank heavens they brought me the paper around noon and I was able to complete the room that day. Made the customer happy.

Friday got some shopping done.

Saturday I went to deal with the bubbles in that dining room in Clifton. Walked in and said "what are they talking about?" None of the problems they were conplaining about were obvious. One strip needed to be replaced and I went over the seams on the whole room but there were minimal problems. They had me so upset and then it turned out to be better than they indicated. At least I hope it is okay. It is Wednesday now and I haven't heard anything. They did pay me for the job but I'm afraid to cash the check so I'll hold it a while longer.

Sunday, I finished a dining room in Gainesville that the husband had started some time ago and never finished. Now he says that he wants me to strip his part and redo it because mine looks so much better. Haven't scheduled that yet.

Monday I went to Fairfax Station to paper a basement bath and it was the strangest paper. It was like the backing of grasscloth with grasses swirled on it sporadically that looked like silly string. It was 36" wide and bubbled at first and before I left it was almost all flat. Seems bubbles are following me these days.

Tuesday, I went on an estimate in Langley to the most beautiful house I have ever seen. I have said that before but this is really an "ultimate beauty". Clarence Jones is the owner and I asked the designer if he played football. She said "no, but he played basketball". Don't know when or for whom but he is the nicest man and obviously very wealthy. He is an entrepreneur in IT companies and she says gives away a lot of money to needy causes. Oh Lord, I do meet some important people in this business. Have to keep my perspective!!!

Today I hung 6 rolls of borders in Vienna in a girls' bedroom and bath. Then glued some seams in another house on same street that had popped loose.

Tomorrow I am papering a bathroom in Reston.

Tonight I made reservations to go to Tampa on Nov. 11 and return on the 15th. My friend Lucy would like me to come and stay with her for a while because her husband just died in September and she needs friends around. I'm sorry that I can't stay longer but maybe I can make several trips and not miss too much work.

Tired this AM

I, in all my wisdom, decided to sleep on the sofa last night. Boy am I stiff!!! And sore!!! And still tired!!! And I'm not sure if I am working today or not. At this point, I hope not.

Started a job for Wash. Int. yesterday and was told I was stripping a master bath and repapering it and stripping a powder room to get ready for papering later. Master bath needed priming over stencils around the ceiling and then papered. No stripping. WI had ordered 20 rolls of paper and it only took 10 rolls and I was told never to leave paper on a job. So I am put in the position of "stealing" from customers by hiding the extra rolls in my truck and slinking off hoping nobody saw what I was doing.

Got that bath completed by 5:00 and customer said that she doesn't want to start the other bath until she is sure the paper will be here and installed before the 18th. So, here I sit waiting for WI to open so I can find out if paper has been shipped yet.

Seems like all my jobs have a problem of some sort lately and I'm starting to wonder if it is ME. I still haven't been paid for the 2 big jobs I have done in the past 2 weeks and I am going broke. I need to pay Susie for helping with a ceiling on Sunday and it is getting embarassing. That job also has turned into a dilemma because when we left, all the dining room paper was bubbling badly, including the ceiling. There was no heat in the house so that could have been the problem. It wasn't drying fast enough. I sure hope that was the problem.

Think I will go lay down for an hour and hope I can work out the kinks in my body.

Saturday Dilemma

It is 7:40AM and I am deciding if I should go back to bed or get showered to start the day. I have a lunch scheduled at 11:30 with the "beach crowd" and work at 2:00. Should I or shouldn't I skip the luncheon and catch my breath from the whirlwind last 2 days or push ahead and do what I have committed to do. (The decision, as always, seems to be between what I feel like and what I should do.)

10 Hours Later....

I was determined on Tuesday to get finished with the bath that I scheduled so I stayed to finish. Started 9:30AM----Home again 8:00PM, exhausted, stiff and sore.

Decorator called to say all paper was in for Show House so off I went this morning to start papering. Arrived and found paper for powder room and butler's pantry but no dining room paper. She got there at 1:00 and said "sorry, but dining room paper is going to be here tomorrow." And pigs may fly tomorrow also.

Papered p/room (16 rolls) and started pantry. Got home at 6:00. Still stiff and sore but had a good day. Will be going back to finish on Saturday afternoon after lunch with old friends. And hopefully on Sunday Susie is going along to help get the ceiling papered.

Glad I am playing for the next 2 days.

Bored

Another beautiful Fall day !!!

I went back to Arlington job, looked at my work and determined that it was good enough and left the bill because no one was around. Hope they mail the check soon........

Came home, ordered sirataki noodles on-line because I can't find them in any of our numerous Oriental Markets. They were written up in a women's magazine as the ideal diet food. Pounds just melt away. We'll see... Mowed the back yard and took my nap.

Then I called the decorator about the b/o paper for tomorrow and Wednesday's job. Still not here so I rescheduled another lady to paper her bath that I had stripped several weeks ago. Now I have to wait and see if the paper comes in for work on Wednesday. Pain in the a.. If they would just order the paper early enough, it would be here. GRRRRRRRRRRR

Gorgeous Sunday

The weather was just great today........around 70 and sunny. But I was dragging all day from working so hard last week.

I went to Gainesville to estimate paper for a dining room that had been started by the homeowner (very bad job) and he is at least 6 rolls short on paper. So now I have to wait for a new order to arrive before scheduling.

Then I went to Lowe's for supplies and Trader Joe's and Giant because it was close. I hate Giant now that it has changed hands so I boycott as much as possible. I only wish they knew that I am boycotting but they wouldn't care anyway.

Came home and called decorator for this weeks' job and guess what??? The paper is not here. OH JOY!!! So I called the job from last week to see if I could run by there to do touchups and give them the bill, which I forgot to leave on Friday. That's set but if paper is not in for Tuesday then I have to reschedule Tuesday and Wednesday. Working for yourself sucks when all these problems arise. I spend more time on the phone rearranging schedules than hanging the paper.

Redskins beat the Jaguars in overtime this afternoon so the day wasn't a total bummer. GO SKINS!!!