Basement Apartment Near Completion

My head kinda hurts. These last several days have been really busy and it’s been tough trying to find time to sit down and simply collect my thoughts. One of my bank job co-workers quit, so I’ll be working overtime both today and tomorrow. I signed up for the extra hours so that I can get paid while organizing my thoughts without too much distraction. So let’s do this:

Construction of the basement apartment started last week Wednesday. My plan was to get everything done by that Friday. By “everything, I meant:

Washer/Dryer Installation
Kitchen Cabinet and Vanity Setup
Bathroom sink and vanity Setup
Wall Panel Installation and Painting
Concrete Steps Repair
Bathtub Steps and Shower Repair

Now this could have been accomplished in the time specified, except that one of the two Pelcom guys got his ass arrested for DWI the night before. So I was down to one guy, let’s call him Pelcom Nate. The DWI charge also meant that Nate didn’t have a ride to my place, so I had to sneak out of work and pick him up every single day. Ugh! Nate enlisted his ex-girlfriend to help him do some of the work, but she spent most of the time doing a crappy paint job, hassling Nate for money, and asking me dumbass questions like, “Why do you work so hard?” Ugh. Just having them in my car made me want to take a shower. Well, after 6 days of annoying problems and going back and forth to Lowe’s, I am somewhat happy to report that Nate did a decent job and, once I finish doing the tiling, the structure of my basement apartment will finally be finished. The only items left to buy are:

Office Desk ($150 – OfficeMax)
Alienware Desktop Computer ($699 - Amazon)
50" TV (in the $500 range – Walmart/Best Buy/Online somewhere)
Printer ($170 - OfficeMax)
14”Memory Foam Mattress w/gel ($480 – Overstock.com)

I wanted to take before/after pictures, but I think I’d like to wait until everything is finally finished. I really can't wait to see the final results. Since I’m working overtime at the bank job, I can’t do the tiling until this weekend. With any luck, I’ll have everything done before the end of July. You know, this apartment is costing tons of money, more than twice what I had budgeted (over $7000). But I know I need to do this so that I can really get myself together and live a better life and more organized life. That $7000 is an investment into the person I’ve become, with the belief that I will succeed exponentially when I have an actual apartment that consists of nothing more than a bed and a shower. The things I have planned for my future makes this massive expenditure vital, and I can’t wait to see just how much more efficient I’ll be.

P.S.: With the kitchen and bathroom sink installed, I finally have access to drinkable water. I turned on the kitchen faucet and had the biggest smile on my face. I can't believe I made it this far without drinkable water.... or a kitchen... or a refrigerator... or walls... or a floor... or a bathroom sink. It's really both impressive and sad at the same time.