The Wacky Shack

I may not have taken money for hosting my sisters kids, but that doesn't mean the buggers got away scott free. I made 'em work by golly.

My shed had stood 3/4ths done for nearly a year. This failure prevented me from storing bikes/tools/mowers in it, items which by default wound up on my cellar steps. That blocked me from using those steps, which meant I couldn't move my Mom's freezer into my basement or move some items out to make room for it . .

It was all such a vicious cycle.

So for whatever reason I chose Saturday the 6th to hammer away at the project. With the help of my nephew I created two wooden doors for the shed and installed a lock. The doors were mildly Polish in construction but met the need. (hey hey - I'm 100% Polish. I'm allowed to jest)

That was an enormous task for the handiness challenged yours truly, but with fire in my belly I pressed on. We papered the roof of the shed and began to shingle it. I had never shingled a roof before, nor ever seen it done. Suprisingly, I think we did it right.

[one manly point in my favor: my nephew had constant problems hammering in the roofing nails. I'd look on with distaste, sigh, and then hammer them home in one smooth stroke. I guarantee you I've never been able to do that before, so nice timing God.]

Lu actually helped out quite a bit by handing up shingles. The little munchkin could manage to haul two or three at a time, which was quite impressive given their weight.

Meanwhile YaYa just hung around

(sorry for the hip-hop look in the above photo)

Danged if we didn't finish the shed, once and for all. This was, oh man, this was the Slapinions equivalent of someone finally finishing the Crazy Horse sculpture in South Dakota. It was THAT monumental to me.

Well, we weren't quite finished. The next day we primed and painted it.

* * *

Going back to the 6th for a second. It was a *great* day. Not only because of the shed, but because I finalized a huge account that day. It began with a call, out of the blue, from a competitor who could no longer satisfy a client and wanted to toss the business our way. At  first she was hesitant to go with our price, but I called her back and made sure she knew I recognized the grandness of the favor and would repay it down the road. In other words, I was in her debt. 

So she put the word in for us and the clients rep came to meet with me. I toured with him and he seemed satisfied, but then he asked me for X and Y and Z . I was disheartened but answered honestly. Logistically and finanically I just couldn't meet his demands. I braced for the worst.

But whatdaya know, he liked that. Part of the reason they were jumping ship was that they'd been promised the moon and been let down. He said he prefered to hear a 'no' then to deal with that situation again. That was Thursday.

Midway through the shed project on Saturday my cellphone rang. We gotthe account!

It's a day in/day out struggle to keep a customer happy, especially one with as many personnel as this guy, and we're still ironing out the bumps. But if their business in Milwaukee remains constant and they continue to frequent us the account will be on pace to bring in revenue in the mid six figures by years end. I wouldn't bet the house on that happening, but it stands out there as a glorious opportunity on the horizon.

Knock on some serious wood.

I don't work on commision, so I won't see a dime. But those numbers mean I might be able to avoid pulling the trigger on the annual layoffs that seemed inevitable just a few weeks ago (or at least the worst of them).

So to celebrate I took the family - all nine of us at that point - out to Olive Garden the following weekend. The-single-most-expensive-dinner-of-my-life, thanks in part to my foolish 'get whatever you want!' comment to a growing 14 year old boy.

Ah, it was worth it. It's nice to have something to celebrate once in awhile. :)