There must be something I can do to keep myself from working against my own best interests. I got so close the grand finale of the Big Project yesterday that I made a tiny little list of the few things I have to do to finish it off. And so I did them today, right?

Wrong. The Boss has been putting gentle pressure on me all week to finish it off, because this year more than any time in the past it's important to get the financial statements completed early. The accountant can't do a thing until I give him the raw data (also known as the Big Project). The future of the company might possibly (though not likely) depend on whether I get it done this weekend.

Or if not the future then a future. Whatever future we have depends on our ability to get bonding, and we can't get bonding without updated financials. We can get work without bonding, but little bits and pieces of real work only, as opposed to massive high-profit projects that keep the cash turning over and the juices flowing.

Those kinds of projects require bonding, and bonding requires me to do something on a Saturday afternoon besides sitting around reading the new Anne Tyler book (which no matter what you say is not the same book as the last nine Anne Tyler books).

By now you can probably guess how I spent my Saturday. I didn't even get caught up on email during the brief time I had an Internet connection. I didn't cook anything other than reheating last night's soup and throwing together a grilled cheese sandwich to go with it. I should probably do better than that on a Saturday, since I have the whole day to shop and plan menus.

The Big Project will get done, and after that it's up to the accountant and the Boss to sell the bonding company on our ability to complete bigger jobs than the ones we're doing now. It's more than likely I wouldn't have finished today anyway, because I would have found some discrepancy that forced me to redo some of the backup spreadsheets.

It's not quite like starting over, but sometimes it feels like it. And it makes the grand finale all the more satisfying, when it finally happens. I'm thinking the middle of next week, Friday at the latest (since my time for next Saturday is already committed, and not to Work). Maybe I'll even put in some time tomorrow. On a Sunday. Right.