Holidays are Broken

Well, I officially suck at holidays. I get four weeks a year, which is what I've earned by having over a decade of service with one company. I used part of a week in March and the other part of it in June. I took a full week in July or August, don't recall which. I didn't do anything, in fact I'm sure that I worked half a day. I was supposed to take the last two weeks now but that isn't taking. I found out that our business is closed up from Christmas to New Year's so it wouldn't count as official holiday. So I only have this week to use my time, since it doesn't carry over. Yesterday I put in a full day of work. I scheduled all my remaining items for that day. It was the only option in many cases. It was a tight lineup of conference calls through the day with a two hour meeting to cap it off. I ended up going for dinner afterwards with some of the guys too, it really extend it. We went to the same chain that the Chef and I hit up on Thursday, I got the same thing. It was all pretty important items that I covered off during the day so I'm happy I did it, less happy I burned a day of vacation.

I'm not worried, I'll be taking a few days in January to participate or hover during my basement renovation. Well, not exactly a reno since it's being finished for the first time. I have received quotes from a few contractors, I met with one guy a couple of times, we amended the quote once and now I've signed the contract. Work begins January 22 and he has a plan to be done February 19 with contingency window to February 28. I'm pretty excited, when it's all done I'll have another half bath and some comfortable living space to enjoy. The price of the work is almost as much as the realtor values the improvements for. I'm much better than the 50% which is normal for value of upgrades to homes. In fact, he wrote up a report that says I could get $100k more than I originally paid, this in only 5 years. I'm pretty excited by both facts. We talked about putting a projector and some surround sound speakers in before the drywall goes up. That will allow me to have a nice little area to watch things in the basement. If I move ahead with my plan to drop cable and rely on Netflix, Kodi, and Sportnet GO then I'll really be able to get into it down there. I also plan to buy a nice, comfy sectional couch for down there. That is my dream basement configuration. I mean a fireplace and a bar wouldn't hurt but we need to have something to dream about. Besides the boat of course. I'm excited to see how it all works out.