OKAY... So, apparently the bank had what I needed sitting at their front desk for like a week and nobody freaking told me.. But I have it now, and.. Now is the time for the previously announced.. er.. annoucement..

Some of you are aware that I've... Not exactly had the best past year and a half..
(maybe 2 years?.. I've kinda lost count..)

The earliest problem was a previous job (some may remember what that was) that held up a couple of commissions, kicking off a backlog that has yet to be resolved and had just kept on growing until I eventually put a stop to it a few months back..

Sadly that hasn't really helped all that much, as in that time I (along with my family) ended up caring for my failing grandmother for over a year..
I ended up caring for my mother for over a month after she had another knee surgery..
Shortly after that my grandmother finally died, very slowly... This resulted in a greiving period that.. let's be honest still hasn't quite run it's course..
Then over the last month or so, both of my aunt's dogs die, and my mother has her second stroke.. (She's ok.. thankfully..)
And in between all of that my own health has been a rollercoaster, most likely due to stress.. I've actually been rather violently ill the last couple days..

LONG STORY SHORT..

Every plan I've had to get caught up, has failed miserably, for one reason or another..
And you know what? If I've learned anything recently, it's that life is too short..
So, I give.. I'm throwing in the towel, I know when I'm beat.. I'm adult enough to admit when I've made mistakes and can't correct them..

I over-estimated my own abilities when scheduling commissions, and I've now buried myself in them..
But no longer.. I'm fixing this the only way I can at this point..

As I said above and in a previous journal.. My grandmother passed a few months back..
This has resulted in my gaining some monetary inheritance (after the bank dragged it's heels).. It's not huge, but it's enough for me to use a portion of it go through my backlog and refund old commissions that have been sitting there far too long..
After that I'll have enough left to live off of for a little bit while I contemplate my next move, as well as sock some away in my savings so my future ends up looking a little better..

Over the next few days I'll be contacting people about amounts paid and start working out the details.

If I haven't completely torpedoed my reputation afterward I'll probably be opening for commissions again in a few months..
And be far more careful about it this time around..
We'll see.. This is the closest thing I have to a reset button, and I'm using it.