this old house and life

The attic needs a small fortune to be finished, a lot of drywall yet to buy and install, lights, and a bathroom that will cost a lot to do right, downstairs needs a lot done and will be years before I can get much done, and there are still 2 windows to replace, 2 doors to deal with, no back steps, no patio and the front porch steps need a lot of work.
My finances are a tight budget and way too many bills, I get discouraged at how slow my debt loads are going down and how little I have in savings and how many things still need paid sitting on my computer desk.
And then I get home from work to a message on the answering machine, a collection agency looking for Michael R Farrin, wanting to contact him about money owed.
Somehow, the slow progress here on old house repairs and attic conversion, the cracked plaster in the bathroom, the sagging ceiling tiles in the bedroom, the debt load that won't shrink very fast all gets a lot smaller and not so bad after all.
No one is getting calls from collection agencies looking for me and money for bills I have not paid. I might not have a lot to show for the years of working but I do have an acceptable credit rating and am getting the debt load to drop a bit every month.
So, maybe things here are not as bad as I see them at times, it is my own house and it is my own life, and I manage to keep it in enough balance that the collection agencies aren't hunting me down or bugging other people because if my debts.