Once again in the rough patch

My task of painting the Brazen Claws has once again slowed down quite a bit, although it is worth noting that I'm almost done with my annual painting goal for the year and it is only July.  The reasons for the slowdown are all the usual suspects:

1. Work.  Despite it being the slow time of year for work, I'm racking up a lot of evening meetings with committees, evening appointments, etc.  What's more, the one thing the job would really, really like to have happen requires my committing to another regular evening (I already work at least two evenings at week at work).
2. Family.  We're out of the routine, a routine that usually has my being in the hobby room a few evenings a week to paint while the wife and kids do their thing.  This isn't so much a complaint, really--the summer just brings a different schedule to the household.
3. Frustration.  I bought a ton of used SM stuff from a friend, and have been piecing together what I can for my own use.  There's some good stuff in there, including a whole tactical unit and lots of bits to make marines with assault weapons, etc.  Unfortunately every once in a while I will be unable to find a missing piece, usually after I've already started.  Since this is something I'm supposed to be enjoying, frustration tends to be a quick energy-sapper.
4. Frustration, pt. 2.  I played WHFB for eight years and got pretty good at it.  Now I'm playing 40K and I'm doing lousy at it.  I'm unfamiliar with the rules, and I don't own the strong units.  That's one thing that sticks in my craw about 40K--there is a sense, especially when you go online to look at tactical analysis, that there are units that you must take because they are so good, and units that you should never take because they are over-priced or under-powered.  This, I think, is the bane of GW's existence as a hobby community.  There are so many people who have dedicated so much time and mental energy into scrutinizing this game that every time a codex or an army book comes out, the various rules are processed and re-processed so that within days you can find detailed analysis about what the optimal army builds are.  It's like eighteen months of playtesting gets done within hours.  And if you play in a fairly competitive group (and I do) then if you're not optimizing your options you're at a disadvantage.  So now I'm buying stuff that doesn't really interest me, but I need in order to field a competitive army.  Bleah.
5. Boredom.  There's a lot of red and blue in a Brazen Claws army.  I break it up with the occasional zombie-related figure, but I'm really thinking of just setting it aside for a while and doing something different for a while.  I think once I get a couple of the SM transports and the predator built I'll have a decent army assembled, if not painted.  That'll give me something to work with on Tuesdays until the mood to get everything painted hits me again.