Too good to be true.

Have you ever been apart of something that seemed just right and turned out to be too good to be true? Welcome to my life lately. I'll tell you the story.
When we first got here, I was doing some consulting work for a previous boss of mine. When I had been offered the job, it was supposed to be part time no more than 25 hours a week at $20 an hour and there were enough projects to last until mid-June.
So I started. But only after it taking a week for the boss to give me the projects I was supposed to be working on. I took it as a small blessing that I was able to finish unpacking and settling in.
So I worked for four weeks. And the strangest thing was happening, I was not getting paid. When I tried asking about it, I would always be told it was processing or the boss would check on it. And nothing. And it got time to pay rent...and we had to use student loan money. And then the fifth week, the boss decided that she was too busy to send me a two line email stating she was swamped with work (what am I for then?) and then she got sick. So week 5- nothing.
Then week 6 came and I found out that the boss had been sick which is why no one responded. I was finally told who to contact in accounting and I did. She guaranteed me that the check would be sent out Friday morning and that I could get it sooner if needed. Although I had regularly been submitting time sheets, they were not being processed.
And then YESTERDAY--we are almost to week 7 I find out that they are not being processed because the accounting department needs an invoice, not just time sheets. So I immediately make those and send them to the boss and the accounting department in hopes of getting the check(s) sent on Friday. I hear nothing from either person for several hours. I just checked my email and now I'm being told that the check is to be made out to CD Consulting...which is the name that the boss told me to make up for the paperwork forms. It's not a real company, it's not filed in the State of ND or AZ or anywhere else...it is me. Apparently, I also need a W-9 form to be sent to the accounting department to get the check processed. I do not have that because I have never filed self-employment taxes before because I just started this. Mind you, the only reason I did this was because I thought it would be a relatively easy side job to bring in a little extra income while I found a full time job here in ND. Turns out that it has been a huge hassle and we have gone 6 weeks without getting paid. And to me, that's not even the worst part.
This whole thing has been the same as every time I have tried to look for a job in the past. You know when you get to that point where you feel completely worthless, unemployable, and utterly frustrated? Well I was there 2 weeks ago. I have applied to TONS of positions here in ND, some that I'm WAY over qualified for, some that I'm under qualified for and some that seem just right. And perhaps because no one invests in Human Resource departments here, I rarely even hear one way or the other and no one can give me a straight answer when I call.
So, I'm about at my wit's end. I want to be working, I want to be getting paid. And I just want the frustration to subside.