8/29/2013

Grand plans.

This week's chosen prompt in

Mama’s Losin’ It

is:

 What did not get accomplished this summer that you wish you had time for?


I am a keeper of to-do lists.

I have a paper planner with lists, a daily app with a to-do list, an app that lets me keep track of long range plans by category...  I mark things off one or two or three of my lists at a time as I accomplish them, but I am also constantly adding new things on.

Basically, this means I set myself up for failure all the time.

I never get to the point where everything I want to accomplish is done, because I can always think of something else I want or need to do.




Let me give you a recent(ish) example.

At my repeated demands and whining about SO MUCH JUNK IN MY GARAGE request, we had a shed put up a couple years ago.   It looked like this:


And it was a fine shed, but it was fairly boring, so I painted it to match my house (yes, my house looks like something out of Whoville) and then it looked like this:


And I liked it ever so much better.

Then last spring, I decided I just had to have an herb garden, so on the sunny side of my shed I created this:



And I think at that point, it became a PROJECT in my mind.  This was a space that was totally mine and totally for me, and I could make it the most colorful, the most outrageous, the most whimsical thing that I could dream up.

And that was going to be my "outside" project for this summer, which is not to be confused with my "inside" project, or my "blogging" project, or my "photo" project, or my "sewing" project, or my "I use too many quotation marks" project.

It started off brilliantly.

At the beginning of the summer, I got the other small side done to suit me:



And then I created some AH-DOR-A-BLE mushrooms to jazz up the front.



Then I put a plan in place to conquer the back side of the shed, which was a blank canvas that was just waiting to be painted and bedazzled and made to look for all the world like it belonged anywhere other than backyard suburbia, Kentucky.

I poured over Pinterest, came up with a dozen brilliant ideas, and then...

Nothing.

Nothing at all has happened since then.

Every time I open my To-Do app, "FINISH SHED PROJECT!" stares back at me, mocking me.  

Summer really kinda kicked my butt, and somehow this project that I was SO gung-ho for at the beginning of the summer got pushed past the back burner and off the whole damn stove.

But it's still out there in my mind and on my many, many lists, so I haven't totally forgotten.  And I haven't given up.

And at some point, it WILL be done and I will be able to mark it off my list.  With conviction.

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18 comments:

  1. Your shed is adorable.

    I loooooove lists, and create my own checklists all the time. Unfortunately, these lists tend to pile up on my desk, boxes unchecked.

    Hope you post the finished product - I'd love to see it!

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    1. Thanks so much! I really will finish it... Really :)

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  2. AND - what you have done - is Marvelous . . . I'm thinkin' - there is a lot more Marvelous-Ness to be expressed through in - in the proper & perfect time.

    Thanks!!!

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  3. I'd love to live in your shed!!

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    1. Well, if you could do some yard work occasionally we could probably work something out ;) Thanks for dropping by!

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  4. That shed is the prettiest shed I have ever seen! Like the previous commenter, I'd love to live in it too!

    I'm pretty bad with my to-do lists. I love making them as well, but like you, I keep finding something to add in and it just feels like nothing ever gets done, even though I've already crossed off so many things.

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    1. Yes, I think if I could ever get to "TOTALLY COMPLETE" on my to-do lists I would feel ever so much more accomplished. But it's not ever going to happen, is it? Sigh...

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  5. Oh, and I'm your new GFC follower :)

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    1. Yay thanks! I followed you too! I love meeting new bloggy friends.

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  6. You call that unfinished? I've got a bathroom project to show you....

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    1. I read about your bathroom project. Yeah. Sounds like a good time. Maybe you could just rip the walls out or something. Wallpaper glue is the devil.

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    2. Rip out the walls! I hadn't thought about that! I can start a new style and call it a rustic restroom....

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  7. What a super cute and fun project! You could never be depressed or sad about anything as long as you have that shed to look at and look forward to doing more. It's just so ..., you said it, "Whimsical."

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    1. Yes, sometimes I go hide... I mean sit behind it. It always makes me feel happy.

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  8. I'm haunted by lists too. And I can never throw them out because there's still one thing on the list.

    But you could decide that the back of the shed needs to stay blank to offset the other three sides. Or just deal with it in the Fall when the weather is much more reasonable-that's just good planning.

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    1. Sometimes I get really industrious and copy all my undone things from separate lists onto one shiny new list. It makes me feel better for about a minute, plus I can throw all the old ones away. And yes, I'm definitely thinking fall. Or maybe next spring...

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  9. I love what you've done. Perhaps you just haven't hit the "right inspiration" yet. The back of the shed will be still waiting for you when you're ready.

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    1. Thanks so much! I have some ideas, but it's true, nothing has been perfect. I'll figure it out eventually.

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