Just a little bit behind...

So I am a little behind on my projects...again.

I seem to have a continuing problem with starting projects and not finishing them. 

As a quick update, I have been busy for the past few weeks with lots of non-house and project related things - work, a vacation, and a cold.  And I have made some progress!  After pulling out of the drive each morning looking at the overgrown weeds in my ivy, I finally gave the entire area a much-needed haircut today.  It was only a fast chop - it really needs much more cutting and shaping - but at least it no longer looks like that part of the yard had been completely neglected this summer.  I also did some weeding in other places of the year. 

Last week I spent Sunday trimming the forsythia and the hostas away from the deck for the deck repair (at least mostly), and last Saturday I coerced Shawn into helping me move several boxes of junk out of the spare bedroom so we (I) could begin pulling up the carpet.  So there has been some progress, even if it has made the rest of the upstairs look like a refugee camp.

Jess

Project #5: Christmas in July

This Christmas my grandmother gifted Shawn and I with a fire pit.  My mom ordered it online (stars and moons, as requested), stored it, and delivered it in January. 

It has been sitting in our basement ever since, next to the treadmill.  Both mock me each time I go into the basement...until tonight. 

As always, Max assisted.




















There were no directions, but luckily you can't get too far off base given that there were fewer than 20 parts, and they were helpfully labled. 

Seriously - no one thought this was kind of a no-brainer?  I really think if you can't figure out that this is the fire poker...maybe you shouldn't have a fire pit.  Or handle matches without adult supervision.

What would have been helpful, though, would be if I had remembered that my kitchen doorways are both unusually narrow and hard to move things through.  And that I needed to go through them to get out to the deck.

I took the fire pit out the front door and and carried it around the house to the back. 

I blame it on the s'mores. 

Jess

Project #3: Because there was a traffic jam after Home Depot...

I did not intend to finish painting the teal bedroom today - I was thinking of a smaller project to go with book club.  But book club was cancelled due to our host's illness, and the traffic was snarled up right after the turn to Home Depot. So I had no choice but to go in in my work dress and 3-inch heels and order paint.

Four hours and way too many fumes later, the bedroom wall went from this:

To this:

The color is Behr Delicate Mist in Flat.  True color is much closer to the top picture, with natural light, than the bottom.

Unfortunately, the cat snuck in while I was painting and is now way too mellow.  I threw him out of the room at one point, and he just kept crying to get back in. 

I hope he isn't developing a problem. There are only a few things left that need paint!

Anyone know if there is a cat AA group?
Jess

Project # 2: Why yes, I am cutting ivy in 90 degree heat...

So my second project was going to be to straighten up the desk next to our door, but I was sidetracked by the yard.  This has happened all summer - which is why my entire front yard is covered with flowers, but my two spare bedrooms look like a flea market exploded.  I have been glaring at the ivy ground cover that sits in a semi-circle behind the driveway for a few weeks now.  Everything has been growing like crazy, and it had completely overtaken the little stone wall it is supposed to sit on top of.  So it got a little trim today around the wall.  I still need to cut and weed the top of it, but at least it isn't trailing down the drive like it is trying to make a run with the yard....

No pictures - it's really only slightly better looking immediately after a trim than it is overgrown.  I started out doing light trims, and after two years I've realized that if you don't hack it back it is overgrown again the next morning. 

My next project of the night has to be reading Plainsong for book club - it's tomorrow, and I haven't even cracked the book.

Currently doubling as a mosquito smorgasbord,
Jess

The 364 Project Challenge

You can make new year's resolutions in July, right?

I was looking around the house yesterday (with the help of my husband, who pointed out that everything was a mess/he was the only one who cleans.  Silly boy.  He claims I need to help.  I think we should accept the reality that this will not happen and budget for a maid.  Stay tuned as the debate rages on...) 

Anyhow...

I was looking around my house, and realized that too many of my good intentions had ended up as half-done projects.  The guest bedroom that still has one purple wall and a yellow window, while the rest is light teal and white.  The bathroom with the pale purple walls and the dark teal (ironic, isn't it?) patch in the corner where it is hard to paint.  The baseboards float above the flooring because I never bought moulding, and there is a patch of carpet I cut around because I gave up trying to yank it up.  Then there is the blog that never quite got written...

It paints a lovely picture, doesn't it?

So I am starting the 364 Project Challenge - a project a day, to fix, improve, organize, and just FINISH some of these things. 

I gave up on self-displine after my dissertation, so this ought to be interesting.  Today's project - the yellow window. 

There were originally two yellow windows and two yellow doors.  The trim was only spared because the previous owners, while enthusiastic, where not completely delusional. The doors and one window are almost complete - just a few yellow patches that will be another day's project.  Today's project is this window - the most yellow.  An hour and a fifteen minutes and probably way too many paint fumes later:

Day 1, Project 1 - Completed.
(On seeing the picture above, I should really add photography as a project...)

Cheers,

Jess