Projects

I am a good project starter. In fact, if you have been wanting to start a project, but you just can’t quite get the gumption up to start it, you should call me. I’ll help you pick out a paint color, I’ll help you buy fabric, whatever you need to GET STARTED. But what I have in startability, I lack a little in follow through til the end. I tend to get about 70-90% done with a project, and then it’s just not fun anymore. Or there’s something I didn’t buy in the beginning and I still need to buy it to finish it. Something like that. If I could get together with a FINISHER, we’d be a great pair.

But a week or so ago, my husband was out of town, and was going to be gone for over a week. I realized that that was the perfect time to work on a project. Not a huge painting effort, mind you, just a cleaning out project. I decided to tackle…..our bedroom closet. Ugh.

In order to clean a closet, you have to first REMOVE about half of that closet. And where does it go? Mostly on the bed. This is what it looked like.

You may notice I didn’t take a “before” picture of the closet. By the time I thought of taking a picture, half of the stuff was all over my bedroom.
The nice thing about doing this project when Ryan was gone, was that if I didn’t get done, I could just push everything over to his side of the bed and go to sleep without feeling guilty. And I did that. I threw out a TON of clothes. Pants that don’t fit, pants that even if they fit, they don’t look good, shirts that I don’t wear, sweaters that are outdated, sweatshirts that I don’t remember even buying, shoes that are old or I couldn’t find a match for…. You know how it goes. By the time I was finished, I had about 8 garbage bags of stuff to go to D.I.

And my closet, oh my closet! It has a floor! With carpet on it! And it’s big. When it was all cleaned out, my 13 year old daughter came in and said, “I could sleep in here! In fact, I could sleep 6 of me in here.” No, I don’t make her sleep in the closet, (except maybe when we’re on vacation) even though she would think it’s fun.

And it now looks like this.

And all my shoes sit on the shelves like this

That picture makes it look like everything’s falling over, but really, it’s just the weird camera angle.

This project that should have taken me two days, maybe a weekend, lasted almost a whole week. Because, like I said, I’m a starter, not a finisher.

Once I had all the bags in the car to take to DI, it then took me 3 or 4 days before I got THAT all out. I tried a couple of times to drop it off, but they were closed and they don’t allow you to just dump things there after hours anymore. It all came in handy, though. Friday night when Megan’s soccer game started late and it got really cold, I was able to rifle through the bags in the back and find sweatshirts for everyone! They weren’t their size, but who cares when you are just putting it on over your coat?

So by the time Ryan got back, everything was cleared off his side of the bed, and the closet was done. Now if I just had the energy to do that to every closet.

Another fun project Ryan worked on over the weekend was locks. He brought home some new deadbolts that instead of a key, you can use a code. The kids were so excited! They were full of what if questions about the codes, and who can have their own codes, and what happens if we have guests, and does each guest get their own code, etc.

The kids were quick to point out that we needed that the other day, when MOM WASN’T HOME when they got home, and DIDN’T leave a door unlocked, and they were STUCK outside for all of 10 minutes before I got home. Yes, I’m a terrible mother, and they are poor latch key children. Boo-Hoo. But now, I don’t have to worry if they get home before me. Because they can open the door! They were all so thrilled about it (especially John) that they went in and out multiple times, JUST to unlock the door with the keypad. John volunteered to go out and get the mail for me (twice) and unlocked the door both times. It’s just so much fun, and they feel so powerful. Of course, a couple of the kids suggested they get one of those on their bedroom doors so they can lock everyone else out, but that’s not gonna happen.

Today, since I didn’t have the energy to go grocery shopping like I should have done, I decided to work on some curtains for the boys’ room. No pictures yet, but I’ll post some when I’m all done. Think bandana in blue and yellow. Hopefully I won’t hate it when I’m done. Because sometimes projects are like that. You think it’s going to turn out one way, and then when you are done, it doesn’t look anything like the picture you had in your mind. Maybe that’s why I’m a project starter and not a project finisher. If it’s not turning out like I imagined it, I get frustrated and don’t want to start.

But, at least I’m not afraid to start.

So, what are YOU working on?