Monday, May 14, 2012

36. Somewhere to Start and Something to Do

  Most anyone that knows me could tell you I never do anything exciting (if I did, wouldn't I blog more?) Even my last fortune cookie realized this. It told me to "Do something unusual tomorrow". I mostly failed.
  And as content as I generally am with being boring, on occasion, I would like to do something more than just watch TV or read a book.
  However, I can never think of things to do.
  (Cleaning is not fun, so let's pretend you didn't want to suggest it).
  So then, I go back to doing useless things that make me wonder what use I am.

  My goal, therefore: To figure out something to do without making a decision and/or without attempting to come up with something to make a decision on.

  I came across this project somewhere, the goal of it being to help kids have fun picking out chores. Anyway, it sounded cool, I need to do more cleaning and who doesn't like to have more fun?
  (We'll ignore the fact I'm not a kid, nor do I have any.)
  And for those of you who might care, I've also seen date night ones. (Unfortunately they don't apply to me either.)

  After I cut out all the pieces and painted a bunch of sticks, I realized that I don't have the majority of the rooms she had, nor do I need to clean the same things she listed.

  But.
  It worked out okay because I also realized that more than cleaning, I needed a way to decide on "fun" things to do.
  (After all, if I would just do FlyLady's weekly home blessing and daily tasks, everything would get cleaned fine. Plus, dailyfeats is helpful in motivation.)
  I had thought about trying to make papers to match hers, but because I ended up not using her papers, I wrote on the sticks.

  As I was saying at the beginning of this post, if I'm not sure what to do, I usually don't do anything at all. If I have lots of things I need to get done, I procrastinate because I don't know where to start. If I have nothing to get done, I do nothing because I don't know what to start with.
  So, my project became instead, somewhere to start and something to do.

  I divided my sticks into four catagories, sorted like so:
(Folk Art Acrylic Paint)

Metallic Antique Copper- monthly/yearly chores (wash car, make appointments, vacuum upholstery)

Antique Gold- weekly chores (clip coupons, clean out fridge, clean out car)

Metallic Ice Blue- "fun" things that need planning ahead or are too noisy to do in the middle of the night. (text a friend, sew, go to the park, work on photo album (because it's at my parents house), play piano (I don't have a piano, but I'm regularly at places that have one.))

Champagne- "fun" things I can do any time (finish a craft, paint nails, write children's book, memorize verses, take a nap/relax (I hate naps, so we'll see how obedient I would be if I draw that))


Any other ideas to write on the sticks (especially in the fun categories!) are welcome.


  Lastly on the putting together of this project, I had to find a container. I used the white mug while working on the project, but it didn't seem it would be large enough, and I wanted something prettier. I looked at a couple vases and such at the store, but nothing caught my eye.
  Then, at some point, I remembered this pot just sitting in the cupboard under my sink. Mom let me have it a couple years ago. It isn't great for plants because it doesn't have any drainage holes, but I really like the .... (pattern, dye job, glazes? I can't pinpoint the word I want, I reserve the right to edit this later without notice). I think someone I know made it, but I can't remember who. It goes well with the placemat it is currently sitting next to (or on, in this picture).

  So, the whole truth, I've been working on this blog post for about a month. (Told you I was slow.) The day I worked on this project last, these are also some of the things I worked on (I didn't pull them out randomly, I picked the sticks I'd done that day or planned to work on already.):

  I didn't really finish the craft, since there are always more ideas I can put on the sticks, in which case more sticks need to be painted, but I finished writing all the ideas I had so far, I put them in the nice container, and I started the blog post. That's close enough for me. 
  Nor did I actually empty my email inbox, but from 1000 down to 300 on multiple email addresses is also close enough.

  As for cookies....


All mine!
(Sorry... they're long gone now.)