Wondering how to handle that?
The to-list is massive. No matter how much I check off, more keeps finding its way to the list. I've always liked to do all the things, or at least try, but it's easy to get overwhelmed by the behemoth that is the list somedays.
Wondering how to handle that?
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One room at a time, the Homestead is coming together. And by one room, I mostly mean parts of rooms at a time. So imagine my all out joy when we decided to start working on the mudroom. A single room that we can start and complete that is not contingent on other parts or rooms or pieces being complete. Have I mentioned how much I like making lists? I should say that a lot that comes from the joy I feel checking things off lists. To have a whole room on the list that I will soon be able to check off has me pretty close to cloud nine. Here's what it looked like when we bought the place. Now it's sans old chairs and full of garden tools, other tools, dog food, the foam mattress the dogs went sharknado on and other junk. It's actually a decent sized room, if you ignore that carpet (amazingly in better shape than the same carpet we ripped out of the Lace Room). The carpet has to go. I said that from day one. Through looking at magazines, watching too much of HGTV and the Create Channel, playing on Pinterest and other idea sourcing, boyfriend has figured out some of my style preferences. Kind of amazing since I've been so overwhelmed by choices that I've been noncommittal. He caught this episode of For Your Home on the Create Channel and when I came home said, "I think you're going to like this." Skip to about 16:45 in the episode for the mudroom. He was right. I love it. We're making some modifications since our room is a slightly different layout, but he's building the 3D model as we speak to we can visualize exactly what we want to do and see it before we start making a mess. I love the bench, and the cubbies and especially the planks. And, rejoice! We're ditching the carpet. We found floor/wall tile that looks like wood planking and should be good for easy cleanup in the mudroom with snow/mud/garden/puppies. Of course, we'll put a rug over it too, but I'm oddly excited about the floor. I wasn't sold at first on tile made to look like wood, but it actually looks pretty good and is much easier to manage in a mudroom. This probably isn't exactly the color we'll get, I'm leaning toward a darker color with the white planks and cubbies, but you get the idea. Home improvement checklist, you are winning the war, but I'm about to win this battle.
What do you guys think? Do you have a mudroom? Do you wish you did? Tricks for keeping things tidy and unmuddyfied? After a productive weekend, away from work stresses, I feel back to my normal let's make all the things happen self.
We put our office together and oh my gosh, it's really great to sit across from boyfriend while he works on building digital models of the house so we can design renovations and I work on the blog and ideas for other projects. Plus, it's fun to get those creative juices flowing for projects where there will be tangible results that benefit more than just me. We're mapping out our plan for the mud room remodel and I am loving the look we're going for. The very simple act of making forward progress instantly lesses my stresses too. There are few things that make me feel more out of whack than feeling like I'm standing still. It's also time to start choreographing the winter show for my little group of kiddos at the rink and I am ridiculously excited. Creating programs on ice, or in ballet, was always one of my favorite things. It's been awhile, but I can feel that coming back as I hear music and instantly start choreographing moves in my head. For all of this, I am grateful to be getting back into my groove. Join in the circle of thanksgiving with Stacey at Likes To Smile and Sarah at Hello, Month. And with that, here's to a lovely Monday and productive week for everyone! What is getting your creative juices flowing this morning? It feels like I've been saying this a lot lately, but this week was hard. Work was exceptionally frustrating for me this week and in some cases a test of my relationships with sources and people I cover. But my take away was how graciously the person having the worst week of all handled everything. And believe me, that person wasn't me.
Every night I came home stressed, frustrated, upset and just sad. Most of the time I felt very disheartened by how mean people are to each other. Recent weeks have made me wonder when we became culture of criticizing at all turns, of judging, of always looking for something negative. But at the same time, offering no solutions, nothing constructive and affecting no positive change. As a kid, my dad would expect me to come with a plan if I wanted something. And that I have multiple backup plans. He taught me not to complain about things without offering solutions on how to make it better. I've had bosses say, don't come to me with problems, come to me with solutions. Of course, I don't have solutions to world hunger, to curing cancer, to war or Palestine, but I have great respect for the people who are trying. Maybe being an adult means constantly questioning the world and constantly feeling unsettled because life just keeps hurling lemons at you, or maybe this us just a period of growth, but even on the worst of days, I'm going to keep looking for solutions. And for the month of November, I'm joining with Stacey over at Likes to Smile for her #gratitudetweets. I'm always amazed by how uplifting people I've never met in real life can be for me evr ------- In other news, we finally got the garage cleaned out and can park both cars in there, just in time for the first snow of the season. If you ever want to see me so scared that my stomach starts to hurt, watch me drive on ice/snow up and down the huge hills between the Homestead and town. Of my gosh, it's awful. From what I hear, it's normally not super icy on the roads, but for the first snow, it had been very warm, then rained/sleeted, then snowed and froze. My drive to work Monday reminded me of the time I was riding a rollercoaster in the 9th grade against my will. I hate rollercoasterd and the boys in our group pretty much picked me up and put me in. I was so terrified that I had pulled the harness so tight that my knuckles were white and I couldn't get out when the ride ended. It took several people, including ride workers, to get me out and I remember being very close to having an all out meltdown for fear that I'd have to ride it again. But, the snowy view from the Homestead is beautiful. I survived the drive and hey, at least the garage is finally functional. We put the office together, sort of, in the Lace Room, laid wire for the dog fence and got some organizing done. In the shop, boyfriend found an old saw, skis and all kinds of weird stuff between the walls that he's taking down. Some of the wood appears to be reclaimed barn wood and we're hoping to be able to reuse it somehow. Happy weekend from the frozen tundra! Here's what it looked like Monday. |
About MeI'm Jenn, a globe-trotting, East Coast girl making a home in Montana. Read more here. SponsorsArchives
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