February 12, 2009

How far west can you travel before you are heading east?



Nearly 2 years ago, our dishwasher had a tiny leak that really pissed off our wood flooring. We had the offended flooring ripped out and lived with sub-flooring thereafter. While it was just a small section near our sink, it was unsightly. Then, last fall, our downstairs toilet began leaking. While I fixed the leak, I managed to break the mechanism inside. It turns out, this mechanism was pretty important in the grand scheme of flushing, which as you can imagine, it sort of important to the entire function and purpose of a toilet. Ahem. So, we have not had a downstairs toilet for awhile now. Which was not too bad because we are blessed with two additional toilets upstairs. However, it did mean that when folks came to visit they got a peek into the mayhem germinating in our rooms upstairs. Yikes o' rama. Finally, as all of this has been going, our back deck has slowly been coming apart at the seams. Literally. Last year, I had no desire to plant anything back there or even spend time back there because it was a constant reminder that the damned thing was slowly rotting away before our eyes. So, we hung out in the front yard like ostriches.

Last week, in one fell swoop, I got all of that fixed. New floor, new toilet innards (and seat!) and new deck stain.

Then? An amazing thing happened. I began clearing clutter from the yard and rearranging pots. I bought new seat covers for the chairs, a new cover for the grill. I pittered around the garage a bit. I cleaned out my car - even taking out the the kids' carseats and confronting The Nasty lurking underneath. I also did a myriad of other tasks that have been lingering on my Honey Do list for ages. I am feeling inspired to tackle even more tasks.

Obviously, the long-neglected broken items were a vast metaphor for other things going on in my life. Regardless, I am excited about finally getting a grip and getting some things done around here. I am tired of living amongst heaps of Things To Do. I am excited to finally get things cleared out. It will take awhile, but our neighborhood garage sale looms in April - an attainable goal.

Whoa. I am so ready to take on life again. It had best watch its back.


Reminder! Don't forget to enter the giveaways going on at my review site: Queen of the Free Bees. I am giving away a copy of the Rookie Mom's Handbook and a $25 gift certificate to Build-A-Bear. The deadline for leaving a comment is Midnight, February 14th.

4 comments:

Average Jane said...

Funny how that works. Ever since we had our guest room remodeled, we've somehow found the motivation to keep the rest of the downstairs clean and uncluttered.

Anonymous said...

GOOD WORK! Don't forget to celebrate by giving the kids to a grandparent for a night and go find some hard liquor or good wine. Maybe even a priceline hotel room.

Its sad to realize how little time/effort it takes to finish up really small projects like broken toilets, car cleaning, etc. And how much better you feel afterwards. Last year I started a rule for myself that I was no longer going to put off small projects. Even those that take an entire weekend to do. Its nice to get a little sense of accomplishment every now and then and has definitely cut down on the amount of holes torn into bathroom walls, covered with saran wrap and left for someone else to fix...I'm just sayin.

Mamma Sarah said...

lol! Should we all send you our honey-do lists since you're feeling so ambitious? :-)

Anonymous said...

I think this phase is called. LOOk! I have kids that walk and entertain themselves for five whole minutes..wait..what the heck is that pile?