And time for...a little different somethin'

Reflection.  As I sit back and totally enjoy my new surroundings, I have a few things to share.  This month, while living by myself, I learned many things.  1)  I am a messy person by nature.  Having Peter gone meant that I found patterns of messes that I typically would blame on Peter  ("Aww, that Peter, piling things up on the counter like that...err wait...shit.  I do that?  Really?" Surprise, surprise!).  I do hate doing dishes, and can really tolerate an extreme amount of kitchen filth.  The threshold is finding fruit-fly larvae in old kitchen sponges, by the way.  I know you were dying to ask.  2)  I really hate being a messy person.  Even while I'm not doing anything about it, it still sits there and stares, distracting me enough that I don't actually get the things done that I need to get done.  I find myself wanting to start projects but first have to clear enough space before I can actually start, which means that typically I'll start cleaning, and never get to the project because I'm exhausted from the manic cleaning.  It's a never-ending cycle--a monster!  3)  Because I never get to my projects (because of the never-ending mess), or if I do, I always start with the project that NEEDS to get done, instead of the one that I'm most excited about, and sometimes there is a lack of follow-through because of that.  Sometimes.  Or just an all-around lack of excitement or enjoyment.

So, I took this past month to delve in and treat myself to saying "yes" to whatever whim or desire I had--as far as design or projects were concerned.  I took that long list of projects that I had WANTED to do and knocked them out one at a time.  Even the ones that didn't make a lot of sense in "logical-priority world."  I went with the ones I was really excited to have done.  I worked day and night (at one point I worked in the morning at the box office, came home for a couple hours with just enough time to eat quickly and sand the top of a table frantically before I headed to opera rehearsal) and was exhausted, but happy.  There is something so empowering and exciting about doing the things that you always put off.  Often times, I realized that I'd been putting things off because I didn't have a key element and just needed to go to the store to get it (I had wanted to fix a chair but didn't have any wood glue; wanted to sand something, didn't have sand paper.  You get the idea...).  I looked around and was finally fed up with the somewhat broken or ugly objects in our house that we had either inherited from other living situations or bought on the cheap, just because we needed something.  And as a person who loves color, clean lines, cohesion, I finally broke down and decided, "no more!  I will fix everything that I don't like!"

So, with no other real purpose of writing this, except to motivate or inspire others to do the same, I give you this:  I feel AWESOME!  By the time the month was over, I had only three projects that I hadn't completed, out of more than 13.  I feel accomplished, empowered, and definitely very thrifty.  I did not purchase anything new (except for the raw materials and tools:  stain, varnish, glue, sandpaper), as I am a firm believer that "nice" does not have to equal "new."  So, go on, my lovelies, do the things you've been putting off!  Get them done!  Say "yes" to awesome projects!