Focus

I haven't written out a to-do list in a long while.  Typically I'm in "check off my to-do list" mode, particularly since moving into this house.  There is always so much TO DO on top of treading water.  In late June, I made some goals about what I wanted to achieve over the summer, and I'm proud to say I (and S) have completed most of that list.  I read at least 10 books. I finished all the painting. We're doing work on the front yard.  I didn't really get to the backyard like I planned, but I got railroaded by this horrible, supposedly allergy-induced lung thing.  On top of that, the work we are doing to the front yard is more extensive than we had originally thought.  10,000 pounds of rock were dumped in our front yard this weekend, so we've been hauling around rocks.  But anyway, most of my summer goal list is done.

This weekend I've realized that without a more current to-do list, I fumble on the weekends.  If I'm not focusing my energy, I pace the house, do random things without any cohesive plan, nap too much, and spend way too much time on the internet. 

So I'm going to go back to making lists to try to keep myself on track. 

We're still not done with the home renovations.  The master bathroom shower needs to be taken out and replaced, then we want to get the tile redone in the master bathroom (that's probably 300 sq ft or so of tile when you include the walls).  We want to replace the upstairs carpet, but it makes sense to do that after the bathroom tile is done since the contractors are going to mess up the carpet.  Then we want to refinish the hardwood on the first floor, but it makes sense to do that after the upstairs bathroom & carpet are done.  Oh yeah, and we want to tear out the entertainment center that takes up the whole wall in the family room and replace it with one that matches the kitchen and can accommodate a wide screen TV. We should probably wait to do the hardwood until the entertainment center is done.

We have the money set aside to do all of the above, but honestly we don't want to deal with the hassle of it all (the bathroom ripped up for a week, picking out tile that is timeless, moving all the furniture in preparation for the new carpet, more furniture moving for the hardwood refinishing, etc.).  I think our home renovation tolerance is tapped out right now. 

So where to focus the energy?  I don't know.  That's why I need a to-do list.