I Wrote That

with me that i don’t finish my home projects? it’s not that i don’t finish them. i really never even start them. i have a collection of items that i have purchased that are doing nothing but collecting dust. i have blinds for the empty br and for my son’s br. i got so far as to buy them and to deposit them to each room. and that is where they have stayed. for longer than i care to admit. i have gotten window coverings for my living room and bedroom sliders. i ordered them on the internet, they were delivered, i brought them inside. and that’s it. they are still standing against the wall just inside the front door next to the piano. i bought carpet for my son’s room as a temporary fix. it’s a 2nd temporary fix at that. i pulled the carpet out when it was painted. since i didn’t have the resources to put down the floor i wanted, i bought him an area rug that almost covers the room. but not quite. so a couple months ago i got the bright idea to buy a carpet remnant to lay in the room. it’s large enough to cover the whole room. with just a little cutting here and there it will fit like a glove. but instead of being in his room on the floor it’s in the garage. the garage is where this issue i have is really evident. in half the garage there sits many pieces of furniture in various states of not being ready to bring in the house.

1. a dresser that’s missing a metal wheel. 

2. a vinyl covered headboard waiting to be recovered.

3. 3 small wooden tables that need to be cleaned and painted.

4. an old sewing machine table that needs the top sanded and refinished.

5. a couple of wooden chairs that don’t have a spot inside so they are relegated to the garage.

6. a small wooden desk that was my grandma’s (not an antique or family heriloom…yet) that i painted white and was going to distress to make look old. it’s got one coat of white paint and no handles.

and i tell myself that it’s not that bad. i can’t bring the stuff inside until i paint the living room/dining room/kitchen. but i make no effort to do it. oh i made a little effort. i took everything off the walls. pulled any stray nails/screws. and then nothing. besides the little alcove near the front door that has pictures hung up, there is nothing on the walls. just screaming waiting patiently for paint.

you know how they say the first step is acknowledging the problem. hello world, my name is mariah and i don’t get past step #1 in a project.

to add to it i continue to buy stuff to put out after the painting that needs to be done. i’m running out of places to put it all. so i’m always telling myself that i cannot purchase anything else until i move forward with the painting. i had to do the same thing with scrapbooking. i started scrapbooking when my son was very young. but i got to the point that i was too busy with other things and i hadn’t scrapped in a while but i was still purchasing stuff to scrap with. i was drawn to all the pretty paper and cute stickers and the rest of the paraphernalia. but one thing was missing in the equation. i wasn’t actually using any of the stuff i was buying! so i’m seeing a pattern. a not so good pattern.

so bottom line. i need to paint. the painting will be the kickoff point. where then i will not have any more excuses to not moving forward. ah who am i kidding. there will be many reasons that i won’t get it done. but i’m sure going to try!

well i passed the home inspection…sort of. i just need to add a carbon monoxide detector because of the gas water heater in the garage. apparently carbon monoxide seeps through walls. scary i know. but heck, it’s not like that bothers me too much since i just now got smoke detectors up and working. the original one, i’m not sure even works. but that one doesn’t seem to count. so that was good. now i only need to turn in my birth certificate and the paper work from the inspection. and then i’m done. i think the next few steps may be scarier than passing this.

i have officially been working for over a year on becoming a foster parent. and i can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

the outside of the house is being painted. the guys have been outside doing work for the past week. first they power washed the outside, cleaned off the flat roof of one large garbage can worth of dirt, and painted outside. this has driven sassy completely nuts. she spends most of the day hiding under my bed. the other times when she is compelled to make the trek out to the litter box or food and water she does a belly crawl so that whatever evil thing is outside making all the noises will not see her. she creeps stealthily by the windows and sliding glass doors as she warily watches the shadows of the guys working or walking by. just in case they lunge in and grab her.

yesterday afternoon they were finishing up with the front door and had it propped open with the screen locked open. and since sassy is an indoor only cat but has started making random attempts to bolt out the door to freedom i was uneasy with her being free to roam around. so i closed the bedroom door so that she couldn’t go out until they were done working. she planted herself right in front of the door and would lay her head on the floor and look under the door so that she could continue to keep her eye on him while he worked.

things i want to do. but haven’t, yet.

1. i want to write a book. i’m not sure what about. i have tried a few times before. once when i was in jr. high. i was going to write a teen book. you know like judy bloom or those others about high school kids. i got as far as page 1 and then went no further. i tried a few years ago again - a non-fiction book this time. it was going to be about old yuma valley farm houses. not so much a history but a historical photo book. unfortunately i didn’t get very far on that either which saddens me because there are quite a number of those farm houses that no longer exist.

2. write a screenplay. i have had many, many ideas. once i even wrote out character descriptions that resulted from one of my brain storms.

3. house diy stuff. the list continues to grow. that’s one thing i’m good at. making lists of what i need to do around my house. paint, window treatments up (i actually have them, just not up yet. that’s something right?), new stuff up on the walls (i have a lot of this too but it’s never gone up), bathroom fixtures updated, dining room chandelier updated. i could go on and on.

4. win the lottery. self explanatory.

5. start a business. any ideas?