Checking Things Off

Of course our house still has a long long way to come.  But last night my husband and I were talking about our remaining house projects.  I realized I had gotten so much done this summer really.  I actually put up our for real "To Do" List.

So I am notorious for setting myself an impossible timeline with an impossibly large list of things I want to accomplish.  We really like to have people over and I have a habit of deciding I have to get X, Y, and Z done before people come over.  Like two of my friends came to visit at the end of my spring break.  I spent the whole week busting my butt because I had to get my list done.  My list?  So glad you asked.  I painted both of our front doors a pretty glossy red, I painted all the trim and two doors in our front hallway, the barnwood door into our living room, and a couple of other things I don't remember.  I also had intentions of painting the kitchen trim but I totally ran out of time and just gave up.

My habit of overshooting the amount of projects I can accomplish in my timeline should've given me a clue about our deck.  We started staining our deck Saturday morning of Memorial day weekend when we had people coming over on Sunday.  Our deck is pretty big.  And it has two levels and two sets of stairs.  And about a thousand little skinny posts.  I worked super hard for 8 hours.  And it was really hot.  Somewhere between 5 and 6 in the evening, I gave up.  And it wasn't even close to done.  I just explained to all our guests what a flake and overachiever I am.  Well, now it's finally done.  I would say we have easily put in at least 24 hours of work on this stupid deck.  But, the good news is, it's done.  Last night my husband finished it up.  Amazing!

So, what has been on my To Do List this summer?  (I work at a school, so I have summers off, meaning lots of projects!)  Stain deck, organize office, finish painting basement bar, paint kitchen trim, re-tile front hallway, ordered a bed (it's getting delivered Friday!), paint garage door, paint end table, and paint built-ins. So what if the stupid deck took a month and a half.  I think that's a pretty good list to accomplish.

I think I'm going to start working on painting the outside of the house this week, at least the part I can easily reach.  And my parents are coming today.  My dad is bringing me his miter box so I can add some trim around our two sliding glass doors and around the bottom of the siding where it meets the concrete patio outside our basement.