Usually I make lots of individual goals for the year. I write them in my journal, I try to revisit throughout the year and accomplish them by the end of the year. 2017, I unexpectedly went back to work and my life changed. A lot. And for the better! I love teaching, and I'm glad to be back. I'm glad it's working to be a mom and a teacher. But I realized, when it came time to set goals, that this year what I really needed was a mantra. And overarching theme for my year that would set the tone, or that I could use as a measuring stick when trying to decide if I should do something or not.
Ready for it?
My theme is Enjoy the Journey.
I am a finisher. I just want to get things done. And sometimes it really makes my life less fun! So, this theme allows me to recognize that it is journey--something that can't be done in a minute or even an hour, or even a day. And if something is worth doing, it is okay if it takes time. So, when I decide this year if I want to do something or not, I will ask myself, is this something that I will enjoy doing (not just enjoy finishing)? And if it is something I have to do, I will ask, how can I make this journey more enjoyable?
I want to do some more PT and fix a few health things going on. (Like my wrist that has some kind of weird bony growth causing pain, my weird shoulder thing, and of course my hip, etc.) I ask myself, even though it is annoying to deal with this, healing is something that will help me enjoy the journey so I should get on with it! Make that Dr. appt., PT appt., and do it!
Anyway, there is a daunting home project facing me. Daunting because I don't have much time for it. But I want to get it done. So I was in the midst of getting started with it when I decided on my mantra. I have had to grit my teeth a few times and tell myself that I am enjoying this. But I am going to continue to work at it, and be okay with the fact that it is going to take time to get it done.
Here are the dominos that started this project. Both things that I didn't anticipate causing this much work.
1. We moved the piano into the ballroom. This created a void that Derek and I disagreed what to do with. (Remember that when we got the piano we spent several thousand dollars redoing the laundry room so I could relocate the coats and shoes that the piano displaced...so I should blame the piano.) Trying to fill this void we went furniture shopping. Which led me to domino #2.
2. I found a new couch for the sunroom. Once the new couch was in that room, I could no longer tolerate the paint in the room (or the exposed cords from the reclining couch. Who knew the leather wouldn't go all the way to the floor. I didn't think to look at that in the store.
I called in some professional help. One of my best friends has a sis-in-law who is a designer. She gave me some expert advice--lots. But since she is in UT and is working with me remotely, I had to try to use her help remotely to get a new paint color. I thought painting both spaces the same color would help the two spaces flow since they are right next to each other. This is such a long story, but to make it short, let's just say that I thought I could be a gray paint person. I really tried. But I'm not a gray person. I'm a tan person. And it took 12 samples and painting the entire kitchen gray before I realized it.
Once Libby saw the new taupe color she said, "Mom, I'm so glad you realized you are not a gray person!"
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| This is the fabric I chose for curtains in the sunroom. I love it. But it was hard to choose a gray that went with it. |
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| And this carpet in the sunroom is all wrong for all these colors. So basically, the carpet is going to have to go. But not now. Later. The Journey. It is fun, right? |
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| The first 9 samples. Underneath you can see the only new thing I had bought for the family room. The carpet to join the two sides of the room, the one where the piano had been and the one where the couch was sitting. Anna, my designer helped me realize that I get a big carpet to join the two spaces. Since it is our main walkway in and out of the house, it will probably get dirty pretty quickly. I got a busy one with lots of color to help hide stains. |
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| Try, try again! |
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| One other thing in Anna's plan for the room is a barn door. The main problem with that was the intercom system box that was in the way. I felt intimidated about trying to remove it. But I took it off, consulted the electrician next door and was able to remove it and patch the hole! |
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| Thought I had a winner. |
So, I went back to the drawing board and looked for something with more brown in it.
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| So this is the new family room. No intercom. A nice taupe color. And a beautiful rug. The life-organizing stuff that used to be in this room moved to where the laundry room door used to be. And this is how the room is going to stay for awhile. I'll probably put the green couch back while I couch and chair shop. But it might take awhile. And that is okay. Because I am [trying to] enjoy the journey and to be okay with an unfinished project. |
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| This is the new sunroom. I built this little organizer for behind the couch out of those Christmas boxes. They were 75% off, and I covered up the Santa's coming to town part with orange scrapbook paper. It'll be for books, magazines, pillows and throws. It also looks terrible with the carpet. Ugh. Remember, it's the journey! |
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| The new comfy couch in the Sunroom. Selling the old one on Craigslist was quite the journey too. I think I'm just going to take everything I don't want to the DI from now on. |
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| When I went to the spa on NY Day to read over my goals from 2017 and set my new mantra driven goals I realized that I had set a goal to paint to sunroom in 2017. How nice that I was about to accomplish that goal! |
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