Monday, January 7, 2008

Finishing Things

I am great at starting things. I love to brainstorm wild ideas, fun gifts to make, craft projects, new recipes, then charge ahead and begin. And the best time to start something is just before it's time to go to bed. I just can't help myself!! (Jason's classic answer, "Yes you can, you just don't want to.") Jason rolls his eyes, but truthfully, my best thinking is at night.

Unfortunately, I'm not so great at finishing things. Ahem...

Lately I have felt the call from God to finish things. Things as simple as folding laundry and putting it away and not leaving the supper dishes until the next....evening.

So I've been working on that. And it's coming. I'm being pretty strict with myself right now because I have to be--I have lots and lots of tried and true excuses to overcome.

But interestingly enough, I'm finding that it takes less stress to finish household tasks than it does to let them slide. Too many nasty consequences--like setting the baby down in squished banana (or worse) that I never cleaned out of the highchair.

So this attitude of completion is now permeating other areas. Saturday, I decided it was time to start cleaning my laundry/sewing room. I found lots of stuff that needed to be done. By that evening, I had ironed 2 shirts and a pair of pants for Jason, mended two pairs of jeans and one shirt, finished two doll blankets that I had started over a year ago, embellished two towels to make into baby bibs for gifts (I had bought the towels several years ago), and put elastic into two pairs of baby booties that I had crocheted several years ago for Sav-A-Life. I was especially proud of my resourcefulness with the blankets. All they needed were backs. I cut one from an old shirt of mine. The other was made from an old curtain that had been hanging in the basement.

And then I found a snowflake that I had crocheted last winter, just waiting to be starched, so I soaked it in glue mixture and pinned it onto cardboard to let dry overnight. A little embarrassing to have those projects hog space in my cupboards for such a long time, when it only took a few minutes to complete them!

And today I mended a pair of tights for Helen. Her toe kept poking out the hole. It looked cute, but also terribly uncomfortable.

So now I think I might be ready to start something new. Although--dread--now I'm remembering Owen's baby book that I haven't finished. And Helen's that I haven't even bought. And all the pictures that need frames. Groan.

So what did my kids do while I was so busy on Saturday? Owen took a nice, long nap. Helen found something else to occupy her.

I knew I should have taken a break from my sewing machine when she smilingly brought me the toilet plunger, stamping it on the floor as she walked. But I kept going until I heard the toilet lid. That fresh roll of tp was just too enticing.

7 comments:

shaunjoy said...

Yay for toilet paper! I'm can be bad about finishing things too -- it's just not as much fun as starting. (I really like your white glass and peaches (?) behind the snowflake.)

shaunjoy said...

Sorry for the bad grammar above. It's late. Much, much too late.

Anonymous said...

Don't lose your ability to jump into things and just go for it, though. I'm far too much the opposite. I just don't start things if I don't think I can finish them. If we can each find a happy medium...

sherri said...

Good for you, Joyce, for finishing all those projects...I know what you mean...I have my own little "I'll get to that later" stash. I've been working on unfinished projects & sorting/organizing as well...January is a good month for that.

Unknown said...

Amen Joyce! Good for you to encourage us all to clean it out and finish it up.

And I can totally relate to the kids getting into things, & just leaving it go--because really their not crying or bleeding. Which after looking at my blog you can see that I spent way too much time on the computer making a slide show instead of important things like laundry and changing diapers. Ahhh-- for me too the creative juices run best after 10 p.m.

Anyways loved the blankets, and I too loved the white dishes behind the beautiful snowflake. Can I get a close up of those dishes? :)

Anonymous said...

What I find amazing is that all of those "little" projects only took you a few minutes! :) From the looks of the pictures it would have taken me quite a while to finish them. I'm with Joy, the cool white glass and peach display behind the snowflake caught my eye--it's beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Joyce, I just had to laugh and laugh at cute little Helen in the toilet paper. As for the unfinished projects,I have closets full. So when you finish yours, come on home to Mom. Love, Grandma