June 23, 2004

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  Progress Report

  
  

  

  
  

  Since my last entry, I have been concentrating on finishing up project around the house, and not starting anything new unless I am comitted to finishing it no matter what.

  
  

  This is what I have been able to accomplish so far:

  
  

  
  
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    Bamboo Grove: finished filling with soil, planted final two plants, finished mulching, put up bench — DONE (except for the addition of 2 solar lights and a large buddha figure, which we still have to purchase — waiting for the end-of season sales)

  
  

  
  
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    Potted plants for patio: finished planting all that I had purchased, plus two tomato plants that “volunteered” in the compost pile — DONE (until I decide there are more flowers I simply must have)

  
  

  
  
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    New section of lawn in back yard: mowed for first time, and took down string I had put up to section it off while the seed sprouted — DONE (until I grade the next section, at which time I will re-seed the areas that are still fairly bare)

  
  

  
  
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    Front yard: finished planting and mulching, deadheaded rhododendrons, placed rocks, birdbath and other decorative elements, replaced three dead heather plants – DONE (until later in the summer when I will touch up mulch, and still not sure if the new heathers are going to survive — two of them look like they are dying already, I am temptted to just spray paint them green and forget them )

  
  

  
  
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    Hallway: finished painting baseboard, took up dropcloth, cleaned hardwood floor with Murphy’s Oil Soap, hung portrait of Bernie’s mom — DONE (except for hanging the rest of the “family gallery” which is a whole new project)

  
  

  
  
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    Kitchen tiles: replaced wall tiles which had fallen off behind stove — DONE

  
  

  
  
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    Kitchen – snackbar: scrubbed all woodwork, backsplash, counter and shelves, cleaned snackbar stools — DONE (except washing the teakettle, juicer and insulated carafe that live on the shelves — will be doing these along with the next load of dishes)

  
  

  
  
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    Kitchen – stove area: scrubbed woodwork, overhead cabinets, exhaust fan grille – DONE

  
  

  
  
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    Computer: installed PSP, started eBay auctions for ending next week – DONE (still a lot more to do, but breaking it down into individual tasks to preserve my sanity)

  
  

  I got a lot done, but still have a lot more projects to finish, both of the started kind and the not started kind. Today I am tackling the stack of bills, and personal financial records. If I don’t end up with too big a headache from this, I will tackle the business paperwork I have been avoiding. I also plan on scrubbing the woodwork, backsplash, counter and shelves in another section of the kitchen.

  
  

  And maybe I will get outside for a little while to work on the last remaining little section of the bed next to the bamboo grove – it is a really heavy-duty physical project, as was the bamboo grove, because the rocky soil has to be removed, sifted, augmented, and returned to the bed before the plants can go in and the mulch can go on. We got this bed done on sunday before we ran out of daylight, all except about a 2′ by 3′ piece of ground that still has to be dug up and planted with the one remaining daylily plant. This will complete the planting in the backyard, leaving just a lot of digging for drainage pipes, electric wires, and grading and replanting the lawn. We will have contractors helping with some of this, so my work schedule depends largely on them.

  
  

  But I am feeling a lot better about stuff. It isn’t really that I beat myself up for having things unfinished, I am quite used to having lots of unfinished projects. The problem is more that I start so many projects, that I get overwhelmed at tring to finish them all. But as I was explaining in my last entry, I realized that I do this subconsciously as a way to avoid committing to actually finishing things, and risking putting that “DONE” stamp on something that is less than up to my (often unrealistic) standards of perfection. By making myself finish stuff, and not allowing myself to start anything new unless it si something I am going to finish right away, I am forcing myself to confront these fears and self-sabotaging behavior.

  
  

  I think it’s working. I guess. Only time will tell, I suppose.

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  On another note, it is our 14th wedding anniversary today. No big plans, but we have a steaks for the grill, a nice green salad, and some baking potatoes that will go in the microwave (still no stove) Hopefully Bernie won’t have to work too late…

  
  

  

  
  

  *** I almost forgot to mention something else I accomplished! — I made the “done” stamp that appears at the top of this entry on PSP today! my first GIF on my new graphics program!

  
  

   

  
  

  **** update, 6:12 PM. Got a call this afternoon from Bernie. He wished me a happy anniversary (isn’t that sweet? he never in 14 years called from work to do that!) and then he told me that he is going to be pretty late. After he is done his own route, on overtime, the poor guy is helping deliver one of the worst mail routes in Princeton. I know this first hand, about how much of a pain in the butt that route is, because I used to get stuck on it all the time when I was a Princeton mail carrier, too. I think it was the route I was doing when I first started talking to Bernie at work. The rest, well, that’s history.

  
  

  Too hot to work outdoors. We got less than 1/2″ of rain last night, so I have the sprinkler going again. I have to go out and hand water all the stuff on the patio and up by the house later – usually my after-dinner routine.

  
  

  Dinner will be late, so I went out and picked up a late lunch at McDonalds’ drive thru. I have been getting the kids’ Happy Meals the last couple of weeks, because they are cheap and because they are having a NeoPets toy promotion. Tomorrow is the last day for Neopets at McD’s, and I have eaten 5 cheeseburger happy meals in the last 2 weeks, and still haven’t gotten one of the NeoPets that I wanted

  
  

  I have two NeoPets accounts, and between the two I have 7 pets. Of these, two are among the fifteen pets being given away as part of the Happy Meal promotion (and each of them comes in a variety of colors). I have been hoping to get a Shoyru (it is a dragon-type creature, mine is red) or an Ixi (it’s like a goat, I have a green one) but I got a yellow Quiggle (a frog-type critter) a blue Chomby (it’s a dinosaur) and three, count ‘em, THREE Grundos (an alien creature — they are sort of cute, but I didn’t really want three of them! oh well, at least they are all different colors…)

  
  

  Well, there is still tomorrow. I think maybe I will go to a different McDonalds for lunch when I do my Thursday errands. Thursday is my day for running around on errands, and I usually include some recreational shopping and lunch or breakfast out in my agenda for the day. Maybe the McDonalds at WalMart will have different NeoPets. Now I just have to figure out what I need from the WalMart shopping center…

  
  

  As for my projects today – I finished the bills, and since I record my payments on a document I print out from Word Perfect, which I lost with everything else in the old computer, I also installed Word Perfect (knock one more thing off the computer task list) and re-formatted my monthly bill payment page.

  
  

  Now I just have that corner of the kitchen on my to-do list for today, but if it doesn’t get done today I can tackle it tomorrow morning.

  • 6:33 pm
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