We were doing so good last week, getting things going on, banging out projects like they weren't anything.But then we lost our stride. J's been working, then it rained/was overcast for a few days, our trip to Atlanta, J working more.
Not to mention R and me being spindly little weaklings.
Remember the Mudroom idea I was stewing on last week? Well, I hate/d the floor in the old laundryroom there, and I didn't want to build anything until I did something about the floor.
I didn't know what I wanted to do with the floor, and until I knew what I wanted, I didn't want to spend money buying something I might end up not liking (again). As it happened, I had several boxes left of the (cheap, crappy, POS) laminate flooring we'd done the living room in. I don't like it, either, and am pretty sure I'll be replacing it again in a short time, but for now, the price is right.
So, I spent a day clearing most of the room out so me and R could put in the new floor.
We got started, but apparently the room is out of square, or there's humps, or it's just the way this flooring is (which ever reason J is spouting at the moment), neither R or I are strong enough to muscle the boards together. So I'm stuck waiting on J to help me finish the rest of it.
Not being able to finish that floor seemed to turn the tide for any/every thing else I've tried to accomplish ever since.
The weather turned off nasty (chilly) for a few days so I couldn't really get outside to do anything, but that was the perfect opportunity to start sorting through crap in this house to get rid of.
That's a job I get so overwhelmed with, so I decided to just take it one step at a time. One thing. Just pick one thing to get rid of, and that will be a great accomplishment.
So, I picked some old magazines/craft books I've had around here - waiting for them to become antiques/collectibles, I guess? I didn't want them for myself, I don't even know how to crochet.
I don't want to have to pay to try to sell something I don't want, without being more sure that they would sell, so I won't be listing them at either Etsy or eBay.
Figured I'd try Craigslist and a local Online Yard Sale group, but I lost interest before I got around to posting them.
I also have some Teen mags and music books from the 1960's, along with a pile of posters and magazine articles of bands/singer popular in the 1980's. Nobody else wants this stuff, either!
I don't want it, but it would kill me to just throw it away. It's still history. I can't throw history in the trash.
Okay, so when the things I'm trying to accomplish aren't going well, I go looking for Inspiration. Any kind of Inspiration, just to get going again.
I don't remember what I was looking at at the time, but somehow I learned about some new (to me) thing called Smash Books (NOT to be confused with "Slam" books!), which appear to be a cross between what we used to call Inspiration Journals and Scrapbooks.
If I understand it rightly, smash books are journals to smash all your thoughts and ideas into.
A lot of people use them as informal scrapbooks, like a visual diary.
I haven't kept an Inspiration journal in years. I don't know why I stopped....or, well, I guess I do. It was most likely after we got the internet, and everything I ever wanted or needed to know could be found on it at the touch of a button. Didn't need a book to save ideas anymore.
But you know I kinda miss the mixed media of newspaper and magazine clippings, handwriting, photos, scraps of material or yarn, paint chips, and so on.
So I thought what the heck, I'll give it a go.
At the time I had a fairly complicated road trip coming up, and - although I can - I'm not really an 'adventurous' traveler. I like to have things planned, rooms booked, routes mapped and such like that before leaving home.
The first thing I needed to do, though, was fix me a Fire Shift calendar so I knew exactly what days we were working with. Yeah, it would have been easier to copy a color-coded fire shift calendar, but I wanted something different, unique, for my brand-new Smash book.
So I searched for a calendar template and a FD emblem, then using my PSP prog, pasted the FD emblem on the days J is on duty.
But then that was it. The entire extent of my idea. Nothing else. The creative juices dried up.
Then J texted to say he couldn't get the days he requested off of work anyway. He's working a trade for one of the days so we can go to my nephew's graduation, but that's it.
So now I'm reduced to being able to do nothing but whine and complain. I hate this. I need to make an accomplishment. Just one. Anything.
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