Time for a To-Do List

Yesterday I was in the kitchen with my music on, and there was a sweet song on, "How Great Thou Art", by Carrie Underwood.  Hubby walked in and hollered at J, "OH NO GUESS WHAT YOUR MOM IS ALREADY LISTENING TO CHRISTMAS MUSIC!"  So I had to defend myself that no, this is not Christmas music yet, and back off, thankyouverymuch.  That did two things to me--it got me a little bit defensive, thinking of course I know it's a bit early to break out the Christmas tunes, but it also got me obsessing about Christmas Music.  I might have to break some out if I get some alone time today...  besides, what's the big deal?  This year I have to wait all the way until November 13 to decorate for Christmas, because we're having the birthday party for J on the 12th.  AUGH!  It's going to be hard to wait that long.  I wonder if I could get away with just decorating my office ...

Yikes--the halls of my brain are getting decked a little bit too early even for me.

So to change the subject, I think I'll start making a list.  I LOVE lists.  I should make a task list for all the crap that I'm hoping hubby and I can do over the fall/winter.  Like finally staining our window trim.  We got all new windows last year, and we still have the raw wood trim.  I think it's been pushed a ways down our priority list with everything we've been busy with over the summer and with my dad's stuff.  I'd like for us to get a mantel for our fireplace.  Since we built it, we just have basically a board sitting on the top of the brick surround that we use as a little shelf.  It's a bit inadequate.  I'd like to rearrange my kitchen cabinets.  I haven't changed the way they're (not) organized since we moved in here 13 years ago.  eeek.  Maybe I'll even paint them, since they're sort of nasty.  I want to get a new bed and fix up our bedroom.  It is the only room in our house that we have done NOTHING to since we moved in.  It's sadly in need of a face lift.  And paint the walls in the staircase and upstairs hallway.  Getting these things done will make me feel like I've had a successful winter.  Oh, and clean out and organize our front closets.  I forgot about what a nightmare they are.  See, getting this stuff written down will make it real for me, and maybe I'll make some progress.

We've actually done a lot to our house over the years, inside and out.  It's hard work when your house is a very old farmhouse and you have lots of buildings on your property in various states of repair, but we look like this a lot:

So really you'd think that staining some trim would be a small job when you look at the size of some of the projects we've undertaken.

Hubby is not a guy who does small jobs.  If you recall, I recently decided to organize the upstairs closet.  When he discovered me removing clothes from the closet, he decided it was an opportunity for a completely new ceiling and light in the closet, thus turning a 2-hour project into a weeklong undertaking.

It's all good. I just need to be prepared for it.  If I decide to start staining the trim, It may turn into remodeling the whole house.  

Look at what happens when we decide we should paint a room!  He's a big picture kind of guy, so starting and finishing a project in a day does not work for him.



I think maybe I'll make my list a little smaller, now that I think about it.  I better stick to re-organizing my kitchen cabinets.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Someday.