Category: Miscellaneous

May is for finishing

My micro resolution for May is to finish up all the dang projects I started while sheltering-in-place.

Some of the face masks I made, while out of work, to donate to our local hospital.

How have you been handling the self-quarantine situation?

After 6 weeks with no work, and no income, I am grateful to get back to work. I accomplished so much, during that 6 weeks of piddle-farting around, but I did start a few projects that I have yet to complete.

That leads me to my May Mini-Resolution Challenge:

FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED!

………. Not “You,” of course, …….. Me.

Project #1 to finish:

One of the projects that I took on was the cleaning and reorganizing of my basement storage areas. Not just one area, but two. I say “reorganizing” because they both were already well systemized but I wanted to get rid of a few more things and add more shelving units.

One of the storage areas in my basement I needed to straighten up. (Before picture)

There were some boxes and a few other things that were sitting on the floor and my goal was to get everything off the floor, safely placed on shelving.

And …….after.

As I told Poo, when we got together, “I have these ‘Things.’ Things that bother me.”

Yes, I suffer from “Non-Negotiable Syndrome.” (FYI …. I don’t think that’s really a thing) Either way, some things are just ……… non-negotiable for me. For instance, I can’t hardly bring myself to buy a used car. Cars are a non-negotiable thing. I know this stems from my childhood, but that’s a post for another day. 🙂

Back to my unfinished projects:

If you’ve ever had a basement flood from a water-line break, a floor drain back-up from being clogged, a rusted water heater leak, your septic back-up into the basement, or maybe you forgot to pull the hose off the outside spigot before winter only to realize your stupidity in the spring ………. trust me, you’d have a “Thing” too! Unfortunately, I’ve had all of these happen so getting everything off the dang floor is paramount.

This is the same room in the previous pictures, and a few years back, our kitchen drain backed-up into the basement laundry room, which is where our second refrigerator and freezer are, as well. We also store food staples in this room.

I was almost finished with the back-room storage area when …………… our water softener decided to spring a leak. Once again, welcome to the joys of home ownership!

I feel like there’s always a silver lining to mishaps, if you look for them. I now have more space for storage since we’ve removed the water softener. That’s some valuable real estate over there by the water heater! Hmmm …….. Could a small shelving unit be placed right there?

Obviously, this mechanical issue was not under my control but, the softener needed to be dealt with before moving on with cleaning up the room. It’s lookin’ good though, don’t ya think?

I still have a few more boxes on the floor to go through but I’ve got plenty of space left on the shelves for whatever gets to stay. As I was reorganizing this area, I labeled most of the containers, especially the colored ones, so I don’t have to guess what’s inside. I know what’s in most of them but there are a few boxes that I keep mixing up the contents.

I’m thinking that if I ever need to have a side job, or start a second career, I might have a future in Professional Home Organizing?

Project #2:

I’m sure many of you have been finding creative ways to spend your extra time at home as I have. Another project I started and am still working on is a blue jean rag rug.

The pile of jeans I started with for this rug project.

I guess you could argue that I started this project years ago as I have been saving old jeans for several years now, hoping to recycle them in some way.

I finally decided to drag them out, from underneath the bed where I have been stashing them, and put them to use. So far, I have used 7 pairs of jeans and have only a few more rolls of blue jean yarn. The rug is looking very close to the size I wanted so, at least, this project will be completed soon.

Making the blue jean yarn.

This has been a really fun undertaking but have yet to decide where to put it. I think the best place for it might be an entryway, as I can tell it will be totally durable.

This project took me by surprise for a few reasons.

After I cut the jean material into one continuous strip of material, I rolled them up into balls and stored them in the basket. I could then choose the next ball of material , by color, to add to the rug.

Because the tutorial that I consulted for this project included using the seams of the jeans, I thought the blue jean material would be sort of rough or scratchy on the feet but, it’s super soft and kind of …….. cushy. I think it could make a great bathmat or decorative throw rug, as well.

Even though I don’t have a lick of blue in my house, well ….. not much anyways, I think this rug would look terrific anywhere, after all, blue jeans are a timeless look, right?

The blue jean rag rug I started while out of work for 6 weeks.

Because I am gainfully employed once again, it might take me until the end of the month to finish up these two projects but am ready to get them done.

Project #3:

Let’s just say I had a minor mishap with a couple of batches of Jalapeño Jelly that will need to be reprocessed. No details need to be shared …..

Project #4:

Get the garden planted!

May is for finishing ………. What do you need to finish?

“You can’t finish what you don’t start and you should never start what you’re not committed to finish,” – Gary Ryan Blair

xoxo, Katy

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