Still got a few batteries left.
Still got a long way to go with my papier mache tree I started 3 years ago and never seemed to have time to finish. Actually it started as a lovely joint project for us all to work on - following on from autumnal themes and picking apples and making apple crumble - let's make our own little apple tree to hang seasonal 'things' on etc...... After just a few minutes I was elbowing them out of the way 'Not like that! It needs more here! Haven't you got any DVDs to watch?' ....... It has cobwebbily hung around the living room ever since - but we DID hang our little bits and bobs on it. With these extra 'holidays' due to the old snowboundiness I have found time to pick off a Burns Night tartan-clad peg doll, a Chinese New Year dragon, a couple of red felt Valentine's hearts, a Mardi Gras mask, a big Easter egg-shaped string thing plus other odd planets, bells, colourful paper boxes, party hats, a snake and some dead insects. It all helped to disguise the newspapery and gum strippy skeleton beneath but looked pretty manic. Undressing it though was like enjoying a 3-D diary of the year.
I'm obsessed with finishing the damn thing now before all the snow melts otherwise we'll start hanging this years odds and sods on it again and I'll have to wait for the next act of god to carry on. Knowing how to make the time for stuff like this when 'real' life starts again is a skill I have to master. My list of unfinished projects runs off over the horizon - and my list of 'to-do' dreams......... But I did have a little Damascan moment during this cave-dwelling time - maybe if I just do one 'project' at a time.....I might finish it. (This may seem obvious to normal people.) I'm going to try and apply this rule to reading books too. I've always got about 5 on the go at any one time - all at various stages (of re-reading).
I've been questioned as to whether my lack of finishing anything is a deep-seated problem. Am I afraid of failure, critisism, commitment etc? I even got a bit worried toying with one of those little red flappy fortune fish things that came out of a cracker this year when it revealed I was 'fickle'. Bastard! (I am though.)
I think my finishing problem has far more to do with having 4 children etc. Like - DUH! But I need to find photos of things I have finished to remind me I AM capable. I have got some things dotted around - mostly pre-children stuff obviously - but there are certain hanging-aroundy things this year that really need to get done to preserve my sanity (?) - and the tree is one of them.
I know the snow is crap and that we won't be able to pay the rent if Himself doesn't get out and do some 'proper' work soon, and the midgets will just leave footprints and be off with their hankies and sticks looking for a more stable family to be holed up with, but I do need to spend a little more quality time with my tree. Another couple of days of a slow thaw should do it.
And then, no doubt, the little bastards will break it.
Take photos take photos take photos ............
Take photos! Would love to see the tree.
ReplyDeleteTalking of trees and Christmas ones in particular, I used to elbow my kids out of the way when they didn't decorate 'properly' ... and then one year I realised that I was fiftysomething and they were grown up and it was about time to sit down with a large drink and let them decorate it badly! (I still did the lights though this year).
That's very funny - is there no hope for me then?
ReplyDeletethis house is littered with UFOs - unfinished objects - and the best yet is a tower of cardboard boxes which block the back door; i take the rubbish out every week by first kicking it out the way. the tower of cardboard boxes is 2 metres high, strapped together with masking tape (slowly disintegrating) and coated in white emulsion paint.
ReplyDeleteyou can tell it is an aztec tower, obviously. one day when we get serious about finishing it, i will sacrifice the cat on top of it. if i can catch the ruddy thing.
I love 'UFOS' - I'm stealing that!
ReplyDeleteIf they did actually get finished the disintegration wouldn't be so soul destroying - it's knowing you can't finish it until it has major structural repairs and that is simply not interesting. The image of a 2m high tower blocking your back door makes me feel much better about a flight damaged space ship in the way of drawing bedroom curtains and the unloved igloo taking up way too much chest of drawers space and the 17 almost dinosaurs and...and...and... all the other boxes and bags and piles of POTENTIAL wonders shrinking my house. Room for one more tree tho'.
By the way, what is your cat guilty of?
the cat belongs to the neighbour, kills our birds and poos in my vegetable patch. i am sure it is the neighbour's cat who poos there. it has a smug and knowing look.
ReplyDeleteI've been practicing that look myself for family gatherings. I'll keep out of your vegetable patch.
ReplyDelete