"Must Do" vs "Want To Do"
The project list is endless. Always, the project list is endless.
Right now, living at the house on the lake in Northern Vermont, the project list is skewed towards things like plumbing, siding, painting, new stairs, and the endlessly fascinating topic of “making this kitchen work better.”
Kitchen early last summer. It looks better now.
The list is roughly sorted into “must do” and “want to do” items. Things like making sure the roof doesn’t fall in, the house doesn’t sink into the ground, and the siding protects the house fall into the “must do” category, followed closely by the projects that make the house more comfortable and livable.
This isn’t far off of how we organize boat projects, to be sure. Start with the safety stuff, the stuff that ensures the boat will stay floating. Move onto the comfort factors, especially those that tip into the safety column. Making sure you have a dry, comfortable place to sleep is arguably part of keeping the boat floating; lack of sleep can lead to disastrous errors in judgement.
Those projects aren’t the most sexy or even the most fun, mostly. But they do need to happen first.
Except when they don’t. Sometimes, it’s more important to just get something ticked off the list. Or even create an item to go on the list.
Jeremy, moving a door frame so French doors can open fully against the walls in the dining room
We’ve not been as productive house-wise this summer yet. In 2019, by the time we’d been up here for 2 weeks Jeremy had already redone feed plumbing, installed garage shelving, and done electrical work in the laundry room that included an overhead light and a dryer vent. So far in 2020 we’ve unpacked a moving van, shoved a stupid number of boxes into the attic, and set up the living room to our satisfaction.
This past weekend looked like a good weekend to knock out some work. The pressure washer was pressed into service and years of grime blasted into the air, along with a lot of paint chips off of the siding. Time to get out the paint brushes!
Except no. My cousin Samantha is here with her dogs; one disappeared the other day while we were looking the other direction. In the search for Hepburn (the dog), Jeremy decided a trail through the woods from this house to the Cottage, the next house over, would be a fine idea. (PS. Dog was found. All is well!)
And on Sunday, which threatened rain, he started in on the trail.
See the extension cord running?
He finished the day tired, with the rough trail in place. It needs more work: wooden walkways, a couple of stair areas to get over cliffs, a lot of trampling by people and dogs.
Did this project HAVE to happen? Not by any stretch of anybody’s imagination. Was it a fun challenge? Yes.
Sometimes the “must do” project has nothing to do with safety or even comfort, but instead is one that will bring you immense satisfaction in the moment. Don’t forget to allow yourself that joy.