Sunday, March 11, 2007

Guilt is a Powerful Motivator


Some time ago, a friend gave us her children's old playhouse because her house was about to be remodeled and it was in the way. John went down and disassembled it, hauled it up here, planted the pieces in our side yard and we all went about our business, ignoring Mary's little comments: "I wonder when my playhouse will be finished....I wonder if I'll be able to play in it someday....I wonder if I'll be grown up, out of college, and working on an MBA when it's done...."

Okay, maybe it didn't go that far, but at this point my friend's remodel is done and the playhouse is still in pieces.

Since Snoop's arrival the playhouse has started to bug me.



Snoop goes potty on a little plot of grass that, if you stand there with him, makes it darn near impossible not to notice something like a disassembled playhouse.

So here we are this weekend, the weather's nice, there are myriad heinous tasks pressing in (laundry, taxes, work) but we've gotta get that playhouse built while Mary can still fit through the door. We're hoping to put the roof on tonight and maybe I'll be able to start painting next week.

Which leads me to other guilt sources: the taxes!! are probably the hugest thing hanging over my head and making me crazy, but there's also some KAG (knitting-associated guilt):




This is the cabled shawl with pockets from Knitpicks, more than half done and going nowhere.



This is half a shedir, strewn amidst the left over balls from other projects.




This is the shawl I needed the extra ball of Kersti for, which I thought would be done by now.

And then there are those as-yet-unstarted mittens to go with the little cabled hats.

To top it all off, we, and by this I mean probably most of you reading this, too - all woke up minus an hour this morning. Stupid spring forward.

6 comments:

Katy said...

I hate this time of year. I like getting the extra light, but absolutely hate losing that hour! You know, I could have finished Argosy with that hour - the nerve!

I wanted to tell you that I love your taste in colors...everything I see here I want to make, too.

Anonymous said...

Not guilt! I suffer from it, too, for manny reasons. My favorite comment on the subject is from Toddy's character in "Victor, Victoria": Guilt is an unhappy emotion invented by moralists to manipulate the human race.

Anonymous said...

Hey, windi, don't let the guilt get you down! Life's too short!

Windansea said...

thanks kate! I went to visit your blog - I'll go leave you a comment there!!! Lydia

Windansea said...

Hi suzanne! I guess guilt is okay if it makes me actually DO something I needed to do - I already feel better about the playhouse AND the taxes! Lydia

Windansea said...

hi jackie!! Don't worry, I'm not feeling all that guilty - I have numerous coping mechanisms (denial, procrastination, easy distractability)....Lydia