Sunday, May 11, 2008

As they say... priceless

Number of years I've hated the state of this cabinet: 14
[this was a cabinet that was a result of one of my dh's "dumpster dives" back in college]

Number of years I've said, "you know, I *really* should paint that thing one day...": again, 14

Number of times I had to go to the hardware store before they finally mixed my paint (they were having some problems, obviously): 4

Minutes it took to paint the inside (see below): 45 minutes



Time it took to do everything else (from taking off the hardware to priming and painting): One hour 20 minutes




Is that not sad? 14 years of misery for about two hours of work!

When will I learn that the mental build up is soooooooooo much worse than the actual job itself??

4 comments:

Lisa said...

Oh, wow! Gorgeous! Isn't it amazing how sometimes we procrastinate the silliest things? I'm awful about it ~ and always kick myself after I see the results of just a little work!

Amber said...

Believe me, I know just what you mean - from little around the house things like cleaning the toilet to big jobs like painting something or whatever... I always end up spending far more time being annoyed with it than it ends up taking to just do it. *sigh*

Ouiz said...

Thank you for the comments!

WHY is it that we build these tasks up in our heads until we're convinced that it's just too much and never do ANYTHING to get started?

Here's an example: I've got an older house with the original windows still in. For NINE YEARS I fussed over the state of them, but I didn't want the hassle of getting out the ladder, climbing up, blah blah blah.

Finally, I decided I could listen to the FlyLady and "do anything for 15 min." One window done would be better than nothing, right?

So I hauled my VERY pregnant self out to the carport, dragged my husband's "contort every which way" ladder to the windows, set it up, and started cleaning.

Time elapsed from time started to the time I brought the ladder back into the carport? THIRTEEN MINUTES.

Can you believe it??? I suffered for NINE YEARS over a THIRTEEN minute job? I was stunned.

Beth said...

It looks great! We do that kind of thing all the time. We have a smoke bush outside in our front yard - and I mow the yard and that thing gave me trouble every time I mowed. I kept asking Ken to trim it but he thought it would be too big of a job. Finally he did and it took 15 minutes! :)