I have a list of a few things I really want to get done around the house, things I can do myself but just haven’t been interested in doing. I look at them and think about them while I’m moving between rooms with my quilting projects.
I have a quilt on my machine that I started yesterday and was having fun with, but after a morning of walking, organizing my thoughts, balancing my chequebook, uploading pictures of a new quilt to my Etsy shop, and becoming distracted by other blogs that inspire me, I finally went downstairs and got the can of stain I bought for my new unfinished wooden kitchen table. I have pictures in my head of how I want it to look, and a few good reasons for putting it off (like the fact that I have my sewing machine on it and I’m always working on something, so I don’t want any delays in that area!) but I can’t have the look I want until I open the darn can and get moving. It looks rather boring just sitting there all unfinished with the IKEA stamp still showing, like a project that seemed like a good idea at the time and just never got done…
So I brought the can and necessary accessories upstairs, put it all on the counter, plugged in the sander, and then – in typical middle-aged fashion – got distracted. I honestly can’t remember what it was that caught my attention, but before I knew it I was reading an email from someone who had “liked” a post on my quilting site.
I followed her link, read a few posts on her blog, and followed another link to a blog where I actually read a funny story written by a lady describing the back and forth inner conversation she faces when she decides to paint something! It went something like this: I really want to paint this. No, you don’t. It’s too much work. But it will look so nice. Just hire someone. I can do it myself and save money. You always do this. Remember last time? and so on … At least my distraction brought me full circle and reminded me that I needed to get back to what I intended to start.
I sanded the table down, wiped it off, opened the stain and went to work. Of course, staining with a rag goes quickly, and I find watching the wood come to life very satisfying until I have to get underneath something big. I contemplated turning the table over, but – like the lady I mentioned above with her painting project – I don’t have anyone around during the day to help me with two-person tasks, and if you try to turn a table over yourself, it can put a lot of strain on the legs, which isn’t good. So the best option was lying on my back under the table to catch the parts that were going to be obvious (I’m not bothering to stain the whole underside, because I don’t expect anyone else to lie down underneath it, except maybe the dog I don’t yet and might never have, but it won’t care). Don’t try to picture that effort, it wasn’t pretty and it hurt my back, but only temporarily.
I took a break to decide whether or not to go ahead with the leg painting today too because that was an inner debate for more than a few minutes after I finally got to stand up again. I sat down to relax and write up this blog post so I could just plug in pictures later. But perseverance won (or maybe my OCD?) and I really didn’t want to be without a usable table for more than a day.
It looks just the way I wanted it too! I even got some bonus stretching in while accomplishing one more thing on my list. Of course, it would look more Good Housekeeping-ish if I waited to take the picture once it’s back in place with the cardboard out from under the legs and my white chairs perfectly placed around it, but this is how I roll. I’ll seal it with wax first thing in the morning, right before I get back to my quilt … for now, I’m headed for my recliner with a cup of tea 🙂
UPDATE: Here it is back in place, all waxed, buffed and shining “like the top of the Chrysler building.”
Reinventing Ann 