Following through

I've probably mentioned this before but I have far too many ideas and not enough time to follow through.  (While he ended up writing quite a number of books, Nelson Algren was notorious for not following through on his ideas.)  I've found that posting some of my ideas (for mini-academic papers for instance) has helped me get over the urge to actually write those papers,* and perhaps help focus a bit more on the remaining things.

I am pleased that I finished the curtains in the study and then the ones for my daughter's room.  I currently am starting to think ahead to working on a quilt that I promised her.  I have about six months left to finish it up.  We agreed on a pattern -- the plus pattern.  Unfortunately, it looks deceptively simple, but will involve far more sewing of individual pieces than some of the more elaborate patterns like Trip Around the World or Streak of Sunlight.  I let her decide how the fabrics would map onto this pattern.

I have gotten in touch with a sewing machine repair shop, and they said that they can service the machine.  I may try a small job tonight (like sewing a small stuffed animal for a co-worker's daughter), but before I launch into a big job like quilting, I need it repaired.  I may even drop it off tomorrow afternoon, though I might have to rent a car (it is just off of the 503 streetcar route, but that seems a bit of a hassle to get to from here).

I also have taken care of a few biking issues before they went critical.  I bought a bike pump and have made an appointment to have my bottom bracket replaced.  I also took my son's bike in for servicing.  We had to have the seat raised by about six inches!  Anyway, he is a bit wobbly on it, but I think this summer he will get back in the swing of things.

It's a smaller thing, but I had the kids help me get the deck back in order.  We cleaned up the cushions and put them on the chairs and swept up the deck.  I don't think I can use it much over the next week (lots of rain in the forecast) but I will start going outside more now that it has finally warmed up.  I will have to restain the bottom portion of the deck, which is certainly a drag, but it won't be anywhere near as bad as last year.  I'm still deciding whether to get a small grill and/or a hammock, but given how much squirrels have taken over the deck, I would have to put it away between uses, which is a bit of a drag.  I'll decide about that later.

Of course, the biggest item on the agenda is putting money down to reserve Kensington Hall for my evening of shorts.  There is nothing like putting money down to force me to follow through!  I'll have more to say on this later on, but right now I am still recruiting the rest of the cast.  But it is exciting in any case, even though many months away.  I hope that this will be a turning point in my following through and getting more of my work to stage.




* If I really was in the position to write academic articles (or rather there was a point in me doing so), I would want to team up with a solid "closer."  My strengths are coming up with ideas and then doing the bulk of the work, even the grunt work, but I am very bad at closing out projects and writing them up.