Maintenance

All the while designing and planning the garden, I need a focus list (I love to-do lists!) of the maintenance projects I desperately need to do this spring:

1) Add metal roofing to chicken run’s roof. The fabric covering on it now is ripping apart - due to the winds we have - and it’s not water proof! Over the last 24 hours we’ve received two inches of blessed rain. The run is a muddy sloppy mess! The girls don’t seem to mind, but I do when I go inside and muck around with them!

2) Build the chicken chunnel to get the girls out and about to do lots of the garden work for me!










There are so many “styles” of chunnels/tunnels. I sort of have one designed in my head to fit our needs but this is a good overall go-by!
 

http://www.askaprepper.com/diy-chicken-tunnel-step-step-guide/

Plus, I’ve found a lot of ideas on youtube!

3) Oh, and FINISH painting the chicken coop! I ran out of time last year. Must get it done! Oh, and add the plastic “Easter” eggs to the coop’s ceiling! We haven’t yet had an issue, but the roofing screws came through to the inside and I don’t want the girls to get hurt if they got that close to the ceiling! I thought this would be a cute way to cover up the pointy ends of the screws!

4) Aerate around our live oak trees. The ground is so hard, compact. It truly hurts my soul every time I walk by them. I feel like I’m choking, as if the trees are choking and screaming at me. Nothing grows underneath, not even weeds. It’s just barren ground with a single beautiful tree growing up from it. I plan on taking one tree at a time and plant something around at its drip line (will not get close to the tree itself), then sow shade loving grass seed between the trunk and the new plants. I found the perfect tool for this job and it arrives Monday! It’s call the Yard Butler Lawn Coring Aerator Manual Grass Dethatching Turf Plug Core Aeration Tool!!!

I’m sure I will be adding much more to this Maintenance to-do list, but this is a good start! It helps me stay focused and I know how I need to “budget” my time!

Make your own Chenille fabric!

A new technique on my to-do list for 2017 ~ to make my own Chenille fabric like this:

I thought, How clever, when I happened across this blog article sharing this idea! When I was little, I had a chenille bedspread and loved it! I still have the chenille robe my parents gave me for Christmas at least 10 years ago!

It is something I will use in small projects, like on Action Quilts (aka Fidget Quilts) or zipper bags or potholders or pillows. Maybe a doll quilt, or mini quilt, but that’s about it. I do not intend on ever making enough for an entire quilt!

Through my searches, I discovered one can either use the same fabric for the multiple layers needed, or different prints on each one. It’s then the placement changes the entire color scheme!

On Stores Online, they used 3 different colors (then the base), and shows the three different results depending on placement! How cool is this?!

See how the other colors come through the top! Just love it!

I went to Pinterest and searched for Do-It-Yourself (DIY) to find more ideas / uses for Chenille!

At Peanut to Princess, she shows how to create the chenille, then use as an appliqué! Clever!

Oh, and then just strips of chenille, for other projects! At Kati’s Quilting, she shows us how to make the strips.

Then in Part 2, how to use them!

Of all the YouTube videos I watched to create Chenille Fabric, I enjoyed Mary Beth’s presentation the best!

The Olfa circular cutter shown on some sites like this from Walmart:

But, I’m going to use the Fiskars Scissors like Hobby Lobby (among the many places) offers! I think I will be able to handle gripping the cutter better with the spring scissors rather than the circular one.

Oh, and the “chenille brush” …

I’m going to see if I can find something around the house that will work just as well – maybe a firm toothbrush? It’s difficult for me to purchase something ~ anything ~ and have the shipping cost almost as much as the product itself! On one site I went to, it was triple the product’s cost!

Maybe I’ll stumble across one somewhere, sometime!

I’m excited about trying this technique!

Let me know if you try it as well!!!

UPDATE:  I purchased a "Utility Dish Brush" while at Walmart and hope it works just as well as the "chenille brush"!!

Something Shiny

Even for those of us who are unemployed (outside of the home) and with no children to shuffle here and there, or have studies to focus on, effective time management can be an issue. It is for me anyway! It’s the shiny things that cause my distractions!

But, effective is relative.

I can spend days, even weeks, on a special project ~ like sewing, creating a quilt for one of our veterans or someone in need, or maybe a new bag for my mother’s walker. Or, start/work until finished on a much needed organization and renovation project in our home. During this time, basically everything else ~ like housekeeping or yard work ~ goes on the back burner. The kitchen stays manageable to prepare meals, laundry stays caught up, and the bathroom is half-way presentable. But, that’s about it.

Then… you find out company is coming!

When that bell rings, it is then I start seeing all sorts of stuff that I should do to make our home more presentable. It now rather than later, like…

Clear out dust bunnies in all the corners.

Vacuum the pieces of lint and unidentifiable objects off rugs and floors.

Clean windows/glass doors.

Mop floors.

Pack up Works in Progress (WIP) in sewing room (because it’s also the guest bedroom!)

Etc

Etc

Etc

Lists. Daily lists!

I hand write it out, what I need to do, everything! Even if the “need” is right there in my face, I write it down!

I don’t have a fancy phone (no cell service here), so I don’t have an “app” and I don’t want to put one on my laptop because when I get near my computer I find too many distractions, like emails, Facebook, Twitter, or Jigsaw Planet! And, I don’t spend time estimating how long it will take me to do this or that. That’s a waste of time!

To-Do lists are a life saver for me. It keeps me focused, and on task. When I do see something shiny and go off in another direction (something else I needed to do, but it wasn’t on the list), I will eventually come back to the to-do list and find my focus once again.

I love seeing strikethroughs down my list! I feel such a sense of accomplishment when I have to get a new piece of paper! Yes, no fancy “apps” here, I just use scratch paper!

When company comes, I don’t do anything I shouldn’t do anyway. It’s always so nice to have a clean-for-me house three or four times a year!

Once I’m back on my own, because I took the time to organize the current WIP as I worked through the to-do list, I will feel more relaxed, and focused, and ready to finish the work I want to do!

Have you made a to-do list today?

Effective Time Management

At least for one day, I scratched off all six items I had listed the night before on a To-Do list, plus accomplished a bit more not listed! Effective time management is not one of my fortes. I don’t remember ever remaining so focused in getting things done around here, other than when I sew. Creating aprons or doll clothes or bags, especially when it’s a special customized order, I have no problems remaining focused. It’s all I want to do! And, that’s the problem… it’s the only thing I do! By not practicing effective time management, I’ve allowed a lot of things to slide and I’ve become horribly disorganized.

It’s getting the last bit of handmade Christmas gifts finished, and household chores that need to get done, is where I fail miserably until the last minute panic/rush. It was an amazing feeling to draw the last line through the words “Bake two Pecan Pies” and a simple reminder how much I can get done when I set my mind to it.

Because I want to become better focused, I’ve read a few articles on effective time management. Danny Yoon has some good ideas and links in his article, Effective Time Management Strategies For Success, and is where I found this clock picture that depicts my "former" ways perfectly!

I also highly recommend this article, 10 Common Time Management Mistakes. Avoiding the mistakes they mentioned made yesterday run smoothly. Here are the mistakes listed, and all were too familiar to me: 

Mistake #1 – Failing to Keep a To-Do List

Mistake #2 – Not Setting Personal Goals

Mistake #3 – Not Prioritizing

Mistake #4 – Failing to Manage Distractions

Mistake #5 – Procrastination

Mistake #6 – Taking on too Much

Mistake #7 – Thriving on “Busy”

Mistake #8 – Multitasking

Mistake #9 – Not Taking Breaks

Mistake #10 – Ineffectively Scheduling Tasks

Maybe their tips and suggestions, and other links shared, will also help you when it comes to implementing effective time management skills. This is my hope anyway!

Happy "to-do-ing" !!!