Thankful for Finishing the Job

This might sound like a weird thing to be thankful for, but when you are like me and start many, many projects, you come to view finishing the job as the most difficult and desirable thing ever. I am really very good at starting things. I can find ideas, gather materials, outline, plan, list and brainstorm WAY too well for my own good. I get bogged down in the middle, though, and usually, my projects end up in a bag somewhere in the closet, or as a half-painted room, or a messy, overblown garden in October.

Yesterday, I went outside and cleaned it up. I cleaned it ALL up. I emptied planters and pots, and then, get this, I hosed them off and put them in the garage. I know! And it's not even spring yet! Then I pulled out all the dead annuals and threw them on the compost heap. I mowed the yard with the bag attachment, so I was able to mulch all the leaves as well. This I emptied directly into the bed in the side yard that will be planted next year. We re-organized the woodpile, made some sense of the brush heap I affectionately call our compost pile, and Chad painted the storm door insert for the non-used second front door. Ahhh, that sweet feeling of accomplishment! The garden has been put to bed, and now I don't have to feel a trickle of guilt or anxiety about planning next year's plantings.

After I finished all this, I wandered around the yard with the camera. The maples in the tree lawn are still on fire.

Painting away: