Backlogged

I run on a perpetual state of backlogged projects.  Not only the quilt I began cutting out around 2000, but more recent and pressing projects.  Today I am working to finish up scanning photos that were my parents.  I farmed out this task only to discover others have less attention to detail that I find acceptable.  Of about 170 pictures, some were missed in the scanning process by my local shop.  Others came out grainy due to age and quality of paper.  I find it impossible to let go of them without trying to make it better.

I find myself always with several running projects, from coupon clipping to items needing mending, that get pushed around by the more pressing projects.  Sometimes, I find myself wanting to start new projects, like gardening, without dealing with all of the old projects.  I know the old projects are there, but they are not as exciting as one that I have not began.  Over the years I have found I do best with short projects, as I do like to see a finished product once in a while.  The key is to mix it up.  Some long term fun projects, some long term chores, some short term fun and some quick chores.  Keeping that mix going and workable is what my time management skills get used for the most.

When I had cancer in 2011, I found most projects and chores could be put on hold.  The chores that were not done bothered me more than the fun stuff, as I was too tired to care.  With some of my energy having returned, I still find undone chores more irritating.  What I have also noticed is that sometimes a fun project becomes a chore.  Gardening is a great example.  I love plants, flowering and produce providing.  I hate weeding, watering, and trying to keep the pests off without harming my environment.  Consequently, the amount I am willing to pay for someone else to farm organically has risen dramatically.  I will even pay more for environmentally farmed flowers.  Not harming our environment has become a bit more personal for me, having had cancer, than it was before.

I know people who buy clothes that have to be altered so they can wear them.  I gave up on that years ago, knowing they would sit around and I would never get my "round to it."  I am too cheap to pay someone to hem pants or take in a waistband, as those are skills I have.  I am not too cheap to have someone do my brakes, yet I have that skill too.  Is it because brakes require me to get dirty?  Is it because it is not traditionally women's work?  Why do I feel the mark up on brake jobs is fine, when I cringe at a much smaller cost to fix a waistband?

Painting is another good example of a skill I have and am willing to pay for another to do for me.  This is primarily based on my aging arthritic body.  My days of painting a ceiling are done, I hope.  I can live with the mistakes of someone else, now.  Just ten years ago seeing uneven lines I had paid someone else to paint drove me nuts whenever I looked at them.  I know I am not the easiest client, but I hope I am fair.  I will rehire good painters, willingly pay their price.  I like straight lines.

I remember looking at woodwork in a room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and feeling that those craftsmen could not have earned nearly enough.  Today we could not find anyone close.  I am stuck wanting great craftsmanship and settling for what is in my budget.  This is really how all my projects are approached.  The more important it is to me, the higher priority and closer attention I pay to it.  If it is just a chore, I am not as invested in the outcome, as long as it gets done.