barter with yourself.

The buck stops here.

Well - I'm trying to motivate myself to get going, so maybe the buck starts here.

Point being? I've been off work all week. A little birthday present to myself - a staycation, full of decompressing and processing and reading and napping and watching "Dexter" for the first time. (Hint: Home alone all day + watching "Dexter" = maybe not the best recipe to maintain a fear-free October!) In the meantime, my nearly-almost-finished kitchen is waiting patiently for me.

Really. Here's a hint.

It is SO. CLOSE. But there are still a trillion tiny little details that need to be attended to, and I've been procrastinating all week. 

Things I've done to put off kitchening this week include:

• Raking leaves
• Paying bills
• Going for long evening walks
• Checking my work email repeatedlyalldaylong
• Pinteresting
• Decorating for Halloween
• Staring at Facebook for hours

And so what? It's my vacation, and my first chance to breathe since camp started and everything went to shit. When you've been working on a project as long as I've been working on the kitchen, though, there comes a time where you just gotta wrap it up, for the sake of everyone involved. So, enough with the procrastinating. Today's the day (yes, you can expect "Dexter" references to litter every part of my life for the next month or so). Since you know I love a list, let's start there.

KITCHEN CRAP YET TO BE DONE:

• Go to Home Depot (moulding, caulk, floor edging)
• Paint last piece of moulding
• Attach last 12 pieces of moulding
• Caulk last corner of shoe moulding
• Caulk all moulding on pantry/fridge surround
• Final coat of paint on pantry/fridge surround
• Install final six inches of flooring transition piece
• Touch up blue & yellow paint by the counter
• Re-install moulding in back corner where cabinet meets wall
• Clear-caulk the grout/counter edge
• Wood-fill, sand, and paint counter/cabinet edge
• De-splinter the underedge of the kitchen step
• Craigslist the microwave, S&A's toaster, etc.
• Clean out garage and front room (a.k.a. the workshops)
• Write 3749 posts with kitchen updates
• (Also remove toilet, finish flooring in bathroom, and replace toilet...but not by myself)
• Organization stuff: hang hooks, attach cabinet decal, attach cabinet hooks...
• Design and hang mirrors/frames/shelves on wall above console table
• Make and hang dry-erase board by fridge

I have to make a deal with myself. Depending on how much of this I get done today, I don't have to do any of it tomorrow (i.e., save it for the weekend). It's supposed to be 75 and sunny today, and 40 and rainy tomorrow (pure Michigan), so I need to take advantage of the open-window option today and caulk away. And I have lunch plans and dinner plans, sooo...enough with this form of procrastinating. Off I go!

Awkward angle...still unfinished...but LOOK IT'S SOOOO CLOSE TO DONE!