A Project a Week:: Week 2: Hemming Curtains - Update

So, here we are. At the end of Week 2.

And I have not finished hemming our curtains. (Although they are pinned, so that's progress.)

The thing is, the weather this week was amazing. And there was a three-day weekend. So, other projects took precedent.

I could consider this a failure, but I'm going to take it as a Project a Week lesson. Sometimes, project plans change based on conditions. The important part is that projects are getting checked off the list.

Instead of hemming curtains this week, I:

• Transitioned my closet from winter to summer.
• Planted flowers in pots for the front stoop.
• Weeded the front gardens and planted some new annuals.
• Collaborated with Pat to pick out shrubs for the patio border (Pat did the hard part of this project, planting the shrubs on an 85-degree day- and it looks great)
• Planted marigolds in the vegetable garden for some natural pest-control and added bird netting over the strawberries and chives (a cute but destructive rabbit has already been helping himself to the chives- hoping the netting deters him)
• Planted bulbs and thinned out lily-of-the-valley in the side yard.
• Planted various other flower bulbs/seeds and herbs in containers on the patio.

I still feel like it was a productive week, although I did stray from my plan. 

Since the curtain-hemming project is partially complete, I'm going to keep this one in the plans for next week and add another. 

A Project a Week:: Week 2: Hemming Curtains

Week: 2 
Project: Hem bedroom curtains



Does everyone have these little projects that hang around, undone, for ages? Or is it just us?

Background: A few weeks before Evelyn was born last year, we did a mini-makeover of our bedroom: moved all the furniture out, scrubbed the floors and walls, purchased a new mattress and bedframe (our first actual headboard/footboard set up), put up shelves, photos and artwork that we'd wanted to hang since we moved in, organized nightstands and dressers, and hung new curtains. Except the curtains were too long, and we meant to hem them, but Evy was born a week later and, well, those curtains are still dragging on the floor in front of the baseboard heaters. (By the way, I highly suggest the master bedroom spiff-up as a pre-baby project for expectant parents. There's so much focus on the baby's room but, at least in our case, the baby spent more time in our room than hers for the first 6+ months. I spent a lot of time there with her in the early weeks and I was so thankful that we'd gotten it in order before she arrived.)

The Plan: There's not much to it- this week, I will hem those curtains. Not the most exciting project, but it will be crazy satisfying to cross this one off the list.

It is beyond silly that this project has needed doing for over a year, but it is what it is, and this week it's time to get 'er done -- which is, of course, the entire point of this Project Project.

A Project a Week:: Week 1: Complete

Week: 1 
Project: Plan and plant my vegetable garden
Status: Complete (mostly)

The vegetable garden has been planted!  Since kicking off this project last week I checked the following off my list:

• Planned out the garden, taking into account that we'll also have a farm share, so we don't need a ton of veggies.  
• Bought seedlings (tomatoes, strawberries, oregano, parsley, chives, calendula, zinnia) to plant in addition to some sugar snap pea seeds I already had on hand. I bought most of my seedlings at Honest Weight Food Coop - they've had a beautiful selection of organic vegetable and herb seedlings. I picked up the zinnias and a few other random flower seedlings at a neighborhood plant sale.



The organic co-op seedlings are lovely, but the tags could use a little proofreading (click to view larger...)

 




• Planted the herbs in a container garden on the patio. 
• My partner-in-crime/husband built the frame for the netting we'll put up for the peas and tomato vines.
• Picked up some other supplies like soil and bird netting to go over the strawberries.
• Planted the seeds and seedlings in the raised beds. 

Before:

After the frame for the vine plants was built, but before any plants or seeds were in the bed. 

After:

Not much to look at yet, but everything has been planted! We'll add the net to the frame this weekend so it will be all ready for the peas. 

This wasn't a huge project- I did most of it in small chunks during E's naps. Giving myself a 1-week timeline (and the fact that I had to report back on it here!) kept things moving along. Focusing on this project also inspired me to work on some other projects around the yard- it felt like a productive week. 

I still need to buy some basil for a second container on the patio (the nights were still too cold to plant it last week), put the bird netting over the berries, and hang the nets for the peas. That should be wrapped up this weekend.

Gardening has already been fun with the little one  -- I had some help with the watering this morning.

A Project a Week:: Week 1: Planning and Planting

Week: 1 
Project: Plan and plant my vegetable garden


Background: The summer of 2010 was our first summer in this house, our first home. We built and planted our first raised bed vegetable and herb garden, loosely following the square foot garden method. We planted too many things and generally had no idea what we were doing, but we certainly learned a lot! We harvested tomatoes, eggplant, herbs, cucumbers, beans, lettuce, and peppers. We made notes about what to do in future years and hashed out plans for building more beds.

In the summer of 2011 our time and attention was consumed by the darling infant who had arrived that spring, and pretty much everything else fell off our radar. We hastily planted some tomatoes and peppers, watched the mint that we stupidly planted the year before take over everything, and really didn't touch the garden.


This year I'm determined to have a successful garden.  Being outside and having a few minutes to myself to tend the garden is calming, centering, and good for the soul. I want that back in my life this summer. I am imagining summer evenings of putting my daughter to bed and heading to the yard before the sun sets for some time with the garden. That's not to mention my excitement over afternoons spent showing my daughter the garden and teaching her how to pick and bite cherry tomatoes. She's still very young, but this is the summer she'll begin her journey of gardening and learning about where food comes from.


The plan: I've spent a couple nights this week thumbing through my gardening books and finalizing my plan for the garden. My challenge is that our family is also doing a farm share. We're splitting a share with friends, but we'll still be getting plenty of vegetables from the farm. That changes my planting goals. Rather than planting for a summer of vegetables from the garden, I'm planting vegetables to round out the farm share (hard to predict), that we can easily process or freeze, and that my 13-month old will enjoy picking and eating throughout the summer. Since that will leave plenty of room in the bed, I'm also planning to grow several rows of pretty flowers to cut and enjoy/share through the fall.

I originally thought I'd start my own seeds, but clearly that ship has sailed. Perhaps another year, if I can figure out a spot for seedlings that's free from danger of crushing by child or cat.


At this point my plan is to visit a local nursery and co-op to pick up some plants over the weekend, and to get them in the ground within the next few days. The raised bed itself needs a bit of weeding and some soil refreshing, but overall is in pretty good shape. I'll need to construct/string up some sort of frame and/or netting for the snap peas, but that might be a project for another week. My Mother's Day request was for some time to work on this project, and I'm raring to go!

A Project a Week

I am surrounded by to do lists.
Half finished projects.
Stalled inspiration.
Good intentions.

I'm tired of not crossing things off the list. It's easy to feel daunted, tired, busy, too consumed by the day to day.

One of the things on my list happens to be "Return to writing that is unrelated to work. Blog again? Something."

So I'm starting a new project, with the goal of completing more projects. It's a project project! And in the process I'll accomplish the return to writing in a public place, unrelated to my day job.

A Project a Week is my new blog endeavor, to be documented right here on It's Loverly.

The plan is to introduce a doable project each week, ranging from hemming curtains to planning and planting my vegetable garden to organizing photos - those projects that tend to just sit on my to-do list. I'll document the project, share photos, and generally use the Project Project as a means to get things done.

Interesting for anyone else? We'll see. Here goes!

First up: Planning and planting this year's raised bed veggie garden. Stay tuned.

read this

Megan Amram's Tumblr is a very funny place on the World Wide Web. Recommended if you like laughing.

Cheers

Time to ponder our intentions for the rising year.