Fun Monday - You show me yours... I'll show you mine!

Blue Mama is hosting this week - That nosy lady is peeking out of the fish bowl and into our job jars! This is what she says:
I want you to show me your......projects. More to the point, I want to see your unfinished projects. I have so many that I really need some reassurance that I'm not the only one. Home improvement projects are what I have in mind, but it you don't have any of those show me any kind of project - needlework, cooking, scrapbooking, etc. You can even show me your spouse if they qualify as a work in process.

First of all, let me tell you that I am the QUEEN of unfinished projects. I am sure there's a book in there somewhere, if only I had the time to write it!

I have three major unfinished projects at the moment:

The House. We moved into an older home last May and have been doing-it-ourselves ever since. Half of the downstairs is painted. All the bedrooms upstairs are painted, but have yet to see curtains or artwork hung on the walls. This past week, I managed to get the family room in shape enough to have people visit it. If you've been hanging around long enough, you've seen the diningroom change colors and get a new floor - still waiting on one piece of quarter-round and a couple of thresholds in there.

But the biggest bugaboo has been the downstairs bathroom. It's plenty big, but had an old dated mirror, awful lighting, hideous granny's-couch wallpaper that was so busy that I completely missed the fact that there was a pink toilet in there until after we started moving in!

The wallpaper removal was a nightmare in and of itself. It had been applied straight over the drywall, and there was no way to get it off without damaging the wallboard itself. Also discovered a couple of big holes in the wall. I HATE wallpaper.

Thankfully, this project, while slow, is coming along. I've completely re-textured the walls and patched the holes. I still need to prime and paint and replace the toilet and the faucet. I still need to find a mirror that works in there and change out the light fixture. But I feel much more optimistic about it all now that the walls are ready and I have had practice changing out toilets (see previous post).

My second unfinished project is ME! I have about 80 lbs to get rid of and after a promising start, fell ill, reinjured my knee, and have been putting out fires (unfinished projects). Tomorrow, I have to go and face my doctor. He will not be happy about my weight. I think I've lost some (I had actually lost 13 lbs, but I know I've gained some back). I'm hoping that my bloodwork will make up for the fact that I'm still in bad shape.

But inspite of my seeming lack of progress, progress has indeed been made. I am eating more thoughtfully now than I used to. I don't swill sweet tea all the time but have made water my drink of choice. And I don't fall victim to these anymore:

It's not stunning or spectacular, but progress is being made. I'm just not finished yet.

And my third project is my novel. You're probably getting sick of NaNoWriMo updates (though I've tried to keep them far and few between). My weekend away didn't happen, thanks to a sick kid and my granddaughter coming as well. Darling Man PROMISES me a night away this week. The end of the month is Friday. As of right now, I have 29,106 words. I need 50,000. When I finish this post, I will bang out a couple thousand more. I will be wearing wrist braces by the end of the week, I'm sure. But I am determined to finish this project! It is something I have ALWAYS wanted to do and by golly, I'm a'gonna do it!

Go peek in the fishbowl to see other Fun Monday participants!