…what you can do today.
Whose dumb idea was that proverb?
I have thoughts for alternate endings:
“Never put off until tomorrow…
…what isn’t due until next week, month, etc.”
…what you can mull about for six weeks.”
…anything you can drag out for much longer.”
Being a movie fan, I think one of my favorite straight-to-the-point versions of that original theme came from the movie “Kicking and Screaming” and we repeat it a lot: “Meat First.” (If you’re not familiar, it means to get the important stuff finished before moving on to the fun.)
I’m always open to good advice I can ignore.
“Keep an open mind.”
Today’s Where Bloggers Live topic is “the best advice you’ve been given.” The post was due at 6:00 am today, and here we are nearly four hours later and I’m still refining…so what does that tell you?
“Excuses are the tools of the weak and incompetent.”
Ouch…that was harsh.
How about “a bad excuse is better than none”?
I have been known to take “haste makes waste” to the extreme, I suppose. But fortunately my dear Mr has offered some very liberating advice to me in his latest mantra “…Don’t let perfect get in the way of great.”
That really took the pressure off the advice of my great-uncle Chuckie, whose favorite was “A job worth doing is worth doing well.”
And we go full circle.
Nearly all of these things apply, of course, to my current powder room renovation. I am tweaking and perfecting it to death!!!
For example, I changed out the new light fixture because it wasn’t bright enough and replaced it with another. However, that one hung a little too low and so I was compelled to raise the junction box three inches…which led to a small drywall repair endeavor, because as E.B. White put it, “There’s no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.”
Also, I sanded it now so the wall under the wallpaper will look perfect….erm, great.
I have to confess, with ZERO humility, that it is the best DIY project I have ever done, IMHO (not the drywall, the overall). I love, love, love (times 10) the way it’s turning out. (Mr’s aforementioned mantra also greatly helped me finish the “memory lane” part of the project.)
All of my DIYs for the room are finished (yes, really). I’m looking forward to sharing it and have actually started writing my posts about it (“promises, promises”). However, we (aka “I“) made a last minute decision and decided to change out the vanity, which, of course, won’t arrive until next month. (Funny how I can live with my OWN delays, but I am impatient for any others.)
I guess, bottom line is, I am trying very hard to “get out of my own way,” but also “to thine own self be true.”
Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carol absolutely knew my type when he wrote Alice’s line, “I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.”
There is one exception:
“Eat dessert first.”
___________
For more great advice to follow (or ignore), please visit
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After
Sally at Within a World of My Own
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Bettye at Fashion Schlub
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style ( is on vacay this month)
Welcome to “Where Bloggers Live.” It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers!
Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes?
The second Friday of each month is when this group of seven bloggers link up to share their workspaces,
homes, towns… or whatever our fearless leader, the fabulous Bettye, proposes.
Make sure you visit everyone to see where the magic happens!
Desert first – now that’s an idea.
Sounds like your DH had some good advice too.
Enjoyed reading all of them.
Iris
It’s funny how you can find a quote that says anything you want, right?? Full circle for sure, but I think mine would be we are all a work in progress. It’s very freeing not to take ourselves too seriously!!
We used to go to restaurants and order dessert first. Knowing about glucose spikes now, I just cringe at the thought, but hey–some bodies don’t spike like mine does.
XOXO
Jodie
Love the pups. I’ve been trying to incorporate Piper into all the posts I can. Shes’ so much cuter than I am, hahahahahahaha
We used to have an eat dessert first day at my house. It was probably the only thing my stepdaughter liked about me. Ha. Probably should reinstitute it with the grands one of these days, although, I think they like me okay as is.
So excited for the big reveal of your powder room. If I could the DIYs that you do so beautifully, I would be all over moving light switches over and down, painting walls, touching up baseboards. In fact, I did a lot of that in my little house when there was no Mr. Prince Charming to assist. But these days I look at the nicked paint or the scuffed baseboards and pray that they add a certain familial charm to the place. And that almost anyone who comes in here with the exception of the grands won’t be able to see any better than I can.
I am so envious of your great ability to envision how these projects should look, will look and bring all of that to fruition. Now that PC has retired – as of last Monday – and while we are still married, we need to get busy on about a blue million things around here. Do you and Mr. take on projects other than your own?
Oh, I’m so pleased that you’re proud of your vanity project! I’m proud of you for being proud of yourself!
Can’t wait to see pictures!
xoxox
“Eat dessert first” was my grandfather’s rule and it drove my (extremely controlling) grandmother crazy because he would literally do it at every meal, haha, and would encourage my sister and me to follow suit…which we did happily. Ah man, good times.
Alice’s not following her own advice is a classic; it’s always good when you know this about yourself!
I flat out can’t conceive of a situation that would induce me to move drywall. I am happy to hear it worked out so well for you!
I agree with all of the above!!! And I love how the doggies are looking at the bowl and not at you!! 😂 It looks like my house, with the exception that my doggies are small and would be on the chair to get closer to the bowl. Can’t wait to see your finished room!