I have decided to declare a single New Year’s resolution. But don’t be fooled, this is a resolution that contains multitudes.
I resolve in 2009 to master the art of manageable list making.
Like others, I make lists I never keep, lists I seldom even refer to once made. This year I hope to become adept at making lists of tasks that are actually feasible, lists of things I may actually accomplish before the list itself is a distant memory.
On the surface this may not seem to have much to do with our house, but it will. Our next post will pertain directly to home renovations...it’s on the list. Of course, just because I’m going to make practical lists doesn’t mean I’ll stop making the big dream lists—the ridiculous, implausible, random lists of ideas and projects and goals, the lists to spill my dreams onto—just to see how they look on paper.
9 comments:
Thank-you for your recent visit to Bay-and-Gable Victorian. I have really enjoyed meandering through your posts. With only a short perusal, I have been able to see a few of my emerging ideas for bathroom tile and a brick herringbone walkway realized in your efforts. I was already happy with my visit to your blog after getting good direction on a trusted pâte à choux recipe!
It is nice to hear that you are restoring the original floor plans. The good old Victorian and Edwardian homes of Toronto certainly need some extra attention to overcome periods of neglect, insensitive renovation and, probably most prevalent, subdivision and letting. Cheers – B&G.
Thanks B&G.
We may end up with quite a few projects in common. We're certainly looking forward to reading about yours.
I think many downtown areas with large older houses suffered similar fates. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the best architectural examples in our city became so neglected that they had to be demolished. I was surprised by a passage in Margaret Atwood's book of stories, Moral Disorder, in which she writes that she and her sister used to take the bus to our city for the explicit purpose of looking at the grand old houses! Most of those houses are no longer. Any that remain are law offices or other commercial spaces. Our neighbourhood has recently received an historical designation, but whether it has any teeth remains to be seen. Best of luck with your house. We'll be reading. (Your new ceiling looks great.)
thanks for your comment today - and good luck with the remodeling. send pics when you are done!!
Thank you for the good wishes Cote de Texas. We will definitely send pictures, but they may be some time in coming. Our approach is anything but fast.
I'm a list maker. I tend to put 8-10 "to dos" on a list but I pad it. 3-4 or even 5 of those "to dos" are simple and meant to just make me feel better about accomplishing things...
I'm with you...and here's a little secret--I've even gone so far as to add things to my most recent lists after the fact--just to be able to check them off as done. Who am I kidding?
I am unfortunately the mistress of undone lists.
And whenever you two don't surface for a while, I come in here to make sure you're not in a ditch somewhere. A person worries! Hope all is well in the New Year.
Thank you for checking on us Marylin! We are not drowning in a ditch, nor have we succumbed (just yet) to economic doom or fallen prey to a ponzi scheme (we hope), and although we ARE deeply mired in renovations the real reason for our absence on Apropos is that in my non-anonymous life, I have been working madly to complete paintings and the accompanying morass of administrative tasks for an exhibition coming up at the end of the month. I hope to be back with house progress reports very soon. I've missed reading my favourite blogs--yours included of course. I'm not sure that dividing myself up in this way is really the best thing. There are already certain implications to working alone in a garret (albeit a bright and well-heated one) without the added wrinkle of maintaining two identities and attempting to author in a coherent voice what purports to be the blog of two people with a common aim. Is such a thing even possible? I think I may be unleashing a bout of existential angst. Must go work and stave it off. -S
Argh. Marilyn, please forgive my dyslexic spelling of your name in my reply above.
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