I don't want to take too much of this thread up with it, as it has been discussed in a couple of other threads: Petra, Maine and Petra, Maine Wildlife
@Maggie Rose it sounds like things are helping you along (having your granddaughter) and you have a plan of execution. That moment of intuition seems very close.
Here is 1 of my Works in Progress projects. MOSAIC TEA CART It was a brown teacart. I had decided to paint it a countrified milky white color and began looking for china pieces to mosaic it. The first piece I found that drew my eye was the centerpiece. It was a supposedly (who knows) hand-painted angels and cherubs vanity tray that I bought from eBay. I want to finish the entire top with angels/cherubs and roses. This is much easier said than done. It's not so easy finding several angels and cherubs pieces that might coordinate in thickness for tiling and coordinate in colors with rose china dishes that I have or am able to find. It's been sitting in my she-shed a while now waiting for me to get healthier. Am I up to it? I don't know.
I adore this. I can see it finished. What would you need to make yourself comfortable in order to complete it? Have you thought about it?
It doesn't keep changing. It changed once because I didn't think that very many people would know what a WIP was, particularly when written out as W I P, which was necessary to avoid the all-caps thing in titles. Because thread titles will automatically take a first-letter-capitalized format for words, acronyms don't work well in titles, so I usually spell them out.
I've got a bathroom tear-out that I got halfway done. I did not take a lot of pics: Before: The tile only went halfway up the wall, and there was old wood trim around the window that was starting to rot. Immediately After (before I cleaned it up): The tub and shower area have been finished and cleaned up...that's the "just finished tiling" pic. It was a nightmare...I had bronchitis as I was doing this and did not know it. (I thought the sweats were because I was going from the air conditioned house to the hot & humid garage to cut tiles.) I completely tore the walls out down to the studs, and reframed the part around the niche. I used a different type of tile backer that makes the shower stall a sealed water-tight unit before the first piece of tile is installed, and I rebuilt the window surround from scrap Corian purchased on EBay (the old wood frame was getting mildewed.) Everything is very tight. No water is gonna get in the window now. I then pulled out the vanity to install a new one in the corner you can't see to open the room up and ran into issues. In this bathroom, they installed the vanity and then tiled around it, so when I pulled the vanity out, there's a big gap of no tile. And the corner vanity is too large to get through the tiny, non-standard door...I gotta tear the door frame out to get it in, and retiled the floor. I would have put the old vanity back, but before I realized I couldn't temporarily install the corner one, I had already moved the plumbing to the corner. There was a hole in the wall behind the old vanity the entire size of the vanity, as well as where I removed the medicine cabinet. As it turns out, they had both 3/8" and 1/2" drywall there, depending on how far up the wall you were (yeh, that drove me nuts for a while trying to fit a single piece.) I got it repaired and evened the wall out with many layers of compound. There are remaining wall areas needing repair that can't be done with the toilet installed (I have a half bath.) Other stuff was going on so I just stopped. It would take 2-3 full solid days to finish up.
I can visualize the finished project, as well, Maggie. It's beautiful! I looked at my half-finished iris folding pieces and decided this holiday season I will finish at least 1 Christmas card! Here's a you tube video for iris folding in case it's not a familiar craft. Basically, you apply pieces of different types of paper to a pattern to create pictures such as hearts, trees, teapots--almost anything you can think of. It is fun and, for me, easy to set aside thinking I'll get back to it a little later. (Later can become a year ) Sakkom
Thanks, Sakkom. I got them for free, which is why I even did the project in the first place. I need motivation. Lots and lots of motivation.
Off the subject of WIP. You mentioned physical problems from hobbies. I have huge black walnut trees that I hated to waste so would stand at a workbench for HOURS cracking the nuts with a vice and putting them up. Day after day and hour after hour I aggravated arthritis and not realizing the cause went in search of a cure. I had one hip replaced but the horrible pain in my other hip, I was told, was my back not my hip. ????? Chiro, acupuncture, xrays and it just occurred to me today I have been hunching up to avoid the pain and after two years of using a cane on one side, I have a lot of atrophy to deal with and muscles to strengthen to fix my posture because extending my spine really helps. But laziness makes it hard to maintain the stretch. Can't stop but it is difficult. I have plenty of WIP. I always figured, that way, I can't die. Too much to do. ; )
@Mary Miller said I saw a chiropractor for a while, and I swear the larger benefit was just going somewhere to focus on stretching and using the treadmill...things I would not do at home
Making my tiny apartment look as good as I can on a tiny budget. Michaels had long-stemmed flowers on for 50% off.