So, I follow this blog by “The Nester” and she challenged people to take the month of October to do 31 days of something. It’s a personal challenge of sorts. All kinds of people have linked up their blogs, including your’s truly, to talk about their 31 days of doing something different and very intentional. I love personal challenges and growth, so I’m in. The 31 Days range from 31 Days of Halloween Hijinks, 31 Days of Little Things, 31 Days of Intentional Parenting, to 31 Days of Joy.

As a hardcore procrastinator with a long list of projects that I’ll get to tomorrow, I decided that making tomorrow happen this month was the route for me to take. There are so many things I want to get done around the house, but I keep putting them off. Now, I have committed to it publicly, so I have to bite the bullet. These anti-procrastination projects mostly center around homemaking, craftiness, decorating, home improvement, and organizations. I need to do some painting, some mending, some closet clean-up, some quilting, and some heavy duty cleaning. Time to get off my butt, get my hands dirty, and git ‘er done.

Today’s anti-procrastination: I bought a small table and 2 chairs off of Craig’s List a couple of months ago for $20. Quite a steal! I painted them awhile back, but wanted to decoupage the table top. The set is made of wood, but the table top is a cheap laminate. They have been sitting in the garage all painted, cold, and lonely…waiting for the next step. I knew that the decoupage was going to be messy and take awhile, hence the putting it off. I had bought paper for the project weeks ago. I got it out, started cutting and placing paper, and I did it!! It’s late and I’m about to go to bed. The project isn’t totally finished. There are some air bubbles that I have to get out, a few more coats of Modge Podge are needed, I have to paint the edges, and I think I’m going to scuff up and seal the chairs and the table legs. I should be able to finish that tomorrow. It’s supposed to be rather scrappy looking, like a patchwork quilt. Anyway, here’s the table top as it stands right now:

As I mentioned in my last post, I am wearing the same 10 items of clothing for the entire month of October. Undergarments, shoes, outerwear, accessories, and work-out clothes don’t count. The original “Six Items or Less” concept seems to be mostly rooted in an anti-consumerism mindset. I am not a huge consumer and I don’t really like to shop for clothes. Therefore, it’s not really about that for me, personally. I am doing it more for this reason…

Much of the beauty that arises in art comes from the struggle an artist wages with his limited medium.
Henri Matisse

As most people do, I have look into my closet filled with clothes and think “I have nothing to wear.” I have plenty of clothes, way more than enough, but I get in a rut and wear the same things in the same ways. This will push me to be creative, to use accessories in different ways, and to pair things together that I never would have. I’m sure I will be sick of my ten items of clothing at the end of October, but I also anticipate that I will be more creative with my wardrobe and be a killer packer when I go on trips. Here are the 10 items I can choose from:

1. Black dress pants
2. Grey skirt
3. Trouser jeans
4. Casual khaki pants
5. White button up blouse
6. Blue pin-striped button up blouse
7. Black sweater shell
8. Purple/navy/khaki/white blouse
9. Black cardigan
10. Turquoise cardigan

I can already tell that weekends are going to be the worst because I am usually in jeans and a t-shirt on those days. As a matter of fact, Robert’s first words to me this morning were “Why are you so dressed up?” As you can see, I wasn’t “dressed up,” but I was lacking in the sweatshirt and tennies that are my costume de rigueur for Saturdays. I likely won’t post a photo of my attire each day, but I will take a photo every day and post them every few days or once a week. Here’s today:

Day 1--Holding my finger up to indicate this, because I am a goofball (and I hate having my photo taken)