1 Down, 29 To Go: Christmas in July

I'm kicking off the 4th of July with a list of Christmas projects! I'm so proud of myself, and no one is awake to show off the most recent accomplishment, so on the blog it goes...
Mason's Christmas Stocking -- ta da!

If you don't know about our family's obsession with Christmas stockings, this won't seem like a big deal. But about 34 years ago my mother made a Christmas stocking for my father. He wasn't actually my father, yet. He was just a sad, lonely LDS missionary. She was "waiting" for him back in the states and I suppose she thought some bad American chocolate in a felt Christmas stocking was the way to win his heart. [Actually, I don't know anything about what was in the stocking.]
Then, when they got married, she made one for herself. And when I was born, she made one for me. I have 4 brothers, you can guess how the rest of this story goes.
Well, when I was dating Steve I came to a point when I decided he was THE one. I made him a Christmas stocking... and the rest is history.
I purchased the fabric and trim for Mason's stocking when he was about 3 weeks old. The velvet is steely grey and the lime green silk is as bright as early season grass growing in the shade. The trim has silver stars and green and silver beads... and I just love it. It reminds me of him... his eyes... how early he came... and the great things I know he will become. But, it has taken me 8 months to get around to sewing the dang thing. It was at the top of my To-Do List.
I have a list -- it's grown to 29 items -- of projects that I need to get done. What actually happened was over the past 3 years I would think of projects that I wanted to do, buy the supplies, and then never get around to doing the project. Ridiculous. One day, shortly after I decided to quit my job, I went in the basement and dug through the bags of projects (that's right, I even left the supplies in the individual bags that I brought them home from the store in) and made a list. Now, I'm working the list.
Disgusting isn't it? Well, I'm not alone, Steve does this too. You would not believe how many Home Depot bags we have in the basement. Poor guy, he just doesn't have time to do everything he wants to do. The travel schedule has made sure of that. But I didn't do this kind of thing until I married him. So, I think it came with him and rubbed off on me.