How we do projects

A little fun fact about me, is that I lean heavily on a routine or consider myself a creature of habit. So if I can find any consistent “routine” or way doing a portion of something, I’ll try to find it. And while the majority of our summer projects are far from finished, I still think we tackle our projects routinely and well.  Another fun fact about the White Cottage Farm household, is we do our very best, especially if we know the day is project packed, is to start off by drinking some coffee in downstairs living room, outside of the office. We will chat with what we think our day looks like, skim through all our phone has to offer at that moment, and re-visit our plans again. Soon after that we move to the office, and list out everything on our whiteboard that we want to get accomplished before we close in for the night.

There typically is plenty of projects to go around its a bit overwhelming, so as we are making a list, we pick or assign the projects to one or the other, and then a good group of them need are two people job so we keep those tasks in mind as well. Just by habit most of our individual projects we knock our first, and then around lunch time we will move to the portions of the projects that require both of our hands together.

The very last item we put on our list is some inspiring words, phrases, verses, whatever comes to mind. Something we try to use to set the tone for the day, because if your like use, there is always that moment of “What was wrong with the way it was, why did I sign up to do this?” Today’s motivational words: Just Be

When I get to the workshop, barn, garage, or particular room in the house that I am working in that day. I Grab, what I call, my doctor’s bag of all my general tools that are most likely going to be needed, and save the more specific tools that are less regular for the peg board to be grabbed if and as needed. Right after I have all my tools I pull out my Ryobi Score Wireless Speakers and begin to dive in.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, its these:

I have been using two sets since spring, and I have to say, if you are a working and tunes type of DIY’er pick these up next trip to The Home Depot. They can be either plugged into a wall, or powered by a Ryobi One+ battery.  The entire system uses a master speaker, that kicks out a signal to the other speakers, and you can connect up to five speakers total. The sound sync is instantaneous and there is no delay or reverb, and the range between the individual speakers and master is outstanding. I typically use just the radio, but there is an App and Bluetooth option as well to play right off of your phone. My favorite thing about these is you have so much coverage so if your making cuts in the workshop, and moving into the house and back to the garage for supplies, a well placed master speaker will keep those tunes flowing every step of the DIY. The quality is very good, the only (and I mean only) thing I wish these speakers had, was an option to charge the batters if the speaker was plugged into the wall.  Right now its one or the other, but that would be a great battery charger option to keep you going a little bit longer. Other than that, we bring them to the beach, used them at cookouts, and late nights on the porch they are scattered around for some surround sound. You can hide them anywhere since it has the battery option, so no need to be tethered to the nearest outlet. I highly recommend this set.

Once I have my tools and music, I start working of the list we created earlier that day. Check in with LMB from time to time, but really try to knock everything out, because both of us have scatter brains that we will sidetrack one another so quick its a miracle we get anything done ever. I don’t erase anything off the list, just check it off, because I like to look at it at the end of the day (and rub it in that I got more done). I think looking at the whole day of projects and try to mentally walk through everything you need you can sometimes save some added time or realize what projects are contingent on the other projects. It may not be the best plan, but its how we do projects and we really enjoy that morning cup of Joe family time.

We know we have not found our routine for this blog, and we apologize. We appreciate all the support on here and I will be sharing some thoughts on why I think this blog hasn’t stood up quite yet. Well… we are off to grab some friends for Grace today, and we are so excited to share with you our new additions. Keep an eye out on our

Instagram, and the blog as well as LizMarieBlog.com. Thank you – happy Sunday, and as always Give Grace.

Oh! If you are in the West Michigan area September 1 and September 2, we are hosting a Mercantile Market in Holland, MI. Click (Here) for more information.