Room to Relax?

I was on vacation last week. It was a good week. It was proven to me though, once again, that I am not good at taking time off. If we are going somewhere, traveling, that's one thing. But I can't just take time off and expect to relax at home. It was just me off with the kids. AJ is off this week; a bizarre vacation situation forced upon us by the early end to summer day camp and the inability to afford a sitter for two straight weeks at $8/hour.
I don't know how to take time off without creating a to-do list for myself that is at the same time overwhelming and punishing. There are always a million and ten things to do around the house, not even considering the day-to-day chores and upkeep.

I started the week with the following list:

scrape the bits of new paint from the kitchen floor
sand and prep the door to the linen closet
paint the door to the linen closet
put all the outlet covers back on in the living room (removed for painting)
clear out the laundry room so AJ can do the walls next week
hang the paintings back up in the living room and dining room
sand the front porch so AJ can paint it next week
Friday in Boston all day with Grace
Wednesday spend the day with friends visiting from up North
Oh, and redecorate Grace's room.

That last one.

That was the one.

All the other projects...fairly small projects...could have been done in a week's time with no problem. But then we added that little diddy to the list. Redecorate Grace's room. It's the smallest room in the house bar the bathrooms. Shouldn't be too big a project. A little cleaning out, a little paint, maybe a new area rug...

It took a full day to clean out the room, distinguish between "keep in room", "keep elsewhere in the house" and "throw away or donate." It took almost another day to get all the materials and supplies. It took a third day to paint it and put it all back together.

There. Three days. With Boston on Friday and friends on Wednesday, that was it. One week - POOF.

In the evenings I was busy making her a new shelf to hang on the wall, a new bulletin board for another wall, and helping her sort and organize. Of course, I managed to do several loads of laundry each day too, and dishes, dinners, lunches (often for my kids plus several friends), run necessary errands, get Jake to football, and I even managed to sit and read for one hour on Monday and take a brief walk by myself on Tuesday.

The room looks great though. It really does. And that little girl is so very happy with it. She just loves being in her room now. She doesn't leave messes either, and makes her friends pick up after themselves. She just beems when she walks in, and I think she sleeps better at night, knowing she's in such a cool room. It matches her eyes too. She just looks good in her room.

I didn't get any of the other things done. Not one. And there are still a few small things to do. Her bulletin board (which is really nice) needs to be hung, as does her new mirror. Her shelf isn't quite finished, but almost. I am also going to make a cover for her radiator so she can use it as a bedside table. These things won't take long though and I'll just pitch away at them - in between the laundry, dishes, cleaning the bathrooms, hamster cage, fish tank, feeding the cat, shopping for back to school, cleaning out the garden...