Projects and the free will universe

'Deadline' has that ominous tone. Thank God for them though, as the saying goes, or I'd get nothing done.
I was chatting with an old friend not long ago and, as is typical, the conversation turned to things we were doing around our homes. I told him about the flooring I'd installed a few months before and the followup finishing details. He was quite impressed. Although he didn't want to come out and say it, since we'd grown up together he knew I wasn't terribly handy as a younger chap.
Aw yes, it's amazing what home ownership and being house poor can do for a guy.
We talked about our latest tools. I was one up on Lyle with my table saw. He told me about a compressor and nailer he had for doing trim work. I told him I was still doing that the old-fashioned way, with a hammer. "That's for dinosaurs," he said.
Lyle went on to tell me how he'd done over his upstairs. It was fairly extensive: turning four rooms into three, it involved knocking a wall out, then redoing everything. He'd informed his wife that, since he would have to do things around his job, it might take the better part of a year.
We chuckled over the way these things go, always a "work in progress."
No kidding. It's inevitable that projects will get stretched out when it's a matter of finding the time and the money.
Take our floor. That started some years ago when the wife asked if I would consider tearing up the carpet as a starter. Shunda had a friend who had done that and as an interim step, before putting in new flooring, these people had finished the plywood sub-floor - and it didn't look too bad.
So that's what I did. And that's the way it stayed for about two years. Finally one day I looked at it, particularly the area where a chair with casters was wearing off the finish.
"I really think we should talk ourselves into buying some flooring," I opined. "I'd feel pretty stupid if I had to refinish this plywood."
So that's what it took. Shame and self-reproach. But now we've got that job behind us. I waited a couple of months for my knees and back to recover before I finally got the baseboard on. In another month or so, when my knees recover again, I'll go around and sand, clean and repaint a few spots on the trim that need it.
Then there would be my garden shed project. I vowed back in the spring it would be at the top of the agenda. The doors were in pretty bad shape and I thought I might as well make new ones rather than keep patching the old.
That got somewhat delayed, though, since I had no way of carting a couple of sheets of plywood home. I wasn't going to pay delivery for such a minor expense. Turn to plan B. We'd been wanting to put in a new steel entry door for some time. I would have the plywood delivered at the same time.
As summer wound down, we watched for sales and finally made the move. We went to buy the door, but it ended up on back order for a few weeks - nothing a person could do but wait. Procrastination? Moi?
Finally it came in, I went to the store, paid for my door and ordered my sheets of plywood.
Now I'm busy constructing them, fitting them to the doorway, painting, watching paint dry, but it's not like I ever have a clear day to just do the whole thing and get it out of the way. Sunday's snow was disconcerting. When that happens you know you're down to the wire.
So winter's deadline is fast approaching. I'm sure I'll have it done in the next couple of days - depending on the long-term forecast.