Denial is a form of DIY self-preservation for me--otherwise I'd never do it again . I actually enjoy the research, pretrips, and even budgeting, but the little gremlin-y things that go wrong in what should be a fairly straight forward project are kryptonite to my DIY spirit. So denial is a VERY important part of any of my projects. The process is fairly simple:

First off, there is no such thing as time--clocks, watches, sundials are merely wrist, wall, and garden decorations. Ornamental only. When folks ask how long a project took I tell them, "Oh, well I didn't really keep track of the time. I nickle-and-dimed it over the course of a day or two." Read this as, "I obsessively worked on this, neglecting food, family, and personal hygene, taking breaks only when I became so frustrated I was ready to heap it all in the back yard and burn it, or when I discovered I needed (yet another) extra something from the hardware or sewing store."

Nope, time cannot exist. Otherwise I'd be forced to say things like:

"It took me 6 hours to make a rolled hem for 60" x 12 ft rectangle of polyester jacket liner"

"How long to whip my gathered ends? Lemesee... five minutes per whipped side, multiplied by the 8 times I redid them. Factor in rehanging the hammock and retesting the lay each time--about 2 hours."

"My first set of whoopie slings? Hmmm... I started at around 9:00 after the kids went to bed, and I went to bed at 12:00. The next morning I made the other sling. 6 hours."

The ability to say "Oh, off and on, I guess it took a couple of days..."

Priceless.