When Summer Falls Short
It seems every fall season I spend trying to catch up on home projects that I had every intention of working on in the spring and summer, but never quite get around to.
I'm pretty certain that this is some sort of procrastinational (yes, I made that word up) disorder.
Maybe some of you suffer from it too. I can't believe I'm alone in this. I've analyzed it extensively over the years and here's my conclusion.
In this fine state of Wisconsin, we are blessed with, give or take, 90 nice days a year. By nice I mean, shirtsleeves and shorts without feeling terribly uncomfortable. I am a person who loves the outdoors, in almost any weather, actually. So, because I like to wear shorts, and I like to be outside, preferably on my bike, indoor projects take a back seat during good weather. Those days pile up and, well, before yo know it, it's October and I'm chasing the sunlight on projects that fill my weekends.
Understand that I am fully aware of how to fix the problem, (lifestyle changes, sacrifice, and hard work in June and July,) but it's my guess that next year in October, I may be writing about this same problem.
This weekend's focus was stairs. Our front stairs leading into our house really need to be replaced altogether and, while we had great intentions at the beginning of the summer to do just that, the money never came, and it never happened. So, as an alternative, I figured I'd fix up the old ones again and put a fresh coat of paint on them.
That project went smoothly, with the exception of the telephone book delivery clod who thought it was necessary to put my new phone book, (which I put immediately into the recycle bin anyway) on my freshly painted steps. Thankfully they were quite dry by that time, but one would think the masking tape strung between the hand railings would clue the person in. I guess it explains why they have the job they have.
A funny moment happened when while I was painting, my 17 year old son asked "Why do you always paint those in the fall?"
To which I replied, "Every year I run out of time and end up painting them in the fall instead of the spring."
"Well, that's dumb. You shouldn't do that," he said.
I must say, he has a point.
The other project involved putting new vinyl tread guards on my back stairs and the stairs going to the basement. Many of our old ones were broken and needed replacement. On Saturday, I went to Home Depot to buy some new treads and some traction tape for the front stairs. Of course, Home Depot had neither of those items and so I went to Menards, where I should have started in the first place.
After I found them, I realized I hadn't counted the number of stairs. Easy enough, I thought. I'll text Donna. Well, after waiting for 5 minutes, I just made a guess at needing 9 treads. When I was checking out the clerk was a nice woman who asked me if I double counted the number of stairs? I told her that actually I had forgotten to count at all, and that this was a guess.
When I was almost home, Donna texted me that we had 10 stairs.
So my procrastinated project just got reprocrastinated (yes, I made that word up, too) by one more trip to Menards.
At this rate, I hope it doesn't snow until January so I can finish all of my summer projects.
Blogging off...
I'm pretty certain that this is some sort of procrastinational (yes, I made that word up) disorder.
Maybe some of you suffer from it too. I can't believe I'm alone in this. I've analyzed it extensively over the years and here's my conclusion.
In this fine state of Wisconsin, we are blessed with, give or take, 90 nice days a year. By nice I mean, shirtsleeves and shorts without feeling terribly uncomfortable. I am a person who loves the outdoors, in almost any weather, actually. So, because I like to wear shorts, and I like to be outside, preferably on my bike, indoor projects take a back seat during good weather. Those days pile up and, well, before yo know it, it's October and I'm chasing the sunlight on projects that fill my weekends.
Understand that I am fully aware of how to fix the problem, (lifestyle changes, sacrifice, and hard work in June and July,) but it's my guess that next year in October, I may be writing about this same problem.
This weekend's focus was stairs. Our front stairs leading into our house really need to be replaced altogether and, while we had great intentions at the beginning of the summer to do just that, the money never came, and it never happened. So, as an alternative, I figured I'd fix up the old ones again and put a fresh coat of paint on them.
That project went smoothly, with the exception of the telephone book delivery clod who thought it was necessary to put my new phone book, (which I put immediately into the recycle bin anyway) on my freshly painted steps. Thankfully they were quite dry by that time, but one would think the masking tape strung between the hand railings would clue the person in. I guess it explains why they have the job they have.
A funny moment happened when while I was painting, my 17 year old son asked "Why do you always paint those in the fall?"
To which I replied, "Every year I run out of time and end up painting them in the fall instead of the spring."
"Well, that's dumb. You shouldn't do that," he said.
I must say, he has a point.
The other project involved putting new vinyl tread guards on my back stairs and the stairs going to the basement. Many of our old ones were broken and needed replacement. On Saturday, I went to Home Depot to buy some new treads and some traction tape for the front stairs. Of course, Home Depot had neither of those items and so I went to Menards, where I should have started in the first place.
After I found them, I realized I hadn't counted the number of stairs. Easy enough, I thought. I'll text Donna. Well, after waiting for 5 minutes, I just made a guess at needing 9 treads. When I was checking out the clerk was a nice woman who asked me if I double counted the number of stairs? I told her that actually I had forgotten to count at all, and that this was a guess.
When I was almost home, Donna texted me that we had 10 stairs.
So my procrastinated project just got reprocrastinated (yes, I made that word up, too) by one more trip to Menards.
At this rate, I hope it doesn't snow until January so I can finish all of my summer projects.
Blogging off...
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