A Simple, Productive Day

You know you’re getting older when you a.) spend your “off-day” doing chores around the the house and b.) you enjoy doing them.

I have been extremely busy for the past six month, twelve months, two years, forever, so it was good to take a day “off” from the world – and just focus on getting some things done around the house.

First, I replaced a broken light-fixture in our master bathroom.  I tried to simply buy a new globe for the original fixture, but that was a no-go.  I just couldn’t find one.  So, I went to the local hardware store and found a replacement for the entire fixture.  I remembered to flip the breaker, took down the old fixture, and replaced it with the new one.  First project, complete!

I then installed an 8-foot section of gutter above the backdoor.  I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time, and it feels good to have it done.  The install took a bit longer than expected, because I couldn’t find my tin snips.  Instead, I had to use a hacksaw to cut the gutter – and my blade was a little dull.  It took a couple of hours, but now the rain will be safely “guttered” into the flowerbeds, and away from the backdoor.

After that, it was time to replace several light bulbs, throughout the house.  I recently stumbled across a great deal on some compact fluorescent bulbs, and this was a good time to get the ladder out and change some bulbs.  Our new house has more than twenty recessed flood lights, and it feels nice to have all of the traditional bulbs replaced with the new compact florescent bulbs.  (Obviously, I’ll hang on to the traditional bulbs, just in case I need one.)  The compact florescent bulbs have a pretty unique design.  They’re shaped just like a traditional “flood” bulb, but, if you look closely, you can see the little curly-q compact fluorescent, inside the bulb.

Finally, I spent some time in the yard, cleaning our flower beds, edging along the driveway, and mowing the lawn.  There’s just something about doing this kind of manual labor that is, oddly, relaxing.  Even though it was, as we say in the South, “100 degrees in the shade,” I still really enjoyed myself.  It was just a simple, productive day.

Oh, one more thing.  I’ve noticed that when I go to the hardware store, I tend to get project-happy.  For some reason, surrounded by all those building materials, I can think of a hundred projects that “need to be done”.  My wife says that I need “blinders”, like those that a race horse might wear.  I could just put them on, head to the exact isle that I need to head to, pay for my merchandise, and then go home.