Why Does It Always Take Three Trips ?

I'll spare you the boring and very self-indulgent rant about feeling as there is no end to the To Do List, and simply cut to the chase in this post.

No matter what the project is.  No matter how well it is planned out ahead of time.  No matter how much time you have set aside to complete whatever you're working on.  No matter how many helpers you have.  No matter if you set out all the tools you could conceive of needing to use.  You will always end up making at least three trips to the hardware store (or stores, isn't that fun when it happens?!) when you are doing a home improvement job that someone is often paid to do.

Today the task was reasonably simple: replace the kitchen faucet.

And yet, there it was ... three trips later (to two different stores, of course) before it was all said and done.

You can reason it out all you want.  Make excuses of how you couldn't possibly have foreseen the changes or additions to the original project.  It doesn't matter.  Life would be much easier if I could learn to just accept that I'll need to make three trips.  Then there won't be frustration when the first or second change comes up.  Instead I'd be elated that I only have two or one more trip to make!


Song Of The Day:
What could possibly be a better song for this post than Weird Al's ode to that manliest of manly places: the "Hardware Store" ?!

If you can't commit the full 5 minutes to the video (which was done by a fan and is pretty amazing in itself - it even has outtakes at the end), at least listen to Weird Al's ridiculously amazing list of available items at the hardware store beginning at about 2:30 (min:sec) into the video.  I promise you will NOT be disappointed!

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Did I Bite Off Too Much ?

Monday was Labor Day, which meant most Americans had the day off from work.  This is great for most people, but sometimes annoying for me ... because I always have Mondays off.  So I was off work today, Friday, as a "comp day" for the holiday and I think I scheduled way too much for myself today!

These plans below seemed reasonable when I made them, but at 7:30pm tonight, as I write this, I am convinced I am an idiot.  So much for this being a "vacation" day from "labor."  Quite the opposite in fact.

Drop off the U-Haul trailer.
Pick up the rototiller and trailer.
Rototill the front yard.
Return the tiller and trailer.
Level the dirt in the front yard.
Dig trenches for the front easement sprinkler system.
Purchase needed items for the front sprinklers.
Install the front sprinkler system.
Bury the lines for the front sprinklers.
Re-level the front easement dirt area.
Connect the front easement sprinkler line to the manifold.
Weed the edges of the front yard.


It's a bad sign when your
feet have dirt stains
under your socks!

Move landscaping items to the shed.
Sweep out the garage.
Sweep off the front driveway.
Sweep off the sidewalk in front of our house.

On the plus side:

I got all but the items listed in BLUE above done.

 

On the minus side:

I can't feel anything below my neck.

 

On the "didn't you learn anything from today" side:

Fertilized topsoil is being delivered on Monday morning

and then sod is being delivered Monday afternoon.

Song Of The Day:
The song "Promises, Promises" by Naked Eyes was on my MP3 player today and I felt it would be a fitting tune for the day.  When I set goals for myself (To Do Lists included) I am essentially making a promise to myself to get something done.  Like the lyrics in the song I never had a doubt, in the beginning when making the promises to myself.  And then later, when I cannot complete the list, I think why do I believe I could get this all done!

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Just Another "Day Off" ?

What a Monday!

Sometimes a day off can be relaxing and give you a chance to recharge for the days or weeks to come.  Today was NOT one of those days.  Today was a day off that will cost me about a week to recover from.

Before

The short list of activities completed today:
 - Pick up lawn mower
 - Finish load of laundry (permanent press items)
 - Mow front and back lawn (on lowest setting)
 - Purchase and have new tires installed on my car
 - Finish load of laundry (whites)
 - Buy a sewing machine (for Karen)
 - Purchase and replace the vacuum breaker (and copper piping connecting it to the sprinkler system and house) for my sprinkler system

After

 - Finish load of laundry (jeans)
 - Take Ben to have his glasses fixed
 - Food shopping at Wal-Mart
 - Finish load of laundry (girl's clothes)
 - Remove and replace backyard downspout / drainage
 - Pick pears from the pear tree
 - Finish load of laundry (boy's clothes)
 - Complete three haircuts (both boys and my hair)
 - Help three kids with various homework assignments
 - Finish load of laundry (towels)
 - Uncover backyard sprinkler heads
 - Repurpose one sprinkler zone in the manifold area (and fixing the drainage underneath the manifold housing)
 - Write 4 "catch-up" blog posts (and post 3 previous posts to Facebook)
 - Finish load of laundry (missed items and assorted bedding)


Song Of The Day:
While listening to tunes on my MP3 player during the above activities, I heard the song "As I Lay Me Down" by Sophie B Hawkins.  That is a great tune for today because as I lay me down tonight, I will have a feeling of great satisfaction with all that was completed today ... coupled with sheer exhaustion and physical pain from all the hard work of course.

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What Do You Think Of The New Master Bedroom ?

I've already blogged about my "To Do List" while I was a temporary bachelor.  But as yet, I was unable to share photos of the main project on that list: painting our master bedroom.

Karen hasn't really been after me to get the room painted, but we've been in the home for over three years now and have lived with a green wall speckled with gold-leaf like foil spots, off-set with white walls filled with holes from nails and screws.

Bottom line: It was time for a change.

So herewith are the pictures, before and after as best as I could manage.  I can post them tonight and then will wait a few days to post the blog and link to Facebook (since Karen gets home tomorrow evening and I want her to see it first).

The BEFORE Pictures

 

Bay window (plain white before)

Northeast corner (green with gold speckles before)



Northwest corner (white before)



Southwest corner (white before)
(You can see our small patch of test color choices)

The green and gold wall
(AFTER covering with two coats of white paint)

The AFTER Pictures

 

Northeast corner AFTER

Northwest corner AFTER

Southwest corner AFTER

Southeast corner AFTER
(I was unable to get the same angled
picture of the bay window after the
painting because of the sunlight)

I do not have pictures of the new room set-up, but the bed is now framed by the bay window, where it was against the green and gold speckled (flaky) wall before.  The new layout is much more open and feels like we have a LOT more space (we even have a reading chair in the room now!)  If you want to see it, come on by!  I'd be happy to show it off (especially the perfect tape lines between walls!)  :)


Song Of The Day:
I truly love my sweet wife and have missed her while she has been gone this past week. It was easier to paint with her and the kiddos gone, but I thought of her (and her anticipated reaction) while I spent many hours painting, taping, re-painting, touching up, and then rearranging the room.
To my Pretty Lady, it is true that I would do "Anything For You" (even though Gloria Estefan's song by the same name is more about lost love, the title certainly applies here!)

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You Gonna Miss Me ?

Tomorrow morning, my wife and 5 youngest kids (boy does that sound weird?!) will embark on a road trip ... without me.  My oldest 2 sons (also sounds weird) have been with their Grandma and Grandpa in Queen Creek, AZ for the past 3 weeks ... and it's time for them to come on home.  Especially since school starts in less than TWO weeks after they will get home (that may be the weirdest sounding thing so far!)

My true "middle child," almost 8-year-old Savannah, asked me this evening
"Are you gonna miss me daddy?" and the other kids (along with my wife) wondered the same thing.
Of course the answer was a swift and resounding
"Yeah!  I'm gonna miss you like crazy!"

But ... here's a little secret ...

For the first few days of temporary bachelor status, life is pretty sweet!  I'm usually so busy doing things I want to get done that I don't start missing anyone.  Oh sure, the evenings right around bedtime can be lonely, but otherwise, I'm in full "Get 'R Done!" mode ... and I like that a LOT !

Here's my starter To Do list (picture added on Tuesday, 7/16) for this week:

I know by Tuesday afternoon I will be missing my family terribly, but until then I have plenty to keep me occupied, don'tcha think ?!  :)


Song Of The Day:
If you like a capella music and haven't seen the movie "Pitch Perfect" then you should be ashamed.  Go rent it right now and then come back to listen to "When I'm Gone" by Anna Kendrick, the main female star from this excellently hilarious movie.  You can listen to the song before if you like, but you can't fully appreciate it's genius and beauty without seeing the movie.

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Do You Prefer Feast Or Famine ?

Some days there is just not enough time to do it all.  On other days, there seems to be plenty of time with no real rush to get anything done.  There is never an absence of work (for me anyway) but there are some wide swings in the level of urgency regarding the work that I do.  Calls need to be reviewed, audited, analyzed, and sent for coaching.  Plans need to be made for future meetings (with my team, with various site committees, etc.).  Training needs to be completed.  And so on.

More often than not, these activities have a short turnaround time or deadline that creates a sense of urgency to completing the tasks.  I think of those as "feast" times, when there is so much to do that you have to work hard and smart to fit it all in.

But sometimes, nothing is really "due" for days or weeks.  There is a "famine" on urgent work, despite long "To Do" lists.  These times are nice periodically, especially at the end of a very LONG week filled with "feast" days.  But too many of them, or too many "famine" hours in one full day, can be more of a drain on me than the crazy-busy "feast" times.

I derive some of my energy from other people, but most comes from completing tasks and moving things forward.  I think that is why I secretly dread "famine" times.  Because at least when I am exhausted at the end of a "feast" day, I know it is because I urgently squeezed in so many tasks for that day - it was a good, productive, exhausting day.  But when I'm tired or worn out from a "famine" day, there is nothing to look back on and feel any real sense of pride about ... but I'm still exhausted!

Song Of The Day:
I absolutely love the original version of this song by Fun.  But when I heard this cover by Jake Coco, I fell in love with the song in a different way.  So when the feast is too heavy or the famine is slowly draining you, choose to "Carry On" and it will even out soon!

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