Commentary by Heather Kestian
Post-December winter – this is my least favorite time of year. I do not like gauging the amount of apparel we need by the frigid temperatures in our garage. I rarely see signs of life outside our house and gone are the cute ducks that inhabit our backyard. In fact, the way I see the world, the only highlight of February is my oldest son’s birthday.
I long for the cold, bitter, February days to give way to a hint of warmth. This year, to help myself through the last few weeks of my winter blues, I have started my hubby’s “honey do list.” He should be so thrilled. At least this summer’s projects will not require an extensive search of You Tube videos to figure out how to patch dry wall. He still loves me for changing the hardware in our bathroom and the “little” project that turned into a bathroom overhaul due to issues with the holes in the wall from the old hardware. For the record, I love that towel rack. Every now and again, I chuckle as I hang up my towel. However, I think it is far too soon for my hubby to laugh. Someday we will both laugh at the same time about the fun we had during those two weekends.
In order to help my mind manage the doldrums of February 2013 and prepare my better half for our summer of fun, I sent him an e-mail to frame the summer project conversation. I thought e-mailing was a better, and much safer, way to bring up the topic of home improvement projects.
I have big plans for our summer of 2013. My favorite project for this summer is to refurbish the front of our house. There are four bushes that need to be pulled. They are unruly, and so, they must go. The door and mailbox need to be painted and my flower beds have seen better days. I tried valiantly to take care of these tasks last summer, but my large, pregnant body was having nothing to do with gardening or painting. We need to change the light fixtures. Step one: shut off the electricity. Everything after that should be easy, right?
I hope he sees these projects as being simple and adding value without causing additional unplanned work. I look forward to sharing the fruits of our labor this fall. I mean really, what could go wrong?