Our neighbor across the street is a purposeful guy. Years ago, he owned the house next door to us and one day decided to tear off the roof and build a second story. Presumably it was easier to obtain a building permit back then. Anyway, he and some of his buddies completed the demolition in an afternoon and, boy, was his wife surprised when she got home – especially since he hadn’t mentioned his demolition and construction intentions to her in advance.
He is now visiting an act of impulsive remodeling upon his current house in our neighborhood. He’s dug out a huge pit to accommodate the foundation for a new two-car garage, and demolished the home’s foyer. The only problem: the house has been a rental property for many years and the tenant hasn’t had a chance to move out yet.
Watching our neighbor dig up his own yard with a backhoe must have inspired me to stop being so lazy. I spent Saturday tidying up flower beds, trimming shrubbery, cutting down volunteer trees throughout the yard and generally beautifying our outdoor environment beyond what our lawn guy can be expected to handle.
On Sunday I decided it was time I re-sealed the slate floor in the kitchen. It’s supposed to be done every year, but I hadn’t gotten around to it since we had the floor installed in 2002 as part of a kitchen facelift. I scrubbed the floor thoroughly and applied two coats of sealer, which made it look dramatically better. The cats had to spend the afternoon locked in the basement, but they got over it.
Also back in 2002, I bought an attractive, Arts and Crafts-style stained glass panel to hang above our kitchen sink. It had been sitting in my closet ever since. This weekend my husband and I finally managed to hang it up, although it took every bit of our combined effort. We’re not that good with tools, measuring, etc., so there was an ever-present element of slapstick to the whole affair.
The kitchen looks beautiful now with its gleaming floors, stained glass accent and a vase full of irises that I accidentally cut down with the WeedEater on Saturday.
If only I had that kind of energy all the time!
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