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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The New Year itch

Just as my I Blow My Wad Too Soon post was not about premature ejaculation, this post is not about an STD.

It is about my annual bout of "I MUST DO SOMETHING TO THIS HOUSE OR I MIGHT JUST DIE."  It hits at approximately 12:01 a.m. every Jan 1, although I sleep through about 6 hours of it.  Once I am out of bed and fully awake, I become aware that I've caught it again, and the only cure for it is pulling some money from the home improvement fund and doling it out to others.

When I was a kid it seemed like my parents did nothing to our house.  I'm sure they did, but I also know that my parents are s.l.o.w. when it comes to spending money and/or making decisions that involve the spending of money.  They have loosened up considerably now that they aren't putting two kids through Catholic schools.

I find that I am more than a little eager to change things up and make improvements around the house, even though this is borderline insane since the kids tend to make the niceness of new diminish in under 20 minutes.  This has certainly been the case with our hardwood floors which we had installed in 2009. I keep repeating the mantra, "Those nicks and scratches are giving the floor character."  

It seems I have listened to my mother a bit since she has encouraged me to do things to our home when I get the notion to do them.  It seems that as one gets older, the desire to make home improvements often diminishes (my MIL has confirmed this as being her experience as well).  

My goal is to find a balance between living now and saving for later or the "what ifs."

I want to enjoy my home, and enjoying my home in 2012 means painting the walls that have 8 years worth of children fingerprints on them as well as the name Jennifer written in pencil at the top of the stairwell wall.  (Note to my daughter:  I know it was you since you are the tallest child and the only one who can print even remotely recognizable letters.  Duh.)

The painter was just here and gave me a very reasonable estimate given the amount of painting I am wanting to have done (basically our entire first floor).

I have found that when it comes to this itch, it is better to just scratch it and be done.

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