by Kevin Burton
Just two hours on a recent Tuesday greatly enhanced how we feel about our house, and all we did was open the front door.
Electricians came and executed six of the seven small projects we had scheduled. The seventh is much more involved than we thought because of the way the basement ceiling is constructed. We’ll get back to that one.
Alas, they did not attempt the project we forgot to include, namely repairing the light that goes with the exhaust fan above the stove.
But we got four light switches fixed, including two that were not functioning at all. We got removed, two sets of ceiling fan plus overhead lamp fixtures that we didn’t want any more and we got one such combo set, in my office, repaired.
Rarely do we get such a haul in two hours. My wife Jeannette and I are jubilant and newly-motivated.
Since last October we have had no overhead garage light. I had taken to opening the freezer for a bit to have light to see if I was doing anything late at night out there. No more.
In three rooms, including both offices we had push button lights. We got normal flip switches installed.
If you own one, you know that home sweet home is not always sweetness and light. It takes a lot to keep it looking good and functioning well inside and out. The electrical projects gave us a little wind at our back, renewed energy to get some other things done. And there is another home-happy step just around the corner.
This week my stepson and his family moved into a new apartment. That means within maybe two weeks they will come up to Kansas to get the furniture we have been holding for them. This will go a long way toward getting rid of the warehouse look that we have had since both my mother and Jeannette’s mother downsized and gifted us some of their furniture.
That will mean a little manual labor for me, but I’ll be happy to do it. Once the truck is loaded the house will have new possibilities; addition by subtraction.
After the extra furniture is hauled away, the garage should look quite a bit better. What does that mean? It means we will be able to walk a straight line in there without putting the car in the driveway.
The music room can be redesigned as well. I’m mulling ideas on that even now.
Two days after the electrical work was done we took a smallish box of things to a nearby secondhand store. It wasn’t much but every little bit helps.
And maybe this will end up being a bigger headline than I think? If we give away even a little bit every week, or even two or three times a month, it will improve the look of the place.
But herein lies the big test of this whole discussion. I have scheduled this post to run on Saturday the 6th. That happens to be the day of the big citywide garage sale in the town where we live. I love me some garage day sales. Such bargains on the things I can’t live without.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Jeannette has scheduled this very morning as the time for us to clean out the gutters. I say, just as God does a tremendous job getting trees and bushes to grow, taking away my need to deal with them, those Kansas winds that He sends, do a good job of clearing those gutters. The last time we checked them there was almost no dirt and leaves to clear out.
Also I am planning to attend a zoom meeting this afternoon. My friend Tracy invited me and some others to that. I am pretty well sure there was no collusion between Jeannette and Tracy to plan those events today, to keep me away from the sales.
But either way, it’s busy, busy, busy on garage sale day.
If I do manage to squeeze in a sale or two, I promise to limit to musical instruments. If there is a saxophone for sale at any reasonable price, I am very unlikely to pass that up. That will go in the music room of course in the space where my guitar is. That guitar gently weeps by the way from loneliness due to unuse.
So it looks as if we will wake up Sunday morning with the home improvement momentum intact.
If Jeannette writes the next few Page 7 posts, you’ll know that I somehow went crazy (again) on garage sale day, and I am physically unable to write them.
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