Okay, I understand that most Americans are out having a great weekend. I could have been in Alabama right now with a little more planning and a willingness to lay out the money. But here I am sitting in Dallas on Saturday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend. I'm going to dust and vacuum today. I'll probably mop a few floors and do a couple loads of laundry then my housework will be complete. All of that will take a total of 2 hours. So how do I spend the balance of my Memorial Day weekend?
It's really overcast so it's a pretty crappy day to be at the pool. At about 6 last night I discovered that there isn't going to be a thing on TV all weekend that I care about watching. So that's out. Last night I actually turned everything off downstairs at 7:35 and headed upstairs to read. I was bored with my book by 9. Then I watched the Rangers game.... I can't deal with a weekend like this. The problem that I'm facing is that when I have an extended period of time with absolutely nothing to do, it generally costs me a LOT of money. We've talked about the Target Phenomenon before.... You know that's where I go to Target to get a package of trashbags and walk out after spending $150 on everything from electronics to yogurt. It's impossible for me to walk into Target without spending at least $100.
This is the Holiday Weekend Phenomenon.... I'm not sure how it will go. Knowing what I am facing could be a good thing. It could result in me directing my spending and/or energies toward things that I need to spend and/or work on. Or I could just go nuts and get on line and have UPS trucks lined up at my house in 5-7 business days with everything from Life is Good apparel to live Maine Lobster.
Seriously, yesterday there was a Living Social with fresh fish and crustaceans from various parts of the country that they will deliver to your home..... Greatness! But they sort of lost me because they were featuring Maryland Blue Crabs. My Dad has a theory that Maryland orders crabs from the Texas Gulf coast and has them shipped there and then they call them Maryland Blue Crabs. Now maybe that is just my Dad's 70 - something Texan thinking. Or maybe he's on to something. But either way, Dad and I have been talking about going crabbing this summer and with that in mind, I figure I can get fresher blue crabs here. So, why pay to have them shipped from Maryland. Even if Dad and I don't go crabbing this summer, I can always jump in the car and head down I-45. Before I get to Houston I'll start seeing old beat up pick up trucks lined up in parking lots along the interstate selling shrimp and crabs that were probably caught within the last 24 hours. Plus, I'd get to stop at Buck-ees... Ummmm... can you say win - win?
So, getting back to directing my energies and spending..... I still have a lot of work to do around this house. I have re-floored the upstairs but no painting has been done up there. Additionally, I have painted the kitchen and breakfast room. But I still need to complete some touch up work in there and then I need to paint the rest of downstairs. I also need a new storm door for the front door and I'd like to replace my sliding glass door with french doors. So, with just a little concentration, I could spend a pretty penny in this house. But every bit of that requires effort on my part. And THAT'S where I run into a problem. Of course, it would insure that I don't get bored again all summer. But the downside is that I won't get bored again all summer..... know what I mean?
I've been kicking this painting thing around for months. I have very high ceilings. Downstairs in spots they are about 20 feet high. I had this little issue right after I bought my condo where the flue on the gas fireplace was not adjusted properly. The gas fireplace creates black smoke and that black smoke was coming back into the house for the entire first winter I lived here. Not all of it, not enough to kill me, just enough to create a black film over everything including the white popcorn ceilings. So, I've always had ceilings that were in desperate need of painting. So, what I've been thinking about doing is hiring a handy man to do all of the cutting in on both the ceilings and walls. Then I can do the rolling using my trusty telescopic pole that I bought when I moved in here. I'm thinking handy man as opposed to a painter because I discovered with the painter that I have used in the past that they are loyal to particular brands of paint and they probably won't use the paint that I have already picked out and fallen in love with.
So, that's what I am facing this Memorial Day Weekend. Either spend a crap load of money on my house and create projects for myself that will last all summer or start doing boredom spending and throw away money on crap I don't need..... Maybe I'll run to Target for some trashbags......
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