Railing Is Painted

I almost fainted with joy when I saw John painting my railing yesterday because I thought he'd finished working for the day. The porch has been smoothed over with some sort of concrete which hides the dips and dives of time and Dean's nails and, now that the railing is painted, it looks almost like a decent entrance. I can't wait to see the porch and steps with their nice new finished coating!

It was a lot cheaper to have work done on the house when Dennis was alive but I've found that handymen are a lot cheerier doing the work. Maybe it's because they get paid in cash. Anyway, I've really got to stop telling people about my new handyman because he'll end up being too busy to work for ME! I'm already looking around the house for odd jobs that I'd like done for fear I'll lose him before my nest has been spruced up to my satisfaction.

I'm trying to get as much work as I can afford done on the house before I have to buy a new car next year but people keep telling me I'm stupid to get rid of my 2001 Honda Accord. Even mechanics tell me that I can get many more years out of it but I'm afraid to keep driving an old car to Florida. That is the only reason I'd buy another car. Now I'm wondering if I should.

I keep thinking that the car will one day unexpectedly just die on me, possibly when I'm 1200 miles from home, but Cindy said I'll probably experience small problems at first. This car has been darned reliable and it's really still a cute little car. I think I'll take it in the spring to Cindy's mechanic (soon to be my new mechanic) and ask him his opinion and let that make the decision for me. Okay, problem solved for the time being!

Being a widow means I have to make too darned many decisions all by myself and it's something I hate doing...at least all of the time. I learned pretty quickly that a widow needs to find honest and fair people to deal with and also to ask lots of questions before making any decision. I'm very lucky to have good family and friends to take my questions to.

Speaking of which...I've been wanting to do something with my main floor bathroom but couldn't make up my mind just what to do. I'd thought of painting over the cedar slats that are on 2 walls but it's often not a good idea to paint over wood. Donna was over on Tuesday for our Swedish weaving and she made a very good suggestion. Why not leave the wood and take down the wallpaper that is on one wall and paint that wall? It's something I hadn't even thought about but now has me very interested. I'll go to Home Depot tomorrow and bring home some color samples.

Someone should try to analyze why a woman feels so euphoric when her nest is being improved. And husbands should learn that the way to a woman's heart is by home improvement!