Home Improvement In The Time Of Covid-19

[HarveyBoulevard]

Ever since this lockdown here in Southern California has taken over, my family and I have had a lot of time at home…a lot.  I will say that I have enjoyed staying at home and all the projects and to-do’s that have been put off for months or years are starting to get checked off the list. 

I have managed to build a playground for my kids.  That took 9 hours on a Saturday and 8 hours on a Sunday to complete.  That has been a godsend.  It is great being able to throw the kids outside and get some quiet time.  The kid’s have enjoyed it as much as I have, I’d wager.

I had started to build a raised bed garden last spring and managed to get 4 8ftx4ft boxes built and at least one of them full of soil.  They have languished ever since.  I have now managed to finish another 4 similarly sized beds and even got them full of dirt this time.  We now have 256 square feet of easily accessible garden with all manner of vegetables planted along with a couple of fruit trees and some berry bushes.  We actually ate our first harvested green bell pepper the other day!!  It was wonderful and it was such a sense of pride and accomplishment.

We have reorganized the garage, sorted all the clothes in the house (those with little kids will understand how fast they grow), cleaned all the baseboards, etc. etc. and so forth and so on…

The one item my wife has been bugging me about for years was a tiny spot of missing grout in the kitchen.  It has stared at both of us while we do the dishes…

Last Saturday as I was making my 17^th run to our local Lowes (hardware store/garden store/home store), she yelled out “Don’t forget to get me some caulk”!!   I chuckled a bit and asked her did she want, white caulk, black caulk, or somewhere in between?  She said “don’t be stupid…I need white caulk.”  I asked her did she need a little white caulk or a lot of white caulk and she said “I just need a little white caulk to do the job.”  I snickered again under my breath and walked out the door. 

When I got home, my hands were full so as I walked into the kitchen, I told her there was a little white caulk in my front pocket if she wanted to grab it.  She obliged without a word and extricated the tube of grout from my pocket.  At this point I could barely contain my inner laughter but I was having too much fun and was just waiting for the moment of recognition from my wife.  So, I waited…and I waited…and I waited some more.  Nothing. 

I put all my stuff down and walked over to the sink where my wife was holding the little white tube of sealant when she asked, “how to you get the stuff inside out of the tube without making a mess?”  I nearly lost it…but did not.  I simply said, take a blade and slice off the tip.  Just a bit off the tip at a 45-degree angle.  After a bit of fiddling, she handed me the tube and asked me to cut it off and so I did.  I handed her the tube back and walked away to finish unloading my truck. 

As I walked in from the garage and into the kitchen, she yells out “I am having a hard time with this caulk!!  I am getting stuff everywhere.  At this point I am sure she is just yanking my chain but no, she is as serious as a heart attack!  Doing my best to control my emotions, I tell her to just put it down and I take care of it.  She evidently didn’t like that I was questioning her abilities and that I was about to take over when she blurted out “what are you, some kind of caulk expert?...You handle a lot of caulk?

I started smiling like the Cheshire Cat as the wave of realization washed over her…I could see her recounting all the caulk related questions she had asked and answered…her face was even more priceless than usual.  We had a good chuckle

Life is about the small things, enjoy them!!

 

[Bri Fi]

Next time cut a hole in your pocket. Problem solved.