A Goal for the Summer

Well, now that Katie is graduated and homeschooling Tim will be a more occasional than daily event, life is quieting down a lot in general. Still, there is much to do of a less urgent nature, and I am resolving to do one nagging project (the project is nagging, not me!) per day. Yesterday, I replaced the kitchen faucet. The old one had an extra fountain coming out the side, because the housing had started cracking more than a year ago. First it was a nearly invisible stream, and I bought the replacement intending to replace it soon afterward. But there was never the right day that we had the ability to stay on task and attend to nothing else but run errands to Home Depot for yet one more unanticipated part or tool.
Good thing, too. I never would have anticipated the three trips I made, or how hard it was to get the old faucet off! Since there was one nut that would NOT unscrew (un-nut?) from the pipe to the old faucet, finally after trying with a jig saw, I got it off with a reciprocating saw. It lets out a really gratifying sound that is just right for the really aggravated home fix-it person. I also use this saw for pruning our trees, so it is a pretty big-scale saw. Did the job. So after a day pretty well devoted to this faucet I got it replaced and felt pretty good about it. Can you tell?
So today, second in the series...I was going to hang a curtain that I finally finished about 6 months back and haven't had time to iron and then hang in the front window of our living room--what, a 20 minute project? Exactly. Instead, though, I started realizing how many plants we had outside that were waiting to be planted--one large maple tree, one tiny snowball tree, and a few other things--plus three I promised to plant for Stacia. So after a few hours, I had accomplished digging the holes, placing the plants, replanting one because the place wasn't right, and watering them afterward. Also replanted some ferns and foxgloves that would be destroyed when we get our siding done later this summer. Pretty rewarding to get it all done, but whew! I was exhausted. Went in to make spaghetti (one of the easiest dinners in existence) afterward, and could hardly peel a clove of garlic; felt like I was 80 years old fiddling with the thing.
Maybe tomorrow I'll hang the curtain. Not tonight. Still, I feel I'm on a roll. Wha-ha! Only 4 billion projects to go.