If I Had A Hammer

- Peter, Paul and Mary

The renovations continue my friends. This weekend we’re supposed to begin the painting of our basement...finally! You’d think after having moved in 7 months ago that the painting and renovations would have come to an end by now, but alas, I must regrettably admit that we are not even halfway through....

When we first moved in, the prospect of doing renovations was so exciting, after all, I had been looking forward to this for years. It would finally be my turn to "makeover" my space. Years of watching Trading Spaces, Debbie Travis and a slew of HGTV shows had me primed and trained, ready to tackle any project. Ad to that the fact that having grown up with do-it-yourselfer parents, I was very gung-ho at the idea of sanding, painting, nailing, screwing, hammering, staining and drywalling my way to my house beautiful. But now, as the dust (from all my sanding) has settled into every nook and cranny of my home, as I rinse the grittiness of it from my mouth, I realize that I have become obsessed/addicted with renovating my home. I look ahead beyond the completion of the project at hand, and see projects lined up for years to come. Walking into a home hardware store is like walking into a treasure vault. I walk up and down the aisles, admiring the glint of hardware as they reflect like jewels under the dingy industrial lamps in the store. The whiff of lumber tickles my senses (I swear I must have been a beaver in a former life), the rainbow of colors at the paint department both confuse and excite my retinas, while the rows and rows of powertools beckon to me...BUY ME they chant...

Last year, on the day that we passed from the notary’s office to finalize the purchase of the house, Pegs had invited us over for supper afterwards. She told me something that day which has completely come true...She said, and I quote "Now that you have a mortgage, you'll never again be tempted to buy a gorgeous Lejaby $100 bra... because you'll opt for the electric drill... or circular saw instead!!!"

Man was she right about that...I go to the mall to buy clothes and for each dollar I spend I think about how I could have spent it buying crown molding or something to that effect....I have to curb this obsession of mine or else I’ll become one of those people that are perpetually in renovation. Those people that have learnt to live with the dust that lightly covers all their china, that have electrical wires peeking out of cutout holes in the walls and ceilings, floorboards and moldings missing, dropcloths strewn across the floors....hmm, now that I think of it, it sounds exactly like our place. We gotta get a move-on. Watch out Debbie Travis, there’s a new girl in town!