Perfectly Imperfect

I had a chores-y kind of weekend. 

*Yawn*

Not the most exciting report for a sunny, springlike pair of days. And I can't even claim a noble, interesting transformative project. Just a pile-up of routine errands, odds and ends that have accumulated over the weeks and months. Here are the contents of my shopping bag after one of several Home Depot runs and a brief run-down on how they were put to use.

a. New light bulb for the big paper star in my front window. The old one has been out for a few weeks and despite our sizable inventory of new light bulbs, I haven't had any replacements of this unusual size on hand.

b. Here's an annoying thing about paint. No matter how carefully you apply it, a few drops always end up in the wrong places. There have been a few rogue bits of paint on my front porch, and I've heard that Citristrip stripping gel will bust those spots off in no time. Hmm. The results, I'm sorry to say, were mixed.

c. Painter's tape in my brand of choice, to be used on the interior door to my library...

d. ...which is long overdue to be painted bright red on one side. Way back in October, when making over my home office, I decided to splash some color on the inside of the door. In order to do the job right, I decided to take the old girl off her hinges and paint her outside in the driveway, propped up on saw horses. Which requires reasonably warm temperatures. Which means I've had a long wait. Hoping that this weekend would finally break the 70 degree barrier, I finally pulled the trigger on buying the paint. But alas. On Sunday, it rained. Maybe next weekend.

e. Black and white spray paint. I usually keep a can of each on hand for touch-ups here and there, and as luck would have it, I happened to be out of both. This weekend, I used a bit of each new can. First, I took apart my doorbell and wanted to freshen the black bar that surrounds the actual bell button. Mission accomplished. And the white was used to successfully recoat the cans for the recessed porch lights. Sad truth - only just this moment, while glancing at this photo, I realized that I accidentally bought white primer. Oh. I meant to get a satin finish. Oops. 

f. I'll be honest. I've been dubious about these Magic Erasers for a long, long time. But my third-born bought one a few months back, and I'll be darned if that sucker doesn't clean everything to a shiny perfection. I'm in love, and since I now use Magic Erasers to freshen up everything under the sun, decided to invest in the multi-pack.

* * * * *

As  I ground my way through these chores, and an equally unpleasant list of more just like them, I thought a lot about the never-ending job of maintaining a home. When I bought my house, it was brand new and darn near perfect. But from the first day we moved in, our daily living has served to wear it down, break it in, and mess it up. 

I do my best to keep up. On many weekends like this one, I scrub and repaint and sand down and replace whatever needs fixing. It's a constant, on-going job and while I enjoy the battle, I know that the minute I complete one task and move on to the next, the inevitable decline and decay begin again. 

And while I am still highly motivated to fight the good homeowner's fight, I'm also reminded to slow down and enjoy my house exactly as it is.

Worn, loved, lived-in. Perfectly imperfect. Just like the people who live inside of it.

And that is good enough for me.

P.S. Here's how ol' Ranger spend his weekend - keeping an eye on me between catnaps in the warm sun. And of course, despite my demanding list of household chores, he got his usual walk, right on schedule. Sounds pretty perfect to me. 

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I love to clean. And I love to tell stories about cleaning. Wanna read some more?

You Were Expecting The Mona Lisa?

Gonna Fly Now

Fruits Of The Spirit: Peace

Brown Sugar

Garage-Cleaning Haiku

Workbench Inspiration

A Major Overhaul

A Major Pantry Overhaul
Cleaning Frenzy
Priorities