Famous Last Words

What do the following things have in common?
- Hanging curtains in the living room and bedroom
- Caulking the baseboard and trim
- Cleaning out the garage
- Replacing the handrail on the stairway
- Assembling my contractor-style tablesaw
- Putting away the Christmas decorations
- Installing the bedroom ceiling fan

In each and every case, just as soon as I finished up the project, I turned to my wife and said, "Huh... that didn't take as long as I thought it would!"

And every time I say it, her response is something like, "You say that every time!"

I know I do! I can't stop myself! I've even realized I'm thinking it as I'm finishing up and I'll make a conscious effort to NOT say that line.

But it never fails. The last few times I've even made the dramatic gesture of slapping my hand over my mouth right as I finished the last word.

(I wouldn't recommend doing that, by the way. It just makes you look even more foolish.)

Unfortunately, that statement also opens me up for the "Why didn't you do it sooner, then?" conversation. I HATE that one - mostly because it highlights my amazing ability of procrastination. I can hit a deadline for someone else with no problem, but when it's a personal project, I can put it off like none other!

Well, that is excepting my mom and her taxes. From January through April, my mom is notoriously unavailable for any extraneous activities because she is busy "doing bookkeeping," whatever that means. I've come to the conclusion it mostly just means getting prepared to file her extension.

I'm happy to say that is one thing I am ALWAYS on top of every year. I like to have it completely done by the first of March. We're a little behind this year; we didn't get our Federal refund until just this past Monday. (Yeah, that's a gloat...)

I will relish these next five weeks. Every time I talk to my mom on the phone, I'll be sure to toss in an off-handed comment about how much easier life is when you aren't worrying about deadlines or what we're going to update in the house now that we have a little bit of expendable (spendable?) money.

I still hate walking down the stairs. It is a constant reminder I haven't replaced the cap board yet.

What really bugs me, though, is once I finally do get it done I know I'll say, "Huh... that didn't take as long as I thought it would!"