Like a good neighbor

I've been mulching. I'm really not exactly sure why, but it seems to be the neighborly thing to do. My neighbors, C and R, are very industrious with home maintenance, and they reward good behavior (MINE) when I show inklings of industriousness too!

I think it's because C and R are retired educators. You learn about positive reinforcement in teacher school, right?

So we split a truckload of mulch that was delivered yesterday. Because they are both retired, they had distributed most of their half during the day. I shoveled and carted and spread most of mine last night after work and like a ding-dong, didn't go out in the cool morning like I'd planned to finish the job. Oh no. I much prefer to go out in the sweatiest part of the day so that I have to take breaks every 4 minutes and feel like I'm going to pass out. Because Saturday mornings are for lounging in bed with coffee and books and a cat nestled by my side.

Last night's reward was a gin and tonic. I don't think I've had a gin and tonic since ... sometime in college maybe? I am detecting a pattern, though, with the rewards.

Like a few weeks ago I finally decided to trim the shrubberies. They were getting quite ridiculous so one evening after work I decided to spend a couple of hours trimming. I was doing just fine until I nicked the extension cord with the trimmers. Oops. But before I did that, C came out and jubilantly handed me an ice cold Killian's Red. I'm not really a beer drinker, but that was the best beer I've had ever. Then a few days later I finished the job, filling about seven yard waste bags and two barrels with clippings. I think perhaps I did not trim last year? Yikes. I seem to recall really scalping the shrubberies the year before so I took a year off. Yeah, that's it. My reward the night I finished the trimming was going out for ice cream!

Hey! I should do this home maintenance stuff more often!

Come to think of it ... following other rare episodes of my trimming, raking, painting and other similar activities, I've been treated to root beer floats, Coney dogs, wine, macaroni and cheese, more wine, ice cream ... yes, there's definitely a pattern.

The big project I need to do this summer - besides cleaning up and selling Dad's house - is painting the exterior of my house. C and R are VERY excited about the prospect of me doing this. Especially the side that faces their house. And especially if I hire their artist son to do part of the job. So I'm planning to go get the paint this weekend. And maybe do the prep work on an "easy" area like the front porch so I can feel like I've accomplished something. And maybe, just maybe, I'll even paint a little there, too. I guess my first step is to do some measurements so I can figure out how much paint to buy. And, um, drag myself up off the sofa. Maybe I should do that first.

I'm kind of excited that I'm finally getting to this rather monumental (or at least it is to me) project - it's one I'd put on the five-year list, even though it could have used it when we first moved here. Other projects were prioritized ahead of this one. So technically, I'm on schedule, and I have done little bits of the painting - like the front of the garage and the trim around one bank of windows and the entryway. But when I talk about taking actual steps toward doing this painting thing, you cannot imagine the JOY on the neighbors' faces. It's pretty peely in (lots of) places, but I didn't really think it was that bad.

All righty then. I guess I'd better muster up the energy to get back out there and finish spreading the mulch so I can move on to ... something else.

Wish me luck!