I have a personality flaw that is driving me crazy.
Nurse Judy, my judgmental alter-ego, explodes with laughter at this announcement. She believes I have thousands of character flaws.
Her assessment does not bother me. I believe that what she considers personality weaknesses are merely my practicality as opposed to her utter self-involvement and self-indulgence.
Still, this one flaw of mine does not fit in with my practical views. This flaw makes me a totally house-proud individual.
It wouldn’t be so bad if I just had a nice home and was content with it. That is not how it is.
Every waking hour, I see things that I want to improve.
A little project turns into bigger and bigger projects.
Take my kitchen as an example.
I didn’t have a pantry and although I had lots of cupboards, I had to have a pantry. I turned a broom closet into a pantry and moved the broom closet into the laundry room.
The kitchen cupboards needed something so I had them refaced. I saw my sister- in-law’s rolling shelves and, of course, I had to have some.
I had six sliding drawers installed in the kitchen. They were great so I didn’t stop. I had two put in the powder room, one in the dressing room and one in the master bath.
My kitchen still didn’t satisfy me.
I needed a bigger island for company.
I had a beautiful new larger island installed. That made the floor look shabby. New flooring was put down.
I did not replace my old red countertops because I was fond of them. Now I would like to replace the backsplash but don’t know if I can without tearing out the old countertops.
While, I worry about this, I do see that the new flooring looks great so I decide to put new flooring in the guest room and in my dressing room.
The improvements that have been done please me, but I notice how the new floor- ing makes the carpet in the master bedroom and in the great room look dated.
I really can’t afford redoing them at this time because these two rooms are huge. I wish I could stop fussing about them.
Nurse Judy is delighted by my plight.
“You complain about the money I spend on my upkeep,” she says, “but it is nothing compared to what you spend on this house.”
I want to tell her that the house is holding up better with its improvements than she is with hers, but I keep it to myself.
I don’t want to start a quarrel at a time when I need my energy to figure out if I can win enough money at Bingo to pay for what I want.
“You complain about me costing you so much,” she continues, “but you are the same way. You go around looking like a frump but you always want to spend money too — just on different things.”
I’m quiet for a moment. She has a point.
Finally, I say, “I guess it’s only natural. After all, we do share the same DNA.” I guess I may be a little more like Nurse Judy than I care to admit.
More Later,