I saved some of my Christmas cash, and I’m trying to decide what I want to do with it.
Although I appreciate getting money as a gift, it’s also a dilemma for an indecisive person. I usually think of 100 things I can use it for, and I don’t do anything.
Maybe because it’s spring, I’m thinking of all kinds of home projects I could do. And by that, I mean my husband or someone I hire.
I got out a notebook and sat on the couch next to my husband and the cat. I told my husband that I was going to make a list of projects.
“I can’t think of anything that needs to be done,” my husband said. He’s a funny man.
Well, I can. I look for flaws every time I walk through the house or outside.
My list started in the living room.
• New light fixture. I’m over the ceiling fan with the too-dim light fixture. I’m thinking bright and modern.
• New lamps for the table behind the couch, so I can see better to read. The theme here is more light!
• Fix the fireplace leak. We had a Tupperware container on the hearth during the recent monsoons to catch the dripping water. Our gas logs are soaked. We had a chimney guy come once before, and he improved the situation. “It only leaks when it comes a really hard rain,” my husband said. Oh, well, in that case. And I caught the cat drinking the chimney water.
• Repaint the fireplace mantel. That wouldn’t take much of my money because paint is cheap, and so is my husband’s labor. He painted the mantel years ago, covering the ’90s green faux marble with black paint, but it’s chipping.
• Paint the spots on the ceiling over the mantel where the roof leaked YEARS ago. I have brought this up 7,972 times. My husband even sheepishly offered this idea for my list. That doesn’t even have to come out of my cash.
• A new couch might be nice, but that’s my Christmas cash plus a bank loan. I love my red couch. However, when it was nice and new, I baby-sat a cat for a weekend. Her claws were not kind to the material. Neither is the chocolate I drop from my nearly nightly ice cream bar.
• Update my kitchen cabinets with a glaze, paint or whatever the latest trend is. But, really, I spend so little time in the kitchen — would it be worth it?
• Repair the crack in the sidewalk that leads to my front door. It was patched with white caulk that was supposed to “blend in.” That wouldn’t be a fun use of my money, but it would stop me from obsessing about it every time I see it.
• Get new outside light fixtures to replace the original ones that are on the house. Do I really care that much? Nah.
• Spruce up our patio with new furniture and plants, or at least spray-paint the old wrought-iron set.
• Redecorate what I call the John/Kennedy room. It’s my older son, John’s, former bedroom. He is the daddy of my precious granddaughter,
Kennedy. The room is a hodgepodge. It’s my husband’s office, so it has a desk and computer; it’s Kennedy’s room, so it has a crib and toys; it’s John’s old bedroom, so it has duck stuff and his old furniture. It would be a challenge for the best HGTV decorator, much less me. I think I’ll just keep the door closed.
Or, I could just use my money for a weekend getaway with my husband. But that means I’d have to decide where to go.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.