Weekend plans

It is one of my charming (or annoying, depends on how you look at it) little tics that I have to be given ample warning time for any task that I may find unpleasant. Seeing as I'm not always the most ambitious person around, these tasks can cover a pretty wide area. However, the early warning system usually boils down to home improvement chores or moving furniture.

If Carrie wakes up in the morning and suddenly decides we are moving the bedroom into another room and moving the living room into the bedroom (as has been known to happen) it can bring on waves of sullenness and childish tantrums that are just plain embarrassing to witness in a 36-year-old man. And I know that. But it still won't stop me from sulking like a three-year-old. Moving furniture sucks!

Other tasks likely to set me off include heavy-duty spring cleaning (which usually involves the switching around of wardrobes and the moving of items into and out of the basement) and painting. Honestly, I wouldn't mind painting so much if it didn't also involve the moving of furniture.

So for the coming weekend, I have been given ample forewarning. We are painting both the bedroom and the bathroom. I have know this for weeks, so I have been trying extra hard to grin and bear it whenever the subject comes up. Sure, hon, painting, it won't be so bad.

Unfortunately for me, I have also been put in charge of taking in the garden on the front porch this weekend. This consists of finding a way to empty out 15 tomato plants that are in large pots along with at least that many flower and herb pots. Since we live on the second floor, and our new neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate me dumping all of the soil from all of the pots over the railing of our porch, that means I will have to find a place to deposit the dirt and a way to deposit it in said location. And I will have to bring all 30 or so pots down to the basement. So far, I am being a trooper and only sulking to myself about this, since I am told that the pots cannot be left outside to crack and break during the winter.

Fortunately for Carrie, I am also cheap, so the prospect of hundreds of dollars worth of tomato and herb pots biting the dust doesn't sit well with me, either.

So that's pretty much what I've got planned for the weekend. I'm just praying that we can at least ignore putting my summer clothes away for another week.