Challenges

When I thought of living alone in the past I had no idea what that meant. I still don't, but I'm learning . . . in a crash course!

Today I put a new closer on the storm door. It is a really, really simple job. But it took me about 3 hours. For starters, I couldn't remove the old one because of the location of two of the screws. To reach them I needed an extension for the power drill and I couldn't find it anywhere. I've considered the possibility that either my son-in-law or my brother inadvertently took it when they left. All 3 of us had power drills going, and I don't know if they used it or not, but I was rather meticulous about putting things away after using them. the few things that were not put away immediately were located and stored shortly after they left because I feared losing something.

When I couldn't find it, I tried a plain old screwdriver, but that was a loss. The screws were so tightly in that the screwdriver broke. Probably wasn't a very good one, anyway, but still . . .

So I made another trip to Lowe's. It's becoming a daily event. I got 2 new extensions of different lengths, an inexpensive tool box for my "in the house" tools, a can of paint for the basement stairs and a couple other small things. I picked out a small rechargeable power screwdriver to replace the ones that my husband left me since neither of them works now. The one I picked out from those on the display felt good in my hand and seemed to have enough power for my use. I couldn't find one in the box, so a sales associate tried to help me find one. Can you guess? Right, the display was the only one in the store and the charger for it was nowhere to be found. grumble, grumble, grumble. OK. I don't HAVE to have it now. I can do that later.

Back home the new extension did it's work, and in just a few minutes, I was done, including having to drill new holes in the door jamb. E-x-c-e-p-t . . . . sigh. The 2 screws that hold it to the door itself were too long. I spent about an hour searching through boxes and cans of screws and bolts until I finally found 2 that were short enough and wide enough to work. Then, less that 90 seconds and I was done.

Now, I ask you, should anything be as difficult as my last 2 days have been? Nah. But if I put on my philosophical hat, I know that I'm learning, really LEARNING when things happen this way. And there is nothing lost. The time? No, even that isn't a waste, because the end result of it all is that my jobs, the mowing and the door repair, both got done, I have some new knowledge and skills, and life is still good. I look forward to lots more days like these. As long as I can think and problem solve, bring on the challenges!

Have a good week, everyone!