Bought a home project book at Half-Price books yesterday, and suddenly I have twenty new things I want to do with my home. Since my summer financial outlook is so grim I might as well work on these things, and get something tangible from my vacation.

My Number One Goal is to finish the wallpaper/bookcase project. I have nine shelves left, and I'm going to try to wrap it up tonight. I keep starting, and stopping, and moving on to something else. It's a real pain, and I want to FINISH it so I can move on to other projects.

Other projects like the kitchen back splash. And I have an overwhelming urge to paint my bar stools. I need to hire someone to do something about the leak over the front porch, and to clean my gutters. There's also that small tree my neighbor complains about, and that other tree that's interfering with the electric lines. I guess I need to call a tree removal company about those.

And I need to hold a garage sale. It's time to face reality -- I am never going to get my Haywood-Wakefield sofa reupholstered. Ditto the wonderful club chair I took off Rachel's hands. I have a twin bed I need to sell, four file cabinets, and several boxes of Rachel's things in the garage. I need to call Rachel and have her move her stuff out of my house, once and for all.

I'm holding off on a lot of changes, specifically to the guest bedroom and the bathroom, because there is a slim, slim, slim chance that everything is about to change. My favorite uncle died this spring, leaving two adult sons behind. The younger son, B, is capable of taking care of himself, but the oldest son J is slightly autistic. J needs someone to help monitor his diet, socialize him a little, watch his finances, drive him to church and the doctor, and generally look out for his well-being. On top of the autism, J has diabetes, and lost one of his lower legs to infection a few years ago. There is a super-slim chance that J will move in with me. It's so slim that I don't even want to write about it, except to say if he does then I'll have to get the bathroom remodeled so it's accessible.

I'm going to pretend he's moving in for a while, so I can motivate myself to do something about the guest bedroom. I'm going to install Outlook again, get R's number out of my backup, and give her a call. I want her stuff OUT of my home. NOW.