Lowe's

Ahh, Lowe's. How I love you. And yet I hate you at the same time. Whenever we're in the middle of a project and we realize, oops! We forgot to get putty to fill the nail holes. Or we need one of those door stopper things. Or we bought the wrong kind of light switches. I'm the first to volunteer.

I show up with paint all over my hands (and nose, thanks Brett for pointing that one out to me after it was too late), list in hand, ready to pick up that one item. And I just get sucked in. I push my giant cart up and down the aisles, gazing at the way too expensive stainless steel, freezer on the bottom refrigerators (sigh), the beautiful vessel sinks, and the lovely kitchen displays. Oh how I love to dream about what our house would look like with an unlimited pass to Lowe's.

Then, I go to get light switches and I'm slapped in the face by the $19 price tag on a single dimmer switch. Sorry to disappoint, but our only choices for lights are going to be on or off.

When it comes to weekends like this one was, when I've been to Lowe's three times in 36 hours, when for once I just want to get the damn switches and get home, that's when I don't love it. I'm no longer in my homeowner dream world when I've got a stiff neck and a sore back, and a headache from sleeping with paint fumes for two days.

This is the reality of home ownership. It may not be all sunshine and lollipops. But now that I'm back to work and can't wait to get home and look at my paint job, and my new white switches and outlets, it's pretty nice after all.