Day 1494: Railing

Nothing happened.

Nothing bad, anyway. I’m just having a weird, overwhelmed kind of day today, and I guess it’s making me a little bit grumpy.

I burned the brussels sprouts to a crisp, which could have been delicious if they’d only been mildly singed (I was thinking we could separate the leaves and turn them into brussels chips.) But they were dessicated and kind of bitter, so I heated up some frozen peas at the last minute. On an unrelated upside, some of my kids who don’t normally eat grilled chicken breast ate (and enjoyed) it tonight with great gusto.

Earlier today I took Mr. December out to the front porch and explained what I felt we should do next to rehabilitate it (new railing, re-coat with the stone coating because the primer is showing through, etc.) “I don’t think we need to replace the railing,” he said with a straight face, while swinging the end of said railing back and forth because it’s so rusted through that the post isn’t even attached to the ground anymore. “Just drive a stake into the ground beside the bottom step and tether the railing to that. Problem solved.”

I pointed out that his solution was ugly and that I was hoping to make our house look less neglected, not more; he looked out at the un-mown front lawn (full of beautiful violas and dandelions and forget-me-nots) and said, “Yeah, a new railing is really going to make people think our house looks well-tended.”

I guess he has a point—but I’m still replacing the railing one of these days.