Maggie's tales of working on the city house and the country house have inspired me to put my derriere in gear (almost rhymes).

The big light in the kitchen, the one that floods the whole room with light, has been out ever since the ballast died. I decided not to replace the ballast, but to take the whole ugly fixture down and put up a new one.

That was three months ago. I have good night vision, so I wasn't particularly bothered by the dimness partially alleviated by the little light over the sink--but really, the work needed to be done.

So today I took down the old fixture, patched the holes, and in the afternoon sanded the patches and put on the first coat of paint. The ceiling was painted recently, so the color matches nicely.

Tomorrow the installation of the new light. There. That's done.

I also have been fretting about the heat in the second storey of the house. It gets very warm up here in my half of the house, because the insulation that was blown in 20 years ago is virtually non existent by now.

So I called the insulation guys--they use a "green" insulation nowadays, which is not fibreglass--and had the work done. They happened to be in the neighborhood, and came right after lunch. It only took 30 minutes and then they cleaned up and left.

Right now there is a noticeable improvement in the ambient temperature without any fan or a/c required. Though in a few minutes I'm going to turn on the overhead fan for comfort.

Thank you, Maggie, for the inspiration! Today the light fixture, tomorrow...who knows?