Birthday wishes granted!

You have only to glance around my house for five seconds to find something beautiful that Amanda created. Or something she installed or repaired or assembled. From the floating shelves in my living room to the three TVs (one on each level of my house) to my treadmill in the basement, Amanda has basically set up my entire house. I should point out that some of these tasks required more than one set of hands, and she's had fabulous help from Eli or Shulamith or both! But she is the brain behind the projects always.

Last October, as my birthday approached, she asked if instead of a traditional present, I would like her to set aside a day to come over and do all my home projects that have piled up.

Uh, yes!

I began my "birthday wishes" list immediately. The chaos of life left us struggling to schedule this day for nearly six months, but that just gave me more time to grow my list of projects. We finally made it happen this past Saturday. Eli works Saturdays, so Shulamith and I took Jane out shopping, giving Amanda uninterrupted time at my house. The results were amazing. She completed every item on my list in record time. Let me just tell you all the stuff she did:

1. Put WD-40 on my garage door opener, so it no longer sounds like someone is dying a slow and painful death every time it cycles.

2. Replaced the battery in my garage door remote, so I can once again open my garage door from my car. (I know what you're thinking: "Can't she even replace a simple battery?" No, I can't. Not this one anyway. If you'd like to know more about my woefully limited skillset, read this.)

3. Painted the red scuffs on the garage rim, from a mishap with a red car backing out.

4. Touched up the navy blue paint scratches on all my kitchen cabinets. If you want to see how beautiful they look, check out the photo above.

5. Added two bags of salt to my water softener. Yes, I can do this myself, and I have, but I really don't like to.

6. Touched up interior paint on scrapes and scratches on walls and baseboards throughout all three levels of the house.

7. Tightened all loose doorknobs.

8. Set up my beautiful, new smart monitor that Gerald gave me for Christmas.

9. Tightened screws on my workout bench so it doesn't wobble.

10. Hung picture in basement. (I'm trying to get my basement to be more homey and inviting, and this was a great start.)

11. Attached my new(ish) Smart Number bed to my old headboard. This was a complicated process, which I don't even understand, but it's done, so hooray!

Everywhere I look, there is something she did, and it all makes me very happy. Everyone should have an Amanda in their life, but you'll have to find your own. This one is mine.