When the Decorating Bug Hits Quickly and Leaves Just as Suddenly

I am one of those hapless people who walk into Home Depot and catch the decorating bug. I want to paint the whole house new colors, clean out the cupboards, add new lining paper, and replant the garden. I can think of a hundred new DIY projects and spend accordingly. I am the kind of customer they love to entice with irresistible displays of what a beautiful house, inside and outside, can be.

I buy all that I need to do the job properly, meaning new screws, tacks, and nails for repairs, paint, and plants. I get home and start with enthusiasm and visions of beauty in my head. But after taking everything apart, emptying all of the food in the cupboard, or pulling up the old plants, the bug I caught at the store goes just as suddenly and leaves my home looking like it was hit by a landslide. Then, I must call for help and take twice as long to finish jobs, with no upside. The place either goes back to the original design, which is quicker to resolve, or it looks worse, and we really have to spend more money to return it to its original state.

You can catch the decorating but can’t throw it off by wishing. So, ignore the siren song of DIY that calls to us in stores like Home Depot and causes us to lose our minds. Take that money to the nearest museum or garden and be entertained by the sights to your heart’s desire, knowing that you don’t have to do anything but enjoy. Can anyone relate?

Written for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday by Linda G. Hill, which requires using some form of a word that starts with “hap,” and for the Saturday Mix, Riddle This, from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie for August 24, 2024. The riddle is What can you catch, but not throw? Fandango One Word Challenge prompt is Outside. Ragtag Daily Prompt is Landslide. The Daily Spur prompt is Customer.