Don't Believe What You See On TV

I am one of those folks who could sit and watch HGTV and DIY channel forever. About the only shows on there that don't appeal to me are the home buying shows and the extreme homes. I love everything else--the designer challenges, gardening shows, makeovers, ready to sell redo's, etc.
The problem, however, is that I start to believe what I see. I begin to think that it only takes 30 minutes to redo a house, much less a room. And that's what gets me into trouble.

For instance, the other day, I wanted to accomplish a simple task--replace the plastic corner wall guard. The old one was cracked in several places and literally flapped every time you touched it. I found a new one at Home Depot and thought it would take about 10 minutes, tops, to replace. I looked at the old screws and got the correct screwdriver from the garage. But I soon found out that the screws only unscrew about 1/8 inch before you have to pry the rest out. (Apparently, that's how they're all made.) So I had to go back to the garage to get a flat-head screwdriver to use as leverage to pull the screws out. Then I had to get the stool, since I couldn't reach high enough for the top screws. The screws were in there very tightly, so it took even longer to get them out than I expected.

Once I got the old one off, I took it down to the garage where I prepared to cut the new one to match its length. Having been burned one too many times by cutting too short on wood, I was careful in my measurement and cut cautiously. Of course, when I went back upstairs, I realized that it was too long, so I traipsed back dowstairs to shave a bit more off.

Now that I finally had the thing cut to fit, I was ready to nail in the hammer screws. However, I realized that one reason the old guard had cracked was because at least two of the original holes (made by the previous homeowner) were too close to the edge of the guard. So I had to make new holes. That was accomplished easily enough with the screw and hammer, but I needed an extra pair of hands to hold the guard while I nailed. My teenaged daughter came to the rescue, and after several more minutes, I finally had the guard installed.

When I was done, I realized that the task had taken nearly 45 minutes instead of the 10 minutes I had anticipated. Plus, I was hot and sweaty from running up and down the stairs and sawing in the unairconditioned garage.

So the next time you see the everyday homeowner repair something on TV quickly and effortlessly, don't believe it. Just nod and say:

"Wow, that video editor did a great job!"