I finally have a house — still just a house, not yet a home — and yet another contractor in my life. This one is Mike, who popped in to reconnoiter the hardwood floor project yesterday. But my to-do list is extending out beyond the horizon, starting with locating the post office and securing a key to my pigeon-hole in the community mailbox. Oh, and finding said mailbox …

The sellers of my house were landlords, not occupants, and the place shows the effects. First, it’s not clean — the kitchen drawers are full of crumbs, and the cupboard under the sink looks like a lab experiment. The deck out back is just awful, apparently innocent of maintenance for years and years. And the kitchen needs a complete re-think …

The dominant feature of the kitchen is a fancy-ass refrigerator with an ice-maker and cold water dispenser. I disapprove of such complications and would much rather have a plain-Jane fridge that doesn’t require plumbing. And the cabinets are builder-grade MDF designed by the mile and cut off by the yard, so there’s wasted space but not enough room for my stuff. And SIL No. 2 hates the dining room light fixture, which is a very large pendant in a room of modest proportions.

But first things first — floors and walls. Today I must track down Elias the painter, who has been visiting family in the old country, and buy a pack of toilet paper for the good of us all.