Lazy Productivity

9.  ✅  Reseed the bare patch in the front yard. Because we had a torrential downpour and severe thunderstorm this afternoon I ended up doing most of this work in the dark after the kids were asleep. Fortunately there was enough light for me to see from all of the illegal fireworks being launched all around my neighborhood. I used a garden hoe to scrape up the top layer of soil to completely eradicate any trace of the invasive weed patch that had been taking shape there. I then filled the void with a mixture of topsoil, potting soil, grass seed, and fertilizer before raking it out and tamping it down. Hopefully this patch will eventually be rejuvenated. We'll find out in a few weeks.

 I did the math (correctly, I think) and this is day 81. I know I haven't posted in forever, and I haven't been sitting around doing nothing all this time. But with birthdays, rejoining society, and other such things, I haven't really had much time to document things. Right now my progress is right around 30 completed and a handful more tasks in progress out of about 75. 43.  ✅  Hose and mop the garage. I didn't need to do much. It had been forever since we had a good snowstorm, and most of the salt had already been worn away. So I just wept up and used the shop vac to clean up the corners and gaps. 65.  ✅  Fix the leaky sprinkler line. I discovered this minor leak when I opened up the sprinklers for the season. Fortunately it was just a slight drip in one of the drip line hoses. The other good thing was that it was relatively close to where I needed to spice the line in order to run moisture to the front flower bed anyway. So I just cut the line where the leak ...

I did some stuff today and checked off some items from my list. In addition to these things, I also mowed the lawn, was an e-learning instructor for a 3rd grader and kindergartner, and worked out. 26.  ⚠️  Try to repair the warped deck planks. As luck would have it, the recent string of thunderstorms and heavy downpours did the trick and provided enough moisture so that the planks flattened themselves out when the thermometer hit 80 the other day. I still have work to do; retreating the lumber will help prevent this from happening in the future. I guess I'll add that to the list. 60.  ✅ Set up the dining room air conditioner. It is done. The main floor is now cool. And the best part is that I don't have to lift this monstrosity for another 4+ months.  61.  ✅ Set up the master bedroom air conditioner. Ditto.

I replaced some broken coat hooks today. I'm pretty proud of the replacement hooks, because I found them on clearance for 75% off at Target. 68. ✅ Replace the hooks in the pantry. 69. ✅ Replace the hooks in the boys' room. 16. ⚠️  Beat Hyrule Warriors. It's not that this game isn't beatable. It is very beatable. The issue is that the game is boring and repetitive, the characters' abilities (other than Link) are lame, and the campaigns that require you to pilot the divine beasts are just terrible. So I'm done. I estimate I'm about 50% finished with the playthrough. But I can't tolerate one more 60-minute campaign that I beat easily but then lose at the end because the divine beast controls are unplayable on the Switch Lite. Without the divine beast campaigns, this game would get 3.5/5.0 stars, but with those campaigns it's a solid 1.0/5.0.

I knocked one task off the list today, so I celebrated by knocking off another. 70. ✅ Hang the new mirror in the bathroom. "Can you please hang up the new mirror in the bathroom, real quick?" my wife inquired. One does not simply hang a new mirror in the bathroom. First you have to remove the old mirror, which hopefully hasn't been installed in a stupid way by the previous occupants. If the new mirror is bigger, then you may have to move some of the fixtures--like towel racks and lights. If you do, then there is the matter of patching up the drywall in the places previously occupied by those fixtures. Then once that dries, you have to paint those spots. Hopefully the previous occupants left you some of that paint, so you don't have to repaint the entire room. Once all that is done you can finally hang the new mirror. But wait! You first have to measure and mark the wall so that you can put in drywall anchors and mounting screws. Hopefully the mirror isn't going in...

Busy day. In addition to completing a class for my telework requirement, and administering e-Learning to two elementary school children, I got the following done: 66.  ✅ Roll out the area rug in the basement Not worth a photo, because the rug is kind of old and ugly, but I'm all about decluttering these days. The rug was just rolled up along one wall, taking up a lot of space. Rolling it out on the floor not only reclaims that space, but also gives the kids a more comfortable place to play compared with a cold basement laminate floor. I know it sounds easy, but this took a lot of time and effort, because I basically had to remove everything from the room, including a chest freezer and two large pieces of exercise equipment. 58.  ✅  Add blackout material to the irregular dining room window. In the three rooms of the house where we spend most of our time, there are large irregular trapezoidal windows. They look great because they let in a lot of natural light. The bad ...