Crappy doors no more

I have a friend who recently retired and is married to a woman who is still working, so he has taken over much of the responsibilities for running their household. He calls himself the "facilities manager.''

We are in the same position vocationally in our house, but no one has nominated me to be facilities manager. Just as well.

We have had a guy working at the house this week replacing most of our interior doors. I would not have picked out crappy doors as one of the problems we had to address if I had been asked to list 100. The doors opened and closed. What else are they supposed to do?

But most of the new ones are in now, and I have to admit, they look much better and give the place a spiffy look, which is a good thing.

It reminds me of last summer, when we had our kitchen torn out. I saw nothing wring with the cabinets (Emily: they're shabby and cracked), the counter tops (Emily: they're outdated) or the floor (Emily: it always looks dirty; we have to have a wooden floor).

My birthday present to her last year was to sign off on all such changes, as well as some others I liked (new bay window, deeper sinks) so we had them done, and now I like them (some people would die for our bamboo floor).

I can almost visualize my bachelor pad, as we used to call them, had I not married: pizza boxes piled high, dishes stacked in the sink, lint an inch thick on the rugs and probably some lava lamps left over from the '70s.

I'd probably need to go out and hire a facilities manager.