A Day of Minor Tasks

I've needed to go to Home Depot or Lowe's for quite some time.  When the soap dispenser in my kitchen broke yesterday, the die was cast.

I moved into this house 9 1/2 years ago.  In that entire time there has never been a key to the door going from the garage into the house.  I can lock the door from the inside but cannot unlock it from the garage.  So I bought a new handle set and had it keyed to match my house key.  Installed!

Last summer one of my housesitters (somehow) broke the handle on my storm door to the back yard.  Replaced!

I have no idea how that dispenser broke, but when I pushed down for soap yesterday the soap holder actually broke off and fell to the bottom of the cupboard under the sink. Replaced!

I keep my Christmas decorations in a box I used to pack up my stuff when I moved from Colorado in 1990.   That packing tape along the seams is still holding well but I have no idea how much longer the cardboard itself will hold out.  Sometimes I think that I'll grab the box and it will disintegrate in my arms, leaving all my decorations to crash down on my feet.  Lowe's had plastic tubs on sale, 2 for $10.  Purchased!

I packed up all the decorations yesterday but the box is still in the living room.  I'll move things over to the totes and then get working on the tree.  That's all that's left of my Christmas decorations; I turned the lights off last night after midnight, having kept them lit nonstop since I put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving.  That'll be my work for tonight, capping off a good day of chores.

Update, 11:15 PM:  Done! (OK, not completely, but everything's boxed up in the living room and ready to be put into the garage--which I'll do during the day tomorrow, when it's not so cold!)