Even though the Home Depot website assured me that they sell plaster buttons, they do not. Not only do they not sell them, my request was greeted with the kind of blank stare that only means they had no idea what I was talking about. No matter. I have a plan B which I will implement tonight in lieu of knitting. No, there is no dynamite until plan M.

I guess I would have to say that I like technology. Well, certain low tech types of technology anyway. Maybe it is more accurate to say that I like innovation. In the midst of the admittedly ill-considered renovation project, I decided to do some research on the latest developments in keeping walls from falling down. Voila! There is, in fact, a new way of doing this! And it looks so relatively easy! Well, maybe not easier than trying to hold the wall together with paint, which was my first thought, but easier than pulling down the whole thing, wringing my hands and then asking my Dad to come fix it.

After 13 years of relatively home-improvement-project-free living in our house, I had clearly forgotten what is involved in home repairs. That is why I acceded to the “pioneer can-do spirit/if Martha Stewart can, so can I” urge to do it myself. That explains why Mona Lisa and I spent the weekend stripping the wallpaper in her room. I had forgotten the suspense of pulling on a piece of wallpaper and wondering if the wall would remain intact. Sadly, it often does not. Ah, the joys of an old house. I ran into a neighbor and fellow knitter last night at the Home Depot as I was in line waiting to purchase my spackle and other doodads and geegaws. She literally took my arm and told me in a deliberately calm voice that she knew someone who could help me. As if I was an insane person or something! Oh, yeah. Right.