Not exactly Kyle Vila and Emily Stewart

I think one of the reasons Kyle and I get along so well is that we each come from very similar backgrounds. Both sets of our parents think similarily about money, values and family. And what they all really have in common is that they are all very hard workers. And yet in all the thirty years of being raised by amazing moms and dads, somehow Kyle and I both missed the home improvement project gene. We are both pretty content to live with things that are not 100% functional just so we don't have to put out the effort to fix or decorate something. We have lived in this apartment for over four years and during that whole time a ledge/shelf in our kitchen has been partially detached -- so much so that everytime we have people over we have to ask them not to lean on the ledge for fear of it breaking off. Now you might think that in 1460 days of living here we would get tired enough of the wobbly ledge that we would fix it, but no. Instead we took trips, took naps, played Cribbage, did crossword puzzles, knitted, read and basically did anything but a home improvement project.


And then our parents arrived for a total of three weeks. In that time they have fixed a toilet seat, hung a hook for my hairdryer, caulked the kitchen counter, painted a chest of drawers and the changing table, installed shelving, made drawer pulls for a chest, rearranged the living room and of course, fixed the ledge. Hopefully the home improvement gene only skips a generation and maybe Charlie will be the next Bob Vila.