Spring is coming and it’s finally time to dust off the old lawn furniture and put it in the backyard! Your perennial flowers are about to bloom and the grass is showing how green it can be. Cherry blossoms turn pink all over your yard, and the snow crab tree turns the ground white like fresh snow. You clean the gutters and spray the roof and think, “Maybe this year we’ll repaint the house?” and check it off that tremendous “to do” list for spring. Maybe you’ll get it, maybe you won’t. After hosing down the house, you may decide you don’t need it.

But looking back at the old yellow plastic patio furniture from the early 1980s, you wonder, “Did I like this when I bought it?” the formica table has a crack in the top near the umbrella hole that you remember happened four years ago, when Uncle Marty tried to use the table as a lectern. It’s been so long that there’s dirt in the crack that won’t come off. The woven plastic chairs sag and the metal spring joints are rusty and squeak when you sit on them. In fact, it looks very bad next to the rest of your fresh green garden and your healthy flourishing trees.

Watching the yard game, you think, “You know, I should throw this garbage in the trash.” It’s something you’ve been telling yourself for about 5 years, ever since your sister came over and pointed out that the table is almost beige on top but gold around the edges. “This year” you say to yourself, “This year I will finally do it!” and you don’t even ride the umbrella this year. You call the garbage service and tell them there will be large items to pick up this week, and you put it out on the front lawn with a sign, “Free or Junk” taped to the side.

He stays until the garbage guy comes on Thursday.

Now, however, you’re stuck without patio furniture. Not sure what you’re looking for, you search online for new styles and ideas. What’s up now? All garden furniture now looks so pretty, so modern! You think, “Hm, maybe it’s not glass. Uncle Marty will want to stand on it, I’m sure,” but there are plenty of attractive options. “I like the ones with a charcoal fire pit in the middle of the table,” you mused to yourself about not being able to stand in the fire, “The matching chairs are made from heavy-duty, UV-protected faux rattan out in the open. I suppose real wicker would rot in the rain…” It seems comfortable. As if you could invite people over and they wouldn’t flinch to sit in the chair or absentmindedly try to dust the table before putting down a plate or resting their elbows on it. You know what you want, but you wait. “Maybe they have it at the local hardware store?” you think to yourself. Being especially proactive today, you get in your car and drive there.

When you get there, you discover that they have a lot of things, but not exactly the one that you fell in love with online. Disappointed, you return home. You also realize that your little fuel-efficient vehicle couldn’t haul all that stuff home today anyway.

So, back home, you go back to your computer and wake it up with a good mouse movement. The browser is still open to the backyard game of your dreams! You take the step and ask for it.

Two weeks later, your perfect backyard game arrives. They called before they delivered so you could be home to receive it. All set, the yard set looks beautiful! Framed next to your trees and perennials…

But then remember, you also have to clean the INSIDE of the house!