I sighed. "I'm thinkin about maybe puttin some paint on those baseboards."
"You're still not done with that?!" he said. (He knows full well that I'm not done with it, because I haven't asked him to come over and help me move furniture.)
That motivated me.
But not to paint baseboards.
Instead, I removed three more storm windows, stacked them at the back of the house, and pried another window open. Then I painted the other half of the east side of the house, which I started on (again) two weeks ago.
Charlie called me again on his way home from work. "How's those baseboards comin?" I could hear the laughter behind his voice.
"Actually, I'm outside paintin the house," I said.
He laughed and laughed. "You're supposed to be inside paintin baseboards, not outside paintin clapboards. I knew it! I knew it when I saw it didn't rain today!"
I laughed too. "How'd you know I didn't stay inside?"
Charlie said, "Because I know you! You do what you wanna do, not what you say you're gonna do."
I'd say that's a pretty accurate assessment.
Maybe I'll paint those baseboards tomorrow. Or not.