Whoa, Nelly (or lemonzest in this case :-) You're not looking over time, each day there's much fewer posts and threads active. We're actually a nice "little" community at core, ambidextrously warm and responsive

I'd go with working on the DIY project since that's what you "want" to do and it's your life and I wouldn't regret the extra two hours reading last night, other than, gee it's too bad we can't always have both :-) Go with what works for you in your world! I enjoyed reading your post, loved the sheep tick story for its personal detail, how you shared yourself with your reader through it.

Good luck on the job search; I have a good friend who just got a programming job after 19 months of no work but he's "commuting" between New York and Maryland every weekend ("lives" here in Maryland, the job is a 6-month thing in mid-state New York). I can't say I'm sorry to be retired in these difficult days.