It's raining and pouring in Sacramento. that means snow in the mountains. So husband decides we need to go to the cabin. However, he did not make the idea sound attractive. The reasons:

1. We'd be driving in the dark and even if the roads are plowed there's always ice . . .

2. The electricity had been out (could be on by the time we got there, but who knows, could be out the whole weekend).

3. The cabin is always freakin cold when we first arrive, so we'd have to build the raging-est fire ever to make up for the baseboard heaters not helping to warm the place up.

4. The clencher: the cleaning lady's mom is sick and she hasn't been able to clean since the last renters.

So let's review: my husband wants us to risk life and limb to drive on icy roads to get to a house that could have no electricity. We would have to clean as soon as we got there - in the dark, when we're tired and cold. Building a fire takes time so there wouldn't be immediate relief from the cold. And until there was electricity we would have to spend the weekend within a few feet of the wood stove for light and heat.

Sounds great.

Oh, and this is counting on the snow plow guy having got to our driveway. If he didn't, we'd be shoveling snow before trying to warm and clean the house. In the dark. At ten at night.

Why does this not sound appealing to me? Men!

Do you think Michealangelo ever looked at the Sistine Chapel and in retrospect thought, "I should have put that finger over there a little more"?

Do you think Mozart ever listened to one of his concertos and said, "man, I wish I'd made that a b flat at the start of the second movement"?

How about Rodin, did he ever look at one of his bronze pieces and think "that calf muscle could look more realistic"?

Do you think Michael Jackson ever watched a video of Thriller and said, "that really should have been step, step, thrust instead of step, step, kick"?

Seriously, are there any artists worse than writers in knowing when they're work is "done", that worry whether there isn't something more to change or make better?

How do you know when you're done?