Iam so glad I am not having to return to school this fall and write a report on “What I Did on My Summer Vacation.”

It would be so embarrassing. I mean, do I really want to tell people that I cleaned my refrigerator coils?

That is just one task I tackled a couple of weeks ago during my time off at home. Notice, I did not use the overused term “staycation.” It’s bad enough having to use “clean” and “vacation” in the same sentence.

This exercise in fixing the neglected came after the man who repaired our ice-maker –which has been broken for something like EIGHT YEARS –told me I needed to clean my coils.

Has anyone ever told YOU that?

So there I was, flat on my stomach in front of my unplugged refrigerator with a vacuum nozzle in one hand, a flashlight in the other. No go. After consulting my refrigerator manual, I decided I needed a special long-handled brush, so off I went to the hardware store –lint in my hair.

Staying at home on vacation and conquering nasty chores like this always requires trips to the hardware store –sometimes several trips in one day if my husband is involved.

I have to clean my coils, I told the man at checkout, forking over the $6 or so bucks for my new long-handled brush, which I found right near the mops.

Good luck, he said.

This vacation was a little unusual for me because 1) my husband was not on vacation, and 2) our daughter’s busy summer schedule kept her away from the house several hours a day. So there I was at home, alone with my To Do list – the one I had ambitiously drawn up on Day No. 1.

Cleaning my refrigerator coils was not on that original list, but mulching the back bed off the patio was. I got that messy chore done just in time for a downpour. This meant that the freshly spread mulch blew back up on the patio.

Also on my list was to straighten out the upstairs hall closet. It was such a mess, even the dog was disgraced.

I swung into action, pulling everything out, dusting, vacuuming, sorting, rehanging, refolding. The whole endeavor actually took less than an hour, and now no one is allowed to go in there without my permission.

I also had out-of-the-house errands to run that included going to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get my enhanced license, taking the cat to the vet, getting my hair cut, buying several birthday presents and chauffeuring my mother to the dentist.

None of these tasks topped what my father did on several of his vacations when I was a kid. He would take two weeks off from work and paint the exterior of the house, beginning with the prep work and finishing with polishing the door hardware.

Still, for me, it felt good to get some of my chores out of the way and, no, I did not alphabetize my spices –nor did I plan to.

On an even brighter note, we do have a little family getaway planned later this month; we are renting a cottage. There will be no list of chores, no trips to the hardware store, no lint in my hair (maybe seaweed). Just lots of fun.

But I have to wonder: What sort of shape is that cottage refrigerator in?