For those of you who live in milder climes, the news of spring may not be so special. But for most of us real Canadians, it is glad tidings as good as the safe delivery of a newborn child. You suddenly feel the energy to clean the mess left in the middle of your garden conveniently covered by snow. You continue planning the gardening, cleaning up inside and outside the house, changing a few appliances, repairing leaky taps and pipes, and maybe putting a new floor (oh, but, you have to wait till there is new paint on the walls). As the list gets longer, your house gets more life in it. Why not a new kitchen and new bathrooms? Maybe you should renovate the whole house. Oh well, you should move to another house this year. You have waited long enough and you deserve it. So you grab the newspaper. Alas! Headlines remind you of what you have forgotten. We are in the midst of the worst recession in decades.