The Woman Whose Garbage I'm Responsible For thinks I have an unnatural attraction to Amy Matthews, the current go to girl on DIY Network. I do watch both the shows she hosts, but it is only because I have an interest in seeing people save money and increase the value of their homes. It's kind of a hobby.

The fact that Amy Matthews is an attractive woman has nothing to do with my interest. She does have a nice smile and looks good in jeans and a tool belt, but she is a licensed contractor and is convincing when she uses a power sander or mixes caulk on Bathroom Renovation and Sweat Equity. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I enjoy seeing knowledgeable people doing something well. I also watch This Old House, and no one accuses me of stalking Norm Abram. Besides, there must be others watching Matthews; she has two shows on DIY and does many of the networks' tips and commercials. That much face time means I'm not the only one watching when she's on TV.

Most shows on DIY make home repair look easy. A lot of people think they can master these tasks with little effort. And now that Clinton and Obama have screwed up the economy, more people are trying to do it themselves.

Mere mortals sometimes forget that each aspect of home maintenance requires a craftsman. Even if he is unable to keep his pants pulled up in the back, he knows his stuff. An average carpenter, plumber, or electrician spends years learning how to do things the right way and discovers little tricks that make certain jobs much easier.

Hanging sheetrock and laying some pipe may look easy on TV, but television can use as many takes as is necessary to get it right. Every time one of us regular guys screws up something we have to go back to Lowe's and spend more money.

Most of the home repair telecasts feature regular people and unimpressive hosts accomplishing difficult tasks with little effort. The accidents, cut fingers and hurt feelings are edited away. Sometimes the truth sneaks out when the timeline is revealed and a seemingly minor repair has taken several months and still isn't complete.

As a veteran of many home repair projects, I'm here to offer some real advice. Don't do it. Don't ever try to take on anything but the simplest of tasks unless you know how to do what is required and have several friends willing to help. Relationships get damaged more often than crown molding on these things.

If you do decide to make the jump into Bob Vila's world, at least watch another DIY program, Renovation Realities. This program reveals people ill prepared to even watch home repair shows on TV attempting to renovate their home. The tension between Mars and Venus is the most obvious thing, but the difficulty of even minor projects is also very evident.

You can see the horror of talent miscalculation and how frustrating things can get. Nothing is easy and no one is smiling; just like real life projects. And Amy Matthews is nowhere to be seen.