Home Improvement Neuroses

Recently, I went to a hardware store to get tools for a home project.  It's true.  I am an independent woman of the new millennium (and I have some time on my hands), so I decided to buy some Elfa shelving systems and install a closet organizer by myself.  Unfortunately, my "drill starter kit for girls" did not have the appropriate size drill by for my needs.  So, I went to the hardware store to buy a ginormous drill bit.  I'm always overwhelmed at hardware stores.  Particularly one as big as Home Depot (it was a Sunday, and my neighborhood store was closed.  This, of course bugged me as I would always prefer to shop at the independent guy.  This one makes it hard though - they are never open when people need them).   Anyway, Home Depot overwhelms me.  All this stuff that I have no idea what it is or what it does.  As I am leaving the store, I saw a young couple leaving with a 3'x4' metallic sheet of some kind.  I am thrown into what started as curiosity, but ended in near panic.  What is that?  And, more importantly, how did they know that they needed it?  Do I need this and just don't know it yet?  I am clearly failing as a homeowner.  No doubt, the fact that I unknowingly need this metallic sheet (or the important looking thingamajig that the guy in line behind me has) will come back to bite me.  Maybe I should get one of each just in case?

Here is what I have learned about home ownership (or in my case, condo ownership - I live in the city).  Homes, like the human body, need proactive management and care.  I try to stay healthy rather than wait until I get terribly sick and have to rush to the ER.  Similarly, I believe that it makes sense to do a certain level of ongoing care and maintenance at home to ensure that things don't ooze or explode without warning.  But here is the catch.  I have no idea how to determine if my house has the sniffles.  I don't know what the home improvement equivalent of Echinacea is.  I have a friend, who when I pointed out the cracks along the edge of my ceiling, said "your drywall tape is peeling."  How did she know this?  Was I watching Three's Company when other people were reading the Time Life series on drywall tape?  Was there a Bob Villa fan club that I should have joined (I joined an Encyclopedia Brown fan club when I was nine - that proved to have no pertinent information)?  It is a mystery to me.  Maybe I should just stop stressing.  And, keep the number of HandiCo nearby.