ten years is why I forgot

When we bought our house, it had a veneer of haphazard touch-ups upon a very lived in home. The touch-ups were gaudy and amplified what we were going to replace to our taste. We did a lot, and only a few things are original to how we found the place upon purchase. 11 years go by quickly, but most of the updates took place when J was at work or while I was at home while she slept as a result of my quasi third shift sleep schedule during a two year gig at Target.
Anyways, I replaced all of the outlets and lightswitches in the top floor portion during  a week or so time, and I never did the downstairs.  We had stuff in boxes stored there and the space wasn't used, much like our half bath in the master bedroom that was off limits until I was laid off from my hospital gig. I never got around to replace those downstairs outlets until a couple days ago, and I vaguely recalled why. The wiring was funky. Old outlets weren't designed to be grounded, so the grounding wire was snipped to perimeter of the box where the cable came through.
There were five outlets. I spent a couple hours replacing one of five. I just finished my second after spending eight hours or so on it. I wish I was exaggerating, I'm no pro and I'm just fixing things with what have. Had to hacksaw a wire cap that was too long to catch and twist the stubs of grounding wire within the confines of the box.
Being proactive is going to take three weeks of focus in order to become a habit. I ceased my Gasbuddy.com habit today, for I didn't leave my house to pass a gas station. I guess one habit is all I can handle.
Boring, but frustrating.