I have been focusing on my much neglected yard and the overwhelming piles of tumbleweeds in our trees and around our outbuildings.
I've also been focusing on my health. After dealing with knee pain ranging from mild to extreme (at least according to MY tolerance for pain, which is ZERO) for over a year, I finally went to the doctor. He said it is arthritis and gave me a shot of cortisone in the worst knee. I was hoping for something easier to fix, like torn cartilage, something that didn't shout (YOU ARE GETTING OLD), something that indicated I would be back to running 5K races or even half-marathons in no time.
I'm eating healthy, taking some supplements, and I got some prescription orthotic insoles for my shoes. They are hurting less.
I have gone off track (It runs in the family, Penny). Get it Done vs. Get it Right refers to a workshop I attended about 10 years ago. It was called "Dealing with Difficult People". It's a great way to find out you are a difficult person! I know I've told many of you about it, but to recap, there are four types of people: Get it Done, Get it Right, Get Appreciated, and Get Along. Many of us are a combination of two or more of these.
I started out in the Get it Right group and was promptly kicked out! After answering a few questions, it was clear that I belonged in the Get it Done group. Just get it done! Don't worry if it's not perfect, just do the best you can. This often leads to some serious regret, and some redoing. Randy is very much a Get it Right person. Yes, deadlines are important, but it has to be perfect! It may not even be worth your time, and you might have saved a lot of money (time is money) by just getting it done or "gasp" letting someone else do it, but you can feel proud that you did it right! Well, you can imagine the discord this causes in our Country Boy/ City Girl marriage!
Just a tidbit about the other two categories. Get Appreciated, they don't mind helping, but boy do they need constant affirmation! Get Along, it doesn't matter if we ever accomplish the goal of a project, as long as we are all happy and getting along! I'll just bite my tongue instead of discussing these any further.
I'll give you some examples of our conflict. We have had a Snapper (guaranteed to start with one pull) lawnmower since about 1990. I can't tell you how I've hurt myself pulling on this (guaranteed to never start before the 30th try) mechanical wonder. The grass bag is nearly impossible to take on and off and the spark plug jiggles loose and falls off. The pretty red paint is fading and the handle hangs off to one side (could have something to do with me finally losing my temper one day). About 10 or 15 years ago this mower started having carburetor problems and every summer Randy would have to take it apart (hours of work) and it would sort of work. It hardly used any gas one year, I don't know how it could even run. Another year it would only work if the gas was slowly leaking, so I had to use pliers to turn the gas on before, and off after each use. Really, this post could be titled Hoarder vs. Purger, because Randy is not about to throw this wonderful mower away, when it is quite "fixable". The last time I was sure he could not resurrect it, he spent like 6 hours working on it (all while I'm "lovingly" saying, "It's 30 years old, and I need to mow the lawn NOW (get it done person) can I just buy a new one?" To which Mr. Get it Right says, "That's what's wrong with this country, we are such a throw away society." Well since I'm a Get it Done person, I'm also sometimes a "do it the easy way", "take a short-cut" person, so instead of going to find a key to the gas tank and unlocking the tank, I found I could just put the gas nozzle way down in the mower and drain the gas from the hose and it would be just enough to fill it. Turns out when I did that the nozzle knocked something important out of the bottom of the tank. Randy found it during the six hour overhaul, and that was the main problem all these years!
Fast forward a few years and I was at my brother Dave's and he had this BEAUTIFUL, SHINY, RED mower in a pile of stuff to take to the ARC. WHAAAT????!!!!! Can I have it, can I buy it? This mower does have a problem. It starts easily, but once it's warmed up, when you shut it off to empty the grass clippings it vapor-locks and won't start again. My solution? Go inside, have a cool drink, check in on fb and when I go out rested and refreshed, Wa La, it starts like a dream. Not only is this mower pretty, it has self-propel (like front-wheel drive) and the bag is SO easy to take on and off.
This post could also be titled "Magic Wand" because Randy says I break things and then think he can just wave a magic wand and fix them.
Recently, I attempted to mow (not with the above mentioned mowers) some tumbleweeds around our cedar trees. Between the weeds being slightly too thick and a gopher making soft, uneven ground and my (rose-colored glasses optimism/love to take chances attitude (see my blog post about Cripple Creek and gambling) I managed to get the little riding mower high-centered and jam-packed full of tumbleweeds. I tried desperately to dig it out and even put down a rubber car mat under the back wheel to give it more traction, this all in a hurry and in 90 + degree heat, hoping I could solve the problem without calling on Country Boy. He showed up in the middle of planting crops and saw my beet red face and told me I should get out of the sun, to which I replied, "I would love to, but I have my riding mower stuck." "Again!? Where this time? Why, would you try to mow those? I was going to fork them out first." Yes, we Get it Done people don't always learn on the first try, especially when wearing Rose-Colored glasses and thinking, I just know this mower can handle these tumbleweeds, and I can't wait to see if it will!" So Randy waved his magic wand and in his nicest voice said, "Please, go in the house and try to stay out of trouble."
A few days after this, my amazing, magic wand-wielding, Get it Right, Country Boy told me there is a Brad Paisley song that fits me perfectly and told me I'm goofy and scatter-brained and he loves me this way, because I keep life from being boring. Awwww. I am so blessed, and God does know what he's doing when he puts two people together, after all, He has a sense of humor! The song is "Little Moments" but you really should watch this video
And yes, I did back his truck into a tree once (it was dark and I didn't adjust the mirrors) and I do get distracted and burn supper from time to time.
