Volume 18 No. 1 “All the pnews that phits." March 2010
Allison called a couple weeks ago and asked if I would help her install a new garage door opener. I said of course, and the whole way over thought “So I guess we’ll make an effort, screw it up and then hire someone to clean up the mess.” A mere couple hours later, she was pushing the remote button and THE GARAGE DOOR OPENED. I was in awe. I bowed at her feet. But the truth of the matter is I even helped. I mean, I made suggestions—I noticed things she didn’t. We made a great team. Two sets of eyes are better than one. I was hooked.
Then a week or so later, I went back to Women Build at Habitat for Humanity. I signed up for a day when we were doing something I hadn’t done before—avoiding setting the decking which almost killed me last year. Surprise! Schedule change! Decking day! We were short several members of the crew so there was a nail gun involved, but I still spent most of the day on my knees banging nails and the next day wimping around in pain. The following week, we built walls and then I ran the chop saw, measuring and cutting boards The bottom line was I felt good about what we were doing and my ability to do it.
I came home and looked at my list of things to do around the house and acknowledged that several were within my ability if I just take it one step at a time. I think that is often my problem—being overwhelmed by the scope of something, be it a project or travel plans or a recipe or…well…anything.
First, I worked on my fear of ladders. I needed to clean my gutters. The problem is my gutters are pretty high off the ground and the ground, especially after this winter of rain and snow, is soggy. I figured out ways to steady the ladder and climbed aboard. No problem though the gutters were disgusting and the job a wee bit overdue. I think there’s some pretty rich compost there.
Here I had waited almost two years to do this and I did it in one afternoon without any help and it’s perfect, and my confidence level, as an added bonus, has taken a giant step forward. How cool is that? I am woman, hear me roar.
For those of you who are yawning right about now, pretend this is something more complicated that you have put off for a while and imagine what it would be like to get it done. It’s a good thing.
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Things I am Learning
& Miscellaneous Observations
* Dogs don’t have a watch, a calendar or know how to hold a grudge. And we have the ability to make them wag their tails. All good.
* Another reason to come visit me: Asheville Tourist season’s opening day is April 8. (The Tourists are the last team that “Crash” Davis of “Bull Durham” played for.) And they just announced special event nights—May 21, for instance, is “Feed your Face Night” (all you can eat certain concessions) and there are 13 Thirsty Thursdays (buck a beer). Tempting (and a little scary), ain’t it?
* I have come up against a tool that seems to be a weak link in the tool department: the staple gun. Typically I have to make a couple trips to the hardware store to get much of anything accomplished. I am working on that. But the staple gun has me stymied.
I had one that is heavy duty. I used it very few times though granted it is probably ten years old…maybe more. It doesn’t work—it’s like it can’t be cocked any more. I am sad. Then I borrowed Loveeta’s and had to make two trips to the store to buy staples—and her stapler started doing the same not-cocking thing but would re-set itself if I gave it a few minutes between staples.
Staple sizes are not standardized. Just because something is 5/16th of an inch doesn’t mean it’s going to fit THIS 5/16th inch staple gun. And the guys at the store are the first to admit this is wacky. So I know what I have to do: I need to buy a staple gun with a lifetime supply of staples, but being me, I have to wait for the next big sale or til I have a coupon or stare at my broken staple gun and will it to work again (I already have staples for it…what will I do with them?). It’s always something.
* PNewL PNewS turns 18 this month. Happy Birthday/Anniversary!
* A recipe suggestion. I tend to make too much salad for parties or potlucks. So I stumbled on this: I made a salad based on spinach (very good for you), broccoli slaw (that bagged stuff) and sliced peppers onions etc and serve it without dressing. It makes GREAT stir fry on days 2 and 3 after the party.
* I just finished listening to “Committed,” Elizabeth Gilbert’s follow up to her bestselling (and one of my recent favorite books) “Eat Pray Love.” First, she is a great reader of audio books. Second, I loved lots of it—especially the parts where she wasn’t ranting about the problems with marriage, but was ranting about other things. Third, I am curious to hear more people’s opinions of the book.
* The first meeting of the Bucket List Babes finally took place on Super Bowl Sunday. (We had to re-schedule because of weather.) We are a group of women who like to travel—and apparently eat as the food spread was grrrreat. We are making plans--to go places. We gathered to compare lists of where we want to go, to compare travel styles and sample budgets. And until the big ticket trips come up, we plan to make some day or weekend adventures. Whatever happens, there will be some fun involved.
* Why I Love My Neighborhood: Recently, in the midst of yet another snowstorm (did I mention we are over 20 inches above average—I don’t always like being above average), Bear and I took to the roads. We did our usual routine, sniffing everything and trying to find Samson, his buddy, who wanders all day long. After that, we ran into Susan who was heading out with one of her dogs. We walked up to see the Bison (I cap that word because they are so darn BIG) though they were not around. Just that much further up the road, the snow was thicker and deeper. The dogs had a blast (Samson meanwhile had found us), and Susan and I had a good visit. When we got back down near our homes, Susan peeled off and I ran into another Susan and David coming down the hill. David was going to plow the community’s roads. Susan wanted to go see if the main-ish road was clear. Wanna come? Well, sure. So we walked and talked about travel, a favorite subject of, I learned, both of ours. When we got back to the crossroads, Susan went home and Bear and I went to check on Sculley’s chickens. They had water and were staying inside. Our usual 45 minute walk had turned into 2 hours. And while this didn’t happen that afternoon, the following day, while Bear and I were on our morning wander, when there was only one fresh set of tire tracks on the icy road and schools were closed, Ray came down the road. I said, Ray, What the heck are you thinking? And he said a buddy had called him the night before and asked him if he wanted to try the new breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and he said, heck if you can get there I can get there. He said the problem with drivers around here is we don’t know how to hold the traction. I asked him how you do that—“Hope and pray.”
When two people are really happy about one another, one can generally assume they are mistaken. Goethe
