The List Experiment

I'm doing a little experiment.  I'm not very good about being selfless.  I'm much better at worrying about me.  So, for a change, even though I wrote my list and I even emailed it to him, I'm going to work on his list instead.  This is my attempt at being less selfish. 

His list is very strange.  He wants us (the kids and me) to do things like pluck weeds in front of the garage.  Why?  No one is even going to notice that!  I don't notice it!  But he wants to put down more gravel, tidy up the driveway space and make more distinct edges.  I actually get it a little, but it just isn't a priority for me.  Isn't that what weed killer is for?  Nope, guess not. 

So he showed me how to do it with a huge tool that looks something like a pick ax.  I have to use this to break up the root system which is deeply embedded in the gravel already and then once the roots are up, grab each plant or piece of sod and throw it in the wheel barrow.  This is no easy job.  My abs are feeling it today.  The kids stuck it out for a few minutes, but then I was pretty much on my own.  But, I have to say, it does look better!  I was still going at it when my husband came home from picking up my son at 9:30 pm.  I wasn't really do it for show at that point, but I think he appreciated me more! Ha!  Maybe I'll have it done sooner than I thought....so that's my first attempt on his list.

Today is Day 2.  The first words out of my mouth this morning were, "Do you want me to take the dog to the airport for you?"  I didn't mean to say it, it just kind of came out.  We are shipping the second dog of the litter to the airport to go across Canada to the east coast.  This is no big deal, except I'm going to a new part of the airport just for cargo.  I am comfortable with all things I have always done, not new things.  I just found this out about myself recently.  It creates a feeling of stress in me.  He knows this so he doesn't normally make me do those things anymore, but lately, I've discovered it is another sign of selfishness in me.  "Oh!  It's new!  I can't do it!  I'm scared" said in wimpy me voice.  So he takes time out of his day (which he never has enough of) and ends up going and doing all these things for me that are considered "hard" for me.  Well, no more.  Lately, I've been doing so many new things, I can't stand it!  But, I know it's good for me.  I can't be a wimp anymore.  Each time I do the new thing, I realize I was afraid of nothing all along.  So it's been a good lesson for me and my kids.

So, off I go to the airport today instead of him.  It'll save him 3 or more hours in his day and it'll be nothing for me.  I will pluck weeds that to me don't seem important, but they are to him. 

Finally, I had put on my list that I wanted him to fix my cupboards in the kitchen and bathroom that had fallen off due to so much water damage.  Nope.  He couldn't and wouldn't.  It was too big a fix and required more of an effort than he could give.  He wants to focus on the big things, not the little ones.  They'll "twenty minute" his time off to death.  Then it occurred to me.  I'll make fabric curtains to cover everything up.  Perfect.  So I googled it, youtubed it, pinterested it and saw tons of ideas.  So I'm off to FabricLand and I'm going to be a capable woman/fixer upper doing that today, too!

I wonder what will be next on my list of things to do!  I'll probably be fixing cars next....I bet I could do it now.