With my house being in total chaos now, my main goal is to get it back to normalcy as soon as possible. Having a blow-up mattress in the middle of the living room (actually, the mattress is the living room) is starting to cramp my style. And it’s making me very lazy. The other day Ellie and I spent the entire afternoon in “bed” watching TV. I even fed her dinner in bed. I ate mine there as well. A bite for you, a bite for me. My cooking situation has been pretty minimal, too. And then there’s the laundry. We’vebeen living out of a laundry basket in the dining room for two weeks. I wore mismatched socks the other day because I couldn’t find a pair that matched.
All of my “domestic” chores were piling up, but I really couldn’t do them because of the renovation project. And I couldn’t really work on the renovation project until the weekend. So I decided it was time to send Ellie to grandma’s house so I could get a start on my “manly” chores by working on the house.
After I would drop Ellie off at my mom’s, my “manly” day would begin. But instead of working on the house, I decided to get the yard situated for the year. Trim the old growth, remove weeds, plant the garden, etc. I was procrastinating, but at least I’d be productive. So my “manly” day started by going to the green house with my mom, agonizing over which shade of pink flower to buy. I like this shade, but it doesn’t compliment the hanging basket flower color, does it?  I think I was being pickier than my mom.
It seems for the past couple of years, when I buy the flowers and vegetables it’s been our thing to go to the green house together. At first, it was because I didn’t know what I was doing, but now it’s become our thing. I started going when I would get every other Friday off from work in the summer, so Aya was always at work. And taking care of the yard isn’t really her thing. She picks and eats the vegetables and just wants everything to look nice. I handle the details. Finally, after buying a few flats of impatiens, marigolds, and some herbs and vegetables, I could say good bye to Ellie for the day, and do some rough and tough work at home. Planting flowers.
Even though working outside was due to me procrastinating from working on the house project, I couldn’t have picked a better day for it. It was that perfect weather for it. Sunny,  78, and a light breeze. And after I did get started, I got to man up and use the rototiller. Grunt! No gloves, dirt under my fingernails and everything. So it was a nice contrast to doing dishes and folding clothes. I was even able to turn the radio on and crank some Led Zeppelin and feel the sun. (I save Lady Gaga and Beyonce for headphones only).
At the end of my “manly” day, the garden was planted, all my flowers were planted, and I had weeded everything. I was even able to cut the grass. I ended up with an intense sunburn that crept up out of nowhere too. I can’t wait to show that off at swim class. I smelled like dirt, fresh cut grass, and a little gasoline, among other things. Nothing like a little outdoor sunny activity to rejuvenate the soul.  It was a good day.
But now that it’s done, I have no excuses and really need to focus on the house. D’oh.
