It must be spring. I say that because I find myself with a million house projects to do. These things are always done in the spring right? It’s like women spend all winter cooped up inside thinking of things for us guys to do when the sun comes back out. The bad part is that I have a love / hate relationship with house chores.
I hate to do them because it seems that every task I’m asked to do, it’s the first time I’ll be doing it and the first time is always the hardest. I had to fix my roof not long ago. I had never fixed a roof before. So I have no idea what I’m doing, what tools to use, what techniques would make it easier, and so it takes twice as long, and ten times the amount of cursing to do the job than it would take a pro.
The only upside is actually finishing the job and being able to step back and look at your handiwork, knowing you fixed something yourself and didn’t have to rely on some other dude, who has better tools, and is probably better looking to come save your sorry butt.
Anyway, this week I knocked down two projects. First, I remounted our mailbox. Somebody had clobbered it and so if I wanted to get mail, I had to fix it. That was an easy one and I knocked it out in an hour. It’s level and everything! Woohoo!
The bigger project was getting our vegetable garden planted. I’ve been wanting to do this since Michelle and I started the Elimination Diet. There’s something attractive about growing your own food. I don’t know what it is… maybe I’m just trying to stick it to the man… live “off the grid”… reconnect with Mother Earth. I don’t know. But I got it done and it wasn’t easy. I suppose it could have been, but I don’t do anything the easy way. I’m going 100% organic baby. I dug up a 4×6 foot area, turning the soil two feet deep and mixing with good ol’ steer manure (which takes FOREVER to get the smell off you!). I planted tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers, zucchini, and some other kind of peppers. I really wanted to do onions and potatoes and maybe corn, but I’m out of room. So they’ll have to wait until I get my second bed set up. I’m pretty stoked about it though. It’s cool seeing a mound of rich soil with neat little rows of plants growing in them. I’m kicking around starting my own compost pile as well.
So I feel rather accomplished right now though I actually had one other task to get done and that was fixing my bike. I work on my own motorcycle so I figured it would be easy. But nothing ever is. After a few hours of messing with chains, derailers and cables, and plenty of cursing, I admitted defeat and took it to the bike shop. Sometimes $50 is a fair price to pay for peace of mind and relief from frustration. I can’t be good at everything can I?
So how well does it work? Very well. I started the diet at 206lbs and set a goal of 195lbs. 15 days later, I’m sitting at 196lbs. These are pretty astounding results I think. I’ll hit my goal in the next few days. I’m going to take a day off for my birthday to have a beer and a pizza and then I’m back on. I still don’t have the shape I want, so I’m going to increase my weight lifting and continue on the diet until I get a better shoulder/waist ratio.