Sunday, March 23, 2008

When the Going Gets Tough

As I meditatively clipped the raspberry bushes yesterday while basking in the warm spring sun, a distinct thought occurred to me: "Am I going to love working out here this much even when it is pouring down rain?" Well, today was that day.

We knew we had to get a little more done today, to prepare for the manure we will get on Tuesday (which is supposed to be another rainy day), so when we woke up and saw the gray clouds we heaved a little sigh. After breakfast we donned our rubber boots, each strapped a bundled baby on our backs, and headed out back. I, in my infinite naivety optimism, assumed that this task of measuring and staking out the garden plot that we are going to use this season would be quick. Rich had drawn up the design very anally carefully, I had critiqued it we had discussed it several times, and it seemed we had a plan that would be easy to execute and aesthetically pleasing to both of us.


Somehow these undertakings never perform as smoothly or with as low of blood pressure as I would appreciate. Somehow I get my panties in a bunch and get myself all frustrated and overly critical over silly little nothings.


A knock-knock joke**, to illustrate what I'm trying to say:

Me: "Knock-Knock"
You: "Who's there?"
Me: "Control freak"
You: (about to take a breath)
Me: (before you have a chance to respond) "Now you're supposed to say 'control freak, who?' "

Yah. That's me.

Lets just say that I was secretly glad that it began raining enough that it warranted me taking Kiran into the house to keep him dry, so that I could save face and manage to not be any more annoying than I was already being.

So, despite my nay-saying and poo-pooing his plan, Rich has managed to stake out our beautiful and interesting garden plot, and get it ready for poop-spreading.



**Courtesy of Leah

5 comments:

LittleYogini said...

You are so funny. I love how honest you are about your inner control freak. Wow, I felt like I was reading about my inner mind's workings.

At the work conference this week we had a presenter (therapist who used to be an interpreter) that was teaching how to successfully "debrief" people's feelings with them. She had us take a quiz and I turned to my friend next to me and said something....I forget what, but he jokingly said about me "control issues?" My first thought was: "WHATEVER! I am NOT a control freak."

Well guess what the quiz said. Yeah, that I tend to control situations as a communication technique. I had to show my friend the quiz and laugh...

The great thing about you and I is that we'll stand around barking orders and nit picking with our hands on our hips...but (if and) when we see we're wrong we can admit it and poke fun of ourselves.

Lee said...

"Each strap a bundled baby to our backs"

Wow, you guys are going to be sooo UrbanHippieSTRONG by the end of the gardening season!!

Anonymous said...

Ahhh...my fellow Virgo.

Traditional Virgo Traits

Modest and shy
Meticulous and reliable
Practical and diligent
Intelligent and analytical

On the dark side....

Fussy and a worrier
Overcritical and harsh
Perfectionist and conservative

Although we are both on the cusp of Leo, you are much more generous and warm-hearted than me. :)

Traditional Leo Traits

Generous and warmhearted
Creative and enthusiastic
Broad-minded and expansive
Faithful and loving

On the dark side....

Pompous and patronizing
Bossy and interfering
Dogmatic and intolerant
********************

The garden plot does look great!

Leah Perlingieri said...

you know i could list off 20 of your traits before even thinking to say control freak...i think you just hide it well!

it is going to be amazing...i am really looking forward to (rain or shine) helping out over there. we'll ALL have babes on our backs, with our hands in the earth!

patti said...

why do you think i LET daddy have control of our garden? i decided i'd rather just enjoy the fruits of his labor than to stress out over why he didn't seem to agree with my ideas! haha
love, mommy