Life is a Garden

I spent some time in my struggling vegetable garden after work today, attempting to harvest a few green beans from the pest-infested plants. Nothing seems to be growing well this year, except for the mutant fig tree in the center of the garden. Originally, the tree was in a large pot on our deck. But that was several years ago, and when the dog started chewing the bark off every spring, we moved it to the enclosed garden area. I planted it in the center as a focal point and thought it would be a nice addition. Little did I know the thing would explode and more than triple in size in just one year. Now it's practically taken over the garden, shading the areas where I used to plant sunny vegetables and threatening to swamp everything.

As I fought off the mosquitoes, I looked about at the growing shaded areas and lamented a similar problem in my life. It seems that things beyond my control threaten to take over my very existence. Every day, I feel as if I have no say in what I do or in how I spend my time. I am a slave to the alarm clock in the morning, to work during the day, to the schedules of my husband and children, my church and my house. I spend my "free time" hassling on the telephone with insurance companies, banks, repair services, Internet providers, and doctors' offices. The areas in which I have tried to plant new things--writing books, sewing, carpentry--are stunted by the looming shade. I want to fight back, but I don't know where to begin.

Today, I signed up my kids for fall recreational soccer. It's something they've done for years. And yet, I had a heavy heart. I knew that signing up meant my weekends were gone for the fall. Now that they are in different leagues, one has games on Saturday and the other has games on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. Every week. Plus at least one practice for each child during weeknights. Plus school.

I thought about dropping soccer for this year, but it's about the only exercise they get. And they love it, which is good since most exercise isn't fun. They also learn teamwork and sportsmanship. But it's a lot of running back and forth for the parents--mostly me.

When they were babies, I thought that life would be easier and less harried when they grew older. But I didn't realize how much activity kids have. And mine aren't really as busy as most of the other kids I see around here. We try to limit. But still--two kids with two working parents makes for a busy household.

So where to cut back? I make tons of extra trips to the store each week, and I know there ought to be a way to minimize that. But no matter how many lists I make, it seems I'm always having to go to this store or that to get just a couple of things extra.

A few years ago, we made a concerted effort to consolidate all our doctors, etc. in the area close to home to save time and gas. It has helped, but as we age, and our kids age, the number of times we have to see the doctor/dentist/optometrist/orthodontist/hairdresser grows. Our hairdresser now only works 3 days a week, not on weekends at all, so she's very hard to even get an appointment with. This weekend, I'm spending more than half of my Saturday driving to the other side of the county to get my hair highlighted by a former hairdresser since I can't get in to see mine for at least a month!

I don't want to cut down the fig tree or even move it. I just want to prune it where it will still bear figs but not overshadow the rest of the garden. I realize that pruning the tree will, in fact, make it more productive. I just wish I had the vision, wisdom, and guts to do the same for me.

Temptation

I opened today's mail and started salivating--a gift card from Lowe's for $10 off my next $25 purchase. Now, I've had one of these before, but I was too slow in responding so it expired. I'm giving into the temptation this time, and I will make a beeline to Lowe's on Saturday to spend my pot o' gold.

Lowe's is no slouch, though, and I'm sure they know me all too well--and lots of folks like me. They know that I can't get out of a hardware store for less than $50, if that. So they're betting they'll more than make up for that tempting gift card. And they're probably right.

Which is also why my husband winced when he saw it drop out of the envelope today. That is, until I opened the Visa bill and saw the two rather large motorcycle repairs on there. "Oops, I thought I was spreading those out," says he.

I guess we're even.

Hold, please

Yea! I spackled the nail holes in the hutches yesterday.

OK, so I'm not setting any world records for speed when it comes to finishing this project. Give me a break. If I didn't have to work full-time, have two teenagers (one actual and one up and coming), and all the stupid things that screw up your life every week--I'd be done by now.

Latest event: a lightning strike that killed (apparently) our main computer and terminated our internet connection. We finally got a semblance of a connection up today--thanks to my hubby and a very patient customer service rep at the cable company--terms which I used to think were mutually exclusive. Yes, the rep actually was nice and truly did help him get things working again--at least on the laptop and the PC that was already close to the grave.

We've replaced the modem and may have to replace the wireless router, too, for starters. Doing all that stuff takes time away from things like PROJECTS.

So does hassling with a dental insurance company that can't seem to notice you've TWICE sent them the material they asked for. Meanwhile, the dentist is breathing down your neck because he wants to get paid. Took me two mailings, a total of about an hour on the phone, and a lot of frustration. Once when I called, the insurance company's computers were down, and they told me to call back later. For Pete's sake! Let's hope that one is settled. The insurance company SAYS they sent a check to the dentist. We'll see.

Then we've got the worthless garage door opener manufacturer--you know, the household name manufacturer that gives a lifetime warranty on the opener. Only when it breaks down and you call, you get the run-around. When you finally get a human, they tell you it will be nearly 2 weeks before they can get a repair rep out to fix it. That's because they have only one authorized service center in the entire metro region! So they're sending the motor to let us install it ourselves. Glad I'm not an 80-year-old woman. I'd hate to see her climbing on the ladder to fix that. Some warranty.

Why is it that we have to spend half our lives on the phone dealing with poor customer service for poorly manufactured products??? Doesn't anyone care about quality today?

I used to think the cable company didn't care about it, but they proved me wrong today--at least in their computer service area. Let's see if someone else can make me a believer tomorrow.

Check Those Purchases

My company has left, so I'm taking a few moments to catch up on my blog. Since I've had out-of-town visitors for a week, I haven't done anything on the shelves, though I did finish installing the 3" face trim before they got here. Hopefully, I'll fill the nail holes, caulk, and do the crown molding this weekend to complete the woodworking part of it. Stay tuned.

I read today that some unsuspecting construction workers and plumbers found surprises in their Home Depot bathroom purchases this week--apparently, there were drugs inside the bathroom vanity cabinets they picked up from one or more Massachusetts stores. We may very well be replacing our master bath vanity cabinet shortly, so that caught my eye. I doubt I would even know what drugs looked like if I found them in my cabinet. I'd probably think they were packages of hardware or just paper trash that needed to be tossed.

I'll have to look more carefully the next time I'm shopping there. I'd hate to bring something home like that and have the dog get into it!