The Leaf thing
It was made clear to me on Friday night after the Moody Blues concert that there was "no time to do all the things I have to do" by my better half, due to her massive work load. So the intrepid and loving husband I am I set out to do the impossible.
I raked the yard. Now this is a big deal for me. One I usually don't like doing this. In fact this is the most heinous chore in home owning in the "autumnal area" of the US in my book. I'd rather have a root canal without anesthesia. Well maybe not but you do get the idea.
So Saturday AM I went out very early (ok early on a Sat for me is 10 am, those busy bodies who are out at the crack of dawn doing chores at 8 or 7am drive me crazy. Don't they know they are supposed to sleep in?) I digress.
So Saturday AM I went out and cleared the area around the Civic (see Monday's entry). Then started the heinous job. About an hour later I got an inspiration. The old back (which I had popped lifting TV's two weeks before) was not going to put up with the bagging part of the leaf ritual. No way no how. So I went inside and wrote up a contract for Alex. One dollar for every leaf bag filled. 25 cents off for any whining to do the job. And a big fat $20 to finish the job without help and without any meltdowns. Actually I built in my own head one melt down till he got on the program, which Alex dutifully produced no less than one hour into the project.
Once that was settled and he was back on the program we merrily raked and bagged for the good part of two daze. We ended up creating 20 leaf bags as I did a pile on Sunday I had told him that he did not have to do. Finally I "brushed" the whole area clean with the mower in the last ritual mowing of the season, going only one way, and blowing those undeserving leafs into a shredded haze out of eye sight.
Alex did 14 bags and helped with two more so I gave him an even $35 credit for the hard work. He admitted that yes it was actually fun after the meltdown on Saturday. As promised we went to Toys R Us and he got a new game boy game with his hard earned money. Gosh do you think this will begin to teach the value of hard work? Well its a start.
Oh and yes, as this is a back dated blog, I can assure you that I've been stiff as a board Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
We do know how to have fun here on the East Coast don't we??
It was made clear to me on Friday night after the Moody Blues concert that there was "no time to do all the things I have to do" by my better half, due to her massive work load. So the intrepid and loving husband I am I set out to do the impossible.
I raked the yard. Now this is a big deal for me. One I usually don't like doing this. In fact this is the most heinous chore in home owning in the "autumnal area" of the US in my book. I'd rather have a root canal without anesthesia. Well maybe not but you do get the idea.
So Saturday AM I went out very early (ok early on a Sat for me is 10 am, those busy bodies who are out at the crack of dawn doing chores at 8 or 7am drive me crazy. Don't they know they are supposed to sleep in?) I digress.
So Saturday AM I went out and cleared the area around the Civic (see Monday's entry). Then started the heinous job. About an hour later I got an inspiration. The old back (which I had popped lifting TV's two weeks before) was not going to put up with the bagging part of the leaf ritual. No way no how. So I went inside and wrote up a contract for Alex. One dollar for every leaf bag filled. 25 cents off for any whining to do the job. And a big fat $20 to finish the job without help and without any meltdowns. Actually I built in my own head one melt down till he got on the program, which Alex dutifully produced no less than one hour into the project.
Once that was settled and he was back on the program we merrily raked and bagged for the good part of two daze. We ended up creating 20 leaf bags as I did a pile on Sunday I had told him that he did not have to do. Finally I "brushed" the whole area clean with the mower in the last ritual mowing of the season, going only one way, and blowing those undeserving leafs into a shredded haze out of eye sight.
Alex did 14 bags and helped with two more so I gave him an even $35 credit for the hard work. He admitted that yes it was actually fun after the meltdown on Saturday. As promised we went to Toys R Us and he got a new game boy game with his hard earned money. Gosh do you think this will begin to teach the value of hard work? Well its a start.
Oh and yes, as this is a back dated blog, I can assure you that I've been stiff as a board Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
We do know how to have fun here on the East Coast don't we??
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