This past spring I had what you’d call an ‘episode’. You might remember it as the Age of Obsessive Gardening, when I did some things like this:
and this:
and supervised the construction of this:
You can’t see how huge the plants are from the early spring gardening because when I wasn’t sick anymore, I no longer had the urge compulsion to spend 6 hours a day in the yard. The garden flourished, we ate herbs and vegetables from it sporadically, weeds grew, it got hot, and I never get out the camera. And so on. Trust me when I say it was spectacular, and wholly unsatisfying. I did it because I HAD to. I know no other way to explain it. I suppose it was a grudging nod to Cognitive Behavior Therapy, although at the time my narrow focus was on staying outside and not inside, on wearing my body completely out, and on steering clear of anyone that might get hurt from being in my orbit. I think sometimes that I literally shoot out nastiness from my pores.
The point is that after some months of stability, I feel myself slipping ever so slightly into a spiral, and I’ve acquired a new obsession focus. This time at least it’s fun for the kids.
I give you:
Electric Jeep Love
- from Left to Right:
- bartered Barbie Sun Jammer that has been sitting in our yard for two years-
- red wrangler picked up for 15$ off craigslist
- Peg Gaucho (also from CL) that needed a complete rebuild of the switches which utilized ball point pen springs (Daddy FTW on that idea!) and fine grain sandpaper. The battery in it was DOA, but we salvaged a battery from an air compressor and switched out the wiring harness so that it would still work with the original charger. The people who were getting rid of it didn’t want to buy the $70 Peg Perego battery. Tsk Tsk.
Oh, did you think I was done? AHAHAHA.
Gaucho #2 came with a free booster and about 6 various plastic trucks for Jack, plus a light saber for Avery. That fortuitous trip also netted us a large collection of yard sale Monster Jam trucks which are the cause of great joy and great sorrow in our house. We’ve had to confiscate the monster jam collection for 24 hours and will revisit the concept of sharing tomorrow. I also picked up a 75 cent stainless steel Darth Vader thermos for Jack, and when we got home we returned the Batman thermos I just bought him and pocketed $16, which paid for Saturday’s gas and yard sale scores.
That’s quite a collection, eh? I should be happy with that, right? That’s a full load of rebuild and paint projects, no? oh, come on. you know me….
Someone tried to John Deere up this Hummer and they did not use Fusion Paint. Obviously not familiar with www.modifiedpowerwheels.com and their multiple threads on proper paint adhesion.
To get this one, I rolled right up in someone’s yard and asked for it. I told you, I’m unstoppable. I think the wheels are salvageable and it’s possible I can use the motors on the red jeep to make it a 4WD!
I don’t have a picture of the cinderella pontiac solstice that’s on the porch right now waiting dissection. It’s dead, but since it was part of a recall that I just found out about, I was able to have the company ship out a retrofit kit that included a new battery. Score!
Over the weekend while I was out trolling for electric cars in trash piles (it happens!) I happened upon a pressure washer beside a guy’s trash can. I asked him about it & he gave it to me. Then when I ran into him at a yard sale Saturday (what? it’s a small town) he asked me if I’d tried it out yet; when I told him I didn’t have the right connection yet, he searched his garage for the thing, drove it over here and dropped it off with Michael. Everything in my yard was pressure washed today. I might start pressure washing my kids. I wish I could pressure wash my brain.
I’ve been so busy educating myself about how to mod a power wheels car that I have just had no time at all to do my couch to 5 K workouts! Tonight I practiced mindful walking away from the computer and ended up on the treadmill for a 2.5 mile barefoot run, and at the end of it I was like “oh wait! I’m not having an episode! I just need to work out more!”.
I wish it were that simple.
For now, my keeping it simple involves: modding power wheels cars, running barefoot, and making an appointment to see the prescription writer guy to discuss a new combination of radical brain altering chemicals that might give my family back their mother sometime soon.
