How to Harness Unmanageably

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Un-manage-ability: adjective

that cannot be managed; governable; tractable; contrivable.

Every have too many things going on at one time? If so, read on . . .

I'm and ADD kind of guy - attention deficit - needs lots of activity to keep me motivated and focused - the byproduct of my ADD is lots of debris - cluttered desk, cluttered workbench in the garage followed by frustration and then hours and hours to clean things up. Would you believe that cleaning things up on the Outside helps me feel more calm on the Inside? Yes, it's true!

So what's going on? Well, let's see: my mother-in-law is coming for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the biggest holidays on the Jewish calendar. Judgement Day - Days of Reckoning - Days of Awe - A time to reflect and atone.

Every year this means a big production at the Tuvman household. Annie says the upstairs bedroom HAS to be painted and finished for mom before she arrives. Okay - fine . . . and the pocket door needs to be installed in the upstairs bathroom - okay too! In order to install the pocket door, some electrical wires need to be moved. So, Jack and Brad are here knocking out drywall, moving wires, drilling holes, making dust. I HATE being in the middle of all this stuff - YUK! Add a deck replacement (ours rotted after 20 years *wow, did I say 20 years? - getting old here - a journey, right?

Anyway, Captain Randy, his son Mitch and my younger son Isaac are pictured using an auger to drill 42" holes in the ground that will hold the deck footings. Oh yea, did I mention that buying my son a dependable Honda wasn't good enough? No, he couldn't handle the reliability of his Honda (way too boring) so he sold it and bought a 1982 Olds Cutlass - just needed a "little" work - like a starter, alternator, a new flywheel - which in admiration to Adam, he did on his own. (my dad suggested to Adam that he should take off the radiator cap and put a new car underneath it). But the latest is his transmission went out. So being the resourceful kid he is, he decides to do the repair on his own. Dad (me) suggests he take it to a store, let me front the $$ and he can pay me back for a "certified" transmission. But looking for short cuts, he finds a nicely painted transmission on Craigslist for a "good price." Kinda like the great deal a friend of mine got on a color TV back in the '80's from a guy on Adams & LaBrea - when he got home, he plugged it in and nothing came on, so he used a screwdriver to remove the back of the TV only to find a bunch of rocks on the insides!

Adam catches me off guard and wants to do the repair in our garage because the apartment where he lives won't let him work on his car there. "Sure," I said - "Just put a tarp down before you get started so you don't get transmission fluid all over the driveway." Adam says, "I will, dad."

So (3) big things going on at home - drywall/electrical upstairs, deck demoliton outside and car repair out front.

I'm outta here - I need a great escape. Thank goodness for the Airstream to the rescue. I depart only 20 minutes from home to Town & Country Campground to hole up for a couple of days. Gotta a lot of work to do and need to focus because my life is looking pretty unmanageable at home. After a day and a half of being alone, I chill out enough to come home feeling a little better. As I'm driving home I'm praying that Adam's had success putting in the transmission - please G-D let him have success with the tranny!!! I pull up and there he is - working futility trying to get the transmission in in a work area 8 inches off the ground. After three days of no success he finally throws in the towel. We get the car towed to Minnetonka Transmission where they're going to finish the job - Hallelujah!

So now the holes for the new deck have been drilled, the electrical wires have been moved - Jack's got the room patched and painted and the car is out of my driveway.

My big shining star appeared yesterday: Adam's girlfriends dad has a Chevy Cavailier he wanted to give her. After a week of pulling out the blown engine and putting in a rebuilt, Adam is successful! I take him to the DMV yesterday and we get the title transferred so now he has another car! The neat thing here is Adam, w/no mechanical training managed to put the new engine in, replace the bumper and gets the car running. There's a word to describe what Adam's done: Chutzpa - noun - Nerve, Audacity . . .

He came over last night to finish power washing the transmission fluid off the new driveway (aghh) and I help him wash the Cavalier and we put air in the tires. He wants to make it nice for his girlfriend. He uses our vacuum to clean the interior. It's getting dark - still a couple of glitches - like one headlight works and the other one doesn't. But that's another problem to solve on another day. In the meantime, I have a message for you: don't give up the ship - sometimes our toast lands "jelly side down" and everything looks dire. But hang in there - tomorrow is a new day - yesterday happened to be a "jelly side up" day. The construction guys are gone (for now), we're waiting for the bldg. inspector to sign off on the holes before Captain Randy starts building the deck and Adam's got wheels with his Cutlass being fixed! Life is beautiful :)!

p.s. there's more but enough sharing for today's blog. Go out there and make it a great day! Smile and shower your love and passion with someone who needs it! Blessings!