A butterfly helps the weekend warrior

Remember back to childhood when you watched intently as your parents were doing projects?  Did you wait for them to notice your interest in helping?  Or did you just jump in and get in the way?  If you were asked to help, I bet you did it in your own little way…just like me.

Smart parents let their kids help with tasks that don’t require heavy lifting.  Not that my Mr. treats me like a child, I know he’s just being protective.  He’ll let me do the little things to help where he knows I won’t get hurt.  Mostly he knows that it is best if he does the heavy lifting.

I’m really, really, really, okay with not having to do the lifting.  I get to be like a little butterfly, flitting around, landing on tasks I can help with while staying clear of the big, important parts of the project.

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To stay busy, and not appear as a weekend loafer compared to Mr., aka, the weekend warrior – I took to the task of weeding my flower beds.  Weeds grow considerably fast around these parts.  It was fun to get down and dirty…in the mud and I even broke a sweat like Mr.  I still have dirty looking fingers to prove I worked hard, too. (Not pictured here…this isn’t about my project, duh!)

Once I got done with that project, I knew I couldn’t help with the bricklaying parts of the project, but I could be the hovering photographer and historian.

Day One

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And then…on Day 2, we got to a stage where I could sense the opportunity where I might get to help.  I was beaming with excitement, waiting for an invite.

Mr:  Man, there’s a lot of dirt on these rocks.  I would’ve thought the heavy rains would’ve washed it away.

Me:  Do you want me to rinse them with the hose before you haul them?

Mr:  Sure…that might work?

I got busy and made a serious mess.  I had to rake the rocks from the pile, spread them out, then spray off the dirt with water.  I made little mud rivers and found some really cool looking rocks that I rescued from the pile.  I was extra careful to get my shoes and legs to appear as though I worked hard.  It wasn’t an overall failed attempt, but the dirt was damn persistent.

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Mr. ended up having to help me, he spread the rocks and I sprayed off the dirt.  Together we finished the initial stages of the project.

Now he has to lock and seal the cracks between the bricks, and then…we’ll be onto the refurbishing of the bench we’ll place here, right smack in the center of this glorious new spot where we will sit-and-watch-the-traffic-and-neighbors-do-their-thing.   Cheers!

PS – How about you, do you enjoy helping with weekend warrior projects?  Or do you like to flit around like a butterfly and capture the hard work in photos?  

Post photos inspired by Cee’s Odd Ball Challenge