How I won a race against 3 Amish Men

Do you know what is a sure-fire way to complete a project in one day?  Race with someone you know works faster than you.

Are you sure it works?

Yep.

That and it takes a willingness to see what happens when you get started.  Don’t wait for the perfect set-up, that wastes time.  Just jump in and get on with the race.

Mr. asked me what I was going to do yesterday.  Apparently, my random planning for my staycation thing is becoming noticeable…  Anyhow – I had a plan, and it was framed in the format of a question.

The question of the day was, “Can I win a race to complete my project before the 3 Amish men complete theirs?”  Our new neighbor across the road is as slow as I am in completing an over a year-long project.

His  – this shed.

Me – this chair.

Oh, the neighbor and a few helpers show up at random times to get it done.  Overall they’ve made very slow progress, aka, it’s not done yet.

Me, well, my pace is slow, too.  I showed up a time or two…admittedly not often enough, I think it was last June (not 2018, I’m talking 2017).  That’s when I bought the supplies and I took apart the top of the chair to see if it was a doable project for me to complete.

Yesterday was finally the day to say, “Enough on waiting…the chair is holding me back from other projects I want to complete…and I had a whole day set aside to get the chair done.  I was gonna do it, Yes! I was.”

So the race was on.  Who would win?  3 against 1 (with a side-helper ready at each beck and call for help).  

The 3 hard-working get shit done Amish men, who by the way are known to not stop to check their cellphones and are paid by the job instead of by the hour.  Man – they get right to work the moment they show up and don’t stop until they get done.

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Or the competitor, little ol’ ME – the one who wasn’t quite sure how to disassemble,

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used the removed fabric for a pattern to cut the new fabric from,

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paused to admire the original fabric,

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ironed the wrinkly fabric that had been stored in a heap for over a year,

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cut the new foam with a knife (the only power tool I was able to work on my own for the day!)

set the patterns out prepped and ready for stapling and called for help with the power tools,

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answered the questions as to why I wasn’t covering the bottom of the chair,

“Well, the fabric isn’t that bad, it does go with the new fabric colorwise, and I didn’t know how to take the chair apart” then learned how to disassemble the bottom of the chair,

and called for more help to cover and reassemble it.

I did all of this by myself, while I captured it on film in-between steps.  I also monitored the progress of the competitors each trip to the kitchen to get nourishment.  I was seriously impressed at their dedication to keeping the pace going throughout the day.

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and then finally (with help) the fully reassembled chair was done all in one day.  The race was over.

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I won, the Amish men worked hard, but the shed isn’t quite done yet.  Their ride came and called it a day for them.

I’m guessing the neighbor will be back this weekend to work on it yet again.  And, me, what’s next?  Now that I have a chair, I better get on with my sewing projects, if only I could remember what they were…

Post inspiration – Me and my staycation.  Period.

PS – How do you get motivated to complete a project you’ve had waiting in the wings to complete?