This past week has been one of self accomplishment and a bit of pride mixed in. Hmm, what has she been doing?, you may ask.

Whistling Woman on the Subaru. Sweet!!

My kayak has been hanging from the ceiling of the garage since Jim died. It has been there because I was afraid to try to get it down and on the roof of the car by myself. A few weeks back my friend Nancy and I got both kayaks down and went for a paddle. It was amazingly wonderful. I decided that I needed to figure out how to load my kayak by myself so that I could have the freedom to take the water when I wanted. After several practice attempts, I loaded my kayak on the roof of my car and went to Mission Bay. I, not so gracefully unloaded it, got it in the water and took off for a mid-morning paddle. It felt so good to be out on the water. This is a 16 foot kayak and weighs about 45 pounds. It is not so easy to load it on the roof of my Subaru. So I did a Jim thing. I gathered information and then went and sat in the garage and stared at the car for a while and finally figured out how getting it on the roof might be accomplished. I did it. It might not have been the most graceful moment of my life but I was able to figure it out.

Getting it down was not gracefully done either, yet I did it. I had several people offer to help and I declined because I needed to know I could do it. The next time I go out, if someone offers to help, I will certainly accept the offer and let others help.

About 3 weeks ago I noticed that because some of the silicone had disappeared where the kitchen counter joins the backsplash, these little itty bitty ants were crawling in. I dislike ants. Although Eucalyptus was working I decided that maybe if I replace the silicone the ants might got away or my luck they will show up somewhere else. Thanks to YouTube I taught myself how to apply silicone and went to work. Taking the time and learning to do it right has made my counter look really nice. Now if Jim was still here he would have done this. He is not and I found I was more than up to the task.

Today, mainly out of frustration I figure out how to replace the lid switch on my clothes washer. It seems that Sears will not chat with anyone on line unless the washer is under warranty. I had a whole tub full of clothes soaking in water and I could not get the washer to drain. Once again with the help of YouTube I learned about the lid switch and how to replace it. And I did it. I had to remove the door from the area where my washer and dryer are. Once the lid switch was replaced, I got everything back the way it should be. Oh, I also found two stray socks.

This afternoon I feel such a sense of accomplishment and self worth. Even the small things can make a person feel good. As you can tell by the size of the kayak some of these things I did this week were not small. I am so thankful for the lessons I learned from Jim.

1. Walk through your fear. Fear does not accomplish anything.
2. Don’t  hurry.
3. Create a plan of action. Consider it from many different angles until you are pretty sure you have the right coarse of action.
4. Be patient.
5. It is OK to not rush through a job or project. Better to go from A. to B. to C…..
6. Asking for help or a second opinion is definitely a good thing to do. I love the Home Depot employees.
7. YouTube is a great place to start.
8. Don’t cancel your appointment with Sears until you are sure that it is running properly. I canceled my appointment this afternoon.

No matter whether the project is big or small I think any of us can tackle most of what we hire others to do. It is nice to know I have the option of hiring someone if I don’t want to take on a project.  If I want to,  I can try to figure it out on my own first. Options are good.

Now I can take a shower sit back read my book and feel that invisible pat on my back.