"Apple" and "Mr. Fix It"

“They” (where has this “they” derived from I always wondered but I guess that is another story for another day!) say that the “apple does not fall from the tree” and this was witnessed last evening as we ate dinner. To say my children’s eating habits are lacking would be an understatement but I guess this was inevitable with my “extreme” eating habits along with not really providing them proper eating habits early on in life. Anyhow my children’s eating habits are limited and the foods they eat are limited. Last night my wife made chili and of course she had to make two separate pots one with meat and one without meat. Mine did have meat but it was of the soy variety. My wife prepared the bowls for dinner and put chili on top of the pasta for our children.

This very simple gesture which lead to some complications; my son who eats more items than my daughter protested the chili being in his bowl but after a few minutes of complaining he somehow managed to eat what was in front of him. Strangely enough my son is not a big fan of meat and will not even eat a hamburger so he picked his way around meat but ultimately did finish. My daughter was a completely different story as yes, she too protested but her protest lasted much longer. She is very stubborn when she digs her heals in and last night she held firm for over an hour.

I had to stop and laugh during the ordeal because this was me when I was her age. I have always had picky eating habits and yes, there was the episode where I threatened to jump out the window as a protest to the meatloaf which was served. I never did jump out the window but funny I don’t remember eating the meatloaf. The “apple” was right on the tree last night as my daughter went through the same machinations that I did when I was her age and at one point she put her head down and started to cry. I did have a smile and I do understand where she is coming from but now being a parent I had to show some parental leadership. Finally I gave her a time limit in order to eat the chili and if she didn’t eat the chili in that time she would go to bed hungry.

My daughter as she always does pushed it to the edge and as the time limit approach she ate around the chili and just consumed the pasta. I couldn’t get over the facial expressions she was making as she attempted to eat. It was as if we were making her eat liver and onions and I am sure in her mind this was just like eating liver and onions!! In the end she didn’t finish her bowl of chili but did make a valid attempt. She got an A for effort but an F for attitude. As this was going on I couldn’t help but to think back to my parents and what I put them through with my eating habits, I do love my parents but now I wonder how they never attempted to kill me during these episodes!!!

The early morning came and it was another day. I didn’t go to the gym until much later than normal because I had to vacate my home/office for the morning since the exterminator was scheduled. A few days ago we discovered many ants in my daughter’s room and these ants were streaming from the garage which is below my daughter’s room. We sprayed the usual can of raid but the ants’ number in the thousands and having had these issues in the past also at this time of year we decided the best course of action would be the exterminator. Since it was the exterminator’s initial visit we had to be out of the house for three hours as he fumigated in hopes of killing off the ants. I held off going to the gym since I didn’t have any appointments this morning.

The exterminator arrived and I departed for the gym where I had a very good workout. I did arrive back home in the three hour time period where I went about my work day. At the end of the work day I attempted to be a bicycle repair person. I need to present full disclosure when it comes to anything that involves being repaired. I am not the person who can repair anything and I get excited when I change the light bulb and it actually works. So when I attempt to fix anything my expectations are fairly low.

I had to fix three bicycles and really fix is too broad a term because my bicycle just needs the water bottle holder installed. This was the easiest and lo and behold I had no extra parts. The item actually was firmly affixed to the bicycles and I went on about the next task. The next task was my daughter’s bicycle as her brakes needed adjusting. I have been adjusting these for the past three weeks and today I think I have a more permanent remedy. Again this went very well so I was feeling good going into the third and final task. The final task was the most difficult as I had to repair my son’s flat tire. This was much more involved than the other two tasks but I went in with an open mind.

Of course I had purchase the wrong side inner tube and had to go back to the bicycle store for the correct size but I wasn’t stopping. I continued and was able to get the tire off and install the tube. The fun came when I had to reaffix the tire to the bicycle. It was the rear tire and thankfully this isn’t a “speed” bike but there were still some challenges. I installed the tire but something was not right and an hour and a half later I finally got the bicycle in working order. I need to give myself a little credit because my four letter words were limited and my patience level wasn’t so bad!!! I had my son try out the bicycle several times and fortunately the tire didn’t fall off!! I did actually fix the tire and the bicycle was back in working order. This is a huge accomplishment for me and something I won’t soon take for granted!!!