My motivation

First of all, I am the kind of person who loves projects. If it is something I can do that takes effort, I am ready. I love hard work and seeing results. I also believe that I can do anything.
In the past I have built furniture, tilled yards, erected fences, painted houses, installed sprinkler systems, and mucked horse stables. I love learning new skills and feeling the sense of accomplishment associated with work.
So when a friend asked if I was interested in helping with her garden, I was very excited and immediately agreed. Along with the garden, she has decided to raise chickens (I might have encouraged that a little bit...). With her husband gone for the next two months she really needed some assistance.
My wonderful husband already has a lot on his plate. He has a very stressful and intense job which occupies a lot of his time (and includes being on call 24/7). He is happy with his life and family but really has no interest in additional duties. He did a lot of work on a ranch growing up so he is very handy but not especially willing. Unfortunately for him, he is stuck with me...

So basically I signed us both up for some very hard work. In the past few weeks we have transformed a shanty into a chicken coop (painted red like a barn) and a weed-choked lot into a garden. I am revelling in my work while J is looking forward to the end. Being the wondeful man I married he has stuck by me but recently pleaded "Amy, please don't make any more friends with big projects!"

Am I a pushover?

I was recently part of a group in charge of making centerpieces for an activity. Somehow I ended up purchasing the supplies, growing the grass (which took 2 weeks), helping make the "eggs", tying ribbons and finishing off the baskets. Ugh!
I think I just can't say NO when someone needs help (plus it's one of my callings). The frustrating part is that my group is made up of a lot more people than the 3 who have been doing all the work.

I started with wheat, soaked overnight then planted:

It grew nicely with constant attention:

I trimmed the growth a few times

Here is the finished product:

The eggs were made by wrapping starch-soaked string around small balloons and letting it dry before popping the balloons.

The funny part about this story (in retrospect) happened when I brought the string "eggs" home to assemble the baskets.

North Dakota has an almost constant wind blowing. I usually don't even notice it anymore. I got out of the car and pulled out 3 grocery bags full of eggs, which weigh next to nothing since they are hollow.
The wind caught one bag and eggs started falling out. I picked those up and more fell from the other bags. I would pick up one and drop two more. When the wind caught them they started moving, fast. Basically they were like little tiny tumbleweeds rolling down the sidewalk, street, and neighbors lawns.

Luckily, my wonderful husband was home and rushed down the sidewalk (in bare feet) catching the runaway eggs. I must have dropped at least 30 which would have decimated the batch we had created.

At the time I was practically hyperventilating, but now I can laugh at the scene =)