Dear FlyLady,

I can’t believe I found it!!!

Last few years — during the month to get rid of paper clutter, I relocated miscellaneous warranties and owner’s manuals for all our appliances, tools, etc. into 2, 3 ring binders — as a ‘Stuff we own’ control journal of sorts.  Any time we needed to repair, or figure out something relative to a big expensive thing like the stove or fridge — I knew to go here to find what I needed.

Labor Day Sunday, unbeknownst to me, my DH made arrangements for our neighbor to look at our yard tractor, which we no longer use.  He showed up at dinner time (ribs on the grill!!)..along with a few other kids in the neighborhood to play with my grandbaby (hot dogs on grill too!!).   After dinner with these lovely unanticipated guests, my DH looked at me and asked if I could retrieve the owner’s manual from the yard tractor…that we purchased in 2003…and did we know what we paid for it?…..2 years ago that would have been lethal for him to try that on me!!  I would have gotten really ugly, mad and embarrassed him and myself in front of all these lovely people.

This year however, I deliberately took a deep breath and thought about how I wanted my dear family to remember me on this Labor day (BTW my dad died on Labor day several years ago)…since it might be their last memory of me.  With a smile, I set out the cookies for dessert and told him to give me a few minutes to clean up the dishes from dinner and I’d go look at the control journal and see if I could locate it.  He then said – Oh — don’t do that — I’ll go get it.  He went to the notebook, found the owner’s manual and the invoice in the notebook and he and the neighbor went out to look at the tractor with needed info (and a few cookies) in hand.

Kids grabbed cookies and went out to play…and my DD looked at me and smiled saying — I would have killed dad if he did that to me!! I smiled back, thought of my dear dad, and stated, that’s not how I want to be remembered.  God bless you for helping me learn the value of friends, neighbors, family and the joy of a peaceful –but, very crazy – holiday.

When everyone left, I was still smiling! 🙂  Did I feel martyred – absolutely not!! I felt blessed that my DH was empowered to help himself and I helped him to get to that place!

What a joy.

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

FlyLady here; Super Cruising Missions have started. Go download your free Holiday Control Journal.