I am really running up against Kate’s thinking I am always after her about something she has done wrong. Earlier today I said, “Uh Oh” about something I had forgotten. She jumped. She knew I was calling her down about something. That wasn’t it at all. I asked if she thought I was getting on her a lot. She said yes.
That coupled with my stronger than intended (or perceived) comment about our patio furniture last week has me trying to be exceedingly careful about what I say. The biggest difficulty I am having is with the shrubbery around the house. She loves to prune and pull leaves off the shrubs. She believes, and I agree, that it has long term benefits by enabling light to get into the deeper parts of the shrubs so they will fill out. The problem is that she has denuded most of the shrubbery in the back yard just when we are getting ready (in 2 weeks) to have almost 100 people over for Dad’s 100th birthday party. She thinks she is getting it looking good, but it looks worse all the time. It looked good before she started.
The other thing is that she rarely cleans up the mess. She leaves branches and leaves on the walks around the house and in the yard and in the driveway. The only time it gets cleaned up is the day the lawn person comes to mow. Then immediately it is a mess again. The walkway from the spa to the side of the house has been covered with debris for 2 weeks. I have said something to her a couple of times. The last time she took offense. I have decided to just let it go. We’ll just have to do some last-minute work before the party. Then it will be a mess again.
