This is a special blog post about my umbrella cart. You might be wondering, “What’s an umbrella cart?” I’m so glad you asked! An umbrella cart is a magical structure that allows one to move a patio umbrella around rather easily, so as to provide shade wherever one happens to want it.
I guess I don’t have a lot of pictures of myself up here at this point, so I’ll clue you in: I’m white. I’m really white. Like, I’m usually pale and freckly and have an inability to “tan”. I’ve always said, “I don’t tan–I fry and I freckle.” This wouldn’t be a terrible thing, I guess, if I didn’t love the outdoors so much. But, alas, my pasty self would usually rather be outside if the weather is nice. And I’m not one of those people who thinks that wearing long sleeves is the way to go when it’s hot and sunny outside. I’ve never understood that. Maybe, for some people, it is more comfortable. And maybe I just haven’t tried the right kind of long sleeves. But, personally, I like a good amount of skin to be exposed when it’s hot out. That way, if I sweat, and there’s any breeze at all, it cools me down. And yes, I know–sunscreen. I mean, I have sunscreen. I often wear sunscreen. But it’s a pain to have to wear it anytime I want to be outside for more than twenty minutes. Like, maybe I have a half hour before I need to get ready to go somewhere, and I want to go out and pull some weeds. A half hour in the middle of the day in the summer is plenty of time for me to get sunburned. Do I really want to use five minutes of that time to slather something greasy all over myself?
So, last year, I came up with the idea of building myself an umbrella cart. I honestly don’t even remember if it was pre-pandemic that I had the idea, or if it was after COVID had already hit my area, but I sat down with my planner, and in those pages at the back that nobody ever uses, I started sketching out what I wanted. Because I didn’t just want to be able to move my patio umbrella around–if I was going to build something I wanted it to be useful for other things too. So, I designed a thing that would look (and function) a lot like a hotdog stand you might see in a big city. But instead of having an opening in the top, with salty sausages inside, it would have a flat top, so I could stand outside and use it as a table if I want, and doors on the sides that open to an area with shelves where I can keep my pruners, trowel, watering cans, and other gardening accoutrement. This way, I can take all the things around with me wherever I want to be working outside.
As is my usual way, I had a grand plan, bought most of what I would need to build it, started working on it, and then let life get in the way. I wanted to have it finished to use last summer, but I only got as far as buying the wood, sawing most of it into the roughly the right sizes, choosing a paint color, buying the paint, and painting about half of the pieces. Then fall/winter hit, when I didn’t need to worry so much about getting sunburned. So, I put all the pieces inside our Quarantine Cabin, where they took up space for several months. About the time it started getting nice enough outside to start working on it again, I got the dreaded virus, and didn’t have energy to work on it when I was home from work for two weeks. But, after I recovered, I started working on it from time to time. And, even though it’s still not completely finished (I haven’t gotten the handles and doors on, or the shelves put in), it now functions as an umbrella cart. I finally got the wheels on last Saturday, and that evening, The Bearded One and I sat outside and watched various fireworks shows from our backyard. So I moved the umbrella cart back there so we had somewhere to set the Thermacell (mosquito repellant thing) and our drinks. I’ve also used it as a potting table, somewhere to stand and eat my lunch, and, of course, I’ve cranked the umbrella up and used it for shade–all in just a week.
I do plan to finish it at some point, but I’ve had other pressing things to work on, so for now, it brings me immeasurable joy to know that something that started as a vision in my head now exists in a functional way. I know that I can do hard things–my running streak has taught me that. But even though this umbrella cart may not have turned out exactly how I wanted it to, and even though it’s not even completely finished yet, I buckled down and made enough progress that I can use it, and that feels pretty great. I don’t remember if I’ve quoted Marie Forleo in my blog before, but she’s someone I’ve followed and admired for a few years now. She has a YouTube channel, a podcast, and a course for people looking to get into business for themselves, among other things. She’s also written a couple of books–most recently one called Everything is Figureoutable, which I certainly recommend. Marie has some catch phrases, and one that she says a lot is some version of “Progress, not perfection”. It’s taken me a while, but I now totally believe that it’s better to have made progress on something than to have never even started because I didn’t know how it was going to end up. This blog is another example of how I’ve embraced the “progress over perfection” mentality. If I made sure every post was perfect before I published it, I wouldn’t have anything published. But this is my 53rd post in this blog. And even if it never makes me any money, I’m proud that I’ve accomplished it and I know my writing skills have improved since I started it.
Now I’m just trying to decide which of my grand ideas to start on next–will it be a podcast? A YouTube channel? A book of my own?? Well, I actually already started writing a book, but I think I’m best when I have multiple things to work on, so if I need to step away from one for some reason or another, I have another one to work on. So it might be any number of things that I start next. Whatever it ends up being, though, I just need to remember that getting something out into the world is more important than endlessly tweaking it, trying to get it perfect before showing it to anyone else. Progress over perfection.
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