“Getting The Right Results The First Time”

What does “Hi-Ho the Cherry-O”, “Candyland”, and “Shoots n Latters”, all have in common? Related to real life?   Some of my readership, has no idea, because they never had the opportunity to play these board games.   OMG, did I just say board game. Turn off your phones people and play games again….

“Back in the day”, when we bought our cabin on Echo Lake, I purposely set-up our place to have nothing to do with TV or electronics…it has always been about the fire-pit, hanging on the lake, or CARDS…and only in “Extreme” weather conditions, like now with so much snow…I may let the “Ex-box” show up from its forbidden hiding place.

So the other day I was going through our games and came across “Hi-Ho the Cherry-O”, and brought it out to play with our grandson Reid Michael, who will be 4 in April…He so got it, until it came to dumping out his bucket. So for you unfortunate people who have not played this game, it is very simple; you have a board surface for 4 players, with four trees with 10 small holes that hold the 10 cherries, a spinner and four buckets filled with 10 cherries.

You start the game with taking the cherries in your bucket and filling your “Cherry tree” with the 10 cherries…and the whole object of the game is very simple, but life lessons…there is a spinner in the middle of the board and you have 7 opportunities/consequences to fill your bucket.   The object of the game is to get ALL of your cherries off the tree and into the bucket.

Life is all good for Reid as he spins the spinner, and lands on “4”, so 4 cherries go off the tree into his bucket…and so on, until he spins and lands on the picture that shows you have to dump all your cherries from bucket, and start all over again…OMG he so struggled with this. And, as all great Grandparents do, he did win the game, in the end, but there were consequences along the way, like dumping out all your cherries, and then you start all over again, you have to keep playing the game, and not give up.

This simple little game has life lessons written all over it…that on electronic device cannot provide…the simple physical activity of dumping out the bucket, filled with cherries and physically placing the cherries back on the tree and then starting all over again…seems simple enough, but full of life lessons of learning how if you do not first succeed, you try, and try again. Compare to electronic version; when you play the game this way, and your virtual spin, dumps your basket and then places the cherries back on the tree, it is just not the same “Life lesson.”

Shoots n ladders and Candy Land are the same way…. as you “Role the Dice/spin” and move forward, you may land on something that takes you back…. again, simple enough, but does help to develop life lessons.

There was a time when our daughter was playing soccer and some parent, somewhere, thought it would be a better option not to keep score, every child should be treated the same no matter their ability. Where was the life lesson in this’ it was painful enough watching the game while all the soccer players just followed the ball, we needed some excitement when it actually made it to the net, even if it was the opposing team’s goal box.

As all this had good intentions in the long run it really did not teach a “Real” life lesson, in order to achieve anything in life you have to work for it…it just doesn’t happen, or should be given to you. Self-esteem is built on knowing that you did the work, had some setbacks along the way, but still persevered forward and finally succeeded. We must fail in order to really succeed at anything. I am a firm believer that is much better to try to do something, and not really get it right the first time, than to research and research and research and yet not doing anything with your research, because you feel you still do not have the answers yet.

In Thomas Edison’s biography an associate of Mr. Edison shared, “Isn’t it a shame that with tremendous amount of work you have done you haven’t been able to get any results’” Edison replied with a smile, “Results! Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! I know several thousand things that won’t work!!

At Central we work hard to find the right results the first time and will preserver until we do…just like Thomas Edison, if at first you do not succeed, try, try again!!!

Whether you are in Kalispell, Whitefish, Bigfork, Columbia Falls or anywhere else in the Flathead Valley. . .As always, your Comfort is our Central concern, call 756-6656, for all your heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical and drain cleaning needs.
**Stop by our booth at the Home & Garden show this weekend the Kalispell Fairgrounds.

Yummy Fajita Meat:

I like to take top round steaks (2 – 4), tenderize them with a meat mallet until thin, place in a small crock pot and pour over a small jar of Greek Pepperoncini’s, including the juice, a half a cup of salsa, and 1 package of taco seasoning…cook on low for 8-10 hours. Pull apart and serve with your favorite taco fixings. Enjoy!!

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