LAWN ARMS

So I bought a lawn mower. But one of the old school kinds where you just push it and it cuts the grass. No bag to collect the cuttings, no motor, no gas, no electricity. ALL ARM POWERS!



To be fully transparent, I grew up in an old-school household. Ladies were in charge of laundry, mopping, sweeping; you know, womanly things. The guys took care of the yards, outdoor exterior issues, taking out the trash, and any major interior malfunctions.


Yes, I know that I was born in the 80's and not in the 50's. And no, I'm not at a disadvantage for having my family's gender roles defined a certain way. It was just the way we grew up. Now, I was a bit rebellious as a kid so it's very possible you could have found me in the backyard doing yard work with my dad...shirtless, because that's how he did it.

(cool it guys, I was like, 8 years old)

Although it would cost me $50 to get someone to come and cut the lawn in 30 minutes with an actual power mower, I like doing things myself. And I also hate working out my arms at the gym. WIN WIN! Granted, I bought the mower a week ago and have only been able to mow 1/5 of the backyard. Not that the back yard is huge, but that the grass is VERY TALL. And I didn't realize that I had spent the whole first day mowing with the mower set to the lowest cutting height. 

Lesson learned. I changed the height and am ready to get this yard taken care of. 

It's taken about a week to get it managed, but I've only been able actually mow a few hours twice during the week. This week has been fall move-in at Duke so our offices are putting in a bunch of overtime ($$$$) to keep things running smoothly. So I've been working 11-12 hour days and full weekends.  Also...rain.

But. I am persistent. And I am stubborn. So that lawn is not going to get the best of me. I've still got a few corners and edges to tackle, but I'm getting closer to completion each day. I guess all those times my parents made me redo my homework or chores until they were done right (regardless of how meaningless it was at the time) has made such an impact on my personal will power that I will not stop until my tasks are done and done right.

Thanks Obama, I mean, mom and dad.

I've also cut my grocery spending in half because of this amazing garden that keeps producing food for me. I've also had to give a lot of food away because I can't eat it all.

I guess that's a good problem to have.