Me vs Lawnmower!

We got our wonderful lawnmower from a friend of D's. A free lawnmower in fact. It has been pretty great. For my husband. In my experience with it, well...let's just say I don't think we are friends.

The first time I mowed the grass, it cut off. Just quit running. I was maybe 3/4 done with the yard, and no power.

Thankfully, my husband and his fad were home. Within short order they diagnosed the problem, and it was soon fixed. (at some point, there was mention of it "acting like it ran out of gas" remember that.)

The next time mowed grass was full of usual things, except perhaps that I got sunburnt. And scraped by all the trees in the yard.

The next adventure mowing the grass seemed promising. And then, much to my frustration, the lawn mower started acting like it was going to run out of gas, and then cut off.

Now, I know lawn mowers need gas, but I have never had to put gas in one (thanks Daddy), nor did I have any recall of where my husband told me the gas was. So I texted him, and got a response.

When I found the gas can, I found 2. So I texted him again to find out exactly which can was for the lawnmower (as it turns out, the other is for the weed eater. If I had put that in the lawnmower, we would have been draining the tank.) With a full tank, I finish the yard, great end to the day?

No.

I then proceed to smell dog poop as I turn sometimes. When I stop the mower, I discovered I ran over 2 lovely piles, one on each back tire. So then I had to drag out the water hose to clean the tires. Not my day.

Enter this week. I start to mow the grass, but realize after about 3 laps that the grass is still pretty wet. So I stop, and go to Walmart. I'm about 5 minutes from home and it starts pouring. I can't finish mowing. I wait until the afternoon and get about 3/4 finished and decide to call it a day.

So today, the darn mower won't start. AGAIN. A text and a reply from my hubby and I am on task again with the advice "Just crank it over and over until it starts. And don't burn up the motor."

I find success and finish mowing the yard. As I turn to drive the mower back across the grass, I smell burning wood. "huh, someone must be burning a brush pile. Strange to do at lunchtime."

Oh. Stupid. Me.

When I stop the mower in front of the garage, I notice that there is black smoke pouring out from under the hood. Fantastic.

Another call to the hubby, and I discover that it has, after several minutes stopped smoking. When D got home, he took off the hood, discovering a pile of burned grass.

Good news: I didn't burn up the mower.

Bad news: because I didn't burn up the mower, we still have it. And I'm pretty sure it hates me.

From the mouth of babes.

Here's Monday afternoon's conversation between my oldest nephew B and I after his first day of kindergarten:

Hey! How was your day?

It was fun.

What did you do?

Well I had fun. And one boy got on the red and one kid got on the yellow.

What happens if you get on the red?

You go see...umm...you see umm...what's the principals name?
Pause. No answer from anyone.
Umm I don't know his name but you go see the principal.

Oh wow! That's not good. Did you stay on the green all day?

Yes ma'am

And what is your teachers name?

Miss jones (Note: I'm not really sure that's what he said. He sorta mumbled it)

Ok! What else did you do?

We had a fire drill.

Oh what do you do in a fire drill?

Well you run fast, no no you don't run. You walk fast and line up and you wait for the firefighters to tell you that you can go back inside.

Oh wow. Were you scared?

No! It was not a real fire drill. It was a pretend fire drill.

Oh ok. And did you take a nap? (Note: he told D that he wouldn't take a nap in kindergarten. I just didn't believe it)

Nope. There are no naps in kindergarten. No more naps for me.

Oh Awesome! And did you get to go outside?

Yeah I did. But I don't want to talk about that. I don't want to talk anymore. Can you talk to daddy?

Yeah, or mommy.

Ok love you.

Thankfulness

Today I wanted to say a quick thank you to a special group of women.

My childhood pediatrics office.

No, I am not kidding or crazy.

These women, who for the sake of privacy stay nameless, have shaped my entire life. They are some of the first people who ever met me. They made going to the doctor fun (and they try not to give me too much grief about the time I was at the office, left, and then was returned shortly in tears with a bleeding head because of an unfortunate car door incident.)

My mon began working with them when I was 12. I began working with them when I was 17. They supported me through college, that big breakup, and are still supporting me while I moved away, entered the workforce, and ended up married to the most amazing man.

So thank you Ya-yas. Thanks for the laughs, the tears, the support, the bridal shower, the gifts, and even the card from the nurse who shall remain nameless. (You taught me to always make sure I pay really close attention!)

I love you!!!!

Great Day

So today has been one of those awesome, southern, summer days.

My friend and her hubby are in from Montana, and we hiked part of the Appalachian Trail near my house.

The weather was beautiful, and the company even better. And A & J: sorry I slowed you guys down. (I am way not in hiking shape.)

So here's the view from our perch at the top. BEAUTIFUL huh?

What a Friday

My cousin/sister A send me a message Friday that could not have been more fitting:

"We have to give up good things to find great things." I gave up a good thing Friday. And then my Friday got crazy.

So, as some of you may know, I am not returning to the school I teach at this fall. It has been a fantastic 3 years, and I wouldn't trade my time there for anything.

So Friday in itself was emotional, packing up my life there and saying my goodbyes. At the end of the day, I had a meeting with the principal where I turned in my keys and had a chat about how much he has learned about my character this semester. It was tough. We then had an emergency faculty meeting, where we learned that a former colleague had emergency surgery to take out cancerous cells. Outlook: positive but with no further details.

So there came some tears as I climbed in the car to leave for the last time as a Knight. I grabbed for my phone to call my mom, and my phone wasn't there. So I spent the next 30 minutes running through the building looking for it. My friend/assistant coach found it, in the bottom of a box, about 2 minutes before I was suppose to meet D's mon 30 minutes away.

So I called, and met her at the alterations place instead of Target. I was only 5 minutes late for my appointment. 2 weeks ago my dress wouldn't zip. The dress that 3 weeks prior was 4 sizes too big. My seamstress assured me that it would fit Friday because of normal bodily changes. Lo and behold, she was right. I went home with my wedding dress perfectly sized!

On the phone with my mom, I discovered a deer had destroyed a lily and ate the top off my hostas. Vowing vengeance, I marched across the yard to D and informed him that I wanted him to shoot the deer he sees every morning. He laughed at me, and as I turned to go back to the house to unpack my car, I was stung by a bee. Second time in 3 weeks. Bees must love me.

So inside I went, took a Benadryl, 2 Tylenol, and stuck a piece of ice on my ankle. About 20 minutes later, I was really itchy. Like crazy itchy. I told D I was going to take a shower to see of the itchiness went away. The look on his face wasn't good. "ok but you lol awful." Not really comforting from the man I'm gonna marry. One look in the mirror told me he was right. From the upper thigh to my face I was covered in raised bumps with red splotches.

In true adult fashion, I called my daddy. He told me to take another Benadryl and if my tongue felt big, or if my throat hurt to call 911 immediately. Well, my mouth went numb. Not a good sign, so on to the hospital we went. Along the way my mouth felt better, but then my chest hurt. After checking in, I couldn't catch my breath and my chin was shaking up and down as if I was really freezing cold.

Vital signs were all good, and I was given fluids, more Benadryl, and a steroid. After about 3 hours, I was sent home, with a steroid regimen, Zantac (apparently contains antihistamines-who knew?), an epipen, and instructions to "take Benadryl religiously until you're done with the other medicines" and go see an allergist to find out what bee it is I'm allergic too.

Like I said, what a Friday.

Gotta love the dog

So in our beautiful home, we have laminate hardwoods in the living room, and linoleum in the kitchen/dining room (and an open floor plan).

So I bought a swiffer and I swiffer every day. Well...almost every day. But I try, everyday, to clean the floor.

I also sweep with a traditional broom and mop the floors on Wednesdays. Today is Thursday. So that picture below? Todays swiffer cloth. And, yes, I did mop yesterday. That's one day of the dog spending time in just 2 rooms. It's the sight that greets me everyday when I swiffer.

Lots of hair, lots of grime. But we love him still. We would be lost without him.

We have a table!

Ok, so I know I promised a blog update that never came, and I am sorry. Maybe I will make it my goal to put a mini house update up each day? Maybe. But here's my first attempt:

For the first time in my life, I OWN a table. And no, not D's table that I now claim, but my very own table. (besides, we have been eating off of TV trays for the last 2.5 years.)

Not only do we have a table, but we have a handcrafted to my specifications table!

D's dad made us the table totally by hand, and it is gorgeous! It was delivered to us last night, and i am stoked to get to eat on it today! Here's a picture of it, with our beautiful yellow walls! (I promise, they aren't really that bright. More on the painting later)

Anyone else having a great time with spring home improvement projects?