When I first started renting a house in Knoxville at the end of 2007, I thought that being a renter of a home was "no big deal". I mean, sure, I had more actual surface area to clean, scrub, and wash ... and yeah, I had a HUGE backyard to mow, and weed-eat, and water ... but it was "no big deal". About the time I had to mow that 1/2 acre back yard with a push mower, I realized that homeowning/renting a house was NO JOKE. Here's a blog that I posted almost a year ago today .... it's amazing how it parallel's my experience today.
"After only renting a home for three weeks, I have come to appreciate my parents hard work, especially on our homes growing up, immensely. Two days ago I purchased my first "adult toy" - a lawn mower. The sweet little dude at Home Depot promised me that it was "easy to put together". And he was right. It was easy to put together. It was just HARD to get it out of the trunk of my SUV on my own, HARD to figure out where the oil went, HARD to attach the spark plug, and damn near impossible to start. After 4 hours of lawn-mower building, and more than one teary-eyed phone call to my Daddy, I was ready to rumble!
My enthusiasm lasted for all of 2 minutes.
After priming the engine (?) several times, and pulling on the cord until my arm was about to fall off - I gave up. I knew my landlord was coming over later that afternoon, and I resigned myself to ask for his help. So much for not needing a man.
On to stage 2 of lawn care - weed whacking. Initially, I thought this was going to be a lot of fun. I was wrong. I received a hand-me-down whacker from my parents, an electric one, my first mistake. I'm sure that electric weed whackers probably work really well for some people.
I am not some people.
I am living at a house with an 3/4 acre yard - it takes a VERY VERY long extension cord to reach the edges of my yard. When I realized that I needed another cord, I headed back to my favorite place in Knoxville - Home Depot. Several trips later (another extension cord, more line for the whacker, etc) I was ready to go! I fired up the "whacker" and killed it in less than 30 seconds. In that short amount of time I managed to get my entire line all tangled up! Buh.
Sometimes it just feels like it is one thing right after the other. Rory, my rambunctious (sp?) pup, managed to pull the dining room curtains (and rod) down yesterday after getting her paw caught in the curtain, the neighbor kid from next door comes over to "hang out" like 3 times a day, the mormons keep stopping by .... and I really need a nap! Oh well, onward and upward. I just keep reminding myself that this time next week I'll be hanging out in sunny Puerto Rico! :)"
Aside from the fact that I am not going to P.R. in a week, the mormons have given up on me, and Rory now lives in Orlando ... the rest pretty much holds true. Rereading this today made me laugh out loud. Why is it that I have so damn much trouble with lawn mowing?
It took me a bit over 2 hours today to "rebuild" my stupid lawn mower that the movers so easily broke down on moving day. After getting the oil and gas into their respective spots - I was ready to mow. Except it wouldn't start. So I took a break for some lemonade (it was 96' today, after all). A full air-conditioned hour later I decided to give it a whirl, again. The damn thing still wouldn't start. So, like all good little girls do - I called my Daddy. And he couldn't fix it from 5 hours away. Imagine. So over lunch today, I chatted with Sarah's BF Josh - thinking he was a good country boy - surely he would know how to start a lawn mower. No go.
It was on to plan B.
I kicked it & swore at it.
And lo and behold - the damn thing started!
BUT ..... the pastor next door will undoubtedly be dragging me to church come Sunday.
(I'm saving the weed whacking and potting plants for tomorrow). Ugh.
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