Manual Labor Not For Me

Picture a bright sunny Saturday morning. Nice breeze, birds are singing. Now look out into the backyard. Yikes! Grass needs to be mowed. Keep in mind it’s been *at least* 15 years since this woman... woman being ME... has mowed any yard. Confident I can do it, I get the push mower out of the garage. Got this mower from Freecycle. Had the best lawnmower guy in these parts check it over: My Dad! Out on the driveway it sits in the shining sun. Oil – check. Gas – check. Safety handle pushed up – check. Pull the cord. Nothing. Pull the cord. Again, nothing. Duh, forgot the throttle! Push throttle forward. Pull. And she fires up! Woo Hoo! Fast forward ½ hour. How BIG is this yard, anyway?? I think every bump and hole in the neighborhood is in MY backyard! Push, push, push. Lawnmower starts to sputter – Oh no, only ¾ done with the backyard! Finally it dies. Gas, I need more gas. I traipse off to the garage to find the gas can. I finish off the backyard and take a break – Water! I need water... What a workout. Thank goodness the front yard is very tiny! Push, push, push some more. Front yard done. Whew. By Saturday afternoon, I felt like an old, old lady. My back was so sore and the palms of my hands were swollen and bruised. By Sun afternoon, my back felt a little better but my palms still hurt! Today, I noticed I got some sun. Feeling much better! This person is not made for manual labor!

After tonight, I will have only 1 more evening of American Literature - The FINAL exam. I've calculated my grades so far and I'm getting 89% not including the paper I need to turn in next week, and the final. The instructor will be dropping the lowest essay grade, which I'm not sure is really going to affect my grade. After the exam, I’ll have 4 days off and then start the pre-summer session which will last for 3 weeks. I’m taking Music in the USA. It should be interesting.

For the past week, I’ve been working on Spring 99. I have just a bit of regular stitching to do on it and then some backstitching. I should be finished with it sometime this week.