Are You Freakin' Kidding Me??

Seriously? Really?

Remember when I talked about all my mechanical troubles here? When things start falling in around you, I really think it's best just to giggle. Otherwise, you run the risk of blowing your gasket.

I had accepted that my car needed some attention. After all, it has 294,000 miles on it. I had been extremely patient and waited for over a year to have the passenger side window fixed (the regulator had gone bad and the window had been secured with tape - duct tape at first but I drew the line there and used clear, packing tape instead). You can imagine my joy when I picked up my car and it ran smoothly and I could push the button for the window to go up and down effortlessly. And while I was still "put out" that our riding mower had not yet been repaired ("the part wasn't in the box we received this week, ma'am...I'm SURE it will be ready next week"...meanwhile my yard is now a hayfield and I'll need a bushhog to cut it down) and my truck still won't run and now the driver's side window in my car is taped up (Cathy, that was the noise, the bang, we heard while driving back to North Hills the other day), I remained calm and stress-free because I simply had no control over these matters.

So, yesterday, I decided that I could at least get our pushmower out and cut around the house and up at the top of the drive and along the road where we're more "visible" and passersby (yeah, the 5 we get in a month) could easily form an opinion about us just by the height of my grass. I'm sorry, I concern myself with these images. Rednecks we are not!

I planned my strategy while in church (and yes, I was paying attention to the message) and immediately afterward came home, changed, and headed outside. I knew that I'd have to take a break to go get more gas - no problem, it was super hot and that was a good enough reason to cool off in the AC in the car for a few minutes. I refueled, started my little mower and off I went. I had a system going because the "yard" is simply too much to push mow (really, I'm too old and out of shape but...). As I mentioned, there were "hot spots" I wanted to hit and, for the most part, I accomplished what I had set out to do.

A ways into my project I ran out of gas again (like I said, the yard is too much to push). No problem, I was prepared. I filled my little tank up again, wiped my brow, took a cool drink of water and pulled the string to start the mower.... SMACK!!!! I was left standing there with the pulley, the string and the handle in my hand...

I looked to heaven and said "seriously? really? are you freakin' kidding me?" Then I giggled and put the mower away in the shed.

Thank God my dad, aka "the calvary", will be here Friday...