Remember that hit song: Alone in my Principles?

After a hiatus of nearly two years you may well be wondering what momentous event in my life has prompted me to return to my blog. Here it is: Job ownership. You know, when something is someone else's job and then they are too busy one day, and you decide to do it, and somehow from that moment on it becomes your job. For example, taking out the trash is cute hubby's job, and then one garbage day he forgets before he goes to work, and you do it so that it is not overflowing next week... and before you know it he hasn't taken the garbage out for months. The same thing happens with feeding pets, emptying litter boxes, cleaning children's rooms... you get the idea.

Well, I have told several people that the one job I refuse to do even once, because I do NOT want it to end up my job is mowing the lawn. Guess what I did this morning? You guessed it! I mowed the lawn. I did hold out almost 12 years. I can't say that I am proud of myself. Especially when I look at the lines in the lawn. The neighbors will probably think Brett did it.

As cute hubby was leaving for work this morning he declared that the lawn needed to be mowed, and he couldn't do it. (That's really understandable, the last week or so the earliest he's been home is 8 o'clock.) I could do it, or I could call one of the young men to do it. There are two problems with calling a neighbor kid. One, money is tight, and I really don't want to waste any of it on my lawn. Two, I was worried that by the time I figured out none of my neighbor kids were available I'd be stuck mowing in the hot afternoon rather than in the coolish of the morning. Reason number two held considerably more weight. (And there were absolutely no feelings of dramatic martyrdom coloring this, so don't even think it!)

So, I went outside and pulled out the beast. I was fairly sure the upper thingy was the gas thingy, so I held that down and yanked the cord thingy. After several attempts I decided to call cute hubby. He sounded surprised. And slightly apologetic. And, he said thank you. I still wasn't repenting of the grouchy things I was saying in my head.

After a little advice, I pumped the primer (I think that's what it's called!) and pulled the cord thingy again. At least it sounded like it was trying to start this time. After several yanks and a broken nail I finally came up with the genius idea of lifting the front of the mower up off of the six inches of wilderness. Eureka!

Ok, don't tell Jason, but it's really not that bad. Last time I remember mowing the lawn it was at least an acre, and I didn't have a self-propelled machine. My current yard is not even a quarter of that, and it was basically a noisy walk. Punctuated by several stops to empty the bag. So, at the end of it all, I was a little sneezy, itchy and hot, but it was definitely worth an extra hour with my hubby tonight. I guess I am proud of myself.

PS Bonus points if anyone recognized the movie I referenced in my title! :)