Lawnmower Sadness

You may think it is weird, but I actually DO like to mow the lawn. This happens to be a good thing since Dave is away a lot and so frankly I get stuck doing it anyway. Thankfully, the neighbors and I take turns mowing the lawn.

Well the lawn was getting pretty crazy long, and it was my turn to mow (unspoken thing - not to mention I have made a game out of trying to beat them to mowing the lawn. This is quite hard as Chris, the husband often does it when I am at work - so I have to be sneaky). So, last Saturday I grab the lawnmower, put Kiya in a stroller and get Caiden's jeep out and get to mowing.

The lawn was SO long that I was really getting a work out. I couldn't make it even 2 feet without the mower starting to stall (which let me tell you REALLY sucks because I can't start it again. We have an automatic starter thing, but when it stalls you have to pull the string, and frankly I can't pull hard enough to get it to start again. My whole goal in mowing is to make it through without causing a stall). I had to keep backing up and going forward again. This wouldn't have been so bad if I was dropping LOADs of grass at the same time.

Ok, I admit it does not look like a lot there, but it is. Also, this is not ALL of it, just some of it. I fillled half the trash can with the clippings that came off the lawn mower, NOT even counting the collection bag.

To give you some brief history, our lawn mower is relatively new. We bought it 2 years ago (when we moved to the new house), and so it should be in really good shape. However EVER since we bought it, the collection bag has malfunctioned. I can't figure it out, but no matter how tight it is (and yes it is on correctly - it does it for Dave too, and yes I change it frequently so it is not overflowing) the lawnmower spits out so much grass that you would think we didn't have a collection bag on there at all. The problem with this is that it makes it SO much harder because then you have to go rake all of the clippings off and sweep them up.

I HATE SWEEPING!!!! Did I mention that? I like to mow, but I hate the cleanup process, and this darn lawnmower is FORCING me to rake AND sweep. It's a conspiracy I tell you. It was SUPER hot and Caiden and Kiya were quickly losing patience. Not to mention I was sweating and I HATE to sweat. I think I hate sweating more than I hate sweeping, but it is a close call.

You would be so proud of me blogger friends, cuz I really manned up. :P It had to have been about 107 degrees out or so, and it was really humid ( I am NOT joking). I was working my butt off, and was SO tired. I kept pushing through though and only stopped when I got so lightheaded that I started seeing spots. I then sat in the shade for 5 minutes and drank cold water. Caiden and Kiya were totally starting to lose interest, so I had to get up and keep going. I kept thinking...just finish this and you can go in the pool. It will be cool in the pool.

Caiden sweeping...what a big help. This was after I had already dumped most of the grass and he was helping me sweep up the remnants.

Anyway, the mowing was done, and the raking and sweeping began. Caiden was such a trooper and big helper. He helped me sweep and did a GREAT job! The raking sucked and so did the sweeping, but we were able to get it done with Kiya only crying for the last ten minutes of it. Seriously, nothing will get you to push through lightheaded spots faster than your 6 month old daughter hot and crying in the shade while your 4 year old frantically sweeps, sweat pouring down his little face.

Does ANYONE know what the heck is wrong with my lawnmower? I really do not want to repeat this scenario. My neighbors take half the time that I do because they don't have to rake or really sweep that much. They have an old lawn mower, but it works MUCH better than mine when it comes to collecting the clippings. HELP!!!