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Hanging out with the roommistresses

whenever I start blogging, I hear Bridget Jones' voice in my head....

alcohol - 3 glasses of wine (not bad for a Friday night), cigarettes - 0 (v.g. - easy, really considering that I don't smoke), weight - lost 2 pounds! (strict egg sandwich diet is really paying off!)

Stayed up late last night chatting with my roommistresses on the patio. It was fun - just like my old res days hanging out with my girlfriends except now we actually have money to buy wine with corks!

b-bye egg sandwiches

okay I think I am now tired of egg sandwiches. Besides I now have a new roommate who cooks wonderful things like homemade vegtable soup and Iranian omlettes and shares them with me :-)

Not sure how that guy ate kraft dinner for one year straight. I got tired of egg sandwiches after 8 days and egg sandwiches are much better than kd!

egg sandwiches

Since Rob left one week ago I have 19 egg fried sandwiches, 2 Ikea hotdogs, a bag of carrots and some yogurts. I figure that egg sandwiches (with salsa) are pretty healthy as they cross three different food groups. They are also inexpensive (about .50 per sandwich), tasty, hot, and quick to make. I wonder if I will ever get tired of them?

Wasn't there a guy who ate kraft dinner three times a day for a month?

girl takes on lawn - girl wins

lawn
Originally uploaded by ~chill~.

Unsuspecting son of neighbour wanders over into my yard looking for a key to his fathers house. While you are here, I say. Can I ask you a quick question about lawn mowers?

The neighbours son and his friend were able to show me how to attach the bag to the front lawn mower ( so it does belong to this mower after all!) and how to start and stop the mower (you have to hold the handle down when starting it and then let it go to stop the mower).

The back mower was a bit more challenging. They figured out that the line for the clutch was too loose so that clutch would not disengage and lower the blade when I pressed the blade bar. They didnt have time to fix it but with at one lawn mower working, I could at least get started.

I went back to the front of the house and miraculously got the mower started and actually began mowing the lawn! It stalled on the way up a hill and I couldnt get it started again. I screamed start you f***ing thing!“ which seemed to be the magic words as it started up once again, only to stall at few minutes later. I kept trying to restart it, screaming the magic words which no longer appeared to be magic. I tried my hardest to restart it... oh about 20 times¦ and eventually realized that it was out of gas. Got the gas can out of the shed, only to find it empty. Where to get gas? A gas station appears to be a likely option yet I have never seen anyone filling up a jerry can at a gas station. Perhaps it is more appropriate to buy gas at home depo or a gardening shop? I called in another lifeline (to quote my roommate) and asked a neighbour two doors down for help. Not only did he tell me where to get gas but was able to figure out why the back lawn mower wasnt working properly. It was not damaged at all! I was just wasnt engaging the blade bar button at the right time! ( BEFORE pushing the blade bar forward.

In the end I was able to successfully operate both lawn mowers and cut the grass in both the front and back yards. My arms are sore trying to start the mowers a million times over, from pushing the manual mower up the hills and being dragged around the back yard by the power mower. It was a steep learning curve but now I know more about mowers than if someone just showed me how to use them. I realize that my troubleshooting skills are good, I just dont persist long enough. Also each problem solved provides you with more information to solve future problems.

Tomorrow I take on the weed wacker!

girl takes on lawn - lawn wins

The lawn was getting quite long and my (male) roommate wasn't able to do it this weekend. So I thought that I better figure it out

Step one - get extremely heavy automatic lawn mower out of shed. Not done well - but successful. It landed with a bit of a thud not sure how I will get it back in but will worry about that later.

Step two - get lawn mower started. Not successful. I tried and tried but could not get it going. Placed three calls to mom for support. Seemed to be doing everything right, but still nothing. Either I am weaker than I thought or lawn mower was damaged on way out of shed.

Step three - Abandon back lawn move to front lawn (there is a manual lawn mower out front as it is too difficult to get the move the power mower down the stairs to the front of the house)If I can get this mower going, I will know that in fact I am not weak, the other one is just broken.

Step four - attach bag to front lawn mower. Not successful. We bought this mower used just before my husband left. The bag must belong to different lawn mower.

Step five - try to start lawn mower without bag. Not successful.

Step six - give up and rebuild self-esteem in more familiar space - the mall

Oh No!

oh no! This has never happened before. What to do? First I asked my (male) roommate. He looked at the fallen rosebush and made some recomendations but was on his way out and could not help. Then I called my neighbours. They came over right away and offered some suggestions but could not help me fix it until Monday. Then I called my grandpa-in-law (a retired carpender) and he was able to come over today and help me get the rosebush back up.

I told this story to my (female) roomate and she said "What! You used up three lifelines to solve one problem!" I guess I will need to be more strategic about asking for help!