Normal Morning Life

For the most part I lead a normal life. I usually get up at around 6 AM and start my day by taking a shower followed by dragging my dogs from their crates to their dog pen. This task is harder than you may think because of the need to get them out one at a time in a specific order. If I was to let them out in the wrong order the first dog will not stay in the pen or another will not go in the pen in the first place. I have one dog the other two are not too happy with as she is nuisance in that she will do everything to bug the others in every way possible.

My next task on summer mornings is to get my coffee ready to be consumed. We have three coffeemakers in our house because my husband, son, and myself have three different ideas of how strong coffee should be so it makes since, in our house. Once it is prepared and started I get to sit down at my computer I already turned on in passing between getting dogs out and preparing the coffee.

At the computer: I get a chance to check Facebook, the weather, and my email from two separate accounts.   This is somewhat relaxing as I wait for my coffeemaker to give me enough coffee for my first cup of coffee. If the weather is cooperating in the morning I love to do something outdoors bet today we are getting quite a bit of rain so it is even to wet to walk around the river or mow some of my lawn. The rain is nice although it means that outdoor exercise is impossible.

Around 8 AM I am back in my chair at the computer to do some writing. I also will work on speeches if I have an upcoming speech for River Valley Toastmasters. I try and do most of my writing and speech preparation in the morning before my girls wake up as they get mad if I need to concentrate and ask them to be the slightest bit quiet. Forget the days when you could send them outside because these days they will through a major fit that there is 'nothing to do,' 'it is to hot,' or any a number of other excuses they come up with until you throw your hands up and say 'When I was a kid,' a phrase you told yourself that you would never say as a parent when you were a teenager and younger. Funny how all of us end up being a true parent once we get older and have one or more children.

Yesterday!

I got my lawnmower back! I felt like a little girl who got her favorite toy back after it had been taken away because I did something bad. I was so happy and really wanted to go straight outside and mow my lawn: I did wait though because the temperature was above 90 degrees with the heat index above 100.

I mowed only a part of my lawn last night as my Black and Decker rechargeable lawnmower was working so hard that it decided that it needed a break for recharging. What this meant was I got my dog pen mowed and a line or two of the rest of the yard. I actually was enjoying myself and again felt I had been reunited with my long lost toy as it had been 5 weeks since I had seen it.

At the rate my mower is working it will be about 4 or more days before I get my whole yard finished and then it will be time to do the front yard that we paid a teenager to do just last week. I will get the lawn mowed and that is the main thing. I love physical exercise and this is just one way I get my exercise in the summer.

The other physical exercise I love is walking around the Fort Smith River Park and National Park. The walk I take is a 2 mile walk that allows me to keep active and know that I have lost no abilities. What I really love is when my middle daughter walks/jogs with me as at least I have company.

 Now that it is summer I really do need to get back to the early morning walks but first I must finish my lawn as that is my top priority.

I Miss My Lawnmower

I have a Black and Decker rechargeable battery operated push lawnmower that I have only had a little less than a year and I had to take it in a month ago to have it looked at and am still waiting for the repair place to get back to me on what is wrong. Apparently when my husband and I bought it we bought it at Walmart not knowing that it was a refurbished mower (thankfully we got it only for $100) but there was no warranty because of the fact that it was not brand new. Even so we are now waiting for my mower to get looked at to see if I am going to be able to afford to get it repaired so I can start mowing my own lawn again.

I so miss getting my exercise through mowing.This is one thing that I do not let my disability get in my way. I mentioned once that my dad taught me how to walk with a toy shopping cart well I liked the lawnmower which is rather easy to start and push  to that toy cart. Of course with the mower I do not have to tape my hands to the handle or put bricks on it but the concept is the same I push while walking behind it.

I am hoping to get my mower back by the end of next week or the following depending on what is wrong with it and if it will cost less than $200 to fix it  For now I am having a kid mow my lawn for a little bit of money which is frustrating because I really like and depend on physical exercise to keep lean and mean. You have to know that I am a person who will walk around the Arkansas River around the Trail of Tears and court house which is about a two mile walk just for the beauty and exercise alone. I feel bad that I have gotten out of the habit but soon I will have to start again because I notice the difference both physically and mentally when I do not exercise.