The Diagonal Mow

As I have mentioned in blogs past, ever since moving and becoming the unemployed one of the household...a household that only houses a child 3 months out of the year...my life has taken on a whole new meaning. My sense of accomplishment and contribution to the world stemming more from domestic endeavors than a paycheck. More from the hope of getting (as my friend Sara put it) an "Atta Boy" from my husband than a gold star from my employer.

I like to say these days, probably to my husband's chagrin, that I am currently the man AND the woman of the household. I say this because, not only do I cook and clean and launder, etc...I also do the yard work, take out the trash and recyclables, hang pictures and do minor household repairs. This is not to say that my husband wouldn't do these things, but a) I feel guilty NOT doing this stuff while he is working 8-10 hours a day, sometimes more and b) getting these tasks done while he is working ensures that he will be freed up to spend more time with me when he is home.

*Side note: One thing my husband does do is clean up the kitchen after I cook, which is awesome because to me...clean up is the WORST part of cooking. Am I right?

Anyway...so...today while I was mowing the backyard, I realized that I take the pattern of my lawn mowing very seriously. For instance, one week I will mow north to south and the next week I will mow east to west. Not that  ANYONE other than myself even notices this.  Its pretty and I take great (almost to the point of ridiculousness) pride in my finished lawn. Is this normal?

So...about three-quarters of the way through mowing today, I got really upset with myself because I had wanted to try The Diagonal Mow. You know the mow I am talking about. Crisp clean diagonal lines across the lawn. This seems to be a pattern only the most experienced and conscientious mowers can pull off and dernit...I wanted that to be me. How could I have forgotten?  After a good 5-10 minutes of berating myself for forgetting and agreeing with myself (me and myself do a lot of conversing these days) to do The Diagonal next time, I started thinking "OH.MY.GOD. THIS.IS.WHAT.MY.LIFE.HAS.BECOME!?" The most important and serious conversation I had with myself today is my approach to how I mow the lawn?? This can't be good. THIS.CANNOT.BE.GOOD. This CANNOT be normal.

Anyway...I suppose I will have to settle for diagonal vacuum lines in the living room today. Completely normal. Totally.