I Fixed It Myself!!

After visiting my cousin Cheryl's blog I was reminded of a HUGE accomplishment I just have to share:
I fixed my lawnmower myself!
It's true, I mow the lawn. Last summer my sweet boyfriend hired someone to do it and once I found out I told him that I was just going to buy a mower and do it myself. I love to mow, I love seeing the change and feeling great about meeting a goal. He told me no, he'd already committed to having the guy do it and he was counting on our contract. So this year I decided to do it myself. I brought the mower from HS to LR (the HS house has a garden crew) and began the chore! As the days went on, it got hotter and hotter. I wondered to myself if I was going to have to call Gregg the yard guy to take over when it's just too much for me. Then I had an epiphany: if I can run with a heat index of 110 degrees, I can mow the yard. So last Monday I put on my gloves (my hands sweat a lot when I'm mowing) and got to work!
Somehow, since the Monday before, a large piece of metal had been placed in the yard in an area I've mowed several times. I don't know how that happened, it's a mystery to me. I ran over it and the mower stopped and the sound scared me like crazy! I'm always afraid of hitting something and it shooting out and smashing my leg bones. So I flipped the mower over and compared the piece of metal to see if it could have come from the machine. It did not and I was sure of it. So I flipped it back over and it wouldn't start! I was pretty sure I had flooded it so I left it for about an hour and went back out and when it started it just puttered along and blew tons of white smoke out of the smoke-discharge place. I don't know what it's called.
What did I do? I got upset! I just knew it was broken and I'd have to buy a new one. So I started to take it apart. If you know anything about me, you know I do not mess with machines when they go wrong. I do not attempt to fix things because I am incapable of doing so. I'm not sure what got into me but I took it apart and saw that the filter (which I didn't even know lawnmowers had) was drenched in gas and oil and the oil reservoir was totally empty. I filled up the oil, washed out the filter, tried to remember where all the pieces went and put it back together. IT WORKS! I totally fixed it all by myself (I did get some advice but all the actual work was done by me) and I felt so excited when I started it up and it sounded just like it's supposed to.
I'm well aware that this may not be a big deal for most of you, but it is for me! I feel so good about it and am even looking forward to mowing with my fixed-by-me mower! Side note: my yard looks very nice and simple to the average eye, but when you're behind a push mower you realize that there are tons of hills and it is an amazing workout! I actually do not work out on days that I mow because it's that strenuous. If I was a mower by trade, I'd never have to exercise. If this whole finance career doesn't work out for me I know what I'll do next!