Injury #1

Yes, I finally did it. Those who know me well, know I'm clumsy, so it was only a matter of time before I injured myself at the new house. I played the moments in my head and expected to do it either:

1. Falling down my basement stairs with a laundry basket full of clothes
2. Getting shocked by one of my extremely outdated outlets
3. Dropping something really heavy on my foot (ie: TV, hammer and really any household item)

Nope, not even close.

My 'leaf decor' in my front yard got to be too much, so I decided to rake. Plus, I didn't want to be "that neighbor" that let the leaves pile up and blow into other yards. It was getting late on Sunday and I decided to rake as fast as I could. I got a really great start and thought I was doing well. I made decent sized piles in my yard in a short amount of time.

And here comes the bomb – I kneeled down and reached out to scoop up the leaves to put in the bags and OUCH!!! I pulled what I think was two different areas in my lower back. Seriously, I'm only 28 years old, how could this happen? So, like an elderly person, I stood up in pain and slowly hobbled back into the house. And, what really bothered me was that I had  three big leaf piles I had to leave in my yard. So, Monday rolls around and my back was killing me. It hurt when I was sitting or bending in any way. Needless to say, I was a little embarrassed when I called my boss to tell him I wasn't coming in because I pulled something in my back...raking.

Clearly, I need to stretch before doing my next round of strenuous raking. I really wish I had read this http://www.ehow.com/how_2056989_stretch-before-raking-leaves.html before raking...