hard work never hurt anyone.

That's true, right? (the title message.)
Sure. Of course it is.
Well.
I'm drinking my coffee black today. (especially after reading this)
Hold on while I go get it.

Goodness. I'm blog-hopping, so excuse me while I give you a smaller version of what I was composing earlier in the middle of everything...
Ben took me for a landscaping job. Woo-hoo.
Caleb's been under the weather, so hey! just called up Beka, your friendly neighborhood...uh, nevermind. Well, just call up your sister Beka if you ever need a fill-in for your brother. Sheesh.
So . . . after visiting Anna (next door) and making mac-n-cheese with Sammi, I went back home and pulled on some socks and my airwalks.
It's a beautiful day, so hey, I don't mind driving with my brother to a few blocks away with rakes and a leaf-blower to go do this man's lawn... right?
Sure. I can do this.
I really am so sorry I don't have pictures. I lamented that to him, because hey--a blogpost is even better with pictures!
;)
So off we go, he's got that coat Nathan gave him before he left--keep in mind it's around a beautiful 55-60 degrees out. I just had a short sleeved c28 shirt on, and my favorite camo cargos, and we drove off. It was funny, it only being us two in Dad's van, because yesterday he got his license. But it was good. :)
So we got there. Nicely-kept small ranch house, decent front yard, back yard that goes on forever. Literally. It's so cool. Love it, but wouldn't want to rake it.
The Mr. talked with Ben, explaining what he wanted done, and we set to work with gloves on our hands, rakes in our hands, and hats on our heads.
Sorry for the run-on sentence.
So. We set to work. He wanted the dry, dead grass and the little twigs raked clean from his yard. Ben made it look easy. He eventually took of his coat. haha

That's all I'll say.

I started, it was challenging.
I kept going, I felt like a snail whenever I glanced over to Ben, who on the other hand, with all his man muscles, was like a . . . like an ant? 'Kay. Then I felt like a fast snail.
I wasn't that slow, but gosh, when we were halfway done --with the side by the house, and most of the front yard-- I was breathing and breathing and parched even though Mr. gave us water bottles, and Ben kept saying, keep going, we're almost done. Oh yeah right. I didn't know if I could keep going. That might sound pitiful to some of you, but sure as heck I'm not used to furiously raking lawns every day. I don't train for these things.

Fast breath. "I am so going to blog about this."
He arches a brow at me.
"Darn, I wish I brought a camera. A picture of you, a picture of me, and that would make a really nice blogpost. Pictures make posts all the more better."
Yes, I was teaching him about the pros of blogging. While every muscle in my body ached. Well, nearly every muscle. My arms, shoulder blades, and everything --it all seemed out of breath. 
"How much money do I get out of this?" Yeah, that was me. And no, Mr. was not watching us; we were out in the breezy cool gorgeous day alone.
"Um...we'll see." He smiles at me, looking like he just started, and raking the crap out of the dead grass for all it's worth. I'm just getting the twigs, I tell him. He's the deep-cleaner. I'm the one who takes care of the bigger stuff on top of all that. ;)
"Hey. If I only get 10 bucks out of this, tomorrow, when every single muscle in my body is screaming, you're going to pay. I'm going to beat you up."
We laughed.
And no, I won't have the strength to beat him up tomorrow. Or even give him a good punch in the shoulder.
I'll be too sore. And it's been a while since I've worked this hard.
Twisting, pulling, grasping. It all gets to ya.
And no, I don't work out regularly. Psh. And for the record, which none of you are keeping of course, most of all I hate push-ups. I'm not . . . good at them. Yes, I just said that. And no, I'm not going to practice till I am good at it. Not right now, I'm not. (laughs)
I like sit-ups. And confession number two: I can only do three pull-ups at a go.
Don't judge, mock, or tease me.
I'm better at other things.
I was just glad when we finally got to the curb--I was burning up, breathing in the wind, hair in a messy bun with a crochet hook stuck through it--but I was so glad.
I didn't really feel the pleasure of accomplishment, what for all the aching and out-of-breath. No, I wasn't heaving. But yes, it was hard.

Hmmm.
That's about it. It was...eventful. I told Ben I he was going to wait to do the man's back yard till Caleb was feeling better; that back yard went on forever, as I already said. And it would need the same strong-armed efforts done to it. Thank goodness it wasn't over 60, because I probably would've melted and sizzled. And that would've been gross. Thank God for the wind. And that cute 10 month old Logan I got to meet; his grandma, Jean, was babysitting him, and they sat out on the front stairs of the house next door, getting some fresh air and watching us work.
Alright. I couldn't resist walking over there to say hi, even though I didn't know who they were, it's just what you do when you've lived in a small town for your whole life and your brother's blowing leaves and tiny pieces out towards the road.
They were really nice, and the lady came from a family where she was the eldest of 10, and she went on to marry and have 5 children. She said she loved big families. She guessed who my Mother was, and her husband remembered Dad and his brothers from when he coached in high school.
Small towns have these moments quite a bit, and today I got to be in one of those moments. That lady was so sweet.

I've got to go and iron now. Well, finish up. I took a little break after a while, and now that I've wrapped up this post with no beautiful photo, darnit... I've got to go. :]
'Night.

P.S. I started Talking to the Dead by Bonnie Grove today . . . the first page is just so poetical, even if it's about grief. (heh heh) It gets better. It's not all that. It's kind of about...moving on. I love it.

P.P.S. --Yay! I'm celebrating 23 Followers . . . with . . . another cup of green tea, probably. It's not that I celebrate everything with a drink of some kind, it just seems to happen like that for my blog parties. (hahaha) And I already had my coffee (black) today, not to mention I had a small cup of Ken's Folger's next door while visiting Anna for a minute, just with a dribble of milk in it...'twas decent. And yeah--I didn't mention, it's already 9:11pm. No coffee for me anymore tonight. :)