Like a Ton of Bricks

Yesterday was such a beautiful day. I got a lot of landscaping done. I'm building a retaining wall around one of the back corners of the house to fill in a low-lying area that becomes a marsh when it rains.

Our neighbor is digging an egress out of his basement and said that we could have some of the dirt. So he was very nice and dumped it in our yard. Right on top of where I needed it. Which would have been fine, except I needed to prep the area first. So I had to move all that dirt first, which wouldn't have been so hard, if it hadn't been mostly clay. That had been rained on. Wet, sticky, clay soil. Any of you who have worked with clay soil know what I am talking about. Impossible to move. I asked my husband if he would come out and help even though it was only 9:30am (very early for him). I owe him a big steak.

After lunch, and after my husband went to work, the kids and I trekked back outside. I dug the trench for the first row of the wall, filled it with paver base, raised our downspout so it will go over the wall, and moved all 100 stones into place. At 19lbs each x 100 stones = 1900 lbs. Add in 4 bags of paver base at about 40lbs each and I literally moved a TON of stuff yesterday!

Needless to say, I was exhausted by bedtime. I was lying in bed enjoying some downtime TV and all of the sudden I heard my daughter making noise in her crib. I gave her a few minutes thinking she may settle back to sleep. No such luck. At exactly 11:00pm she starts caterwauling. I know it was exactly 11:00pm because HSN was just showing the new Today's Special. She chose this most holy of times to start making a fuss. (I told you I was an HSN fanatic!) So I went into her room to make sure everything was OK - no fever, no foot stuck in the crib slats - and sat on her floor, not looking at her, while she cried (Supernanny would be so proud!). Well, after 10 minutes, that didn't work. So I left and went back to bed for 10 more minutes. There wasn't anything wrong with her but I know what the problem is. She's a cuddler and Daddy is wrapped around her finger. I think he puts her to sleep holding her in his lap on many days. Sure enough, after I finally went and got her and sat on the couch with her, she fell asleep in my arms (Supernanny would so NOT be proud of me!)

Even with less sleep I got up and did my Turbulence Training workout this morning. But I am getting more and more sore from landscaping as the day goes on. Especially in my hands and lower back. Need to take a full rest day tomorrow!