Strength training-it comes in handy

[40something]

I just have to brag this morning about the weekend project Dh and I did. We built new steps behind our garage using retaining wall block...each one weighs 80 pounds! And I am proud to say it turned out great!!! As H commented, "It looks like a professional did it".

But also, we hand carried and hand laid each and every block and my regular strength training really paid off as I was more than able to lift those blocks and help Dh. Let me tell you, doing squats while holding a 80# weight will just about kill you! I kept reminding myself...lift with your knees not your back but boy...those blocks got heavier as the day wore on!

But we are so proud of our steps! This was a warm up to the 200+ feet of retaining wall we will be building this summer.

 

[Connie1]

Oh goody, you go girl! We are planning the same amount of retaining wall this summer (200+ feet) and the same amount again next summer. I look forward to using my Cathe-sharpened skills!

When I do a heavy project like that I include it in my workout log!

 

[dlp252]

Well I've been looking all over the web to find the little bowing smilie, and for some reason I'm just not seeing it, sooooo.....

I bow to you!

 

[40something]

Connie...we'll have to compare projects when we're all done. I have the final meeting this morning with the stoneyard engineer to get everything laid out before we put in the big order for the wall blocks. We also have another set of stairs to do coming off of our new porch and leading down to our driveway...we're going to incorporate two landing pads in that set of stairs to break up the monotony and add some visual interest. I also got my H talked into putting in a patio of stone behind the garage where we put the stairs in this weekend. I keep going to the window and looking out at the new stair...it is so cool!

We had taken bids last fall to have all of this retaining wall/stairs done and the cheapest one was $30k...I almost choked on my tongue when we got the bids!! So, we figured half of the cost was probably materials and the other half labor so we decided we would try to do this ourselves and save the $15k for other projects. We have never done any stone work before so we were very apprehensive about tackling this but now that we have the first set of stairs done our confidence level has soared...and we only had to rip out one level and redo it so that wasn't too bad for beginners!

 

[Carol_is_fit]

WOO HOO!! You go girl! Don't "victories" like that just feel great????

Carol