The Great Wall of Ross

The one drawback to buying a new house is that they do not come with finished yards.  The builders left us some dirt, said "Mazel Tov," and were gone.  At first, the task of putting in our own sprinkler system and grass sounded like too much work, but after shopping around, we realized that free labor was the way to go if we didn't want to sell our kidneys.  

Our first mini project in the yard was building a retaining wall, or as I now call it, 

THE GREAT WALL OF ROSS.

Our backyard backs up to a farmer's property and our land is a lot higher up than the farmer's.  The fence separating the two properties is chain link and our dirt has been gradually eroding away onto the other side of the fence, creating a lovely drop off in our backyard.  

Solution= build a 50ft long retaining wall.  

It took 315 paver stones, each weighing 22lbs, totaling 3.5 tons.  Needless to say, there was a lot of lifting, digging, blood, sweat, and a few tears shed throughout the 30 hour project.  We kept wishing Superman would come help us with our wall, but alas, he must have been busy elsewhere.    

Before

Before

Working on the wall, we were so tired and hungry.  One night after working, we both ate 6 slices of pizza.

                                

After, no more drop off!

It was a rough few days for us, and we felt like crippled people with back problems for a while, be we are so happy we did it and saved the money.

So proud of our little wall

The mastermind and the brawn of the project

Great Accomplishments

Lately, Mr. Ross has been helping me get into running.  Historically, I hate running so this has been quite the ordeal.  I just find it hard to keep going when I get bored, sound like a dying person taking my last breaths, get gross, and let's just say I'm used to junior high, where running the mile in P.E. was a day of dread.

So true

This meme above perfectly describes me and my husband.  I'm obviously the P.E. kid.  I tried out for the track team for one day in 7th grade.  That turned out to be a big mistake I discovered when we the other kids started mile 2.  Stephen, on the other hand, ran cross country in high school and rocked it/loved it. 

For anyone who feels the same way as I do about running, don't worry, there is hope for you!  

Here are a few things that have really helped me get over my running paralysis.  

1. Get some goals (time goals work the best for beginners- e.g. 3xs a week for 25 minutes)
2. Get a running buddy- while Stephen runs usually twice as far as me, we still go running at the same time
3. If it's in the budget, get a heart rate monitor or a GPS watch and use it!- this has really made a huge difference for me.  I find it easier to run when I have something I can track and compare my workouts with.  It makes running fun!
4.  Finally, when you have the inner battle of whether to go or not, just do it.  Remember how it makes you feel when you're done.   
   
   
   
   So drum roll for my great accomplishments this week......
   I ran 3.65 miles with my sister Celsea, and. . . . 
   I resisted making dessert all week (if you know me, you know that's a big deal)
   
   
   
   Such a great week!