Today I was reminded of the first time I saw towers of balanced rocks on the beach. It was obvious that they were stacked by a person, but it was also unbelievable that they were not falling. The interesting thing to me was that it almost didn't matter what kind of rock it was (big, small, or lopsided), but that it seemed to just have to be positioned properly in order to balance it. Someone found that exact spot on each rock that would allow it to balance on top of the rock beneath it. Maybe they sifted through rocks and looked for one that would work best, but no matter the process, every rock was different and somehow working in unison with the stack of other rocks, creating its own unique tower. No doubt, this process requires someone with a steady hand and great patience. It's an art.
My life seems to have a lot of different rocks in it right now. And it feels as though they are just in a heaping pile right at my feet. I don't know how to sort them or balance them most of the time. Sometimes I get a few stacked and balanced and the next one I try to put on top causes my tower to collapse. Life brings us all sorts of things to balance. Sometimes our rocks are heavier and more lopsided than others, but this doesn't mean we can't find a balance.
When I hit "rock bottom" (couldn't resist the pun) and life seems to come crashing down all at once, I realize how much I need to turn to the Lord to help me re-balance and rebuild. Sometimes it's just those days that there's way too much to do around the house and my little mess-makers helpers continue to undo my hard work. Other times there are more serious family concerns or trials that overwhelm us spiritually and emotionally. Whatever the burden, I know that my Savior is the steady hand that has carried every rock and every burden that I will experience. No matter how small or large our burdens or trials are, he graciously commits to carry them with us - if we allow Him.
The following message from Elder D. Todd Christofferson reminds us to just "take life one day at a time". So, whether it's laundry piles and dishes in the sink that I think I'll never get to or greater concerns that weigh heavy on my heart, I will take it one day at a time and allow the Lord to lead me through this life.
Or you can watch it here:
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-08-013-daily-bread-experience?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2013&lang=eng&cid=HPWE100814473
Several months ago, the ugly, worn CARPET, that had been previously installed by other owners finally ripped - right at the step, so it was a major safety hazard. So, I ripped up the carpet one day only to find this pretty picture underneath. This is all the glue residue left behind. Some marks are actually from the grinder from when my hubs tried to grind it off - without much success.
From here we needed to figure out what to do wit this porch without breaking the bank. Tiling was ultimately what we thought we would do. We visited the home improvement stores and some tile stores and realized it would be at least a few hundred dollars just to buy the tiling supplies - plus, we've never tiled a porch before, so we had our hesitations. Months passed and we continued to let it slip to the bottom of the project list.
Finally, we had had enough of our ugly porch! We decided to restart our research and this time we starting looking into concrete resurfacing. A family member mentioned they knew of a company who did that so we called and ultimately found out that they had a $2000 minimum contract - so that was out. We only have less than a 30 square foot area to cover. Sure, we have plenty of places around the house that could probably use resurfacing, but we weren't ready to fork over the money for that yet.
Obviously the next logical step: YOUTUBE! The hubs and I sat down one afternoon and searched through several videos on how to fix our troubled porch. Here's the one that convinced us that we could do this:
I picked up a 40lb bag of Quikrete Concrete Resufacer from Lowes for $20. (Actually I bought 2 bags just in case, but we only needed one). Each bag says it will cover about 35 sq ft at 1/8" thick
Step #1: Clean and Prep the surface
Power-wash or brush and vacuum old surface
The night before we power-washed the original concrete to remove anything that might keep the resurfacing material from adhering properly. Remember all the glue crud that was stuck to the porch? This actually started to come up with the pressure washer, so we realized that we needed to do our best to get the rest off. This was the hardest part. We got chisels and went to town. Once it looked pretty clean of residue, we were ready for the next step.
Men at work.
"One of these things is not like the other"....(the little man's contribution to the tools)
Step #2: Wet surface
Pull out the hose and give your area a good spray and then brush off any standing water or puddles.
Step #3: Mix the Quikrete Resurfacer
Fill a 5 gallon bucket with 3.5 quarts of water (but you may need to add more water later). Then slowly add the concrete mix into the water and mix for 5 minutes using a mixing bit attached to an electric drill. (This seems like a long time, but I would recommend not cutting it short)
Here are the tools you'll need for the job:
Power drill, mixing bit, concrete trowel, edging trowel
Also, the video recommends using a concrete broom to make it a non-slip surface (adds texture), but we actually used a large car sponge instead
Step #4: Pour the mixture and spread with trowel
Start with a small area and begin to spread the concrete evenly over the surface using the concrete trowel. *Make sure you plan out which direction you're working so you don't back yourself into a corner or have to step over your work.
In our case, our mixture was a little on the thick side, so seemed like it wasn't spreading very easily. At that point, we used a spray bottle to wet the mix that we poured and it help a ton to wet it down a bit. We ended up adding more water to the bucket too. Every time it got sticky or wasn't spreading smooth, we sprayed it down with the squirt bottle.
The step was the most difficult part. Since it's a vertical surface, the concrete mixture needs to be thicker in order to get it to stick. This part took a little more finesse and there was some drop-off, so cover any other surface with newspaper that you don't want affected. (We did this a little too late, so there's some residue on the walkway, but we'll probably end up resurfacing that too since the porch went well)
*Once the step is covered, let it set for a few minutes and then use the edging trowel to get a nice clean edge on your step. (If you feel like it doesn't look great at this point, don't worry - the sponge technique will remove any imperfections)
Step #6: Use broom or sponge to add texture
If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the more textured area further away from the front of the step. When we first started troweling, it seemed like we couldn't get a perfectly smooth surface (we kept getting random streaks since it wasn't perfectly level). However, we had the idea to use our car washing sponge (like the one pictured below) to lightly smooth over the area and it worked perfectly!
*Note: Let the surface start to thicken up and dry before you do go over it with the broom or sponge (refer to video recommendations for the broom). We probably waited at least 10-15 min before using the sponge and it was thicker to begin with. And for the front step, we had to wait even longer. You can gently rub down uneven spots and even give the edge on the step some roundness so it's not so sharp.
Step 7: Let it Dry!
Remember to block off your newly resurfaced area to keep little hands and feet out!
(Our 10 yr old was excited to make her contribution with this sign:
"Wet cement. If you need us, please call.")
And here it is (mostly dry):
We will definitely be doing this again because we were very happy with the result! Seriously, what a difference this made for only $20!!! Now, that's my kind of home improvement project. Now we're not the 'neighbors with the ugly porch' anymore.
For every mom out there...this just about sums it up:
This was the perfect video to watch this morning as I lay in bed for any additional second I could get while hearing my kids playing and bickering in the background.
Last night we had a Relief Society (women's group for my church) activity about "the seasons of our lives". There was a panel of a great women, all who I know (some better than others) and they discussed what stage of life they are in, what they like best, and what kind of things they have learned at their stage or looking back on other stages of life. It was so great to listen to the discussion and better appreciate everyone's season of life - even my own.
My season of life consists of 4 kids, meal planning/cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, homework help, driving carpool, not sleeping enough, mountains of laundry, too much stuff in too little space, the list goes on...
....which reminds me of these songs by Hilary Weeks:
But, the one thing I love about parenting is that it's always changing. Sometimes it feels like we're stuck in a stage for so long, but when we look back, we realize that it went so quickly. I think of all these stages as learning opportunities. We can only do the best we know how and we just need to take what tools we can learn from each season of our life and do our best to along the way. Maybe what we learn at any given point is just so that someday we can help someone else who is going through the same thing.
A friend reminded me today that I need to give myself more credit for things. We're all our own biggest critics and sometimes we're so focused on what we're not doing. Today, let's celebrate something that we do well!
"Planning ahead" might just be the answer to most of life's problems as a mom of 4. Yet, somehow I always feel like I'm just playing "catch up". Meal planning isn't my forte, but I'm attempting to create some habits that will pay off.
One of my favorite go-to's for getting veggies in our meals is roasting two huge pans after I make a big produce run. Sprouts has awesome deals on produce and if you shop on Wednesdays, you get the deals for both last week and the current week!
So, before even putting any produce in the fridge, I do a quick sink wash with my homemade fruit and veggie wash. Then I just chop up everything that's going to be roasted so it doesn't even get to the veggie drawer (and get long forgotten because I don't feel like cooking veggies later). Each time I roast vegetables, it's always a little different, depending on what I have on hand. Today it was red, green, and yellow peppers, yellow squash (on sale for 50 cents/lb!), baby carrots, yellow onion, and red potatoes.
Since I had a package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix just waiting to be used, I decided to throw that into the mix as well, but usually I just add olive oil, salt/pepper, and balsamic vinegar.
Today's Roasted Vegetable Recipe:
6 Bell Peppers (I used 2 of each - green, yellow, red)
4 handfuls of baby carrots
2 yellow squash
6 red potatoes
1 onion
2 pkgs Lipton onion soup mix
Olive Oil to coat veggies
Balsamic vinegar - a drizzle over each pan
Garlic salt (optional)
Chop all vegetables into bite size pieces. Divide veggies onto two large baking sheets. Sprinkle 1 package soup mix over each pan. Then drizzle enough olive oil plus a little balsamic vinegar to coat veggies. Gently mix thoroughly with clean hands. (you may also choose to add veggies to a ziplock bag or bowl to mix, but I wanted to have one less dish to wash)
Roast at 450 degrees for 25-30min.
Eat and enjoy for dinner, but then SAVE all the rest for LEFTOVERS during the week. Great for bringing in a container for lunch as well! You can add them to salads, pastas, or any meat dish.
The only hard part is getting my kids to eat them!
I love eating my fruits and veggies, but my least favorite part is doing all the grocery shopping and then having to wash all the produce. For a long time I just rinsed my produce with water, thinking it was "clean enough". Then, for more peace of mind (since we can't always afford organic) I started buying ready made veggie wash from the store. Once my first bottle ran out, I figured I'd just make my own.
Here's a simple recipe that helps get rid of some of the wax on the produce as well as dirt and bugs. The vinegar even helps preserve the food!
Large bowl or sink of cold water, enough to mostly cover produce
1/4 C Distilled White Vinegar
2 Tbsp salt
Just fill the sink or a large bowl with water, add the vinegar and salt and swish around. Add the fruit and vegetables and soak for 25-30 min. Then rinse with fresh water.
I usually do mine in the sink because I'll throw everything in while I'm unloading the rest of my groceries from the store. That way you know that when you take a nice apple or celery stalk out of the fridge to eat, it will be clean!
This summer we have been in a pool almost every day. I have two kids who are water safe but two who are not. Prior to summer starting I decided to offer a few swim lessons to some friends in an effort to get my own kids water safe as well. I've never really put my older kids in swim lessons because I just taught them along the way and they eventually learned to swim. My lifeguard job as a teenager required that I teach swim lessons during the summer so besides being a swimmer myself, I had a few extra resources to draw from to teach my own kids.
As I was refreshing some of my knowledge and planning out my swim lessons this time around, I came across this great resource called uSwim.com for parents to use to teach their kids how to swim. It covers all the basics and gives clear explanation and supportive video. It doesn't give you ideas for games and songs to incorporate with the little oneself make it more fun, but it teaches you step by step the stages for beginning swimmers, both infants/toddlers and school age children. You can even print out the lesson plan of your choice.
I think this is an amazing resource. Of course, if you're not comfortable in the water yourself or if your child refuses to take lessons from you (like my 4 year old) then I would highly recommend swim lessons with a professional or a trusted friend. My daughter was only capable of taking direction from "a swim teacher" (not her own mother), so went that route while I gave most of her preschool friends individual lessons. But we were all better off that way!
Check out uSwim.com for a great summer water safety resource.
This blog went into a deep sleep almost two years ago. The saying is true; there is a time and a season for everything. Blogging wasn't in season for me the last two years, though I do wish I had stayed with it a little bit. There's a part of me that feels the strong need to get things documented in my life; I just need to get thoughts, ideas, memories, and experiences down on paper. There's no time to write with a paper and pen anymore. Sometimes I get a few words of gratitude down in my paper journal, but I think my typing skills need to contribute to more digital journaling.
Last year we had our 4th child. He maxed out completed our family. He arrived one day after my hubby's birthday in April and already he's a booming toddler. My life now consist of 4 kids...and chocolate. The 4 kids are always there (especially now during the summer). The chocolate usually shows up by the afternoon, mostly in the form of handfuls of chocolate chips. But I keep going. And of course, my best friend and hubby is there to support me and keep me sane.
It's hard to even sum up the last two years. I suppose it consisted mostly of being pregnant and having a baby. There, that was easy. Just this year, however, I jumped back on a health and fitness kick and managed to get back in really great shape. I started by signing up for a local boot camp class Groupon. Then, a crossfit Groupon. Loved it. A friend talked me into training for a half marathon. So, I started running. (I've never been a runner...hated running, but somehow it grew on me - it was convenient). The first couple months went great, then I acquired a pelvic stress fracture from overuse/hormones. That was in April. Running - and almost all exercise stopped for a while. I could hardly walk for a couple weeks. Doc tried to put me on crutches, but that didn't quite work with three kids and a baby who just barely started walking. Fast forward 3 months and I finally got an MRI and diagnoses. No running for a while still, but I can swim and bike, which I also enjoy so now it's about recovery and easing back into the fitness world. I lost my drive for a while because I went from working out every day to barely walking the next. But this trial will only make me stronger. For now, I'm refocusing on my priorities and trying to keep my life in some sort of balance.
Where to from here? I guess we'll find out. Life is one day at a time around here, but I know there are plenty of "tools" I need to recognize, use, and share along the way. Here's to a new beginning!
