No Pain, No Gain

I am SO sore. My legs hurt, my shoulders hurt, my arms hurt, my back hurts, muscles I was not even aware of hurt, EVERY THING hurts. I can barely type this blog post as my forearms hurt in a way I never thought possible. This morning it took two hands to grab the gallon of milk from the refrigerator and putting my socks on was excruciating.

What you ask is responsible for such pain?

Well...it all started with the decision not to do a full garden this year, so the huge lime stone rocks we used to create the garden needed a new home and my girlfriend Darlyne volunteered to take them off our hands. It's a win, win situation right?

Therefore, yesterday while the kids were at school Darlyne and I decided to tackle the rocks and get them from our house to hers. She showed up prepared with her husband's truck, a shovel, gloves, a wheelbarrow and a great attitude. One thing I do not think she realized was just how big and heavy these rocks were going to be.

There were 32 rocks in all and our system went something like this; dig up rock, lift into wheelbarrow, haul to the front yard (which is not a hop, skip and a jump), lift into truck and repeat. It literally took both of us to lift each rock; this was clearly not a single woman job. Because the rocks were so heavy (and we were not sure just how much weight her husband's truck could hold) we ended up taking half a load to her house and unloading them in her back yard and then came back to get the second half.

Needless to say; in the middle of all our hard work, high fivin' each other and patting ourselves on the back my dear husband calls from Singapore. I proudly tell him what we are doing and the conversation goes something like this:

Me: "How heavy do you think these rocks are?"

His response: "Oh, about 40 pounds."

Me: "What? No way...they weigh more than that."

Him: "Okay, maybe 50 pounds."

Me: "No, it is taking both me and Darlyne to lift them. They have to weigh more than that."

Him: "Don't think so."

So don't you know the minute we hung up the phone I decided we were weighing the next rock. We took a little detour to the garage scale (which resembles the one's in the doctors office that never lie) and weighed our rock. 

81 POUNDS

No wonder I am SO sore. I am just scared of tomorrow (for me the second day is always the worst.)

Seven days down and twenty-nine to go.

We have survived our first week with just the three of us. It began a little rough with a sick child AND a sick mommy, but the end of our week shaped up well. Monday and Tuesday we stayed close to home (recuperating), but by Wednesday we got out of the house and headed to the park and then a friend's house for a much needed play date (for both the kiddos and mommy).

On Thursday the weather was so nice, I decided to take the kids to Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. We met my girlfriend and the two girls she is a nanny for there. It could not have been a more beautiful day to spend at the zoo and apparently everyone else thought so too because we had to park several blocks away and stand in line at least 20 minutes before we ever got in. We have frequented this zoo several times in the past and never parked anywhere but the zoo parking lot and a line is something unheard of. In hindsight it might not have been the 'best' day to go, I guess I did not think it would be the 'happening spot' for Spring Break. Needless to say all, the crowd did not spoil our fun, just made it a little more stressful to keep track of the kids.

Friday was another day at the park and a play date/lunch with Brynn's friend Callie, her mom and little sister. The girls were so excited to get to play together outside of school (Callie is in Brynn's class). We went to Subway for lunch and Brynn and Callie thought it was super cool we aloud them to sit at a separate table from us (they had no clue it was because six of us could not fit at one table).

AND today, the first day of spring we stayed huddled inside doing puzzles, coloring, playing trains, making brownies and watching Madagascar because our beautiful weather disappeared and the 40-degree weather moved in with rain and wind, lots of wind.

We are hoping the cold weather moves out tomorrow as fast as it came in today.

Danny Update:

Danny is doing well. I think he might even be enjoying Singapore a little, I know he is enjoying the food because he tells me about every meal he eats ; ) He is impressed with the cleanliness of the city and just how friendly everyone is there. We are keeping in touch via Skype, Brynn and Braden get a kick out of seeing him on the computer. Technology is awesome!

A really quick update:

Things have been crazy around here the last couple of weeks as Brynn was sick with an ear and sinus infections (we have a love/hate relationship with spring around here), Braden's adenoidectomy and getting Danny ready for his departure to Singapore for work. He left in the wee hours yesterday morning and after 32 hours of traveling (22 hours in the air), a 6.6 earthquake in Tokyo (that he didn't even feel), and two hours of being lost in Singapore in a cab with a driver unfamiliar with the area Danny is staying. Finally, he arrived at his apartment safely this morning at 3:00 a.m. Singapore time.

He will be in Singapore for the next 34 days working and it will be me and kids here for the next 34 days, which brings me to the question: I wonder who will have a harder time surviving, him or me?

Did I mention Spring Break started Friday and my kids have no school this week?

To be continued....