I am 100 % for this little remodeling project; namely because I think an extra bathroom and space to park the car are excellent additions; however, this also means that I have been recruited as manual labor.
The first week I was home, Dad and I shoveled 6 tons of gravel and rock into the basement walls and floor. Literally 6 tons. With shovels. 6 tons!
Don't ask me why that was necessary. I don't know. All I know is that it had to be done. And it took us the better part of 2 days to do it.
Then last week the concrete guys came to pour the basement flooring. Luckily, this is where the experts took over and I was pretty much home free.
Or so I thought.
Except this time Mom recruited me.
Wayyy back when I was in 4-H and made "art work" to show at the county fair, a crafty neighbor showed my Mom and sisters how to make concrete stepping stones in the form of a giant leaf. They are admittedly cool, and I believe I won a blue ribbon for my efforts, but ever since then, Mom has been obsessed with them. And this little remodeling project has only fed the fever.
We already have about 10 of them scattered throughout the landscape in our yard, but Mom is not one to let free concrete go to waste. So with a leftover wheel barrow full of gloopy gray cement, she called me out back and put me to work.
You are aiming for a stone with 2-3 inches in height, and since the cement tends to settle a little after you put it on the leaves, it is important to remember to shape up the edges and try to keep them coming up at a 90 degree angle from the ground.
I don't know what Mom plans to do with all these stepping stones. I'm pretty sure we don't have 36 places to step in our yard.
My ideas was to scatter them around and play Hot Lava...you know that game you played when you were little in which you threw pillows on the floor and had to cross your bedroom without falling into the molten lava that was the carpet? And which sometimes involved one sibling being a lava monster determined to drag (or push) you to a fiery death in the swirling, burbling red magma every time you took a leap?
Ok, well maybe my sisters and I made it up.
I'm not sure.
Anyways, go get yourself some concrete and make some stepping stones.
And then play Hot Lava.
Or actually use them in your garden.
You decide.
(But seriously, you should probably play Hot Lava with them first).