Breaking News: person installs stepping stones in backyard.

After watching a couple YouTube videos on how to install stepping stones I decided that this might be something that I could conceivably achieve. Possibly.

Now, you can do it a fancy and correct way but what I did was something that is not that... but close enough.
I started my journey at Meijer where I got 4 patio stones for about 2.99 a pop. I would have gotten more but I broke my sandal while loading them into my cart and they were heavy and I was afraid I was going to crush my fingertips and have an emotional meltdown at my local grocery store.
After I loaded the stones into my cart I perused the plant section for a bit and barely touched the corner of a "shelf" that a row of plants were sitting on and they all fell to the ground. My initial reaction was to look around and see if anyone saw me do it and then run away, which i almost do and then I grouchily decide that if they have security cameras and they recognize me they are going to be like "Oh there goes that terrible woman who knocked over those plants that one time." and then every cashier from that point forward would just see me and then shake their head with silent disappointment. 

So I assessed the situation, picked up the 2'x4' which qualified as a section of a "shelf" put it back on top of the cinder blocks where it was prior to my audacious attempt to pass by it. That emotional meltdown I was talking about earlier almost transpires when i discover that I can't even put all the plants back since the 2'x4' was put on the cinder blocks on a slight diagonal because whoever assembled this monument to man's superiority over nature ran out of room after putting the first 2 pieces of wood over the cinder blocks and decided to just go with the whole diagonal haphazard shelf thing.

I kinda felt like this.
I stubbornly attempt to put the plants back anyways and I am only able to put 2 on the wider end and if I put any additional plants on it it just flops forward almost causing yet another plant catastrophe. At this point I put the plant I'm tying to put back on the "shelf" on the ground and push my cart back into the store with much fury.

So that was pretty much the hardest part of installing my stepping stones.

First, I just saw if I could eyeball it and I was pretty proud of my handiwork.

But at the last second I decided to double check my definition of a straight line.

I used the measuring tape to get my stones all in straight line with relatively uniform spacing. 

I first tried to use my flat edged shovel to dig around them but it was hard to leverage without moving the stones and my neighbors were outside and I could feel the pity for my pathetic attempts to do this radiating off of them. I didn't have any spray paint(Nor would that have ended well and I definitely would have ended up getting it on the stones themselves) So I let nature handle defining the outlines for me and I let them sit for a week and came back and flipped them over and dug out the area that the stones had flattened.
I basically just cut away a square of sod, did my best to level the dirt below and then put the stones in the hole. I read you are supposed to use sand or gravel at this point to ensure it is level but meh. 

And there you have it.
They are below ground level so now I can mow right over them and they will be staying put for the foreseeable future.

Oh yeah and then while taking the prior picture I discovered I have a bunch of plants growing in my gutters. So that's cool.

-Maeghan