Just along for the ride

I am freaking out a bit. I think I just screwed myself over! It didn't even cross my mind that school would start in Aug, not in Sept. Quarter systems were so much easier to deal with. Well, I guess I'm just going to have to wait until I get accepted then I'll hold on for the ride. here goes nothing.

Took my chevy to the levy

Hey all, I'm sorry it has been 10 days since my last post. Things have been uber crazy here the last two weeks. I have officially wrapped up family week and father/son week. Family week I had 75 people here total, and I was training Steph, my new partner. Essentially I was on my own. Steph was great though, she jumped right in. I got rave reviews from the groups from family week. So much so, that now my boss is begging me to stay longer. As for father/son week, it proved to be a little more of a challenge. I had one group leave early because they felt like they were standing around on the site too much. But they should have brought that up with the construction assistant because if they were standing too much they would have been sent to another site.

We dedicated miss Victory's house yesterday which was amazing! That woman has been though so much in the last 4 years that it is about time she gets her house completed and back.

As for me, I'm struggling a bit. I am definitely not getting enough time to myself. I miss Jessie, there is something about that friend that puts perspective on life for me. I turned in an application to Northern Illinois University this week, and got all my transcripts sent out. Some how I didn't miss the deadline, and I didn't miss FAFSA's deadline either for fall. So I'm trying to get in as a post-bac, for the teacher cert program. If I don't get in then I am going to come back down here for the fall and continue doing this job. I feel very good about these decisions. I've been stressed out all week over them, but putting up some guidelines helps. If I get into NIU, it is going to be a crazy Aug. I'm leaving here on Aug 10th spending 10 days with Jessie, then heading home for Leslie's wedding. If I get into NIU, then I'm driving to NIU after the wedding, if I don't get into NIU, then I'm spending part of Sept. home, then I'll fly back down to NOLA.

I pray that I get answers on directions quickly. I can only hold off my boss for so long. But I'm thinking of packing and what I can start sending back home ahead of me. But July will prove to be a little more relaxing with a couple of weeks off from volunteers. Well, I need to go eat, and do laundry, and clean this messy trailer.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Maybe if I keep singing "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" Mr Rogers will come make everything okay.

It all started with getting off the phone with mom last night at midnight...my work cell rings, someone decided to fall off the top bunk and land on her arm...possibly broken. The mom to that girl was in hystarics, it didn't look broken but possibly seriously sprained, I don't know yet they are still sleeping. I had to be up at 5:15am this morning, and the cranky pushy lady from yesterday is in the kitchen with her grupy know-it-all husband, who just told me that we couldn't cook the sausage patties in cookie sheets in the oven. Then I told him that I've been doing it for months, and he said oh, ok. I did not get enough sleep to deal with these two people this morning. Did I mention that there is no AC in the dinning hall? yeah I walke in at 5:15 to it being 85 in the dinning hall. Everything is propped open lets hope it cools down a bit.

Not so sure it is going to be a good day, but I plan on blogging more later.

Pet Peeve

I hate it when older generation pushes, and I mean pushes kids who were using the microwave out of the way because the old lady blew the circut, and had to wait until I fixed it...more importantly, I wasn't even in the room, when 2 other PDA staffers were, so there was no need for me to be the one to deal with the "emergency" when really, it was a matter of changing the place that the microwave was plugged into. Nothing makes you more important than the person already using the microwave.

The Week in Review!

Sorry to all who follow this on a regular basis. My friend Jessie came into town from Chicago, and I knew that with her here I wouldn't have time to blog, or call many people.

Jessie was on vacation, and I happened to not have any volunteers this week! So we started the week off on Monday by going to the Dauphine St. house that was slated to be finished at the end of this week. (We did it!!!) Jessie and I got the lovely task of replacing window paynes in sectional windows on the second story of the house. Needless to say, the roof pitch was 45 degrees so standing on the roof was not really an options. Well, we solved this issue by having one person sit on the window ledge and lean out the window while the other holds their legs for safety and hand the tools needed.

Jessie did that whole window that you are looking at. first she had to peel out the broken payne with a paint scraper. Then she needed to scrape the edge clean, using a caulk gun she added the window grip (glue). Then we placed the payne in. Remember how I'm always talking about the need to be flexible, well the window payne didn't exactly fit right. So we created some make shift spacers to help keep it in place. Getting another caulk gun, we re-glazed the window. Glaze is messy. Jessie's body was so exhausted that her abs and legs were shaking...a lot! She was getting frustrated with the glaze, so I jumped up on the window and leaned out, using a wet rag, and a tool on my pocket knife, I cleaned up the glaze and made the window look professionally put in. We had one more payne on the same window so Jessie took it out, and secured the window, and I got back up and did the glaze. This window that Jessie is sitting at wasn't so scary because we were in a bedroom and knew if we jumped through the window that we were going to be solid. The other window that we had to do was at the top of the steep stair well. There were also 2 paynes to take care of on that window. One on the bottom and one at the very top. We did our normal routine that we had established for the bottom payne, but the glass didn't fit at all!!! So we had to put it off until Tuesday.

On Tuesday we got the payne replaced in less than 40min. (We were pros now after all!) then went out to Castnets for lunch with a bunch of people. I had my deep fried oyster po-boy and it was heavenly. When we got back we had to tackle the top payne. So Jessie was willing to go out on the roof and stand at the funky angle to replace it. But we did make a harness out of a thick extension cord that was around Jessie's waist and mine and to a support beam inside the house.

Jessie was a real trooper! She got it done. Then Monica, one of the construction assistants came and took some fun photos of us goofing off once the scary part was done with.

Wed. we got to head over to Diamondhead, Mississippi to set up the dining hall for the new village. We have moved the Pearlington Village to Diamondhead. It was a freaking hot day 89 degrees and there was no AC set up yet. We were both hot and sweaty and sticky and it turned into a 2 shower day! Thursday hit with a bang. I went to Sam's Club to pick up my food order for next week since I'll have 75 volunteers staying here, and I opened my e-mail to find that my boss and financial director had both been sacked! I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. I cried. They are the only two people who stood up for us volunteers and found us time off, and a break and worked really hard with us so that things can go smoothly.

Now I don't know what exactly is going to happen next, but replacements have been named and they start on Monday. I'm scared, and I kind of feel like I'm back in the politics of Target. So now I'm praying harder for my next direction and looking for jobs that start in Aug. because I have a hard time seeing myself here in the fall; which is sad, but it is a little more direction.

Jessie and I did take a lot of time to play this week too! We started in the French Quarter on Sunday after she got in. We walked every where and saw everything and had an amazing time in each other's company.

On Monday night I took Jessie to Snugg Harbor to see Charmaine Neville perform. We paid the cover for the 8pm show. Detroit Brooks, who is Charmaine's guitar player saw me sitting in the corner and sat and talked to us for a while. When the first show ended, we were talking with Charmaine's Cousin Bryce Neville. Then we talked with Charmaine for a while (since I do know her) and Detroit asked us if we were staying for the 10pm show, and we shook our heads because it was sold out. He winked and told us to stay put. When the bouncer came round to tell us we needed to leave, I looked at him and told him that Detroit had told us to stay put and he was okay with that, so we got to see the second show for free!!!! I was showing off a bit with all my connections, but it was so worth it. Afterward, we hung out with Detroit and Charmaine after the club had mostly cleared out.

Thursday night we went to Red Fish Grill for dinner and it was amazing! I found a new favorite drink called the Texas Tea. It is much easier to drink than a Hurricane.

Friday night was also amazing! We drove down to Houma, LA and we shopped for a while, ate Chinese food for dinner in the town square, and then went and played bingo at Town Hall. It was a lot of fun even though we didn't win. After bingo we were going to go to the Jolly Inn for Cajun dancing but it was closed so we ended up at another bar instead. It was a very late night, but so worth it.

Now I'm playing catch up, and trying to get ready for back to back weeks of 70 people. That being said, I should probably work! I'm sad to see Jessie go this morning, but I am lucky to have her as a friend who challenges me in life both personally and spiritually. Well I'm back to the grindstone.

Back to the grindstone

Last week was amazing! It was the exact week I needed. I saw the people I needed and had the experiences, now I'm back here ready to work some more.

When I got back my partner Kate had already left. And I walked it to excatly how I had left it...a little messier from the NCCC kids, but they cleaned this place up well. I miss having them around. They were a lot of fun to have around and it was really nice to have a team here long-term that I knew I could depend upon or ask to do anything and know it would get done. I've a small group here this week, which is good because I'm completely on my own. I like the smaller groups because I get to know them better. But I'm really looking forward to this week being done because that means that Jessie is here!!!!!

There is a lot to do today as it is the first day of Hurricane Season (not rabbit season). I have a long to do list to prepare, and I need to create an evacuate to do list because PDA has decided that we don't have a functioning plan in place. Don't worry though, should I have to evacuate this camp, rest assured that I will be following Project Homecoming as they have evacuated a couple times already, so they know what they are doing, and I'm just going to step in line with them.

That being said, I better get this stuff done. More later.