Can you tell I'm tired?

Again, I am sorry this is weeks coming! I have been busy and as the summer winds down I've been out enjoying more of the city than I really have time for. Because of that, I am now sick, and taking a much needed down week for myself. It helps that I have only 6 volunteers this week.

What have I done the last couple of weeks? Well I had a visitor in my trailer this past week. Needless to say, he was unwanted, and there for has been killed. For those of you who have never seen this kind of spider before, let me introduce you to a brown recluse. They are very poisonous. To give you a little perspective on where this guy was, just to the right of the frame, is the opening to my bed! My dog barked once at it, then ran between my legs and hid. I threw the thickest souled shoe I had at it then swept it out of the trailer. I had the creeps the rest of the night.

I took Steph to see Charmaine Nevelle, and we met some Germans who had sat in front of us. Steph being from Germany, offered to take them on a tour, and asked if I could drive. So I gave a tour without talking! Yes, Jen didn't talk! Rarely did Steph ask me a question, I just drove. But it was fun. We got a free dinner out of the deal, and had a nice time. We also took them to the most famous Cemetery in New Orleans. It was raining at that point so Steph and I went back to the cemetery the following week. We each separated and took our own photos. I'll admit it was nice to separate a bit, because it seems like we do a lot together, yet at the same time she goes out a lot more than I do. I am a very independent person, and it is hard for me to want to go out and hang out with someone I see all day long.

What else have I done? Steph and I have become regulars at a bar on Wed nights to sing karaoke. I have this knack for singing ABBA...But it is fun. I introduced Steph to an all american shot: chocolate cake! It is her new favorite thing.

For those who don't know, I applied to Northern Illinois University as a post-bac to get my teaching certificate. I have been accepted! I am deferring the acceptance until Jan. because I'm getting conflicted information on how the program runs. The English Ed. advisor is telling me I have to take the program as a master's candidate, and take and pay for graduate level courses. Or I could get a history ed. degree as an undergrad. Basically making the program 4 years long. I'm not ready to commit to a 4 year program when all I want is to teach. I have enough student loans, I don't need 4 more years worth.

So in the mean time, I am telling my boss here, that I want to come back in Sept. but also applying for jobs in the Chicago area. If something great comes up I can always move up to Illinois and walk a way from PDA. Or I can always come back. It also helps that Illinois has a 6 month residency requirements, so if I was to start a job in Aug, I could be a resident in January.

Well, that is me, and what I am up to. I better go get some real work done now.

Finally a break...

It has been a very long three weeks. With constant volunteers in house, and dedications (Praise God), and trying to get things organized here on village. Project Homecoming didn't work on Fri. so I had the group stay here and complete a whole lot of village organization and other big projects that needed to get done here.

On Thurs. I got to go on a swamp tour down in Houma. It was nice to be on a boat, where the movement created a breeze, where there wasn't a breeze.It has been extremely hot down here. Heat index of 110-115. I got to see alligators in the wild. and some large birds. We've had some great thunder storms this last week too. Once the rain starts, the temp. drops about 20 degrees. I have to admit that there is no getting used to heat like this, I am slowly acclimating to it.

Last night I went to Laura's for dinner and she took me to the Chalmette fireworks, which were nothing to Seattle's but they weren't too bad. Then I blew off my own fireworks. I didn't go down town because it was going to be too crowded, and I wasn't up for dealing with the large crowds. It rained most of the afternoon yesterday, so the 4th felt just like a Seattle 4th. It is raining now too, and it is refreshing.

I'm waiting to hear from NIU about getting in in the fall. I have to admit that my hopes are up; but a huge part of me wants to stay here as well. I also need to search for scholarships and more grant money. Now that I am 26 and independent according to the government, I am now qualified as a non-traditional student. Add that to being a first generation college student, hopefully I can find more financial aid for school.

So I am looking for places to live in Dekalb, as well as possible jobs. reality has set in that I might have to go back to Target, and I'm ready for that if it happens. But I'm going to try for a higher position within Target, so that my schedule will be more flexible. I'm also going to see about giving tours down here of the lower 9th ward, and see if I can't pick up a little more cash.

I gave a tour to a group yesterday. I got a call at 6:45ish am on a Sat morning to see if I could give this group a tour. I had no problem giving a tour on my day off, but I didn't need the phone call that early in the morning. The group didn't have anything to do with the phone call, nor did they know that that phone call was coming, but still, it was a little obnoxious. Well, I'm going to go work on the blanket that I've started...my goal is to have it completed by the end of the week, even if I have to watch every movie I own to get it done...my crocheting is slower now since it is hot outside, than it was this past winter.

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.