Week 29

Jacquie & I cracking up over the Bean Burger process.

Sometimes, I think I can almost hear my biceps growing. Drywall is HEAVY, and I spent a lot of time this past week carrying 4 ½’ x 12’ sheets (2 together) from one location to another. The weight of dual drywall sheets at these measurements is somewhere in the neighborhood of 175 lbs, not to mention the awkwardness of carrying floppy cement that is easily damageable. As a rule, the “big strong men” carry these boards in pairs, struggling every step of the way, and taking a plethora of breathers and breaks. We girls on the other hand have a system. We work steadily with 3 of us carrying the same load, and though heavy, it’s not TOO heavy, and we end up carrying more than the macho guys this way. Our supervisor was quite impressed.

Besides carrying drywall from the front yard into various rooms throughout the house (all first floor, thankfully!), we started the process of putting it up, which isn’t easy in a place with so many little rooms. It’s fun work though, and no ceilings this time since all of the overhead stuff is a combination of former ceiling wood, now cleaned up and put through a planner (some of which I helped with), and drop ceilings that will be installed after the drywall is up.

With so much drywall hanging on the interior frame from our efforts over the past couple of days, the inside of the house looks incredibly different now than it did at the beginning of the week. It really is a wonder to me that a place can go from being a mess of 2x4s strung together to a real room in one simple step. Add a floor and some paint and you’ve got yourself a homey place to live.

As Project Outreach Liaisons’, Ashlyn and I have been putting together our event for this round, which is a food drive for The Salvation Army Food Pantry and Shelter. Their store of canned goods becomes depleted after the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, so we’re trying to get them back on track early in the year. We’ve been making a lot of phone calls to try and get local churches and organizations involved, which isn’t easy when you’re working on a construction site. Besides having a hard time finding a spot around the place that is quiet enough to make calls, it’s inevitable that the call back you’ve been waiting for will come when you’re standing on a ladder holding a piece of sheetrock. I’m not really sure whose idea it was to create this type of specialty role, but it’s really not conducive to the type of work we do for our day job.

Crazed with the anticipation over Berger cookies.

I did an ISP with The Salvation Army yesterday, and I’ve now completed 74 of my necessary 80 hours. Hurray, almost done!

On the home front, I caught a good sized catfish, which was a nice change from the bluegills I usually come out with. Almost unbelievably, I caught I the SAME little bluegill 3 times. I know he was the same, because each time I pulled him out, I noted the former holes in his lip exactly where I had just pulled hooks from minutes before. Dumbest. Fish. Ever.

One night this week, everyone on the team went to Target except for Mac and I. Feeling we must take advantage of our mastery of the house, we built an amazing pillow, sheet, cot mattress, table, and chair fort. We put couch cushions on the floor inside and made the whole thing big enough for two adults to lie in, which is no small task. We then drank hot cocoa and watched Harry Potter on Mac’s computer inside, and that’s where the rest of the crew found us when they came home. Immature? I prefer the term, child at heart.

Jacquie and I declared this weekend “Martin Beurger Weekend” for very specific reasons. You see, we both love Steve Martin, and Jacquie recently bought some movies starring our star that we’ve never seen before, which we’ve been meaning to watch. That’s the “Martin” part. “Beurger” derives from our desire to try out the Southwestern Black Bean Burger recipe in my new vegetarian cookbook, as well as the Berger cookie recipe that Jacquie’s Aunt Lauren emailed to us. These cookies are a Maryland tradition, and I tried them for the first time when I went with Jacquie to visit her family. They are the most decadent cookies I have every encountered, and I’m not ashamed to admit that sometimes when I’m looking off into the distance with vacant eyes, my mind is on “the cookie that ate Baltimore.”

I am happy to announce that day one of “Martin Beurger Weekend” was a success. We watched The Three Amigos on my computer while we cooked, and then after we’d stuffed ourselves full of our food concoctions, we watch The Man With Two Brains. I can’t remember what’s on the movie watching schedule for today, but I know we’re going to try and squeeze two Steve Martin movies in while eating our leftover Burgers and Bergers. You say weird, I say AmeriFun.

Finally, I am happy to announce that we’ve received the assignment for our last project, and we’re going to be working in Memphis, TN! More details to come, but it sounds like it’s going to be mostly construction and gardening. What could be better?!?!

 much love,

   k