How is it September Already? Or? The Longest Post Ever (after the Longest Hiatus Ever)

I’m back!

Slacker, Party of One

“So much to say, so much to say, so much to say. . . .” – DMB

Behind on Life

Catching up

What happened to summer?

FINALLY!!!!!

Where do I begin?

*** These are just a few of the blog titles I pondered using. When you’re this behind on a project, it’s hard to start up again – where do you start? Where you left off? Present day? But then what about all the other stuff that’s happened? [You might get the picture here, and why I’m a bit behind!] But I’m getting Back in the Saddle Again (another possibility)

It’s been too long. I’ve started many posts in my head, they just never made it any further than that. [Yes, this is quite helpful when blogging.] And while there are some that I might go back and expand upon, for now, I will give some highlights of the last couple of months. I’ll try to be concise and group them together, but it’s going to be tough not to sound like a spaz-who-has-had-too-much-coffee-and-can’t-concentrate-because-the-brain-cells-are-bouncing-all-over-the-place.

In July I went to New Orleans for our annual ACUHO-I Conference. Like any conference, there were good sessions and great networking and fantastic catching up with old friends. It was also really powerful to be in New Orleans – it was my first visit post-Katrina. We read an amazing book by Dave Eggers (previous thoughts on the book here) called Zeitoun. REALLY powerful stuff. Read it. It was pretty meaningful to participate in some community service in the heat of July and think about people sitting on roof tops for days on end waiting for help. Perspective is pretty amazing. [I probably should devote a whole blog to this, but in case I don’t, I want to make sure I address this at least briefly.]

I spent my first day in NOLA working with a fabulous group called the St. Bernard Project. Most of the morning was spent priming a ceiling. Needless to say, I had a nice dusting of paint on my entire person. Even my eyelids, despite the baseball cap and glasses. (How this is even possible, I have no idea!) My arms might have been sore for days. We also spent some time “mudding” walls (also known as ‘patching holes’) and cleaning up the place. We worked on a home that was ruined by the flood, and then ruined again by contractor fraud – which completely disgusts me that humans can treat each other this way. But that’s a blog for a whole other day. Anyway, here are a few photos, many from my friend TH - thanks for sharing!

This is a photo of the house we worked on (for the Kelly family!), and our stellar group. It was fun to work with old and new friends.

 

 It's really good that TH was so far away, because we were pretty gross. Also evidenced by the fact that THIS is the picture that our ACUHO-I friends put on their website.

 Suffice to say, we all sweat in places we didn't know we had.

This is the view from the porch above (across the street from the house we worked on). As you can see, there is some disparity in the neighborhood. Some houses are still being worked on. SIX YEARS LATER.

If you go to New Orleans? You should give back to the community. It's good stuff.

And then have one of these:

Or two.

:)

Those hurricanes are quite tasty!

I also got to spend a week visiting some family in Michigan. It was great to just hang out with my parents, visit my Nanny (mom’s mom), become obsessed with getting a dog, play with my cousins, and go on my first “dune buggy” ride.

While in Michigan I also found this giant, metal chicken.

Not to be confused with THIS GIANT METAL CHICKEN, but since reading this blog post (more than a few times, in fact), I can't help but smile when I see anything even resembling a metal chicken.

In August I also got to visit my bestie and her hubby in DC. We hung out, crafted and ate some amazing melon. We did some other stuff, but those are the important highlights. ;) I also spent a good amount of time this summer dealing with a construction project at work. There have been many challenges and frustrations and lessons learned throughout this cluster. I mean project. 

For now, I'll leave you with a final photo, and an end to this long-arse blog. Which will hopefully be an end to this long-arse break from the blog. And a sign that I'm digging out of the hole I've apparently fallen in (probably because it wasn't fenced in properly).

(In case you're wondering, this hole is approximately 12' deep, and is between two buildings, right outside their doorsteps.)