Burnt Cinnamon

In case you've ever thought about it, you should NOT try to make the pre-made pillsbury cinnamon rolls in a microwave. It does not work. You get overdone croutons and a trailer that smells like burnt cinnamon. Not appealing.

This morning started out pretty slow for me. I cleaned out the last of the files in the office, did some laundry, and had lunch. An air conditioning guy came to fix the air conditioner in trailer 4. The new Houma managers got here today. (Houma is another village in Louisiana.) They will be staying here at Orange Grove for a couple weeks until Houma is habitable. So I made sure their trailer was clean (washed the sheets, made the bed, put away the dishes that had been left in the sink, take out the trash). Henry made a copy of the office key, so now Buddy and I don't have to share one.

We had chicken and stir fry and salad for dinner. There was bread pudding for desert. Chris got a puzzle from Kmart for us to do tonight. The only spider-man puzzle they had was only 24 pieces, so he got a disney villains one instead. We're going to go puzzle shopping at Wal-mart tomorrow to look for a spider-man one and one other of my choice. We're only halfway through the disney one. Jessie (one of the volunteers) worked on it with us.

I had never had a klondike bar before coming here, but now I eat them fairly often. They are delicious. Like ice cream sandwiches - there's not that much to them, but they are irresistibly alluring. I think Chris and I are the only ones eating them. Which is fine by me. All the more for us! : )

Here is the completed apple puzzle.

Day Thirteen

This morning I went shopping for tonight's dinner. The checker lady looked at me kind of funny when I put everything on the conveyor belt. I had 10 lbs. of red potatoes, 5 lbs. of sweet onions, and 30 ears of corn. The volunteers bought shrimp on the way home and they threw everything together in a pot and cooked it. Very good.
This afternoon we got a huge shipment of paper plates, cups, and bowls. We think they are for all the villages, but let's just say we won't run out anytime in the near future. There were three wooden palates stacked with them. They arrived in a UPS 18 wheeler. Anyway, we had to fit them all into the storage trailer, which was a little bit of an adventure. Especially considering the trailer does not have a fan. So we were sweating to death and being eaten alive by mosquitos while carrying huge boxes of biodegradable paper ware.
I bought a puzzle this afternoon and Chris and I spent this evening putting it together. It is not quite finished, but we should be able to finish it pretty easily. Chris said he would buy another one for us to do tomorrow. "Something cool, like Spider-Man or Superman."
Here is the puzzle so far.

Day Twelve

I slept in a little, then got ready for church. Buddy picked me up. It was a bit like Triennium or Montreat, but less structured. The music wasn't bad, but I didn't know any of it, so I couldn't really sing. They sang for 30-45 minutes or so and everyone was standing and clapping and jumping and waving their hands in the air and shouting "Amen!" and "Praise Jesus!" and that sort of thing. Then everyone sat down and the pastor did his sermon. It was alright, but I think I might go church hopping to see if I can find a more traditional service with a congregation bigger than 10. Anyway, Keith (the pastor) and Tanya (the pastor's wife) invited Buddy and I over to their house for lunch. They had pot roast, mac and cheese, peas, beans, and rolls. It was very good. They are very nice people.
This afternoon I took a nap. Star took one with me. It was much needed. Frank made chicken and vegetable stir fry for dinner. After dinner I went and knocked on Chris' door to see how he was doing, since I hadn't seen him today. He spent the whole day in bed watching tv and taking cough medicine. His cold is not really any better. He lent me the movie Balls of Fury.
Buddy went back to his pastor's house for a class of some sort and Keith and Tanya sent home mac and cheese and ribs for me. Which was really sweet.

Day Eleven

Well today has been a very lazy day. I slept in until 8. (It's very sad that I now think 8 is late. ) Buddy, Chris, and I sat on logs in the mini field between the trailers and pods and chatted and threw a ball for Joe. (Joe is Frank's dog.) I wrote a letter to cjs and downloaded some music. Then I did nothing for a couple hours. I took a nap around 5ish. I will probably go in search of food soon. I'll be going to church with Buddy tomorrow and he said his pastor and pastor's wife invited the two of us to lunch at their house after church, so I'll be doing that.

Frank made shrimp for dinner. It was delicious! Searching for food has never been so easy or rewarding. : )

Day Ten

I got up at 6:30 today (blech!) and Buddy and I left for the landfill at 7:00. This time we had 640 pounds of trash. So it was only marginally lighter than yesterday. We got back to the village about the time the volunteers were ready to head out for the worksite. We loaded up some tools and met them over there. I had to insist that Buddy let me help him mow the lawn (ah, the irony!) So I mowed the lawn and he went around with the weed wacker. It took us an hour to do the front and back. The front wasn't bad, but the back yard was hard. The grass was really tall and thick and slightly damp. Not good for mowing. But we got it done and some of the volunteers raked up and bagged the cut grass. They got the laundry room completely finished and a new door put in. We left the worksite around 11:30 and came back to the village. The volunteers packed up and left. I showered and had lunch. I did a little bit of paper work and took the rest of the afternoon easy. This evening Buddy went out with a friend, so Chris and I raided the fridge. There wasn't much, so we boiled some pasta for spaghetti. We had some (a lot!) of fun throwing pasta on the wall and watching it stick. Then (after we cleaned the kitchen) we had a "tailgate party." We sat on my tailgate and watched the stars and chatted. He's feeling better which is good. I'm hoping to sleep in a little tomorrow, but I really have no idea what will be happening. Chris said he will probably be going to Pearlington again. I don't know if I'll be going with him or if Buddy will have stuff for me to do here. I guess I'll see.

And I just realized that I've been spelling Chris' name wrong. I thought Kres was the Canadian way to spell Chris, but Kres was actually some guy who worked here before I did.

Day Nine

The whole volunteer team was at the same worksite today. Half of them worked on painting the laundry room and the other half tore out the bathroom because it was rotting. We loaded up the bed of my truck with all the trash and I took it to the landfill around 2:00. There was 740 pounds of bush clippings, tile, molding, and a steel bathtub. I was the only one, so I had to unload it by myself. Luckily there was a guy with a backhoe that saw me shoving that tub out and he came over to help. So we got it emptied and I went back to the worksite and we loaded the truck again. I'll have to take that load in the morning, but it should be easier (and lighter) since it's mostly drywall. The volunteers are leaving around lunchtime. We have another group coming in Sunday, but they are actually working at Pearlington. Pearlington isn't ready to house volunteers yet, so they are sleeping and eating here at Orange Grove and working at Pearlington. So we won't really be dealing with the volunteers next week.
Chris has a cold, so I gave him the remainder of my cold medicine and his dad brought him some soup. I hope he feels better soon. I really feel bad for giving him my cold. But he says he gets one about this time every year because he had pneumonia and bronchitis at the same time when he was little.
Mum said dad would be home soon and would call me then, so I'm waiting for him to call and then I'm going to bed because I have to get up early (er) tomorrow so I can take that stuff to the landfill and still bring the volunteers the tools they need at the worksite.

Day Eight

After I took the group to the worksite, I went to Home Depot to pick up some doors for the house. I came back to the village and helped Chris and Mary (Chris' stepmom) fix pod doors. Chris and his dad packed up and headed over to Olive Tree to help take out the shower trailer because they're getting a new one tomorrow. I had some lunch and then took a nice nap. We had chicken parmesian with leftover pasta for dinner. It was delicious, but I am stuffed! Star (Chris' cat) is hanging out in my trailer again. This is Star.