Monday, September 22, 2008

Hurricane Gustav Relief Trip: Day 2

The lights in our dorms came on bright and early at 6:00 am. We woke up to the smell of a hot homemade breakfast before our first day of volunteering.

We spent the morning moving 25+ bunkbeds and nightstands so that we could get the dorms ready for painting. The felt pads kept slipping out from under the bed posts so Eloise cut up large squares of carpet remnants to help us move the furniture. The carpet remnants were also great for moving people as noted by the races that Katie and I had in the hallway while two of our group members took their smoking break.

The carpet removal was finished before our arrival but we had to get on our hands and knees and use something acidic to scrape the glue off the floor. We put two coats of paint on the walls and will be reinstalling the outlet covers tomorrow. When paint splattered on me, I was thankful for my lifetime supply Bank of America clothing. We also put something that "WILL BURN YOUR SKIN" on the cement floor so that the paint will stick tomorrow. Two of my co-workers love to mother me and banned me from that substance. While they were pouring toxic chemicals, Katie and I began putting beds back where they belong in the dorms where the painting had been completed.

I'm thankful for...
  • Good water pressure
  • Showers
  • Comfortable mattresses
  • The acid didn't sting my hand for very long
  • Jackie's common sense
  • Eloise's brilliant carpet idea
  • Connie's super-strength
  • Katie's energy and enthusiasm
  • Not falling off of the ladder while I was painting
  • Successfully washing the paint off my body and out of my hair

2 comments:

S said...

remember when we went to drama camp and we had to say something good about each other before we left? the end of this post reminded me of that :)

Melly said...

Haha...I can't decide if I should talk about your beauty or your youth. :p