Well, last week was indeed CRAZY but great! I'm so glad I had the experiences that I did. It started out with Magical Mountain Christmas. We had a great turnout! All but 3 families came out of 20 so I was really happy. The group that came brought their own decorations, food, and Santa. When the families got there, the kids started playing games and doing arts and crafts with the youth that volunteered their time and the parents went out our meeting room to secretly pick up presents for their kids. It was really fun to see my families in another environment and to see all of the youth that volunteered their time at Christmas to help people whom they've never met before. The whole weekend made my heart pretty happy.
After the party, my co-worker, Marika, and I went to Johnson City, TN. We stayed at a friend's house there and played some games at night then got about 6 hours of sleep and left the house at 5:45 am for the Santa Hustle in Sevierville, TN. Upon arrival, we got a Santa shirt, beard, and hat. There was a half-marathon which a few of my friends ran and then a 5K which I ran with a few friends. It was my first competitive race in about 4 years and I was really nervous! I have to say that it felt great to race again and I think I'd like to get back into running 5Ks...for fun. The 5Kers finished our race a lot earlier than the half-milers so we waited near the finish line to cheer them on for their final stretch. All in all, the race was really fun! There were Christmas cookies and other treats along the way and Christmas music played at the start and finish of the race. It was a great race to run and we all had a lot of fun!
After the Santa Hustle, all of the runners went out to lunch at Ruby Tuesday's and I met some woman from Upper Darby in the bathroom! Small world. After lunch, we drove to Lincolnton, NC for Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I slept for about an hour in the car and then for two hours at the hotel. There were two shifts-10 pm-6 am and 6 am to noon. We left the hotel at 9 pm for the first shift. When we got there, we met a lot of firemen that were volunteering their time throughout the week. Then, we got to work by emptying out the shed. After that, I got put to work on the doors. ASP was really lucky to be able to work with EMHE because we now have the opportunity to recycle a lot of materials that were used in the old home. For the first five hours of my shift, I took off trim and doors. Next, I helped to remove laminate flooring that ASP can reuse. Finally, I helped to assemble and set up lights around the home because the power was going to be cut off for the second shift. I enjoyed the fellowship that we had throughout the evening and, despite only have about 3 hours of sleep prior to my shift, I felt really energized...until about 5:15 am. From then until the end of my shift, I was pretty much delirious! At 6 am, we left and switched out with the morning crew. I went back to the hotel and slept until 11 am. Then, I showered and went back to the site to pick up some of the morning workers. When I got to the site, I saw that everyone wasn't ready to go so I got another hard hat and my shirt out of the car and went back on site. When I got on site, I saw everyone seemed a bit unhappy. Apparently there was a lot more takes for a TV show than they had imagined. The evening crew did most of the labor and the morning crew were supposed to be the TV stars. The camera crew came at about 8 am and they started filming mock shots of the crew removing shingles, walls, windows, and doors. The other ASP workers told me that each shot was taking about an hour or more. I know everyone was tired of the filming but I had just gotten on site so I was really excited and interested in everything that was going on. Luckily, one of the producers asked me if I was a volunteer and if I wanted to be in the final shot before the demolition! Obviously, I accepted with a huge smile. The scene I'm in is right before the house gets demolished. I walk around from the right side of the house with carolers and other volunteers. The carolers sing a little song (which I ended up lip-syncing by the last five takes because we did about 15 takes so I memorized the song) and then we cheer as the house gets knocked down. I really hope I made the final cut! We won't know until Christmas 2012. Also, it's good to note that despite the recent news that EMHE is being cancelled, our episode will still appear as a special next Christmas...whew!
After the show, I drove home from NC to WV because my roommate and co-worker, Marika, had worked both shifts and was pretty exhausted! The drive was about 5 hours or so from NC to WV. As soon as we got home, we quickly unpacked and went right to sleep! The next morning we woke up and began doing Initial Home Visits (IHV's) for the spring term. IHVs are when we pick out homes from our stack of 300 applications to look at and begin the selection process for home repair. Over the course of two days, we saw about 15 homes and found 2 good projects for the spring time. We also had quite a bit of work to do at our center in order to prepare for our work crew this coming weekend. We got everything all set and I passed along my responsibilities to my Center Director, Kristen, and got to come HOME! I had planned to come home this weekend before we knew we were going to have volunteers this weekend so I still got to keep my vacation time. I had told my family I was coming home today (Friday) and decided to surprise them and come home last night. The look on my dad's, mom's and little sister's faces were priceless when I pulled up to our home. It was well-worth the quiet 9 hour drive to see the looks on their faces.
Today, I treated myself to a manicure and am now working on applications for summer-time jobs. We'll see where I end up!
Merry Christmas to all! Hope you all enjoy the bright lights, singing, present-giving, and hustle and bustle that come along with the season!
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