Week 11 and 12

Day 70: Oct 19, 2014

My day off was spent chucking wood and making coffee for coffee and conversation. Or at least that was my morning. I actually really enjoyed moving wood into chalets. Groups of about ten gathered in front of a wood pile and made a chain of people into the basements of the chalets. Wood was then passed from person to person and stacked into piles. It was a good ab work out since we were constantly twisting with weight in our hands. For me, it was also a good outer thigh workout because I was doing the “wood chucking dance”. Basically I was switching from one leg to the other as I was leaning to grab wood and then leaning the other way to pass it on to the next person. I figured I was one of the youngest there and my body could take a little more of a beating. Plus, it was a really good workout and kinda fun. In the afternoon, I showed a new staff person around the village and by the time I was done they were pretty much done chucking wood. So, I grabbed my knitting and watched “The Land Before Time” with Benji and Elise. Right before dinner, a few of us got together and walked the trail that we are going to use for our haunted trail on Halloween. We have some really creepy and scary things planned. It is going to be great! The plan for the trail is to make it scary enough to scare the remediation workers. It will definitely not be kid friendly which means that my maniacal halloween enthusiast can seep out. (I once made a pumpkin that looked like Cinderella's carriage until just after the little kids were done trick-o-treating. Then a “rat” attacked. It was pretty great.) I am so excited for Halloween. It is going to be great!!

Day 71: Oct 20, 2014

I got to go home today!!! I am writing this early because my flight leaves at 11pm and doesn't arrive until 5am Chicago time. I don't care though. I am super excited!

Stories from the road: So when I got to my car I opened the hood because I had detached the battery so that it would not discharge while I was in the village. Of course, my car could not sit there for 10 weeks without something going wrong. I went to reattach the battery and broke the bolt. The bolt broke before the nut even started to move. I got the car started by using the jumper cables that I had. I just used the clamp as a replacement bolt while I started the car. I was giving Jess a ride to Wenatchee so it was good that I thought quickly and we got going pretty quickly. We also got the sacred duty of transporting samples from the village's septic system. Luckily, the lab was on the way so it did not add too much to our trip. Of course, we could not transport septic samples without making some poop jokes. For example, we renamed the samples and called them the poop soup. It was pretty funny. Jess and I, then, stopped at a family owned version of a Napa auto parts where I was planning on just buying the nut and bolt I needed. When I got to the counter with my broken bolt they said that I would probably need to replace the whole ring attachment part (It would take a larger part, right?). So, I had them look at it and the guy said I should replace it. I was figuring it was going to be a $10 part but it turned out to be less than $2 and they installed it for me! It was the cheapest visit to fix my car that I have ever had. I dropped Jess off and began to drive the remaining 2 hours where I came across some very nice scenery. There were valleys, forests, forests in valleys and many different shades of green and yellow. I am now sitting at my gate and I have about 2.5 hours to waste. I think I might watch a movie... LATER: So I saw someone with the new iPhone on the plane. I am no longer in the wilderness. It is so weird to see all of the lights as I am coming into Chicago. There are so many lights that the clouds actually changed color.

Day 72: Oct 21, 2014

Home: I have entered a germ infested hell hole. I have officially been up for 24 hours but I just got home so I plan on going to bed as soon as my dad gets up. I spent the day converting DVDs into digital versions so that I don't need to bring the DVDs to Holden and enjoying the fast internet.

Day 73: Oct 22, 2014

Home:Today I went to the farmers' market, Michael's, and to some thrift shops. I found a pair of awesome cashmere pants and a few things for the haunted house. In the evening, my parents and I went to go see the Capital Steps. They are a political satire musical group. They were pretty funny. Although, majority of the people were in their 60s/70s and the sound was turned way up. I also wasn't feeling very good so that was a little bit of a downer but that's ok.

Day 74: Oct 23, 2014

Home: WE HAD PANCAKES FOR DINNER!!!! My Dad's pancakes are probably my favorite food ever. So great! Also, I am pretty sure my cat is no longer mad at me. She took a nap with me and it was wonderful.

Day 75: Oct 24, 2014

Home: Today I went and visited my Mom's side. We went early and hung out with my grandparents and then had pizza with them and some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. When it came to leave my little cousin (she is ten) gave me a good five minute hug. It felt so great and I really felt the love. Kids are so great, sometimes.

Day 76: Oct 25, 2014

Home: I made pumpkin muffins today and picked up bagels for breakfast. They were even still warm. Fresh bagels and cream cheese are so wonderful and hard to beat.

Day 77: Oct 26, 2014

Home: Today is my dad's birthday (the whole reason why I am home now instead of some other time)! I decided to visit the youth group in church today. They were making a dinner for the Pastor for Pastor appreciation month so it was a good week for me to be there. After church we went and visited my dad's side of the the family. I always like visiting them because you never know what you are going to see or do. Like this time, we picked apples in their yard, checked out the hotrod, and ate beets the size of a small child's head. It was great! We got home to watch the second half of the Packer game. Unfortunately, it was the wrong half to watch. They just collapsed and it was hard to watch. At least they have a bye next week.

Day 78: Oct 27, 2014

Home: It was beautiful outside today. I am talking 73 degrees beautiful. I spent much of my time outside and hung decorations for Halloween.

Day 79: Oct 28, 2014

Home/ Seattle: I pretty much tried to relax most of the day. It didn't really work but, hey, I tried. My flight left at 8:45pm so I had most of the day to do things. The only really productive thing was carving our pumpkin. I chose a Jack Skelington design from A Nightmare Before Christmas. It turned out pretty well.

Day 80: Oct 29, 2014

Back in the village!! Today was spent driving, sitting on a dock, sitting on a boat, sitting on a bus, and unwinding. Upon arriving at the dock at Holden's port, we made a chain to unload things from the boat. I could have sworn that the boat was sitting about 3ft higher on the water after we were done. We unloaded 15 boxes of pumpkins plus 2 days worth of mail and other freight. It was crazy. I was then inundated with coffee cart things. For example, they completely ran out of all dairy products and didn't tell me so I could order more. Luckily, I had ordered some on Sunday figuring that they were going to run out soon so I have milk now but still needed to order more. After unpacking, I promptly took a nap. Vespers was particularly entertaining tonight. Chris (one of the managers) played the baby in the story about Solomon and the two mothers who were fighting over the baby. You know, the one where he told them to cut the baby in half so that both could have part of the child that they were claiming was theirs. It was pretty great. After the longest staff meeting ever, Kirsten and I went to the costume shop to put together our costumes for tomorrow and then we headed to Alex's room for a relaxing night of Arrested Development.

Day 81: Oct 30, 2014

So there, apparently, is this phenomenon that villagers tend to experience when then come back from an out. It is this weird feeling of being sad that you are “isolated” again and yet happy to be back in the village. It is a very bizarre feeling. Plus, much of the village seems to be a little down. It is understandable, it is getting darker, power is getting a little more hard to come by, showers are getting colder... basically winter is coming to the village and most of the people here have not experienced “living in community” when they can't even get out for a hike. It is going to be interesting.

Day 82: Oct 31, 2014

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! The day started like any other- coffee cart and lunch- but the evening was when all of the fun started. I dressed up as a bartender during my shift and for most of the day but once it got dark, the calm costume was traded for a scary one. Let me explain a little bit here. So, after dinner, we had trick or treating (adults were encouraged to participate) and I had to get ready for the haunted trail. I quickly went trick or treating with some of the kids and then spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom trying to put on my face (I was a scary clown on the trail). Then, as always, I had to go to vespers- with my face paint on. The haunted trail started pretty much right after vespers and we had about 50 people experience it. Luckily, the rain stopped just in time so that we would not have to be sitting outside in the rain. That would have been miserable. Let me take you on a quick tour of the path (you can use your imagination to fill in any gaps). There was a craft cave gone wrong scene (a girl was stabbed by knitting needles), some trail ninjas who made noises and ran across the path, an ax man, me (the clown laughing maniacally and running towards people, a body being dropped from the trees, a chainsaw, a screaming bride in a “crashed” golf cart, and a bloody skeleton who welcomed people onto the path. Everything, at least in my area, went splendidly except for the first group. The first group came through before we were really ready for people to come down so I got a chance to scare them but it would have been better if we would have had a few more minutes. At 8:45 we called it quits and headed to the dance party, aka the Monster Mash. The Mash was pretty great because there were still a few kids there when we got there and there were even a few remediation guys which made it all the more fun. We ended up dancing for probably an hour and a half. I have a feeling I am probably going to sleep well tonight. This was such a great halloween, second only to last halloween's Macklemore concert. So great. I hope everyone else had a great holiday and got plenty of candy!

Day 83: Nov 1, 2014

A day off. It was spent knitting, watching movies, and sitting outside. It was a beautiful day and we could see some blue sky.