caulking

The last two days have been a lot of work down here in Nawlins! And I may be starting to pick up the Looosiana accent, ya'll. I am such a dork.

I am just starting to move past the tired (and realization that I am SO out of shape) and hit a groove.
I spent all day yesterday ruling the chop saw and cutting and installing base boards in our house. It was grueling and incredibly detailed work. And after I cut like 5 pieces wrong, I got really discouraged, but I finally hit a second wind and got it right. I have bruises on my knees (har har) and my biceps have appeared for the first time in a year, but at the end of the day, I was really proud of the work.

Which we followed up with a NOLA tradition: drive-thru daiquiris. I know this seems incomprehensible. And it's technically illegal to drink and drive (and our driver didn't imbibe) and you would never see this elsewhere, but it's real. Take my word for it. I have pictures to prove it.

Then today I finished up the boards that I couldn't do yesterday because I was waiting on someone else to do door trim. And then came the caulking. (warning: excessive caulk jokes) I caulked the hell out of that whole house. Well, maybe I had help. We caulked that whole house. We caulked the shit out of it. There was lots and lots of caulk. I caulked the door trim. I caulked the base boards. I caulked the window trim. I caulked shelves in the tiniest closet in the history of the houses. I wedged myself in that tiny space and I took that caulk and I worked it hard. Oh yeah. I ruled the caulk. And then I helped Katherine find some nuts. So my day was filled with nuts and caulk. How many times can I say caulk before it gets completely annoying. Caulk. CAULK.

All in all, a good day. And then some of us who had built in the past, drove around to find the old houses we'd worked on and meet the current residents. Which was AWESOME! The people were so nice and they had some incredible stories. Plus it was totally satisfying to see these spaces as homes. Whether you're working at the start of a home (like I did last year) or interior work (like I'm doing this year), it's so hard to imagine the space in use. You can see the rooms, but they're still raw spaces. But when you see the paint and the furniture and the pictures and the people inside, it becomes a home. And all of a sudden you see how nice it actually is and how worth it all the frustrating work you're putting yourself through actually is.

I am so glad we did that today. Moments like that are why I do this.

A few last thoughts:

I hate teenagers. Do they ever shut up? Sharing a dorm with dozens of chatty teenage girls may just be the death of me.

Food I've eaten so far this week: fried chicken and shrimp (twice), beignets, red beans and rice, dill pickle chips (trust me, SO GOOD), cornbread, and a half a million red vines. We're going to an amazing restaurant tomorrow in the Quarter and I am thining I'll have the Jambalaya. Oh baby. I am getting HUGE! Yowza.

What I still need to eat before I leave: crawfish pie, poboy, and mufaletta.

Have I mentioned the amazingly hot showers? They're heaven sent. I tell my shower I love it every evening. I expect a proposal any day now. My shower and I will live happily ever after. *sigh*

Don't know if I'll have another chance to post before I go home next week. But I'll try! Also, I'm tweeting this trip all day.