Average Jane's Weekend of Manual Labor

I wish I could say that I did something spectacular to my house over the weekend, but I ended up doing lots of hard work elsewhere.

On Saturday, a group of about 15 bloggers got together to do a volunteer shift at Harvesters. We were asked to open donated boxes of toiletries and divide them into larger boxes according to the type of product they were: dental care, skin care, hair care, feminine hygiene or over-the-counter medications. I worked the scales while other people taped boxes, loaded boxes, made labels, put full boxes on pallets, etc. It was three hours of very hard work, followed by a video about the organization and an extensive tour of their huge warehouse.

Afterward, we all went over to Dan's house for some of his home brewed vanilla porter and a nice dinner of grilled brats and pizza. Thanks for organizing and feeding us, Dan!

Later that evening, my husband and I went to a jam, where I sang a very poor rendition of AC/DC's "Back in Black." That'll teach me not to warm up before I go to something like that. In my defense, the monitors were terrible and I couldn't hear myself, but still...

I got up early on Saturday and dressed in my most paint-covered clothes to help my sister paint at her new yoga studio, which is opening in January. We did second coats throughout the lobby, bathrooms, office and utility closet and still had time to take my niece to see "Enchanted" before dinner.

I didn't get anything done at my own house other than taking out two weeks' worth of recycling, but it was still satisfying to be up, moving and working hard. It's making me think of things I'd like to do at home: paint the half bath, clean up my office, paint the dark paneling in the basement. Perhaps after Christmas...

Comments

[Kennon]

I tried your recipe for meatloaf Saturday. HOLY SMOKES. Best meatloaf ever. Me and a buddy ate the whole thing in one sitting.

Thanks so much for sharing!

[m.toast]

>It's making me think of things I'd like to do at home: paint the half bath, clean up my office, paint the dark paneling in the basement.

Feh. Just hire a handyman. That's what I'm doing. I'm trying to concentrate on being happy and surprised when things get done, instead of annoyed and surprised when I check bank account levels.