Plumbing is in aisle 13

I got a library card yesterday! The lady had to go and check with somebody else to see if it was OK, but eventually she determined that since I have an address here I could get a library card! The branch closest to here is kind of small, but there are a bunch of other ones in El Paso that I can request stuff from and I know I can't compare every library I ever come across to good old KPL. They do use the same computer system though which made me smile when I went to search for some stuff in the catalogue.

I actually had time to run by the library for once even though I've been meaning to forever because Chris and I took yesterday (mostly) off. That's kind of how it has to work, you just have to say you are not going to work and then don't, otherwise you could work forever. But since the group left yesterday morning and this week's don't arrive until later this afternoon, we did have a short break. This was kind of an odd week b/c they got here on Monday and left on Friday. It was 2 staff members from this leadership ranch in NM and 19 youth from WA who were participating in their program on their mid-winter break from school. Their main project was #12 in Sparks, a lady named Ruby's trailer home that she lives in with her 2 kids, 8 years and 10 months old. They worked Tuesday through Thursday and got more done than lots of similarly-sized groups would in a full workweek. By Thursday at sundown when we finally finished, she had a new roof, new tile in the bathroom, hallway, and one bedroom, a newly painted hallway, living room, and bedroom, new ceiling panels in the kitchen, and (5 HARDWARE STORE RUNS IN ONE DAY LATER!!!) new bathroom fixtures.

I mainly worked on the roof, that is when I wasn't running to the hardware store. I think I went once on Wednesday (mind you I was supposed to get 3 boxes of tile and wound up buying a bathtub!), but Thursday I went to Lowe's 3 times, Wholesale Lumber 1 1/2 times (the 2nd time I was sitting in the turn lane with my blinker on at 4:49--they close at 5--and the guy waved his arms at me even though he already had to come open the gate so some other lady could leave...grrrr), and the really tiny, kind of shady ferreteria in a trailer a few blocks away from the site once. I would get sent with a list (along with "They'll know what it is."), and then when I got there I'd go find someone, usually Jose (who asked me once where my dad was, after Chris had been with me the last time...HAHA) to help me make sure I found all the right stuff. Needless to say, aisle 13 and I are best buds.

Here are some photos from the project:

The roof before...we just built rafters on top of this and then laid plywood and rolled roofing.

The bathroom before...it reeked!

Chris trying to act like a supermodel with his incredibly stylish kneepads (I took a picture of one of the guys in last week's group exactly like this so when he put his on I had to take a matching one). P.S. he has a blog too now that he will hopefully actually update more than like once a month since I kept bugging him about it. Check it out at www.chillonamission.blogspot.com.