Busy, but it seems not

I suppose that's a good sign that my time was well-spent when it never really felt too busy.

Friday night I ended up working later than I anticipated (and it was supposed to be a day off since I accidentally worked on Monday - whoops!), but came home & painted some. Actually completed my 4th painting and I'm really enjoying that. It's so nice to just be still and creative. I also saw up close and in person a painting by a former-local artist that I really like, Tim Raines. Ummm...amazing. Nothing like what you see on his website. There is ONE left here in Austin, and since he moved to Florida, his paintings will more difficult (and more expensive) to find. The one left is $900, but he's selling them for $2400+ in Florida. Yeah, hard to justify that expense, but I have been doing the math...That wouldn't be the most expensive painting I've ever purchased, but..yeah.

On Saturday I got up early, in the cold, and headed over to be outside all day!! (note: slight sarcasm on the cold part). My friend KP had, for his birthday, asked his friends to join him for a day of Habitat for Humanity instead of the old standby: drink beer and act like goofs. I suppose we do enough of that, anyway. This was really a fun idea, and KP was right-on because so many of us out there had always wanted to do it, and volunteer with friends, but had just never bitten the bullet. It was really a blast!

KP and Heather worked on siding and the roof, I installed doors and worked on the front of the house, Panther demo'd and hammered (trying not to show butt-crack in the process), Tim sawed, Ostrich climbed up on scaffolding within 5 mins of being at the worksite and was right at home up there most of the day working on siding and such. Tony wore a hard hat all day, but besides making a fashion statement, he also worked on siding and sawing with some other friends. TimH and Rhonda showed up and brought lunch and birthday cake.

I'd say in the morning there were about 50 people onsite - Habitat employees, community service mandate folks, friends, others who just wanted to put their hands to use for a good cause, and other long-time construction workers who have been involved with Habitat for 15 years +. We were bummed that none of us got any photos of the house when we first arrived. It was mostly just frames, and by the time we left it was really looking more complete with siding & trim and doors. I left at about 3:20, but the site was still hustling & bustling as more progress was made with about 25-30 people around. I highly recommend this to anyone.

Picked up some groceries before heading home, and then could not make a fire fast enough in my fireplace. Took nearly all night to get warm again!

Saturday night my sister brought over her recovering kitty to stay with me for a few days while she's outta town. He's on lots of meds, and my cats constantly hiss at him, but he seems happy nonetheless. He tries so hard to make friends & play, but the girls will have none of that.

Sunday I opted to not run 3M half marathon with the masses (was going to be a training run anyway, too expensive for my tastes, and the website said shirts were on a first come first serve basis - my luck, I'd sign up and then not even get the shirt). So, I waited today until it got above 45 degrees, and then ran the exact 3M 13.1 mile course for FREE (take THAT!). Ran a 9:15 pace & carried my water. Stopped once at Phil's Icehouse for a burger...I mean, a water refill on the way, then got a ride back up to my car at Gateway. I'm officially sick of running on Duval.

Got a little bit of work done that was nagging at me, so now I can relax. Hope you're settled in for a nice night, too.

Have a good week everyone!