Construction!

today, randy and i both had the day off so we decided to work construction. since i have no qualifications and am generally not handy, it seemed like a great idea! through our church, we volunteered for our first ever habitat for humanity experience. 

i thought that you couldn't do construction if you didn't have experience, but then i saw this link and felt better. 

we worked alongside people from tnl, one other from our church, st. john's lutheran, and pepsi. the pepsi team brought excellent beverages. yaaay.

so...first off, i had no idea that randy was so good at construction. he was up on the roof and all over the place, being singled out by supervisors to do all the hard stuff. 

i got pegged for tasks like "can you hold this measuring tape?" etc. at first, but then i solved a confusing math error on the window plans for the crew leader! ha! 

by the end of the day, i had learned a lot from the supervisors, and i now know things like how to "walk out" a nail, what a "cat's paw" is, and the correct way to load, use, and change a caulking gun. big steps for a girl who usually works in the office, on the stage, or in the studio. we got three walls built and raised on the 2nd floor, plus some other odd tasks. 

that's randy on the left side of the duplex, top floor.

trivia: 708 was the area code for most of randy's life in aurora, il. and also when we lived in oak park.

when we volunteered for the job, we didn't know where the build would be, but we were excited to find out that it was not really far from our house at all. it's in our neighborhood, which made it even cooler to be helping out. in a way, it was like helping ourselves to improve our own community, and it will be exciting to be able to drive by often and see the progress!

also, we look dumb in hardhats...

This Week in Pics

It has been a busy week! I spent most of it in black pants, comfy shoes, and a polo shirt working for a conference in town. I like holding up the sign at the airport even though so often my intended party completely disregards me and walks right on by to baggage claim. It has occurred to me at times that there really isn't much difference between this job and that of a street person except:

a) I get to be indoors.

b) I have a uniform provided.

Example (not me):

c) My sign says "Microsoft" or "Pfizer" or "Welcome Ms. Brackenberry" instead of "Will work for food." or "Need a beer" or perhaps, as in the example below, "Free Robot Sex."

c) My income is not tax-free and I have to bill someone to get paid.

d) Nope. That's about it.

It has been shown that the hourly rate of a cardboard sign panhandler in Denver and that of a conference meeter/greeter is actually quite comparable.

Anyway, aside from all this people watching, Randy & I got to do a little bird-watching when we went to the hardware store to buy screws for the license plate that fell off our car this week. These ducks were trying to escape the weather under someone's parked car.

Tuesday, Melanie came over to watch American Idol and the reunion show for The Real Housewives of NYC. Yes, we know that is bad tv, but when I used to watch Sex & the City (not recommending it--just admitting to it), I didn't believe there were really people like that. The Real Housewives of NYC is proof that people actually talk like that! Anyway, back to Melanie... 

I had promised to make her a pavlova back in March on her birthday. She was really jealous and drooly when she saw the Gowanbank pavlova pic on this blog, having previously taken that trip and eaten Isabel's amazing pavlova there, so since Isabel said it was "the easiest thing in the world" to make, I figured I could make it for my friend. Well, ladies & gentlemen, the third time is the charm:

Lessons learned:

1. Liquid egg whites are not recommended for meringues.

2. Stiff peaks means really really stiff.

3. Metric conversions are not the forte of Lorraine & Isabel Smith.

4. Castor sugar is different from "extra fine" sugar. 

5. Pavlova must be cooled SLOWLY and IN the oven.

6. Pavlova is not "the easiest thing in the world." 

It is, however, one of the most delicious. Here is the finished product, which only looked this way for mere seconds. If this thing were a clock, let's just say that 11 o'clock to 7 o'clock were missing about in about 15 minutes.

Our last photo is just a reminder that the Democratic National Convention is just around the corner here in Denver. Randy was fitted for one of these this week as he has been recommended for a special unit which may or may not be stationed downtown in front of the capitol building.

I am going to be working events during the DNC and no one has yet offered to issue me one of these so Diego is a little concerned. I think he is saying "You ARE going to call Beki on her cell phone before throwing any gas bombs into the crowd, right?"

Let's all hope & pray it doesn't come to that here in the land of the free and the home of the brave!