SUMMER IS HERE! Well, almost.

Here are some highlights from last weekend - really productive and REALLY fun!

On Friday I used my Volunteer Day at work (Dominion gives on day of volunteer time a year) to participate in Rebuilding Together, formerly known as "Christmas in April." It was fantastic! It was extremely well organized, and Ms. Edwards (homeowner) was both gracious and grateful. Very rewarding work.

The Dominion Team arrives.

My team was charged with stripping, caulking, priming and painting the window trim.

This is Ginger with Ms. Edwards helping her sort through what to keep and what to toss... Yes! That all came out of her shed!


Being the Greenie-wanna-be that I am, I volunteered to recycle the two televisions. The nice side benefit of doing this is that Goodwill gives you a receipt, so she can deduct them on her taxes. Every little bit helps!

Being the electric company, we had the guys with the skills to work the circuit breaker!

Kitchen midday.

Boxed lunches ... yum.

Midday painting in the Family Room.

Hanging a new side door and frame.

Oil tanks were all rusted out ... now they're painted and pretty!

Side railings and fence were painted to cover age and rust.

Grand finale - fresh new Family Room!

Brand new countertop, sink and faucet!

New Shed door, clean shed, and newly painted trim!

The final result: Dry, Safe, and Warm.

I told Ms. Edwards at the end of the day that she handled our intrusion pretty well. I'd have been a nervous wreck with 30 people tearing through my house and belongings. She said "Good intrusion! Wonderful intrusion! I'll take that intrusion any time. Doesn't it smell nice in here?"

So after a day of Rebuilding Richmond, I met Padma at my house and we went to Yoga Wabi Sabi. It wasn't my most impressive practice ever - I was sore and I was using a towel for a yoga mat! - but it was fun, nonetheless. The art was wonderful, and we had chocolate and wine afterwards. Just like the ancient Hindu yogis did in 3,000 BC ... I'm sure of it.

The class - that's Nicole's head in front.

I was teasing Padma about her cell phones ... one for domestic calls and one for texting Daniel in Australia.

After a hard morning of yardwork, Padma and I went to the Maymont's Herbs Galore to check out the goods. It was pretty warm but it was a beautiful day overall!

Saturday night we met up with Nicole again (she can't get enough of me!) to go to a friend's 40th birthday party in the Fan. It was really good to have a reason to shower after 2 days of sweat and dirt!

I said goodbye to Padma on Sunday morning and met Susan at the new Bowtie Theatre for Movies & Mimosas. What a deal! $5.50 to watch Vertigo and $2 for a mimosa... worth every penny. It was so much fun!

Ah, Monday. Monday Monday Monday. After preparing the yard for the last couple of weekends, it was time to put sod down. So I was up early and off to Lowes to buy compost and rent a truck, then it was 95 North to the sod farm!

I'd ordered 30 yards of sod from Brookemeade, and I actually watched them cut it for me. This is the machine that measures and chops the sod. The guys hanging off the back roll and stack it onto a pallet.

Unloading the compost and sod into my garage ... don't tear the grass!!!!

Seriously, what was I thinking? My yard isn't even that big but this is hard work!

Almost there... have now edged the entire garden and thinned out / replanted my existing shrubs and flowers...

Water barrel didn't last long ... we haven't had enough rain yet but ...

With all the herbs I planted, it will DEFINITELY be of good use to me soon!

More organic herbs from Maymont...

Tada! The grand finale. I can't wait until my brother comes to visit in June and Christie brings the munchkins up for a mini-Kennedy reunion. If I can remember to water it now and it actually lasts until June, the grass will be tested then!

My weekend ended with Monday night at the Food Bank. Did you know that the Central Virginia Food Bank distributes 70,000 pounds of food EVERY DAY? It was huge! Also last year they merged with Meals on Wheels, bringing the per-meal cost delivered to MoW customers from almost $5 to almost $1!!

I enjoyed the work. We folded boxes that will be used to pack frozen meals for the Meals on Wheels consumers. We also - here was my FAVORITE part - got to sort out the donations! Sorting things is one of my favorite activities, and when I saw the massive containers full of grocery bags with donated food, I was in heaven. We broke them out into categories that are easily "shopable" for the food recipients, such as dried goods, green beans, pumpkin and yams, peanut butter, tomatoes, etc. Then we recycled both the paper AND plastic donation bags, which was just the icing on the cake for me.

Both volunteer events last weekend were great experiences. I look forward to doing them again soon!

Sorting donations

Peanut butter good. :)