I KNOW, I KNOW

 Yes, I have failed spectacularly on keeping up my blog. I'M SORRY I LOVE YOU ALL AND I'LL DO BETTER I ALMOST PROMISE.

So! Things are still going marvolously in New Orleans. Our bitterly cold winter is over! (Don't roll your eyes at me, Boone People: New Orleans is not built for cold, so very few places have insulation or functioning heat.) The warm sunny weather has been calling us outside more and more.

My times at Hagar's House now include planting in the community garden with kids and playing outside. I watched a kid learn to ride a bike in (this is no exaggeration,) FIFTEEN MINUTES. It was awesome.

I've still gotten a few people asking me, "So...what exactly IS your job?" I thought the best way to explain that would be to go over a week of what my schedule looks like.

Yesterday, Monday: 9:30: Meetings! These meetings take place with all the staff. We talk about things going on on the house that have to do with policy--should we change curfew? What's our policy on nights out? Things like that. These meetings happen every week and last until about noon.

1pm: A fellow staff member was sick (ah, the joys of spending 50+ hours a week in a house with seven children!) so I covered his shift from 1 to 6. Through a lot of the day, there was almost no one home, so I:

*Battled computer viruses/spyware on the resident comupter (and won! Roar!)

*Struggled to get a laptop hooked up to the wireless internet (and failed. Alas.)

*Ran to the grocery store to get some food (and the super-important Easter egg dye :)

5pm: People started coming home. This is the best part of the day, because I got to sit in the kitchen and chat with them for awhile. (That's my favorite part of work/life in the house.)

At about 6:20 (because I lost track of time and didn't realize the other staff members had gotten there,) I headed back to the church for a quick dinner.

(I'm becoming a gourmet chef, too. I made GRILLED CHEESE. This morning I fixed myself Toad in a Hole. WATCH OUT, EMERIL.)

Every Monday, there is a meeting with all residents in the house. This is a resident facilitated meeting where they can bring up problems in the house, sign up for programing, offer suggestions, and generally work out the details of living on community. Unfortunately, having kids running around in the living room doesn't help that process. So...

7:00: Carolyn gathered up the kids to go play with them elsewhere, and I volunteered to help. We also had another volunteer there (yay, Frank!)

Seriously, six to three SEEMS like pretty good odds. That's one adult to every two kids! How hard could it be?

Anyone who's ever tried to corall kids age 2-8 with no structured activity knows the answer to this question. It worked out pretty well, but if Frank hadn't been there, life would have been more than a little difficult.

Also, here's a question. You're in a playground area with kids. There are A) swings and B) those little animal things on springs. (What in the world ARE those things?) What's the most popular toy? If you guessed C) the picnic table they're not supposed to climb on, congratulations, you know children!

But the kids seemed to have fun and the adults could have their meeting, so mission accomplished! I headed home.

8:30: Amanda collapses on the sofa and tells Jennie how she's really going to get up and do laundry in a couple minutes, really, she is, just watch her, it's going to happen.

10:00: Amanda goes to her room and plays video games, promising herself that really, tomorrow she'll do laundry, really.

Tuesday: My day off! I woke up at 11, fixed breakfast and came to a coffee shop. I've been here since. So...that's been my day!

I'll try to post every couple days this week so you can get an idea of life in the house, (but you know how I am about promising to post, and I know you still love me, don't you my wonderful people? Please?)