Last day at Crownsville:-(

Yesterday was my last day working at CRAH before I move back to California. I worked my last day in the Stucco department. Cassie, Brenda and I were fixing a control joint on the west side of the building, and we re-P.A.B.'d an area. It was an amazing day. After devoting almost a year and a half of my life to this project, it was so hard to say goodbye to the many friends I have made there. These friends have become like family to me, and I will miss them very much! Boy did they give me a send off- I felt so loved. I must have started crying at least 5 times. A few special things that happened: At lunchtime they surprised me with a goodbye cake. It had the texture of stucco, and said "Thank you Kelseroo, we'll miss you." Caithlin made me a scrapbook with a bunch of pictures of me and friends inside, and a bunch of friends signed the inside and wrote some very touching messages. After dinner we played "stink ball", which is a game Luke made up- it is basically volleyball using a string line between two porta potties- haha, gross, I know:-) Then we played real volleyball in the field, and some of the girls surprise attacked me with silly string! (I will get you back for that, girls:-) My car was drawn on with lipstick and toilet papered (they even left real lip/kiss marks on the windshield!) Here are some awesome pictures from the day. Thank you so much to all my CRAH peeps- you know who you are:-) Gaaah, I'm getting emotional again! I LOVE YOU GUYS! Oh, and if anyone figures out who actually did the toilet papering, let me know;-)

Floating Finish

Monday I was floating finish for stucco. It can be a bit tedious- since it is the last layer it has to be perfect. I love this part of stucco- it is my favorite! Kellyn and I worked with Andrew DeHer and worked on several panels. I can't believe the stucco work is almost done! It has been a long and laborious process, but it looks so beautiful in the end! The assembly hall is looking wonderful, especially when you think about all the volunteers who have given their time, strength, and money to make it happen. Of course none of it could be done without Jehovah! Anyway, here are a few pics!
Kellyn was trying a new videography technique- she calls it "sideways." (hehe)

Mo!

Yesterday I worked with Sean Butler and his wife Lisa. We did a huge section in the entryway running finish- I think we did a beautiful job! We worked and sang songs all day, and got a little sunburned:-) There was a brother on site today cutting holes in some huge rocks for a water feature, and he let me take home a piece. Hmm... now what should I do with it?

Miney...

This day was a stucco brown coat day again. Whats with the tie-dye shirts, you might ask? Our whole stucco crew wore tie-dye shirts today to show our overseer Sean Butler how much we love (and love to tease) him. A few weeks ago he showed up on site wearing a bright pink tie-dye shirt, and people teased him the whole day. Henry and Jill made a bunch of tie-dye shirts for everyone, and we wore them today to surprise Sean. I actually really like mine- I'll probably wear it again:-)

Meenie...

This day was my first time floating finish- that is the very last layer in the stucco process, the one that everyone sees and has to be perfect! We were working on the box details between the arches. Also some girls from my hall were on site today. Yay!

Eenie...

I am SO BEHIND in posting you guys... so sorry. I have been doing a ton of stucco at CRAH. We have been working with Andrew DeHer- he is so awesome. Such a great overseer and teacher. Thank you so much, Andrew! Here are a few pics and video of us doing the brown coat on the wall.

Stuccoliscious

On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I worked with the Stucco crew. We have some brothers visiting from Georgia who are very skilled at stucco, and they are teaching us so much! It is really nice to have such experienced brothers helping us. We are really pushing to finish all the stucco- there is so much on this assembly hall! Its hard to believe that we only have a few months of construction left. I am really going to miss CRAH! Anyway... I have been having some problems with my camera, so my pics are limited, but here are some that turned out good.

Ceramic Tile Weekend

This past Saturday and Sunday I attended a Ceramic tile class for CRAH. It was at a Kingdom hall in Accokeek, MD. On Saturday we learned how to lay Ditra, and then the tile. Then on Sunday we learned how to grout. It was so much fun! We had 30 something people in our class, including a lot of my core worker peeps. Different congregations made our meals each day- let me just say, they did an AWESOME job. We were feasting like kings all weekend (my mouth is watering just thinking about it:-) On Saturday we worked until 11pm! Sunday we finished around 3. I took some pics on Saturday, but then on Sunday my camera broke, so no pics:-( I would like to give a shout out to the Peters- thanks for your hospitality! Now we are ready to lay tile in the assembly hall- I can't wait!

More insulation fun

Thursday I worked with Insulation again. This time we were finishing up the inside of the residence building. The weather was gorgeous that day!
Lately for the lunchtime experiences they have been interviewing various people that work often on site. They interviewed me this time! I was nervous, but it was brief, and a privilege:-)
I also took some random photos of busy people working. There was a lot of activity going on!

Sparks Flying

Wednesday I worked in Metal studs. I was cutting most of the morning- SO fun! Britney, Kellyn, Brooke and I were feeling quite silly that day. Our overseer (and Brooke's husband) Dave Bender had to put up with us:-) I think we were just super happy to be working inside the assembly hall instead of outside in the rain! It was POURING. Even with our sillyness, we made sure to be safe! Thus our leather gloves photo;-)