About Time

It's been over a week since I posted last and I guess it's about time to do another update on life. I've been holding out because I've been feeling just generally off this week and I keep thinking it will go away and my post won't be so depressing...I'm getting kinda tired of depressing posts . But, it's Friday and the general funk has not left me so I've given up and am posting. After I read my sister's post I realized that it's not just me feeling off this week. My dad had a rough week as well, so apparently it's just one of those weeks. We hit the two month mark on Tuesday, so perhaps that is it.

So...the past week... Last weekend brought us this...

That was the roofing team assembled at Brandy's to get the house ready for the market. Brandy and John are moving next year and they needed a new roof when they moved in, so they figured it was about time :) Brandy and I did not so much help with the actual roofing project, but we did a lot of...

...cooking. A LOT. I'm not really sure how moms of big families do anything except cook. We felt like all we did was prep for a meal, make a meal or clean up from a meal. Our one saving grace was...
...leftover Special Olympics plastic wear. Which significantly cut down on the dishes end of life! We decided that this roofing project was brought to you by Papa Johns! :) As you can see (new shingles on the left, old on the right) the efforts were well worth it!

While Brandy and I did make a showing on the roof a time or two...

...most of our time was spent here...

...where the shed went from someplace you couldn't even step into let alone move around in, to a rather well organized region of the world. Between knocking out the shed and her spare room we were more or less an un-filmed Clean Sweep team!

It was the first time we've all been together since the memorial service and while it wasn't as heart-wrenching as I had imagined it could be there were definite moments when I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. Like at about 6:00 on Friday when Brandy and I suddenly realized that my mom would not be cooking dinner and it was up to us to go grocery shopping and cook. One of those things that you just don't think about because she always had a meal menu and would whip us into shape as we were sitting there talking. Or when we were walking through the grocery store and didn't know how much of things to buy, or what kind of ice cream my dad liked. Every time I wanted to scream at the universe 'THIS ISN'T FAIR!', but I knew that was going to get me nowhere, so I swallowed the lump in my throat and kept shopping. I guess there is an aspect to life right now that goes in the 'suck it up and move on' category, and whether it's fair, or nice, or easy, doesn't really matter, it is what it is. My mom always said 'life's not fair, get used to it while you're young'.

Prior to the roofing project I had a week in West Virginia at a conference for work. I love this conference. I know I am a total dork for loving a conference, but this is the week I get to meet with all the people who do my job all over the US and it just generally makes me feel more motivated to do my job when I leave...which is always a plus in life :) So, I have three pictures to sum up the week. The first picture is to prove I truly did do work while I was there...

...the second picture is to prove there are far more entertaining things to do at a NERRS meeting than work...like having a DODGEBALL TOURNAMENT!!!...

...and the last one to prove there are some spectacular pictures you can find online to make a point in a presentation (this one stolen from Grey's presentation, who is spectacular at only using pictures in his powerpoint - most of them which don't even have to do with what he is talking about)...

Happy Friday!