On Saturday, Ryan and I volunteered to work on old houses with Christmas in October. We signed up through Hallmark and got up bright and early (6am) to help out. It was really beautiful weather and we had a great time - despite the fact that we had to give away our tickets to the KU vs. Colorado game. (it was okay, we brought our radio.) I spent most of the day running back and forth to Home Depot for supplies (since I'm not very handy and all of my projects were done by 9:30!) I also took pictures and provided moral support. We met "Mrs. Newton" and her daughter, Ann - who were extremely grateful for our help.
Mrs. Newton's house - 4246 Agnes, right in the heart of KC, MO.
This is Tim, who knew how to do everything!! He and his brother re-wired the entire house and knew how to remodel old homes. (they do it for a living)
This is his wife, Julie - our fearless leader at Hallmark. (later, she bought us popsicles from the ice cream man.)
This is the fire extinguisher that I installed. (I didn't take a picture of the fire alarm I put in the hallway. I know...fascinating.) But it was on the list, so that's what I did!
This is Mrs. Newton. 92 years old and still sharp as a tack! She spent most of the day in her back bedroom "tiddying up" - I think she was just too nervous to watch everyone tromping through her house.
Ryan's project was to repair a big, leaky, stained hole in the ceiling of her kitchen. He applied three coats of plaster and used this cool heat gun to dry it. (Tim's heat gun.)
Ryan let me paint the spot after it was all dry - I was starting to feel useless that I hadn't done anything messy all day. (I did pull carpet tack strips off of the stairs and sweep dust out of her attic, but nobody documented that.)
The foundation had a bunch of cracks in it, so most everybody worked outside with this "Quik-Rete" caulk stuff. I later went to Home Depot to buy 9 more tubes of it!!
This is Ann, Mrs. Newton's daughter, showing Christine the pictures of when she was a runway model. No, really!
There are actually two people in this picture! One on a ladder, and one practically underneath the house. There wasn't much painting to do, but these two knocked it out!
This is Anne, who coordinated our entire project. She's a tough lady, as you can see by her "guns".
This is Gary. He's one of the guys who actually knew what he was doing. He showed up on a Vespa with his own thermos of coffee. We asked him a lot of questions, when we couldn't find Tim.
This is Erin (my Art Director) spreading concrete with Julie (her boss). They mixed up some concrete and started shoving it in the cracks of the sidewalk. I was totally jealous until they walked in with dried concrete up to their elbows (I guess they started spreading it with their hands?). I really wanted to get dirty. Maybe next year.
This was near the end of the day, we finally got a group photo. We're missing four people (who already left) but you can see how smiley we all are. We had such a great day! And Mrs. Newton could not have been sweeter. :)
Mrs. Newton's house - 4246 Agnes, right in the heart of KC, MO. 
This is Tim, who knew how to do everything!! He and his brother re-wired the entire house and knew how to remodel old homes. (they do it for a living)
This is his wife, Julie - our fearless leader at Hallmark. (later, she bought us popsicles from the ice cream man.)
This is the fire extinguisher that I installed. (I didn't take a picture of the fire alarm I put in the hallway. I know...fascinating.) But it was on the list, so that's what I did! 
This is Mrs. Newton. 92 years old and still sharp as a tack! She spent most of the day in her back bedroom "tiddying up" - I think she was just too nervous to watch everyone tromping through her house. 
Ryan's project was to repair a big, leaky, stained hole in the ceiling of her kitchen. He applied three coats of plaster and used this cool heat gun to dry it. (Tim's heat gun.)
Ryan let me paint the spot after it was all dry - I was starting to feel useless that I hadn't done anything messy all day. (I did pull carpet tack strips off of the stairs and sweep dust out of her attic, but nobody documented that.) 
The foundation had a bunch of cracks in it, so most everybody worked outside with this "Quik-Rete" caulk stuff. I later went to Home Depot to buy 9 more tubes of it!!
This is Ann, Mrs. Newton's daughter, showing Christine the pictures of when she was a runway model. No, really!
There are actually two people in this picture! One on a ladder, and one practically underneath the house. There wasn't much painting to do, but these two knocked it out!
This is Anne, who coordinated our entire project. She's a tough lady, as you can see by her "guns". 
This is Gary. He's one of the guys who actually knew what he was doing. He showed up on a Vespa with his own thermos of coffee. We asked him a lot of questions, when we couldn't find Tim.
This is Erin (my Art Director) spreading concrete with Julie (her boss). They mixed up some concrete and started shoving it in the cracks of the sidewalk. I was totally jealous until they walked in with dried concrete up to their elbows (I guess they started spreading it with their hands?). I really wanted to get dirty. Maybe next year. 
This was near the end of the day, we finally got a group photo. We're missing four people (who already left) but you can see how smiley we all are. We had such a great day! And Mrs. Newton could not have been sweeter. :) 
