ReddKatt's Xanga Site

July 29, 2004

The preparations
continue for....

Today I went over
to church about 1:30 expecting to paint the volcano and possibly put up
the backdrop on the stage. Oops...Jeff was finishing painting the volcano
when I got there *today is his day off, I didn't even know he would be
there...he just must have been really eager to finish painting it and see
what it would look like. I hope he didn't think he had to come in to help
me...I was going to do it myself
( He needs to take his day off and spend some time on himself and Beth
and the kids *. He did leave soon after I arrived though, since Beth had
to work. I helped him clean up and I finished cleaning up the Friendship
Hall where we were painting the backdrop yesterday. I am so proud of us !
We didn't get ANY paint on the carpet in the Friendship Hall. Greatly in
part to the fact that I was super anal about the handling and use of the
paint in the carpeted room. By putting down three large plastic drop
cloths, surrounding the backdrop with a double layer of newsprint, and
putting down plastic garbage bags where every drop of paint and paint
brush resided, we kept the floor clean! Yeah! I would much rather have
been able to paint on the parking lot or in a room with a tiled floor. The
threat of rain was imminent so the parking lot was out. There are no large
rooms with tiled floor inside the church, so painting inside anywhere
other than the Friendship Hall, which is the largest room in the building
outside of the sanctuary, was out. We done good!

Oh, did I mention that I also sternly warned the 16 year old and 10 and 9
year olds helping me that that had to STAY On the paper. DON'T step in
PAINT. DON'T walk off the newsprint for ANY REASON without getting me to
come over to them. If they got primer or paint on the carpet, it wasn't
coming out, then I would get in trouble and I wasn't going to have that.
NOW HAVE FUN! lol Actually, I wasn't as mean as it sounded but dealing
with 8 gallons of latex paint on a carpeted surface with kids can be a
nail biting experience. They did great and I am proud of them. THANKS
GIRLS AND THUMBS UP!

I
will take pictures of the backdrop and painted volcano tomorrow. It is
hard to photograph a 10 foot by 30 foot piece of canvas that is lying on
the floor. )

So, other than
clean up, what was it I did all day you may ask? Well since you ask I will
tell you...I made volcanoes. Well I made volcanoes after I made a run to
Home Depot for spray paint, rope and 13 rolls of packing tape.

Johnny *youth pastor* bought a BIG OLE four foot wide roll of brown paper
to line all the hallways with. Over that we will be hanging palm trees,
the Bible characters for the VBS, leaves, other tropical decorations, etc.
Before I left for Home Depot he asked me if I could draw volcanoes on the
brown paper in the hallways in the basement. No problem...but I came up
with a better way to make the volcanoes: make them 3D and big and by using
materials that we had. I picked up more spray paint at Home Depot while I
was out.

I
took pieces of the brown craft paper and spray painted in brown a rough
volcano shape *just a triangle with the top cut off *. At the top I spray
painted in red lava flowing down the top and sides. I cut the volcanoes
out and then taped one side to the craft paper on the walls. I then took
newsprint and crumpled it up and taped it to the wall under the volcano
towards the top, and then taped the other side down. The result is a 3D
volcano! After Sunday services when we put the tunnel up going into the
sanctuary and set up everything else, I am going to take yellow, red and
orange tissue paper and make *flames* coming out of the volcanoes.
Tomorrow I have to make another, oh, *counting*, 25 or 30 more volcanoes.
It won't take me too terribly long to make them and cut them out. Once I
do that I can hand out the volcanoes to have someone else put them up in
the basement. I can't go in the basement because one of the rooms has a
problem with a leak. We have had torrential downpours over the last month
and mold has grown on the wall. They are cleaning it up and are going to
paint it on Saturday, but I am deathly allergic to mold *deathly not being
an exaggeration as my throat closes up when I am around it for any length
of time*. The problems with mold were much worse last year before they had
the property regraded, and I got sick from being upstairs with the kids
coming up and down out of the basement with the mold on their clothing and
shoes. I had to leave the church after Tuesday afternoon and couldn't go
back to do the video the rest of the week. Tuesday I just kept getting
progressively worse even with meds in my system, and I knew I was
approaching getting wicked sick.

This year I am
going to stay away from the kids where possible, and the basement
completely, take allergy meds and a B complex every morning, and leave the
building if necessary after I do registration and set up and run the
store. I was sick for two weeks last year from exposure to the mold, I
missed Worship Team practice and the Sunday we were up for worship. I felt
terrible, had trouble breathing, etc. I don't want to go that round again.
I get the feeling sometimes that people think I am a little nuts about
this, but if you have never had your chest close up to the point where you
can't breath, just from walking into a room or being around people who
have walked in that room, you wouldn't understand. It is scary to
experience and that was the worst reaction to an inhalant allergen I have
ever had. Once bitten, twice shy, and all that. I will be making sure
Brenna is loaded up on antihistamines and B vitamins too. Her allergies to
mold aren't as severe as mine, but I don't want her feeling nasty from
exposure to it either.

So tomorrow
preparations continue. I really enjoy being able to get *artsy* when the
occasion arises! The holidays, special programs and VBS give me a chance
to be creative and I look forward to being able to do something different
every time we do a new program. VBS has really become something that we
all that are involved in *kids and adults* look to and enjoy. I think this
being the first year it is completely on his shoulders, Johnny is a wee
bit stressed. Prayers for peace for him and that everything would go
smoothly would be appreciated! I think we are doing GREAT so far...we have
the bulk of the decorating done, and that is by far the most time
consuming of the preparations the week before the actually VBS.

I will take
pics tomorrow and Sunday when everything is completely decorated.