Well this is my first official blog post of 2011!!! I believe the last time I wrote I was getting ready to go home to CT for the holidays. My visit home was wonderful! I was able to see lots of friends and family and even got to experience a snowstorm in CT. I was home for about 17 days and I did a lot of visiting, relaxing, baking/cooking and shopping. I think I went to the mall more times in the 2 weeks I was home than the whole last year I've been in eastern Kentucky. Which is good because the nearest mall around here is about 2 hours away so I don't get there too often, which is okay with me because I'm not a big shopper anyway.

Since I've been back in Kentucky we have continued to work on the house we were working on before we all left for Christmas. We are starting to near the end of the job, with just some painting, drywall patching and installing a new toilet left. This is always the hard part of the job because it's exciting to see it all complete but very sad to say goodbye to our participants whom we have grown very attached to over the last few months. We have also started prepping for WorkFest, which is going to be here before we know it. So we've spent some time looking at jobs and getting material lists ready because it is quickly approaching.

As for today we had some snow so our whole house was grounded for the day for my first official snow day of the winter, but for some of my housemates it's their third or fourth snow day. So you might wonder what exactly do you do on a snow day? Well there are many different options. For one most of us tend to sleep in and eventually roll out of bed around noon. Others catch up on reading or arts and crafts. My favorite snow day activity of the moment is playing guitar hero, which I brought from home. So many of my housemates have enjoyed playing it and battling one another. I also played a game of Dutch Blitz with Kevin and Bethanie (two of my housemates). It's a very intense card game, which sometimes involves lots of yelling, but today was a very calm game. Also having a snow day gives me time to write my blog, which is good because I haven't found time to update it lately.

Kate Stefanowicz is a long-term volunteer in CAP's Housing program. She lives in Floyd Volunteer House.