Story A Day

After working a 14 hour day yesterday, it was a relief to work only 11 hours today. Kind of crazy that an 11 hour work day is a luxury We are nearing the finish at BSP. The kids are tweaking their performances and prepping for Celebration on Saturday. I am very excited to see the energy and excitement that evening. Right now, I’m exhausted, and glad to be heading to bed at 9:30

At BSP, we are in our final week with students.  We have two days of programming left, and then the big celebration on Saturday!  We call it “the sprint” portion of the summer because everyone is getting really worn out, but we are making the final sprint to the finish, putting all of our energy into making the final days and Celebration amazing!  I promise to post a BSP summer photo album when I get time to go through the 4000+ photos that have been taken by our teachers this summer.   Yes, that’s 4000+ photos – thank goodness for digital!!

In anticipation of many forthcoming adventures in DC, Christy (my sister) has started a blog! Yay! I added it to my blogroll and intend to read it often. So, you better blog regularly Christy! Here’s the address: http://jvcvindc.blogspot.com/

It’s 8:52 pm, and I am about to get ready for bed.  Yowsers!!  I didn’t get much of a weekend to rest with the trip to Heartland, and I am feeling it now.  Off to bed, and it’s still light outside!  I’ll appreciate it in the morning

I spent the weekend with 34 kids and 4 aspiring teachers at Camp One Heartland. The weekend was full of adventures for the kids, and a few for me too Activities included: climbing wall, archery, canoeing, swimming, games, and the giant swing. Below are some photos of the fun! I’ll tell you a bit about the most adventurous activity…The giant swing involves strapping into a harness, being attached to two cables, and then being raised about 40-50 feet in the air. When ready the person swinging releases a rope and they go flying, swing like a pendulum from high in the air! It’s wild. My stomach was certainly turning, but since many of the kids went all the way to the top, I figured I should too! It was a great weekend…

It’s a big day at BSP tomorrow.  First, we are taking a trip to the State Capitol building.  The kids get a tour and then they get to debate bills n the chambers for a mock session.  So cool!  I’m pumped.  Then, I am accompanying 34 of the kids, plus 4 teachers to Camp One Heartland for the weekend.  The camp had a cancellation and offered us a weekend for free!  The kids are super excited, and I think it will be a lot of fun.  I haven’t posted many photos this summer since a couple of the teachers are our assigned photographers, and I haven’t uploaded their pictures to my computer.  But, I will be bringing my camera this weekend and hope to get some great photos!  So look out on Sunday when I return!! 

I spent just a few minutes scoping out my garden this evening.  I was pleased to find LOTS of healthy, large and colorful native flowers.  Intermixed, however, were a lot of weeds.  I usually do a better job of tackling the weeds, but my 12-14 hour work days haven’t left me much time to do so these last 7 weeks.  But look out weeds!!  After August 2nd, I am coming for you!!

After a long string of non-stop work days, being sick, and working on the duplex, Tim and I finally had a nice, leisurely evening.  We had dinner together, walked around the lake, and caught a bit of some evening TV shows.  Sweet relaxation.  Much needed, and thoroughly appreciated

We got our annual storm sewer assessment from the City of Saint Paul.  I mailed it in promptly, so as to avoid the 6.5% fee if it gets rolled into our property taxes.  I used the envelope provided by the city to pay the bill.  It came back undeliverable, the PO Box they designated on the envelope is closed.  Classic.

Today, Tim purchased the digital converter for our “old school” TV, and it’s like a whole new world in TV land!  Perfect reception despite not having any form of cable.  We still need the antenna on, or the image gets pixelated, but with the antenna on the image is perfectly clear!  It’s like having basic cable for free   And we got a few new channels out of the deal (like the round-the-clock Kare 11 Weather channel).  Not to mention the fact that it only cost $25 after our $40 coupon from this website: https://www.dtv2009.gov.  Super cool.  Hey, at least I’m one step closer to being current on technology!