Tovin's Journal

March 30, 2018 Gooooood Friday
I woke up at 8 this morning, and the first thing I did was freak out. I was supposed to be up at 7, and so I had no idea what kind of impending doom was in store for me. I hurriedly checked with Mom, and found out that she had allowed us to sleep in for some reason I can no longer remember. I had some eggs with cheese and bacon for breakfast, which were leftover from last night, and they were really good. After I finished eating, Mom and I did my piano lesson, which went moderately well. Then I did the dishes and chilled around until Bryant and Alyssa showed up. For anyone reading this who doesn't know who Bryant and Alyssa are or why they'd be at my house, they're some friends of mine who recently got engaged, and so I'm *attempting to* take engagement photos for them. We walked over to our tree area, where we took some pictures, and then drove over to the covered bridge outside of Frazee, with a pit stop at All in All. We made the quarte…

March 29, 2018 Kinda Spring? Mom worked again today, so she took off pretty early, as did Dad as he was going to a men's Bible study at Harvest Fellowship. Tevia got on the bus, and so it was just Jana and Me at home. I worked a little on my computer, and then practiced piano and watched YouTube videos for awhile, until Dad and Tevia got home. Dad decided he wanted each of us to do some cleaning, so I cleaned the piano room, moving the piano to the other side of the room. It makes it seem a little bigger. Then I played some more piano. Really, I played probably like an hour and a half of piano today. Anyway, I went down to the basement where I worked on some things, including a poster that I put up in Frazee Family Foods near the cash register, that basically said, "yo plz donate to my fundraiser." I mean obviously it was a lot more sophisticated than that, but that's a quick summary. I rode in with Grandpa and Tevia and got the OK from Heath, and then Kim helped me f…

March 28, 2018 Shrimp Tacos Today we didn't have a whole lot going on, so after Mom left for work, Dad brought Tevia home from school and all of us over to Grandpa and Nana's to hang out. Right after Dad left, Jana and I went into town to go grocery shopping with Grandpa at Central Market in Detroit Lakes, and they had like 2 giant platters of cheese that you could go and sample (I went and sampled the cheese 6 times). We got everything we needed and then a little bit more, and then we went over to Taco John's where we got 3 shrimp taco baskets and 4 beef tacos to bring home. When we got home we had our food, with Nana, Tevia, and I each having a shrimp taco basket (3 tacos/basket) and Jana having 2 beef hardshell tacos and Grandpa having 2 beef softshell tacos. It was really good. After we ate, Nana had to go to an appointment in Vergas, and so she drove her car for the first time since she had her knee replaced. Then Grandpa took Tevia in to do track, and when he got back…

March 27, 2018 Behind the Wheel- Part 1 Today was a little stressful because I had something big; my first day of Behind the Wheel for two hours. Dad dropped me off that, and I drove around with my instructor in Frazee, Vergas, and Perham, and it felt like we were driving in circles because we kept driving in the same routes over and and over and over and uhg. We finished just after 12:30, and then Dad and I stopped by the store where we got sunflower seeds. We then went home where Jeremy and Sherri and Dawson and Steven had come over for lunch, as it was Sherri's 23 birthday. We had a little celebration, and then they took off. Dad brought Jana and I over to Grandpa and Nana's where we hung out for awhile. We came home and Jana made Mexican fried rice for dinner, which was pretty good. Jana and I then went for a walk outside, and then I watched videos and listened to Hamilton until bed. Spring break is so awesome.

March 26, 2018 More Snow...
Today started out normal, except for the snow falling outside my window. I got up and out of bed, and then headed downstairs to finish my college assignments for the week, as sadly they don't have spring break at the same time as my other school does. I loaded it up and almost had a heart attack, as they were all overdue by one day, giving me 3 0% grades! I emailed my teacher, as they shouldn't have been due till tomorrow, and she said that it was indeed a mistake and she had since fixed it. Then I realized I work on Good Friday till 7, and at 7:10ish I'm supposed to be playing in church, so I called Grandpa and he said he'd give me a ride from work. Then, my Behind the Wheel instructor called and postponed our appointment to tomorrow, as she didn't want to have me driving in what is basically a tiny blizzard. After lunch, I went into town with Tevia and Mom, and we dropped off Tevia at the school, and then Mom dropped me off at the Fraze…

March 25, 2018 Baby Dedication Today was a very busy day; first we got up and went to church, but Matthew, Mom and I were opening the service with Build Your Kingdom Here- which is a very easy song, except one tends to get a little nervous when there are like 50 guests because of a baby dedication. David and Veronica were dedicating Peter, and a very large amount of their family was there- like a lot of people, so that the only other time we've had so many was like VBS programs. Anyway, the service went well, and then there was food afterwards, which included a lot of very good looking cookies and cakes and pies and stuff. We left around 1:30, and Mom and Dad dropped me off at the school, because I was meeting some people to watch the Frazee High School's musical, Into The Woods Jr. which was pretty good. Afterwards, Dad and I drove down to the camp and checked things out; the snow has melted somewhat, and so all that really needs to be done is to clean a parking area. We went …

March 24, 2018 Saturday Night 
Today was our first full day of spring break; spring break for Jana and I will go from the 24 of March to the 1st of April, which is a pretty awesome break if you ask me. I didn't wake up till 10:30 this morning, and it was super awesome to sleep in, even if I got yelled at for it. I just lounged around and played on my computer a bit, making a photo book documenting our time in Puerto Rico, and it has been very interesting and also fun. I worked on that until around 2ish, when I finally went upstairs and had some lunch. Then I figured I should get out of my pajamas, and into normal day clothes. I did that, and then I cleaned the music room as well as my bedroom, and then went outside, to find that it was very cold and not enjoyable at all. I helped Mom with the salad for tonight, and then tried to get the rabbits to eat the leftover stuff. I had gone back upstairs and called Jesse, and then missed a call back from him, and then called him back, and t…

March 23, 2018 Spreading the Word Well, it's finally Friday! And because next week is spring break, that means that there are exactly 10 days till I have to do any sort of school again. However, seeing as Easter is coming up pretty soon, Grandpa and I went out and got some flyers printed at Midwest Printing in DL, and gave them out to some churches after getting groceries at Central Market and eating tacos in the car along the beach that we had gotten at Taco John's. Most of the churches had someone inside who was very kind and helpful, except for Vineyard, who's lady at the desk was a little rude, as I had unintentionally interrupted her Facebook scrolling. We made a few stops in Detroit Lakes and Frazee, and then Grandpa dropped me off at home where I had some hot dogs which I've been craving for a few days. Mom took Tevia to track and then brought her home after awhile. We had burritos for dinner, where afterwards we sat by the fire place and watched Moana. After Moa…

March 22, 2018 Just Another Day Today was just another boring day- got up in the morning, did school, then went to work in the afternoon. Wasn't a whole lot of stuff going on. One interesting thing that I heard a customer say was, "Well, pretty much everything on the news is fake, except the weather, and they just guess at that!" Tevia had made chili for dinner, with cornbread, and that was pretty good. I went outside after dinner and was attacked by too many cats; I think it's time for us to get rid of some of them. 

March 21, 2018 In The Paper
I thought I had a meeting with my English teacher today, but then when I was waiting for him to call me, I noticed an email that said I had somehow gotten scheduled when I wasn't supposed to be. So, that wasn't the greatest way for my morning to start. I got most of my school done by noon, and then Dad and I went in to Walmart for my eye appointment. After blowing air in my eyes, cleaning my glasses, and checking different lenses, they decided that my prescription had indeed changed. I didn't really want to get different frames, so they just measured my current ones, and then ordered a new pair, which should be here in about a week. We did a little shopping while we waited for them to finish changing the tire on the van as well, and then we went home. Grandpa had just dropped off Tevia at track, and so then he took Jana and I over to their house, where we hung out for awhile. Jana was reading the paper, and I kinda glanced over, and then almost h…

March 20, 2018 First Day of Spring
Today was pretty average; I received my first donation for my Speed the Light fundraiser, and was kinda freaking out for a bunch of the morning. I had chemistry class at 11am, which was interesting as always, and then because someone had gotten sick, Grandpa gave me a ride to work at 3 when he brought Tevia in for track practice. Work was surprisingly busy, and a lot of people seemed to enjoy complaining about how it was snowing on the first day of spring. Once I got off work, Dad picked me up and we came home to have a dinner that Jana made, of chicken drumsticks and cookies. It was pretty good, and after cleanup, we watched a bit of Arrow before going to bed. Mom stayed at a hotel in Breckenridge because the roads were too bad to drive home. 

March 19, 2018 Old Freezer
Today was your average last day of winter, and it was a beautiful day. Roads were dry, sky was clear, it was sunny, nice 38°F outside, and snow in the forecast for tomorrow. I got a flyer designed for the sunrise service on Easter morning, and so we'll hopefully get into town and print out a few of those soon. I had to work at 4 today, so I went in and did that, and then got drafted into working tomorrow as well, because someone is sick or something. Anyway, it'll be interesting. Heath had been throwing out an old coffin freezer, so we put that in the back of the pickup truck and we'll give it to Curt later. 

March 18, 2018 Cows Got Out
Woke up this morning around 8:30, and had to get up and make eggs while Ben made bacon. We had a quick breakfast, then ran over to the church where we ran through the worship set one last time before Sunday School. I was able to get the slides done in time, and as expected, it went... well it went. Anyway, after church there was fellowship dinner, which had a ton of food, and it was really good. We started heading home, but just after we got to four corners, we decided to turn around and go up to Tamarac Wildlife refuge to watch the Sunday afternoon movie. It was "Born to be Wild" today, and it was about everything North America, but felt rushed as they were trying to cover most of the main habitats between Alaska and Panama. Afterwards we drove home, and found the cows out in the yard. As it turned out, they had gotten out and wandered down to the road, where a lady passing by had taken a picture and posted it on Facebook, and it had kinda blown u…

March 17, 2018 Guns and Worship 
Today was finally the beautiful, wonderful, amazing weekend. I woke up around 9 because I couldn't fall back asleep, and cleaned my room and got all my music gear packed up. Grandpa came by and picked me up around 10, and then we headed to the church, with a pit stop in Frazee to get papers, coffee, and soda. He dropped me off at the church, where I got everything setup and then walked over to Ben's, where Matthew and Josh were waiting for Ben and Bradly to get back from town. Once they got back, we went out into David's field and started shooting clay pigeons. After awhile, Matthew and I went back inside to make pizza, and then started watching the Flash when everyone came in and watched it with us. After awhile, we had to go over to the church and practice, which we did- tomorrow will be entertaining to say the least. We went back over to Ben's, where we watched Netflix until it was time to go into town, where we had Taco John's fo…

March 16, 2018Portal in the Road Today was finally the weekend, and I got all my school done in record time. Not really, but it felt nice to be done. Then since I had so much time, I watch a video on YouTube talking about steel wool photography, and it looked really cool, so I decided to try it tonight. Grandpa brought me to work at 4, where I worked until 7 and it was super busy because of the weekend and Chris was doing other stuff so I was basically in charge of the store. After work, I came home and we watched McFarland USA, and then Jana, Tevia, and I went down to the road to try this. It took some doing, and the result wasn't spectacular, but it was still really fun and cool.

March 15, 2018 Tevia's Concert Today was another normal Thursday, except one big thing. It was Tevia's first concert. The morning went well, with Piano lessons and school, and then when Dad brought me into work at 4, I found out that I didn't work till tomorrow! Dad and I went over and watched the track kids, including Tevia, clear off the track with shovels, and then we went home. Then we went back in to pick up Tevia, ate really fast, and then rushed back to town so that Tevia would be on time to her concert. She ran in, while we walked around and looked at all the student art and photography and sculpting and such that was there. Then Tevia came out with the band, and they played their songs. Afterwards, we stayed and listened to the drama group do a little bit of their music for the play in a week, and then went home! Long night, but almost the weekend!

March 14, 2018 March for Pie, Not Laws 
Today was the school walkout where the kids walked out of school to either get out of school for 17 minutes, honor the kids who were shot in Florida, or try and get gun laws passed (depends on who you ask) but more importantly, it was mathematical pi day, which meant I had to make a pie. After school was done, Dad and I made a lemon meringue pie, and then we brought it over to Betty's for Bible study, where David and Teresa had made soup. After Bible study, we came home and went to bed. The pie was good though. 

March 13, 2018 Nice Sunset 
Today I had school, Chemistry class in the morning and a general meeting class in the afternoon, then went down to camp to help Dad with some stuff for a building project and also to see how it would work for the sunrise service. Came home for dinner, and then after dinner visited with Grandpa and Nana while Mom and Dad voted for something over at the town hall, and also sold their gopher feet that they had been keeping in the freezer, for like $3 each. Super nice sunset before it got dark and went to bed. 

March 12, 2018 My Abs Hurt
Monday's are literally the worst day ever. I had school today, and then, because Bradly doesn't think that I can get a 6 pack, I've started doing an intense ab workout everyday, and it's supposed to give me a 6 pack in 90 days. So we'll see how that goes. I also had to work today, and I talked to Heath about maybe starting my shift at 3:30 instead of 4 so that we don't have to run Tevia to town at 3:15 and then me at 3:45. The other thing I did was create an info page for my goal with Speed the Light, which I am going to start my fundraising for right after Easter. My goal of $1000 is constantly changing with how hard I think it'll be. I'm also getting new glasses soon as my prescription has changed. There was a really nice sunset on the way back from work tonight. 

March 11, 2018 Angry Cat
Today was Sunday... and the first day with the Daylight Saving Time change... which meant we had to get up an hour earlier than normal! It was horrible. I got up and got ready for church, which didn't require a whole lot of work as Dad cut my hair yesterday and combing it is really all I usually do. We got to church, and a lot of people were there, except Janessa and Rhonda, as Janessa had just gotten out of surgery for her hand after getting it flattened in the wood splitter yesterday. After church we came home and had some (mostly) leftover hamburgers for lunch, along with spaghetti from last night. Jeremy called, so we decided to go over there around 3, where we hung out and played with Dawson for awhile. They had taken one of our grey cats, and it's just a vicious beast and attacks you if you make any sort of mouse noises. Anyway, we came home around 4:30 and Dad took the girls to see Grandpa and Nana, while Mom and I stayed home and played on our v…

March 10, 2018 The Day with a Lame Picture
Today was Saturday- beautiful, wonderful, amazing Saturday. Mom and Dad went to their training class in Fergas Falls this morning, despite the furnace being broken, but I slept in till almost 10 anyway. Matthew and I had played around with the cameras yesterday, so I spent a few hours in the basement cutting video clips and audio clips together and making them better. I snowmobiled over to Grandpa and Nana's for a little while, but had to take the ditches as the lake was too slushy. We were having people over that evening, and it turned out to be a very interesting crowd, including Ben, Matthew, Becca, Caleb, and Neil and Lynette. Once everyone finally went home, it was quiet and I could rest. Also during all of this had gotten notice that Janessa flattened her hand it a wood splitter, broke 4 bones in her fingers, and was going in for surgery at 7am the next morning...

March 09, 2018 Michael W. Smith Concert 
Today was finally Friday again- it seems like it's been 2 years since last week. I got my school done rather early in the morning, and then I got a ride from Grandpa to the church at 1:30, where Matthew and I played around and practiced some for when we lead worship in church on the 18th. Around 4:45, everyone started showing up for the concert, except Crosby who had said he was coming. We waited for as long as we could, but he still didn't come so we had to leave without him. Seeing as how we then had one extra ticket, I called Caleb, who said he would meet us at the pizza hut in Detroit Lakes, where we picked up some pizza to eat on the way. We made it just in time, and walked in the doors about 2 minutes before the concert was scheduled to start. Everyone got seats and then it started. It was very different than what I was used to, as the average age was like 50 or 60, and it wasn't a stand up and stuff kind of concert. It was ins…

March 08, 2018 Set List Saturday, but Thursday.... 
Set list Saturday still isn't for a few days, but Matthew has been yelling at me so much to get it figured out that I finally decided on the set list for the 18th, and it seems pretty good if you ask me. I had my reading test this morning, and so I did that at 10. Right after my test, I got a call from Kim at the store, and she was wondering if I could come in at 2 instead of 4. I decided to, and was able to get a ride from Grandpa, which is always nice as it's fun to talk to him. The social worker was at our house talking to Mom and Dad about foster care, and so I talked with her for awhile, and found out she used to work at a grocery store when she was younger too! I went to work, and worked until 7- Dad had told me he thought I was addicted to caffeine, so I was 100% caffeine free today and it was torture, especially at work. When I got off work, Dad picked me up and Mom had made turkey tacos for dinner, which were amazing,…

March 07, 2018 Youth Group Night Today Mom worked, and Jana, Tevia, and I all had school. Was interesting, and I got done with a lot, as well as bringing up some of my grades. Went over and shoveled in the afternoon at Grandpa and Nana's, then went to youth group after dinner. Was really fun and learned a lot. 

March 06, 2018 Chinese Dragon
Today was Tuesday, which means it was Tuesday. Wow, my logic is so good. Anyway, had school this morning, then took Mom out to lunch at the Chinese Dragon for her belated birthday, and then went over to Grandpa and Nana's in the afternoon. Saw some eagles, took pictures of them, came home and had dinner, did laundry, went to sleep. Long day.

March 05, 2018 Mom's Birthday  Today was the 5th day of March, aka the day Mom was born 44 years ago. We started out the day with waking up to a blizzard... not fun. Anyway, we had school and then I went over to Grandpa and Nana's on the snowmobile, braving the elements. I hung out over there for a few hours then came home where we had a birthday dinner for Mom, and then we only had enough ice cream for her, so we sang to her while she ate her ice cream. Then I played on my computer and watched videos by Francis Chan until bed. My picture today was my 3/4 lb hamburger for lunch. It was amazing.

March 04, 2018 Good Pork Chops
Today was Sunday, and I had my alarm set for 8 am. Sadly, I yelled at my Echo to shut up when it went off, so I ended up being woken up to Mom yelling at me that they had already been waiting in the car. Wasn't the most pleasant experience, but I got ready in under 5 minutes and was in the car soon enough. Church was a little boring as the Swiers were gone, but Ben was preaching on being a witness vs an evangelist, and did a good job of letting God speak through him. After church, we came home and ate, before going over to Jeremy's where we watched the Emoji Movie with them- a painful movie to watch- and then coming home. We hung out at home for a little while before going over to the Roisums, where we talked to them, and then Mom and Dad dropped us off at Grandpa and Nana's. I fried up some Pork Chops for our dinner, and then I took a picture of them because they were just so good and so amazing. We went on to talk for awhile, and then Faceti…

March 03, 2018 I Like Nachos Today was Saturday finally! I slept in till just before 10, and then slowly got going throughout the day. I cleaned my room, and then because it smelled a little funny, drenched it with Febreze. Grandpa came over for a visit, and we talked to him for awhile before he left. After a lunch of tacos and pizza, Jana and I took one of the snowmobiles over to Grandpa and Nana's, and then Tevia came a little later on the other snowmobile, after practicing her piano. We hung out over there for awhile, doing assorted things from talking, to peeling hard boiled eggs, to shoveling. Around 4, we figured we should be going home, so we grabbed all our assorted junk and drove back home. Dad got home from his Men's Retreat up in Strawberry lake, and we had nachos for dinner. After we ate and cleaned up, we did some family singing, before watching Hoosiers. After we finished the movie, I took a shower and shaved, and then we all went to bed.

March 02, 2018 In it to End it-  Today was a pretty average day, with finishing up school and homework for the week, working at the Thrift Store, and then working at the grocery store. However, the picture I took today is a little unusual. Let me explain it. This message, #inittoenditXwas a message I saw today, written on an arm. I looked into it a little more and I found some interesting facts. 
Fact 1: Slavery still exists, and is more common than I thought. 
Fact 2: If all of the people who were in forced labor, including domestic work and sexual exploitation, were put in one area, it would be one of the largest cities in the world. 
Fact 3: Slavery is not only in developing countries; during the 2018 Super Bowl in Minnesota, over 35 women were rescued from sex trafficking, and almost 100 people were arrested. 
I also found out there are many organizations trying to help and end human trafficking, including the END IT Movement- from whose website you can donate or create posters to spr…

March 01, 2018 I Froze My Butt Off Today was the first day of March, but it didn't really matter. I did my school like normal, and had a piano lesson in the morning. After lunch, I got on the snowmobile and went over to Grandpa and Nana's for a few hours. Then I was watching TV with Nana, and an Arby's commercial came on and I remembered I was supposed to make dinner- so I raced home at 5:30, helped Tevia get her snowmobile unstuck, and then made hamburgers for dinner. As soon as we had finish, and they were super amazing by the way, because I made them the way that Grandpa taught me, I started gathering my gear. I had seen a photo the other day, which was a tent in a field and was really cool and had star trails and I wanted to try it. So, I loaded up a tent, a few lights, and a bunch of other trash, and drove back over to Rose Lake where I waited for it to get darker, and talked with Grandpa some more. I also because a level 2 local guide according to Google during that t…