Lorphan.

My staff last summer nicknamed me "Lorphan", a combination of Laura and orphan, which pretty accurately describes the alter ego Laura takes on when it's late at night. Now that it's the end of week 5, I think it's safe to say that Lorphan has officially emerged a few times in the last week. It's okay though! Monster runs through my veins (John taught me how to shotgun and I'm convinced I'll beat him by the end of the summer) and I try to squeeze in a nap here and there. Life is good.

This week's volunteers were AWESOME! They raised over $2,000 between our T-shirt auction on Wednesday night and tonight's dodgeball tournament! Both were sooo much fun, I mean these guys go hard. They fund-raise so much extra money and then just blow it down here on our supplies and donations, we couldn't be happier! Especially, ESPECIALLY because on Tuesday one of my projects took a huge turn. We realized that last week's crew (working on a roofing project) essentially built new rafters and laid them on top of the old ones in attempt to change the pitch and help the water flow off the roof, buuut it really only raised the issue up by about a foot so nothing changed. PLUS, a significant amount of water poured into the house for two nights straight during thunderstorms and ruined the homeowner's ceilings and some subfloor. I felt so awful walking into that home and seeing more damage being done on behalf of ASP, so we did a complete overhaul on the project. Thanks to my Construction Consultant DT who was out there with me, we designed a new truss system that would solve the problem! Not only did that crew solve the problem.. but they FRAMED AND DECKED THE NEW TRUSSES IN A DAY! ONE DAY! It was wild. Their progress was amazing and while we were super appreciative, we blew so much of our budget on them that we couldn't afford anything else besides rolled roofing (which really only lasts about 5 years.... =[ ) Long story short, this church donated $600 towards this project so we could get the shingles they needed to finish the new roof. It was awesome the way these guys put their hearts and souls into everything here this week and I felt like every time I walked onto their site I was just absorbing their great vibes and positive energy. I love how volunteers can just completely re-energize us and help us remember (even when we're in our Lorphan modes) why we're here even when we're exhausted.



I'm really sad to see these guys go (especially the Irish guy Jerry, he gave me all of his contact info though and I definitely plan on keeping in touch especially since he lives outside of Boston!) but I'm also reallllly excited to sleep and play this weekend. I think I'll be seeing Harry Potter tomorrow night.... cheeaaa boiiiii!