summer is over

The first 5 days of August were full of work, drinking water, and more resting.

The first weekend, August 3 and 4 I spent with Josue and my family at my grandparents' house playing with 3 adorable kids, Ella, Max, and Oscar. I'm not really sure exactly how are relation is classified (the kids' mom, Breanna, is the daughter of my mom's cousin, Martha). We had fun playing in the pool and hanging out with them. They were so smart and quick to respond to everything and just so funny. They said whatever was on their minds and were always making us laugh. Like one of the boys asked Josue how old he was and when he said guess, they said 100? And were serious. Or a very concerned Oscar asking Maria why she wasn't married and why no one would marry her. But then at the same time they could tell us all about the stages a caterpillar endures to become a butterfly and how the sun isn't moving, its the Earth that is spinning/orbiting the sun. I also liked feeling like a role model/older sister to Ella for the weekend!

August 7 my mom, Dan, and I took Maria to the Indiana Academy to move her in. It is crazy that my little sis is already going away to school and only just turned 16 in May. I am both so happy for her, and so proud of her. She is really grown up and independent and ready to take on whatever life throws at her. I love to hear how happy she is that she went there and about all of the new friends she is making. She even tries to give me advice, that all I have to do is just talk to people and it's so much more fun having friends in her classes, but unfortunately it just doesn't come as easily to me as it does to her. She has always been more outgoing and effortlessly makes new friends. It's awesome!

August 9 I spent the morning finishing up a project for my mom's classroom door then hung out with Hilary and finished a painting we started last summer.

 

Saturday August 10 Josue and I had a lot of fun together spending the day shopping in Lafayette! I'm thankful he never gets frustrated with my lack of driving skills and directions, and happy he likes to shop! Oh and help me decide what to buy/give his opinion on the clothes I try on and carry both of our bags. 

Sunday August 11 Josue and I went to the Indiana State Fair with my dad who also met a friend there. I realized that it was not Josue's scene (nor was it mine, but farther from his) but he still had fun spending time together regardless. I was really thankful he came. We were impressed with the bmx/motorcross show that we caught.

Monday August 12 I went back to work for new employee orientation. This was kind of weird as it was my last day, but I had missed the July session. It was also hard as I was just a laundry assistant and the other women's jobs were seemingly more important than mine. Not that they seemed inferior, though they did, but I found a lot of the information we talked about just wasn't very relative to my work. I was really impressed with our instructor though and thought she was so caring about her work and had a very welcoming personality.

I spent one night that week at Depauw with my friends Alex, Steph, Hannah, and Becca. It was so good! I am so thankful for all of them and that we stay in touch (we first became friends when Hannah and I were freshmen on our high school soccer team and the other three juniors)! I loved hearing stories about their summers and the previous school year. We all have such different experiences and personalities and its fun to get to share them all. Oh and of course, I can't forget there was the typical making of chocolate chips pancakes around midnight by Alex and Hannah (though enjoyed by all 5 of us) and Alex and I the ones to fall asleep last. I love that somethings remain the same as much as everything else is constantly changing.

The rest of the week was hard as Maria was gone and Josue, my mom, and Michael were all busy with school. I spent a lot of days going to Hilary's grandparents house with her to paint. We had a lot of fun doing it and are quite the experts I would say myself.

I also was inspired and took on a painting project of my own (with Hilary's help). I'm really happy that I decided to paint my dresser and love the way it turned out. I can't wait to see it in my new room.

My last weekend at home, August 16, 17, and 18 I spent mostly with my family and Josue. My mom's cousin John was in town so we spent time eating dinners and talking with him. It was so cool to hear about all of his world travels, Josue also agreed. I also spent time with Josue taking his senior pictures. I thought about how I had wanted a nice camera last Christmas, but was never able to make a decision. After a lot of research, but still on a whim I decided to spend some of my laundry money on a new camera. I'm so happy I did, I think I found one that really fits me! And was so happy I got to use it to take pictures of Josue. We had a lot of fun and are both happy with how well they turned out!

Tuesday August 20 was Josue's first soccer game! My mom, Hilary, and I drove to Webo to watch and Dan met us there after work. I love to watch him play and am always so impressed with him regardless of his team's overall loss. I was so happy, as was he, when he scored by taking a corner kick. It just curved and sailed right into the back corner of the goal without anyone touching it. Pretty much any time he had the ball I was so excited for him and nervous, hoping it would always go his way.

Wednesday August 21 I spent a lot of time at The Bowery downtown. It was great to catch up with so many friends all at once, Morgan, Megan, Darcy, and Sam. I also loved hearing all of the stories of each of their summers.

Thursday August 22 I went to lunch at Little Mexico with Hilary and Megan and their moms.

Then Hilary came home to help me pack and work on a surprise project for Josue. We successfully went to his house before his game and hung up a banner reading "Happy two years" and Josue's favorite picture from our summer. I was so happy that I pulled it off with the help of Hilary! And that Josue was pleasantly surprised. It was awesome!

Then we went to his game with my mom and later Dan. Morgan was there to support her brothers as well, it was fun getting to talk to Morgan and Hilary! I have some great friends. Josue brought the team from 0-1 to 1-1 and tied the game against Northview. I was so excited by his goal! After his game I was happy he decided to come over and hang out even though he was understandably exhausted. It was my last night in Crawfordsville and I wouldn't have wanted to spend it in anyone else's company. Though I knew we would get to say one last goodbye in the morning, it was so hard dropping him off at his house that night.

Oh my, July [and lots of pictures!!!]

July was also full of lots of working at the hospital doing laundry. So though that isn't the most exciting thing, it was a regular occurrence so I suppose I could say a little more about it than I have. Our staff consisted of 5 of us. Usually there would be 2 or 3 of us working at one time. We were in charge of collecting the soiled linen from the hospital as well as driving to various off-campus locations throughout the day. On an average day we would do about 700 pounds of laundry! Once it was collected and brought back to our small building the the back of the hospital's parking lot we would weigh it then sort it into different bins- light linen (sheets and gowns), heavy linen (blankets, towels, bed quilts), ER, and nasty. Then we loaded the washers on the correct setting depending on the type of laundry it was. After that we would load the dryers, then once they were dry it was time to fold the linen. I was always cold and liked getting the dry, clean, warm laundry out of the driers. It took a while, but I now know how to fold all of the different pieces the correct way and am not super slow (now I'd say I'm just a little slow). Our boss is Rena, she is very family oriented which carries through in her work, as she has a big heart for all of us. Then there are 3 other co-workers: Ashley, Iva, and Nancy. Ashley helped train me the most. She is really nice and works very quickly. Iva never allows a quiet moment, she always has a story to share with us as we are working. Nancy is part time so I didn't get to work with her as much, but the more I did the funnier I found out she was. Though it was hard for me to work 8 hour shifts as often as I did, in the end I am thankful that I found a summer job!

July 2 I picked up Josue to go to dinner together at Little Mexico. It marked the day we had been together for 1 year and 10 months, and when he walked outside of his house he had a big smile on his face and a beautiful bouquet of roses in his hands! Such a sweet surprise.

July 3 I spent the night at my dad's and went to dinner with him at Applebee's.

July 4 my mom and Dan had a get together at my grandparents' house for my mom's friend Merry that was in town. Josue and I got dressed in our red, white, and blue and hung out for a while. I ended up talking with Emma Smoll and Sarah Warner for a little while, and listening and chatting to Dave Ault and Herm Haffner. They were so fun and intelligent and had great stories to share. I really enjoyed my time.

I went home (missing fireworks because no one was interested in going) and hung out with my scaredy-cat Maggie girl until it was time for both of us to go to sleep.

July 6 I did some cleaning, blogging, hanging with my dad, and saved my girl from the rain!!

July 11 Josue and I spent the afternoon at the pool. (Oh and also a lot of my summer also included visiting my grandparents as well.)

July 12 my mom, Dan, Maria, and I headed to Cincinnati! Once we checked in to our hotel we decided to check out the restaurant it had for lunch. The view (minus the muddy water) was gorgeous. There were so many beautiful lines and shapes and colors, I was going camera-happy and letting my inner artist take over! It was so fun.

We spent the afternoon resting, exploring the hotel, and getting ready, then left for the Dave Matthews Band concert!! We ate a (kinda weird/ random) dinner at the concert venue. I liked the two guys that were playing music outside while we ate. They were my style of music- calm and acoustic. Then we went into the concert area, but were still early so we walked around a little while and ended up buying matching shirts for Maria and I. The opening band was OAR, I was sad they didn't play more of their older songs that I'm familiar with, but they were still good. I really liked the song they wrote and played for this particular tour called Peace. Then Dave came on!! Dave Matthews and his band were really good and full of so much energy. We also had really close, good seats. I was also a little disappointed I didn't recognize more of the songs they played as well, but there were also quite a few I could sing along with. It was a lot of fun though.

Then we went back to the hotel, exhausted to rest up for our drive home the following day.

After getting home Saturday July 13 Josue came over. We were at the pool when his sister texted him telling him about a sale at Plato's Closet so Josue, Maria, and I decided to venture up to Lafayette to check it out. We each got a plastic grocery bag and could fill it with as much as we could from specific bins and pay $15 for it. Josue didn't find anything so Maria and I ended up filling his bag as well. Our total Plato's Closet price normally would've been like $350, but we got all of the clothes for $45. Then we went home to have a judged fashion show for my mom, Dan, and Josue. It was a lot of fun!

 July 16 Maggie and I went for a run on the trail. We did the quite a few times this summer, usually with Josue, but that day it was just Maggie and I. It cracks me up when we ride in the car and she puts her face as close as she can get it to the air conditioner! She's so funny.

Saturday July 20 Josue and I went to visit his dear friends Niki and Aaron Keller and their sweet new baby Jaron who was less than a week old. Josue and I loved getting to hold him and are very happy for their family!

Then we went to see our new house for the first time. Well it wasn't ours at that point but basically my mom and Dan were set on it, and now it is officially ours.

Monday July 22 I was excited to have to day off work, but ended up spending most of my time laying in bed because I had a pretty painful stomach ache, but eventually it went away.

July 26 was exciting time with family! Our entire family rarely is able to all get together anymore, but that weekend we were super close! Only missing a few grandkids. We spent the weekend sharing meals together, hanging out at the pool, and attending the opening ceremony/open house of the Dr. Mary Ludwig Free Clinic! We are all so honored to have her as a grandma (or for some of us a mom). They decided to name the clinic after her because of her years of free medical care for so long in our community when she was a pediatrician.

Then Monday July 29 was not so good. I woke up about 3am with the same stomach pain I had the prior week. It was distinctly in my lower left stomach and hurting pretty bad. My mom tried to give me both tums and tylenol but nothing seemed to help. By about 11am she decided I should try to eat some breakfast. She made me toast, but after taking one bite I threw it up immediatly and the pain worsened. I was lying on the floor holding my stomach telling her that it just hurts and she wasn't sure what to do with me. She called the doctor, and they called back saying they could get me in an hour, but told them she was just going to take me to the emergency room. She asked me if I wanted her to call an ambulance, but that was the last thing I wanted. Once my mom talked to the people in admitting, they came with a wheelchair to where I was sitting and brought me to room number 10. The nurse talked to me and asked me a lot of questions as well as gave me a hospital gown (that I very likely could have washed and folded), drew blood, and made me give them a urine sample. Then finally they gave me some pain medicine through an iv in my arm. With the pain finally calming down, I fell asleep for a while. The doctor also came in and talked with me (before or after I fell asleep I'm not really sure). When she pushed on my stomach it didn't worsen the pain, but when she hit my middle back it was really tender. Then eventually I got pushed in my hospital bed to get a CT scan. The doctor came back in later to tell me that I had a 6mm kidney stone. They sent me home with pain medicine, a pee pan, and strainer and instructions to drink lots of water in hopes that I would soon pass it and that I needed to catch it in the pan/strainer so that they could test it later. It was such an awful pain experience, and I was relieved when we finally knew the cause of it. (glad my mom thought it was necessary to take pictures of me, sleeping, typical).

 That night Hannah came over for a little while because we had plans to hang out and I didn't want anything to get in the way since we didn't get to hang out often, not even a trip to the ER. The rest of the week (until I went back to work Thursday and Friday) I spent resting and being told to drink water by my sweet care takers Josue and my mom. Everyone else in my family was very concerned as well- my grandparents, dad, and Maria especially.

And there you have it, my eventful July. Probably lacking a lot of detail and a few occurrences here and there.