Hello
again to everyone,
August
came and went and somehow I feel like it nearly went right by me without
passing. I wonder why it is that time goes so quickly for me all the time now.
I remember when I used to have time to relax and enjoy things once in a while,
but those times seem less frequent as I age. I hope that it’s because I’m in
school and that when school is over and I’ve finally graduated I will feel less
rushed. I don’t hold much hope for it, but I do have some. Either way, I try to
enjoy life as it comes, even if it’s in the form of a speeding train. Haha
July
29th through August 1st was band camp. That seems so long
ago it’s hard to believe it’s only been a month. Anyway, I was very busy with
band camp. I got up early and went down and helped prepare and then serve and
clean-up breakfast for about 100 people and then when I finished that I went
shopping Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for additional supplies we would need.
I can’t believe how much food they bought and used. It was fun getting to know
more people and next year I will miss the couple whose place I am taking. I
usually stayed to help with lunch preparations and on Friday I went back to
help with dinner. Band camp is one busy place. We had lots of obstacles to
overcome, but we managed. On Monday I also helped to get uniforms out to
everyone. That was interesting as well because nearly everyone that had a
uniform last year no longer fit their uniform, so we had to keep changing sizes
for everyone. It was good to have a starting place though.
The
day after band camp, the 4th, we had a youth temple trip to the
Detroit temple. I always love to go with the youth to the temple. We have
amazing youth and I’m so blessed to work with them. It was the first time I
have ever driven myself to the temple. Andrew has always driven before, but this time he was driving
another car. I prefer him driving. It wasn’t too bad, but I got really confused
as to where I was supposed to be for which turn sometimes and GPS can only help
so much. Still, we got there without too much difficulty.
On
the 12th Megan entered her chicken into the County Fair open class
division. Andrew took her down while I went to an interview with President
Witt. Imagine my surprise when I got a text saying she had taken first place.
Then another text that told me she also won Best in Show. I couldn’t believe
it. Now we’ll never get rid of that chicken until she dies naturally. I’m not
really sure how I feel about it. Megan was one proud young woman. She told
everyone about it and I’m not sure how many people she showed her to as we were
at the fair helping at the booth for the branch. I almost felt like I needed to
reign her in and had to keep reminding her that while that was wonderful, she
needed to remember there were only two chickens to choose from. She is so funny
at times. I still think it was great for her. She is planning to get involved
in 4H next year, so the competition will be a little higher. I find myself
wondering how we’re going to fit one more thing in, but apparently we’re going
to have to. I hope when I get to the other side of life that I’ll be less busy.
On
the 19th we had one last dinner with Elder Harndon before he went
home. We miss the elders when they leave us. They feel a lot like family to us.
On
the 21st I got my hair dyed (I just can’t stand not to be blonde)
and then that evening I went over to a friend’s house to help move a few things
around. While we were doing that I fell down the last two stairs (which is what
I get for carrying something when I know I shouldn’t because I fall so often)
and got a really bad sprained ankle and foot. Of course, it was my right foot.
I thought it was broken actually (my foot). We figured the swelling was too
much to do anything that night, so Andrew took me to the urgent care the next
morning. They wrote a prescription for a boot after looking at the x-rays and
telling me nothing was broken as far as they could tell. I was on crutches for
three days and the boot for about a week. I went back for a check-up and they
did more x-rays which he checked several times for me and again confirmed
nothing was broken. My ankle is much better, though I still limp when I walk.
My foot is healing much slower and sadly I can’t put anything on it due to the
pain level. This leaves me one pair of shoes, but I’m glad I’m wearing shoes
rather than the boot. I can’t be on my foot much or even have it down on the
ground because when I do the swelling begins, both my ankle and my foot. It’s
getting quite old, but I’m still so glad that nothing is broken I’m trying not to
complain. Megan isn’t enjoying all the help she is forced to give me, but she
doesn’t complain too often or too loud for which I’m grateful.
While
at Meijer’s in Jackson on the way home from school one night I found some
really cute dresses on sale for only $14. I eventually bought three of them for
me and another three for another person who then paid me back. I loved that I
found them so inexpensive! I have to wear something underneath since the top
isn’t modest, but I already have shirts for that so it wasn’t a problem.
Speaking
of school, I am finished with my summer classes. I have a nice break (thank
goodness) until September 20th, when I start an online class. It’s
only six weeks, so I’ll be done with it about half-way through my other classes
which begin on the 24th. I have a busy schedule, but thankfully one
of the classes I already know I’ll never have homework for. As you can imagine,
this is great news for me. I have five classes including the online class, but
I may end up dropping one if my foot doesn’t heal up before the 24th
as it will require me to be on my feet a great deal and that’s not something I
can do right now. I got another set of A’s which I was glad to see of course.
Megan
is officially at her first day of high school and I officially can’t believe I
have a child old enough to be there. It seems like I just graduated maybe five
years ago and can only be old enough to have a two-year-old at most. Life goes
so quickly. She was quite nervous about today, especially since she wasn’t able
to walk around and get a feel for where her classes were going to be. It looked
like she will have them all close together though and that’s a really good
thing. I hope she’ll enjoy being in high school and make the most of it.
Yesterday we sat down and she came up with some goals that she wants to
accomplish. She will have to work hard, but I think she’ll notice that it pays
off in the end. She just gave a talk at church and did a really good job with
it. I wasn’t happy that she waited so long to write it, but I’m glad she did a
good job with it.
Andrew
is working all kinds of hours right now. Last week he worked nearly 60 hours.
We are trying to catch up on bills and sadly that involves lots of overtime. I’m
not sure how much it would matter though because his workload is so heavy he
would probably be doing a bunch of overtime anyway. I don’t feel to complain
about this though because he enjoys what he does. I’m SO grateful that I can
finally say that. It’s wonderful to know that he is happy in his work. It has
been a long time since that was true. The week I got hurt, he nearly did. He
was about 20 feet up in a basket doing some work and a careless forklift driver
hit the base of his basket. The impact was enough that it bent one of the forks
on the forklift, the other only hitting a tire so it didn’t bend. The forklift
literally bounced back several feet from the impact and all of Andrew’s things
went flying about 15 feet out of the basket. Gratefully the position he was in
was basically holding onto the basket and the worst part for him was an area of
sore skin where he rubbed quite forcefully at impact. Nobody was hurt, though
they did send the forklift driver home because he wasn’t following safety
precautions like he should have. After everyone could see Andrew was all right,
they started telling all kinds of jokes at work. The jokes continued when
Andrew accidentally pushed a rod into another person’s forehead the next week.
They were hanging a camera and one person was on the outside and another was on
the inside. Andrew gently pushed a rod through the exterior wall and the other
person thought it was going to be elsewhere and ended up with the rod in his
forehead. The impact wasn’t hard, but it was enough to make the guy bleed all
over his face while he got down from the ladder to put a band-aid on it.
Needless to say it was another source of jokes.
Andrew
also started going to Baker College, but his degree will be online only. He
will be reimbursed for his tuition costs by Tenneco and we are very grateful
for that. We still have to buy his books, but that’s not so bad. We’ve
discovered renting textbooks which is so much cheaper than buying them.
Well
I think that’s about all. I’m glad that the summer heat is over and we’re
moving into fall, which I love. I’m sad that summer is over though because I
felt like I never really got to enjoy it. I did some really fun things though
so that’s all right. Life is more about making the best out of what happens
than it is about vacations all summer long. I hope your summer was great and
that you find yourself ready for the next thing that life will bring you.
