July Randoms

Graydon had some friends spend the night. The next morning, we found him sleeping on the coffee table. Andy texted Graydon that the loveseat would have been more comfortable and Graydon responded with, “you think I don’t know that, I lost a bet” It kind of reminded me of a time in the old house when he had friends sleep over and he slept on the pool table in the basement! I think one of his superpowers is being able to sleep anywhere.

Mabel loves to be outside, but only if someone else is out there with her.

Andy and I got lunch in downtown Shelbyville after church one Sunday. Bella went to spend the afternoon with Sam and the boys were off to camp for the week. Across the street from where we ate was this mural. I could tell right away that the woman in the mural was Sandy Allen. I know that name because the street to enter our neighborhood is Sandy Allen Drive. All of the streets in our neighborhood are named after Shelbyville legends. Sandy Allen grew up in Shelbyville and is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest woman in the world. She was 7 ft. 7 inches. The mural is true to size.

Our street is named after Bill Garrett, a Shelbyville native who is best known as the first African American to regularly play on a Big Ten Conference varsity basketball team. According to Wikipedia, prior to playing basketball for Indiana University, he led Shelbyville High School to its first state high school basketball championship in 1947. The current Shelbyville High School gym is named after him and he also has a mural in the city. I like that our neighborhood honors these local legends. 

We had a financial night with Bella where she applied for her first credit card, set up a high yield savings account, and added money to a Roth IRA she had already set up for herself. She’s definitely on the right track at 20-years-old!  

The boys spent a week at church camp. Here are a few pics I got from Facebook.

I went back to work on July 27th. That Friday, several of us staff members went hiking together. We hiked for five miles and I really enjoyed it because I love hiking. However, I didn’t realize until the next day when my legs and feet became super itchy, that I had been attacked by chiggers. I counted 87 bites and I’m still itchy over a week later. Hydrocortisone cream was barely doing much to help, so I ended up calling the doctor for a prescription. They gave me an oral steroid, which helped some. I’ve been pretty uncomfortable with all the itching, but at least I got some good staff bonding out of it! 

I was sitting in the living room with Bella one morning, and she noticed that our blanket basket looked extra happy that day. 

House Projects

This first one is a small project, but we finally got hardware on our kitchen cabinets and drawers! And so far I’ve learned that any house project, large or small, will come with stress and frustrations. I got a jig and measured out all our holes so everything was lined up and level. However, one pull on the drawer to the right of the oven was visibly not level after drilling the hole and adding the pull. That involved more drilling, covering a hole, etc. It’s not noticeable at all, likely thanks to the dark cabinets, but was definitely a frustration. All in all, we are happy with how they look and the level of function they add to the kitchen. 

The next project was transforming our powder room from a blank boring space to something with more interest and personality. We went a little more bold since it’s a bathroom and you can get away with something like that in a bathroom. Here is the “before”. 

We had wallpaper samples up for months and finally settled on this print with the trees and loons. My first step was penciling in the lines so everything was level. I ended up having to erase my original box molding lines and move them up higher since the original lines intersected with the sink. If I ever do something like this in another bathroom, I’ll start my lines on the sink side, not on the blank wall. 

I bought a miter saw for this project and taught myself how to use it so I could cut the chair rail and box molding pieces. The trim pieces I bought were PVC, not wood. It was nice because they were lighter, but my nail gun kept blowing through them, which very much annoyed me. After getting the chair rail up, I had Andy nail in the box molding because I had become pretty irritated with the process.

The next step caulking and filling all the nail holes. Tedious, but necessary to make it look good. Then I painted the trim blue. After that, it was wallpaper time - something I’ve also never done before. This was a slow process for me and this little room took me an entire day. 

Finally, the fun part: adding the finishing touches like a new mirror and little dresser for storage of things like toilet paper, toilet cleaner, plunger, etc. 

There are no windows in this room, so I couldn’t take these photos in natural light. As a result, I don’t feel like the colors in the photos truly match what it looks like in person. But close enough, I guess. I think I still need some kind of artwork on the main wall opposite the door, but it has to be just right and not too busy since I don’t want it competing with the wallpaper. I’m going to be patient and wait until I find it before hanging anything in that space.

Overall, I’m happy with how this bathroom turned out and that I learned some new skills in the process. It’s definitely not perfect, but our house was built by professionals, and it’s not perfect either. So I’ll give myself some grace.  

Curtis is a Licensed Driver!

Curtis officially got his driver’s license on July 14th. Initially, he wouldn’t have been able to get it until September 28th because Indiana law required teens to be 16 and 90 days to get their license. However, the law changed on July 1st, allowing teens to get their license once they turned 16. That worked out really well for Curtis since he turned 16 just three days before the law went into effect. But we decided not to go in on July 1st since we anticipated a large crowd of kids who had already been waiting for a couple of months. When we went two weeks later, Curtis walked right up without having to wait at all. It’s definitely a milestone having all three kids as drivers! Dear God, please keep them all safe! 

Long Beach Island 2026

We drove out to New Jersey on July 5th. The drive out east went pretty well, but we did encounter some significant storms and flash flooding in eastern PA that really slowed us down. I messed up my back that morning, which made traveling a little uncomfortable. I slept horribly that night in the hotel, waking up pretty much every time I had to turn because it hurt so badly. The next evening, our first night at Mimi Jane’s house, I went to bed around 9:30pm and woke up around 8:30am. I got 11 hours of sleep!!! I can’t remember the last time that happened. That rest was just the thing I needed to jumpstart a relaxing week as well as a restful second half of our summer break.

The weather wasn’t the greatest the first two days. Bella and I did venture out to do some window shopping, but otherwise we just hung out at Jane’s. I don’t mind gray, rainy days at the shore. Sitting in a rocking chair on the porch with a good book while listening to some rain or enjoying conversations in the living room are also wonderful ways to pass the time. 

Burgers 25 is a favorite restaurant on the island, but when we tried to eat there our first night, there was a line out the door. So we ended up at The Port Hole, which was actually perfect. We ate outside and the boys got to play corn hole while we waited for our food. 

On Wednesday, I had my annual day with Jen Perno! We pretty much have a template of how we spend the day: catching up at Jane’s while eating something sweet in the morning, window shopping through Bay Village, lunch at The Gazebo Grill, all afternoon at the beach, dinner back at Jane’s, and ending the day chatting on the front porch. We talk and talk all day long and never run out of things to say. I’m so thankful for our friendship and that we get this day together every year. 

The forecast for Thursday wasn’t great for later in the afternoon, but the morning and early afternoon looked good, so Bella and I made our way to the beach pretty early. 

The tide was low, the breeze was gentle, and the temperature was just right. 

We always go out for seafood one of our nights there. Again, the restaurant we intended to go to was super crowded, so we ended up at The Old Causeway Steak & Oyster House. Everyone’s meal was delicious. 

Jane’s dog, Maggie, joined us this year. We hadn’t really seen her much since she was a puppy. She’s a sweet girl. 

Thursday’s afternoon forecast also did not look great, so once again, Bella and I got an early start to the day. It felt so good to be out there in the morning, enjoying the ocean view, a cold beverage, and my book. And the bad weather we expected into the afternoon never arrived, so we spent a good six hours or so on the beach that day. When I need to de-stress in the future, I will go back here in my mind. 

The boys even joined us once they woke up. 

That evening, Todd and Finn Conyers took us for a boat ride. It was then that I discovered how terrified Graydon is of boat rides! But he was a champ and faced his fears. 

Todd brought the boat to the Conyers’s house and we spent some time visiting with Charlie and Leanne. Charlie just turned 90 and you wouldn’t know it by looking or talking to him. 

Saturday rolled around and it was time to pack up our things. That’s always the saddest day of the week. 

Before leaving the island, we stopped for Rita’s. That was always a fun treat for the kids when they were little and we lived in New Jersey and we can’t get water ice anywhere in Indiana (that we know of). 

After leaving LBI, we made our way to Ocean City to spend time with the Krott family. It’s our annual sleepover!

We had such a great week at the shore: visiting with people we love, eating really well, enjoying the ocean, and relaxing/resting/reading. As I said earlier, I feel like this week really set the tone for the month of July. I was still carrying a lot of stress at the beginning of the week that had dissolved by the end. And I was able to bring that rest into my remaining summer weeks, even while venturing into another house project. 

We are so blessed to visit these people and this place every year.