August Project Day 31: Finish Line

I can’t believe I’ve posted something for 31 consecutive days.

I’m so glad it’s over!

We’re standing in line to board a flight. We’ll be back late next week.

Thanks for joining me the last 31 days!

August Project Day 30: Fighting Fire

My brother, David, is a firefighter in a nearby suburb. He’s working his usual 24-hour shift right now and will be off at 7:00 tomorrow morning. Our cousins are in town, and earlier this evening, I sent Dave a text message with some details about our plans for tomorrow. He replied with three texts, and I got such a kick out of them that I decided to share them with you. Behold: the life of a firefighter.

Cool. Just got back from a run where an old lady said one of her old lady friends broke into her apartment and chloroformed her and hit her on the head with a tire tool.

I can’t make this up.

Earlier in the week this same friend “karate chopped her” in the leg and broke her femur.

Isn’t that just about the most fabulous story you’ve ever heard?

Wait until I tell you about the time – on his very first shift in the ER during his EMT training – when he had to cut the clothes off an accident victim and discovered she was actually a man!

August Project Day 29: Bruise

I crawled into bed a couple of minutes ago and realized two things:

1) I have about 53 minutes to get something posted today. Hey, it was a REALLY busy day!
2) I have this horrific bruise on my right knee, and ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how I got it!

I know it wasn’t there yesterday, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t there when I showered this morning.

So…what do you think happened? How’d I do this to myself without realizing it? If this were a movie and I could flashback to the moment it happened, what do you think I’d see?

Maybe your guess will help me remember!

August Project Day 28: Up the Yangtze

I can’t remember what sparked it exactly, but a few weeks ago, I decided to Google the Yangtze River.  From there, I clicked through various articles on Wikipedia and eventually landed on a page about a documentary film called Up the Yangtze.  The film centers around the controversial Three Gorges Dam project. It enjoyed a great reception at multiple film festivals, so I added it to my Netflix queue.  I watched it during Brynleigh’s nap today.

It. Was. FABULOUS.

I don’t want to go into too many details here, so I’ll let the film’s trailer do the talking for me.  Hope your Saturday was restful!

August Project Day 27: Video for BIL

In a recent telephone conversation with Ben, my brother-in-law requested more photos and video of his niece.

BIL, this one’s for you!  I shot this clip late this afternoon.

August Project Day 26: Forgotten

Um….

I forgot about the August Project today.  I would have gone to bed and fallen asleep had it not been for Ben turning to me a minute ago and saying, “Did you write anything today?”

Getting Brynleigh to sleep has been a SERIOUS challenge the last couple of nights, and naptime today wasn’t any easier.  Tonight we began the bedtime routine around 7:30, but she wasn’t asleep until nearly 9:30 – NOT good.  It was a solid hour and a half of her being nearly out, only to have a sudden burst of energy and start crying again.

I’m already anxious about tomorrow’s bedtime.  Right now, the only idea I have is to get her up earlier tomorrow morning.  She’s been sleeping in until 9:00 or 9:30; maybe getting up earlier will help us shift bedtime back to a more reasonable time….

sigh.

August Project Day 25: Confession

I’m a grown-up, right?

I mean, I’m 30 years old, I’ve been married for 8 years, and I have a toddler, a dog, and a mortgage.  I have a pretty good grasp of the hidden rules (shout out to Ruby Payne!) concerning what’s socially acceptable and what isn’t.

Anyway, I’ve come to a conclusion about myself that I’m a little embarrassed to admit here, but frankly, I don’t have anything else to talk about today.  Also, writing helps me think things through, so this might turn out to be kind of cathartic.

I hate weddings.

Okay, maybe it’s not so much the wedding that I hate.  I enjoy seeing friends and family happy and I like supporting them in their commitment.  I think weddings are beautiful events and they should be celebrated.

What I hate about them is the way they make me feel.  They make me feel like everything about my own marriage is wrong, or somehow “less than” what other couples have.  For an event that’s supposed to be about togetherness, nothing makes me feel more alone than a wedding.

I get the impression that amongst the people I know, it’s kind of uncouth to feel this way.  I grew up as a churchgoer, and the New Testament uses marriage as a metaphor for the relationship between Jesus and the Church.  So I suspect that there are people I’m acquainted with who would be offended by me saying “I hate weddings;” in their minds, I might as well just say “I hate God.”  It’s ridiculous, but it’s also the reason I’ve made it to 30 without making it public knowledge.

It’s not like I want to go around screaming, “I HATE WEDDINGS!” or be known as “that lady who hates weddings” or have my friends stop inviting me to theirs.  I don’t want that at all.

The good thing here is that I realize that the response I have to weddings is no one’s fault but my own.  Now that I’m aware of my tendency to be completely bummed out by them, I feel like I can go into them more prepared.  When those feelings begin to well up during the ceremony and reception, I can recognize them for what they are, deal with them, and move on.

I’ve told you my big secret.  What about you?  Got anything (G rated) you’d like to share?

August Project Day 24: Tuesday

Well? How was your day? What’d you do?

We’re a week away from September. What are you most looking forward to?

August Project Day 23: Presents!

What’s the last present you received?

When I opened the door to welcome guests at our Persian dinner a couple of weeks ago, I was greeted with an explanation of omiyage and presented with this lovely package.

I tore off the wrapping paper and uncovered…

…a white box!

Inside this white box, I found…

…an assortment of what I have deemed to be fish wafers.

How exotic!

So, who last gave you a gift, and what was it?

August Project Day 22: Flat Tire

Dear The Internet:

Wait until you see what I did today.

Locating the spare....

Taking off the flat tire....

Tightening the lug nuts on the spare....

Showing the spare some love!

Yay for knowing how to change a tire!!!

I was pretty sure I knew how to do it, but I was glad to have Ben on hand to verify.  Now I’m confident in my tire-changing skills!

Happy Sunday to all of you!