things I learned in September

Here are some things I learned in September in no particular order.

1. What's Daring Greatly?  I joined a class called Daring Greatly based on Brene Brown's book, by the same name. It's about being vulnerable. Being willing to step into the arena (even though you might get your butt kicked.) I'm learning how to Show up. Be brave. Be seen. Challenging, but good stuff. I could not recommend this book highly enough. Get out your highlighter!

2. My son drove 30 miles without his glasses and lived. He's living with us. A college grad. He wanted to drive to an event. His glasses had just broken. I'm the parent, but being careful not to parent too much. He left. I prayed. I prayed. And then I prayed. He made it home. (thank you, Jesus.)

3. First time ever to make salsa. From our first time tomatoes. With my son. (did you see all those firsts?) Mostly my son, has made six batches with said tomatoes. And, it is awesome if I say so myself. 

4. My Dutch husband must not be so Dutch after all. Last Monday he emailed me from work to say he must have had a weak moment because he ordered us tickets to White Christmas at the Civic Center. In the fourth row.  White Christmas is our absolute go-to, hands down favorite holiday movie. We don't go a year without watching it.

 After work that day, my hubby and I were both getting a little moist in the eyes just thinking about how fun and awesome that show is going to be in December. I be lovin' me some Bing Crosby musical festivities.

5.  We are mid-season on season 3 of Downton Abbey. My husband is just as obsessed as I am. Our son says "you guys are addicted" and he is right. We have never had a show that is "ours" before. This is either really good, or it is really bad. We're not sure.

6.  My daugher bought her own tea-brewing travel mug. While most college kids are hooking up IV's to coffee and cappuccino machines at Starbucks, my daughter is putting tea leaves and hot water in her special tea-brewing-travel-tea-mug from Amazon and taking tea to class. This blows my mind, and is really rather cute.

7.  I danced in the rain. Kind of. Last week during a severe thunderstorm warning (and actual 70 mph wind thunderstorm with horizontal rain) I went outside with my 23 year old son and "stood" in the "wind tunnel" between our house and the neighbor's. This is the mom who always looked dryly and safely from the distance of the covered front porch when the kids were little. As I had that scaredy cat look on my face, my grown son said, "C'mon! I'll go with you!" (he'd already risked life and limb twice in the same place.)

So, I ran out there with him (for like 30 seconds). I got absolutely soaked, but I have to say that it was one of the most fun things I've ever done. Why have I always been so uptight about getting wet in the rain?

8. I can make 140 hot tamales last about six weeks. I think this is something to celebrate, don't you?

9. Live the Silver Lining. I won't go into much detail here because I explain it on the blog.  I have been handed literally hundreds of old photos not just from my childhood, but further back as well. I look at these old photos and they are shouting out to have their stories told. I'm just getting started on this new blog, but be sure to come visit! I'll be sharing stories of my past, but also showing how God puts a silver lining through all experiences.

little me and Snuggles

10. I'll be blogging every day in October like I did last year. The Nester has a link up in October for those who want to pick a topic and write for 31 days. I'm probably crazy, but I'm super excited to do this again this year. I've been trying to get the rusty wheels turning for a great topic and some posts that won't bore you all to tears. It starts actually on Monday the 30th, so keep your dial tuned to A Ready Listener to see what I'll be up to!

11. Finally. The best quote of the month. It was from my 25 year old son. "Any man, of any age, can look good if he's put into clothes that fit him well." This came out of a very lively discussion one day over lunch with both my adult sons about men's fashion and men's fashion blogs. (seems a bit ironic, but that would be another whole post.)

Thanks for stopping by to see what I learned! Care to join in? Check out the link up at Chatting at the Sky where Emily Freeman invites us to link up. Or just stop by to see what others have learned. It's a lot of fun.