31 Days of...?

There are several many bloggers starting 31 Days of {Something} today, and I'm excited to have plenty of reading to do this month. Last year I participated in Victoria's 31 Days of Writing {which you can view on my Creative Writing page above}, and that was really fun {and exhausting, but mostly fun}.

This year, though, I don't think I'm going to participate in a formal 31 Days-style. 2014 has been the year of link-ups, and while it's been wonderful to join with bloggers in various conversations, I've been feeling like I've lost my voice a bit on this blog. It's almost like I've forgotten how to blog without a prompt, and so I want to practice that a bit more. It's scary admitting that, but then again, so is the rest of this blogging thing...

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I could make the commitment to post just something for 31 days, but I think that a) misses the point for me, and b) would drive my OCD self a tad crazy. My blogging goal for 2014 was to post twice a week, and I've definitely been on track for that, but now I want to hone in and make at least one post a week something that is from me, without a prompt or link-up or anything.

What will you write about, Bek?
You are wise to ask, my friend! There are a few topics that I'd like to either start or continue writing about.

I've shared a little bit about essential oils and I'd like to a) start using them more and b) write about them a bit more, too. A TON of bloggers use oils to prevent their children from getting sick, and while that is wonderfully awesome and will be useful in the future, it's not super relevant to my single life right now. So I'd like to hopefully learn and then share how I use oils.

Also, remember that I'm working on the funds for doula certification? Well, thanks to an abundance of babysitting and tutoring jobs, it looks like I will be starting the certification process in about two weeks!! Woohoo! I am so so so excited to begin this journey in earnest, and I will do my best to keep y'all posted as I go.

I've been mulling over the concept of feminism and various related topics, and I have a handful of drafts written, and I think I may actually hit publish on a few of them this month. If you have comments, questions, concerns, ideas, or anything else about "women's issues," please let me know - I'd love to start some conversations and hear your perspectives.

Finally, since Autumn is upon us, it is time to break out the crochet hook and make snuggly items! Hopefully I will be sharing some projects and patterns, etc., so stay tuned for that.

Thanks for listening, friends. Happy October!

Some Slightly Burnt Cookies and A Really Burnt Car

This weekend was full of exciting and adventurous activities. A group of ladies met and discussed Sarah Bessey's book Jesus Feminist, I finished Emma for the first time, Cami got to see a new "Miranda" episode, I baked cookies with notenough flour...oh, and our neighbor caught his car on fire. Just a day in the life.

I'm sure you all are dyyyyyyinngggg to hear this fantastical tale, and most assuredly I'll tell it unto you, but if you wanted to click this link riddy riddy fast and vote me to Rwanda, that'd be freaking amazing. Thank ye, thank ye. {Bonus: you can vote every 24 hours per device, so if you wanna hit this up on your mobile, work computer, iPad, library computer, etc., that'd be fantastical!}

So, obviously the most important part of the story is... cookies need ONE and 3/4 cup flour, not just 3/4 cup flour. What was I thinking? So while those were melting and crisping in my oven, my neighbor across the driveway was "fixing" his car. And by "fixing" I mean he was also in the melting and crisping mode.

First crisis first. My cookies were melting and crisping! Book club was starting in 45 minutes! I didn't want to go to the store!

While I mourned the first dozen cookies, Samara glanced out the window. And noticed flames. Big flames. Under the neighbor's car. And on top of the car. And there was smoke. Lots of smoke.

Suddenly, cookies seemed a whole lot less important.

The question of "what is the explosion radius of a car?" crossed my mind, and when I approximated the answer to be "really freaking large," I grabbed my phone and called 911. Samara had the presence of mind to grab our fire extinguisher {we had one in our laundry closet}, and we found that a random family had been driving by and stopped when they saw the vast amounts of smoke.

The guy grabbed our hose, but then decided our fire extinguisher was a better option. We unrolled the hose while he extinguished, and then he grabbed another hose to connect to ours so it would actually reach the car. My sister Ellen walks up the driveway at this point, and I thought, I can't let this car blow up because I don't want my sister to die and then, So much for book club. #dramaqueen.

As many of you firefighting experts know, water doesn't do a whole lot of anything when fighting fire and oil and gasoline, so another extinguisher was desired. Our condo had one in a pretty little box on the other side of my next-door neighbor's unit, and Ellen was trying to open the box without success {why why why don't those boxes just have normal opening latches, for the love of pete!?}. I ran inside and grabbed the hammer from our tool collection {thanks, Dad!} and Ellen was a total badass and broke the glass and got the fire extinguisher out.

This whole time, I'm on the phone with the 911 operator. "No, there is no one in the cars. Yes, there might be people in the building. No, the building is not on fire, but there is a heck of a lot of smoke...gray, dark smoke...now it's white. They just used the fire extinguisher. It's ok, I can hear the sirens."

The firefighters got the hose going and finished putting the fire out, and all was well with the world. The building had some smoke stains on the side, but nothing else caught on fire and nothing exploded. As you may recall from October, car explosions are one of my irrational {but now justified!} fears.

The best part of the whole adventure was after the fire was put out {obviously}. The guy who had stopped with his family came over and was all "thanks for letting me use your hose. Sorry for freaking you out" or whatever, and we told him "thank YOU for stopping!" He and his wife waved goodbye and starting walking back to their car and their son noticed my slippers and hollers victoriously, "Doctor Who!" with a big smile. Samara and I cheered "yeah!" and Ellen rolled her eyes at us all. Twas great. Whovians saved the world, one crisis at a time.

Making memories, that's what we do best up in here! Later this week I will hopefully be sharing about Jesus Feminist and our discussion, so stay tuned. And thanks again for voting!

Blog Every Day Feb: Day Twenty-two - Anxiety

Linking up with Bailey Jean, as per usual :)

How do you fight fear, anxiety, stress? I think of these as three separate and similar challenges, so I'm going to address them separately. Fear usually comes when I realize I'm not in control of a certain situation; anxiety strikes when I'm waiting on something and it's a determining factor in a big decision, and stress overwhelms when I start to do too much.

Fear: Remembering that God is in control. Choosing trust. Deep breaths. Praying for God to take over. Talking with my bestie. Worship music.

Anxiety: Praying for God's will to be done, no matter what. Remembering that He is in control. Praying for someone else instead of getting stuck on my situation.

Stress: Deep breaths. Lists. Focusing on one thing at a time. Praying for the peace of God to invade me. Saying no to more to-dos. Multi-tasking when possible.

What helps you survive seasons or moments of stress, fear, or anxiety?

Finish This: Week Five

Linking up with Jen at The Arizona Russums, Becky at The Java Mama, Lisa at Coastlined, and Nicole at Three 31.

I will never outgrow holding babies, staying up way too late reading, hating, fearing, and killing spiders, sleeping with Sylvester, wanting to live in both Washington and Kentucky, drinking mojitos, and wiping ketchup off my hamburger from Dick's Drive-In.

I splurge on good shoes. Good books. The clearance rack at Target.

My worst habit is leaving things in a pile for weeks on end. The house is clean...except for all the stuff sitting on my desk and dresser. But if I can shut the bedroom door, it still counts as clean, right?

My passport represents adventure! Last year, I traveled internationally three times within 12 months, which is pretty cool. You can read about two of those trips here.

My most ridiculous fear is probably having my car blown up because of someone's cigarette. I wrote about it here, for your amusement reading pleasure.

My favorite thing to give is time, because then we're both getting something! But if this prompt is asking for something tangible, then I will say I love to give books. It's the gift that keeps on giving :)

Ta-da! Go check out the link-up to read more.

Blog Every Day Feb: Day Three - Scared

Linking up with Bailey Jean for Blog Every Day in February!

Here are the prompts for both your benefit and mine. And because this fabulous shade of pink needs to be admired more.

Something that scares me... besides spiders hiding somewhere in my house???

When I was younger, I was petrified for skeletons. My family went put-put golfing at a pirate-themed course, and because there was a skeleton on the back wall, I didn't want to golf. At night, I was always imagining skeletons at the foot of my bed. Once, I got so scared of these skeletons that I slept in a crouching position on top of my pillow, which put me literally the farthest distance from the skeletons as possible. I told you I was petrified!

Nowadays, my fear of skeletons has calmed down to just a general dislike. I'm more afraid of accidentally burning my house down via cooking or leaving on the hair straightener. Also, I'm not terribly fond of crosswalks, and I'm pretty sure I'm justified in this concern.

Like Bailey, I struggle with being afraid of what others think of me. Some days aren't bad, but other days my every conversation is under the scrutiny of my insecurities and I want to hide in a cave and not let anyone know me.

I'm also afraid of missing God's will for my life. Some of this is a good, holy, fear-of-the-Lord kind of fear, and I'm glad to have that. But some of this is a selfish, me-based fear that doesn't believe God is good enough or that I'm good enough for Him or that He can use me whenever He wants.

How do I overcome these fears? The Word of God, the Blood papers, dialogue with my parents and close friends, and journaling and praying all help me get focused on the Truth. The truth is that I have nothing to fear, that God loves me so I don't have to worry what others think of me, that He is using me now in my flawed state, and that nothing I do can screw up God's plans.

Thank you, Bailey, for such a great prompt! If you would like to join the link-up, hop on over to Anchored in Love and share your story, what fires you up, and what scares you.