It's not that we're afraid, far from it, it's just that we've got this thing about death... It's not us! *

A few weeks ago I remember thinking to myself that my accident prone days were long gone.  It had been years since any accidents with my car or body.  In college my dad had once said to me, "It's either the car or your health" and it really was.  If I wasn't going to Urgent Care or the emergency room, I was having issues with my car.

College:

5 stitches in my finger after slicing it open with a box cutter

Broken rear window on my car (a TV not placed correctly in the back)

Second degree burns on both my feet

My car dying on I-15 because of a clogged engine

My car dying on 1-15 because the transmission died

Broken foot and sprained ankle while playing floor hockey

Car accident - totalling my car (NOT my fault surprisingly)

Hitting my back against the pavement when I was trying to learn how to ride a skateboard

Do you see what I mean? I feel like there were others but that's all I can remember at this time.

So - since it had been a while I foolishly thought that I was "cured".

Then about two weeks ago I at basketball practice and Cam came to play with us. Ruth was guarding him and I ran up to help her steal the ball from him.  I guess he didn't see me, I didn't expect him to turn the way he did and we collided.

Somehow - my head caused his nose to split...or if we look at it another way, his nose caused a huge goose egg to form on my head and maybe caused a concussion.  I can't figure if I've always been this bad with mixing up words or if it was just a temporary thing because of the accident.

Then this Thursday I was playing in a game.  It was the first quarter and I don't really know what I was doing, something tells me I was going up for a rebound because that would explain how I "came down" on my ankle wrong (have to be up to come down right Alicia Keys?)  I came down, heard a pop and heard some people go "ohhh" so I wasn't sure if I missed some action or if they heard the pop too (later I had two eye witnesses tell me different things.  Orin heard the pop too and Chris said that it just looked gross).  Ref Witt asked if I was going to walk it off or if I needed a sub.  I told him I would walk it off...and then kept walking to the bench because I changed my mind, I wanted a sub.  It hurt....a lot.

I had to sit out the rest of the game and just watch.  That was hard for me, cause I like to play and it's my last season with Chippenham.  But I did it, I think the girls held their own.  I should have probably gone straight home and iced it and elevated it - but I went out to eat with a group of people (I'm stupid) and then went home and iced it and elevated it.  There wasn't any bruising or anything, so I went to work Friday and then left early because of discomfort.

That's when I noticed the bruising.  And I cry because of how fat my foot is.

So Saturday I went to see the girls play (they did so well and almost won!) and then I went to Ortho On-Call.  Spencer and Vivienne came with me and we waited for TWO HOURS in the waiting room.  At one point, when I was hungry and cranky, I said, "I give up, let's just leave." And Spencer, who was also hungry and cranky said, "No!" I guess he figured we weren't going to just waste the time we had just spent there.  They finally took some x-rays and determined that I had three sprains...which I didn't know you could do, but I guess it makes sense.  No breaks - which I guess is good, mostly because I knew that if they set the bone I would cry like a baby and Spencer and Viv were there, I'm not ready to take it to that level.  They gave me a boot - that I can pump up with air like Air Jordan's.  I always wanted a pair of those.

Sunday, I told my nephew, Jacob, that I fought a Storm Trooper and took his boot.  Surprisingly the kid didn't believe me...he's been wise to me for a couple of years though.

So I have to wear this for 10-14 days and then go back for a check-up.  Yay....

He's a bad, bad man.*

I forgot to congratulate Ashley for getting the "About a Boy" blog bucks from two post ago.  Good work! I love that movie too!

Yesterday's post title is still available!

As for today's title - I think it's fitting for the post :)

I have an issue with necklaces. That is - I have outgrown my jewelery box (I out grew it years ago).  I have been wanting to do something with my necklaces to make it easier to see my options and to keep them from getting tangled. 

I had a left over piece of wood from when my dad and I built the extra shelf in the laundry closet.

Then, Vivienne and I went to Lowe's and bought hooks, spray paint, and a picture hook. (Total cost - about $11 and I have plenty of leftover supplies for other projects).

I put the picture hook on the back first, since it involved nailing and I didn't think that would be easier with a bunch of hooks on the front.  The front hooks were probably the hardest part, and that's only cause they hurt my fingers when it got tight.  That's when the pliers came out. 

Then it was time for the paint.

Two coats later - it was ready for the wall.  Vivienne and I tried to decide the best place for it - and since it seemed to fit so perfectly next to my bathroom door - that's where we put in the nails.

We were pretty excited - high fives and hugs all around.  I'm not gifted with crafty things - so this was big victory for the Lildonbro house.

Elliott, you're such a good dancer!*

This weekend we had our Regional activity.  Kathryn and LuBo came to "bar tend" for us.  We had mocktails, speed dating and dancing.  And here are the photos.

DJ Cam belting it out

Two of my favorite people.  Amber and Jordan

Center pieces on the table

Spencer, me, Cam

75% of the Regional Committee: Chris, me, Ben

I love the bow-tie!

Ashely! Jordan & Chris

She's not so sure about someone

Little big sister

Ashley and Jessica

Christian and me (Christian took most of these pictures)

Don't mess with Donbrosky girls

My favorite photo

They were ignoring me - and there was music playing....this is my bid for attention

Kat and LuBo were big hits!

Thanks to everyone who helped to make it a big success! And to everyone who helped us clean up afterwards.  I'm still recouping from this long weekend!

I was singing with my eyes closed. Was I frightened? I was petrified.*

Congratulations to Isaac for getting the Cool Hand Luke quote from the last post...Paul Newman - le sigh.

Last night was the first meeting of my new writing group.  I realized last night when I was talking to G - that some people may not actually know what I am talking about when I say "writing group".  Since this is my first one - I'm not exactly sure what's supposed to go down, but here is what I understand of it.  The group leader provides a lesson/discussion on a topic of writing interest for the group, then the second half of the meeting time is for sharing our writing and critiquing. 

Since last night was the first meeting we discussed "thinking like a writer" and how to turn ideas into stories.  Then we went around the table and introduced ourselves.  Everyone was pretty un-intimidating.  A woman getting ready for retirement who wanted to get back in to her writing, the next two women had never written anything but wanted to learn, followed by two stay at home moms who just like writing and wanted to work their adult brains in their "free time" .  Then there came the stay-at-home mom sitting to my left, she's got three children, the youngest six months old, but she's had four articles accepted by The Friend, she entered a letter writing contest put on by some New York Times Best selling author who thought her letter was brilliant and said so on the TV clip he mailed to her because he was disappointed that she didn't win, and then she was also asked to write for some Mormon Mommy blog.  I was already nervous about my moment to just talk about myself.  I just kept waiting for her to STOP talking about her success because ALL the people before had helped me to feel more comfortable but she was making me MORE nervous. 

She finally stopped and I looked at the leader, Lana, and said, "I have to follow that? Are you kidding?"  I didn't even tell them my name right away because I was so thrown off, they had to remind me.  So I just quickly summed up my writing life and leaned back further in my chair.  Then the woman on my right was the last and she was more like the others - just getting in to writing and wants help writing down the story she has in her head.

Despite having to follow the star pupil of the group, I had a good time.  It will take me a bit to warm up to these people - 1) I'm not that great at hanging out with a group of women 2) I am trying to figure out how I fit in with these writing moms 3) They seem to LOVE children's books and I'm more teen/YA so I'm worried they are going to hate my stuff and think it's too dark/violent (yes - violent...are you surprised by that? You shouldn't be). 

Next meeting is in a month - I'm trying to decide what to share with the group.

What we have here is a failure to communicate*

I'm trying to get myself psyched for a company event I'm trying to plan.  I guess my problem is - it's supposed to be healthy.  Nothing about healthy screams fun.

...unless you pit veggies against each other in a battle to the death.

Note it kids - carrots kill.

My less violent attempt is just boxing veggies - bell pepper looks a little nervous and that carrot is out for blood (the look on his face is why I decided to draw the picture above).

So the question on everyone's mind, "did it work?"  Sadly, no...I still think healthy company events are a big, boring, bust, but at least I got some alliteration (or something close to it) out of it.

We don't need no stinkin' badges.*

The blog bucks from the last post are still available!

I was getting ready this morning and I put my shoes on the wrong feet (it was a rough morning - but I did switch them right away).  It got me thinking though, how some people say that they have two left feet when they don't dance well.  Why does the left foot get such a bad rap?

Non sequitur.

Friday night a big group of us went to Yorktown for a dance.  Yorktown is about an hour away - so a small group of us met at Chris's house and then headed over.



Cam and I at Chris' house.  Cam likes to put things on Instagram so he's always willing to take a photo with you.  He posted this one and his step-dad commented, "Who's that woman with her hand on my little boy?" Thought that was an interesting comment.



One thing I like to do at dances is to leave my camera on a table and let people take it from there.  I don't tell them, they don't ask, people see a camera and they want to take photos with it. So here's some of what I got.



Crystal and Chris B. knew it was my camera and wrote me a little note on that napkin :)



I noticed that they had cotton candy at this dance and the whole night turned around.  I was able to dance and have a good time (whereas before I was miserable and standing off to the side, cold and alone - just kidding).  Jay also found the cotton candy and ate about 5 of them!

He was a bit wired after that.



Me and Crystal

 

This is for Katie - Spencer and me



This picture actually seems fitting for Chris and me.



This is one of my favorites - and here's the story of why.

So Daniel and I always get a picture together at dances, they had this little arch on the opposite side of the room so Daniel said, "Let's go take a picture under the heart." I was like, "Um, yeah, sure, ok." So we give someone my camera and we all make our way across the room.  We get close and I say, "Daniel, that's not a heart, they're lips!" and then there is this moment that is longer than necessary, with his arms slighltly out and his look seems to say, "Well, you wanna?"  It made me uncomfortable for a second which is what I'm supposed to do to people (and let me tell you, I do a good job!) So this is right after that awkward moment breaks.  Silly Daniel.

We stayed until the end of the dance and then we even helped clean up - even though we were the out-of-town crashers.  It was a lot of fun and I'm excited for the dance coming up this weekend!