Three Good Things, Vol. 3

It’s August. I think I’m supposed to say, “Whoa! It’s August! Where is the time going?” But then again, I kind of feel like that all the time. Next week tips me into my third trimester, at which point I will say, “Whoa! Third trimester! Where is the time going?” and also, “Third trimester! Isn’t this supposed to be when people start giving up their seats on the metro for me, already?”

On that note, here’s this week’s installment of Three Good Things.

Three things I loved this week:

• Someone found my blog by searching for “Does champagne have iodine?” Which tells you pretty much everything you need to know about my writing in general, and what I was writing about during the summer of 2010, when I chronicled my low-iodine diet prep for my second dose of radioactive iodine. Let’s just say that booze is allowed on the low-iodine diet.

• Day of Fun (TM)! When a good friend got a chunk of time off between jobs, we decided that one of those days needed to be a Day of Fun. No trying to squeeze weeks of conversation into a 45-minute lunch or while running around after toddlers. No, this needed to be a kid-free day to enjoy coffee AND lunch at a place that’s not necessarily kid-friendly AND some other kind of fun activity. We settled on the Newseum (note: one of my favorite places in DC, but I still miss the free version that used to be in Rosslyn. Those ticket prices are no joke!), after we had leisurely coffee and pastries in the morning, and followed it with a leisurely lunch at one of the new restaurants in my neighborhood. And then I still had time to watch the baseball trade deadline shows before daycare pickup (I’d say that I’ll miss Jon Lester, but I’m optimistic that he’ll be back in a Sox uniform in November. Got that, John Henry?). Anyway, the Day of Fun. Highly endorse it. If only I could take off random days more often.

• Basement progress! End of week eight and maybe the end is in sight? Floors are in, doors are (mostly) up, walls are (mostly) painted — and are (mostly) the colors we intended for, laundry room cabinets and counter are in…still REALLY missing the washer and dryer, though. Here’s hoping we’ll only need one more week. Well, one more week, and then about six more months to move everything down there, hang the TV, hang blinds, find furniture that actually fits in through our unusually narrow 90-year-old door frames, and hang pictures. But let’s round down and say “one more week.”

Slowly but surely…

Three things I learned this week:

• How Ira Glass works (h/t @mscholesyoung). A fascinating look at how he puts This American Life together. I love his advice to aspiring writers — just do it — and I couldn’t agree with him more on the advantages of living close to work.

• The Bloggess is now following me on Twitter. The Bloggess! I’m certain she’s hanging on my every word and hashtag.

• Kiddo 2.0 is going to be the 55th great-grandchild on my mom’s side. Yes, you read that right: FIFTY-FIFTH. My grandmother would have turned 94 this past Thursday; what an incredible legacy she and my grandfather have left. More on that next week.

Three things I was thankful for this week:

• My virtual village of moms.

• More polar vortex in the summer! (I know, more weather talk. But after being pregnant in the hottest summer EVER, I learned to truly appreciate anything less than 100-degree dog days of DC summer.)

• My best friend passed her boards to become a women’s health nurse practitioner, realizing a long-worked for dream and setting an incredible example for her three girls about what’s possible with lots (and LOTS) of hard work. I’m in awe of her ability to accomplish this while raising three very busy daughters and working full-time as a labor and delivery nurse, and her patients are so fortunate to have her.

I’m still making my way through the hundreds of Listen to Your Mother videos. Here’s one that made me laugh this week, from Tracy Morrison, co-producer of the Twin Cities show.

What did you love, learn, or feel grateful for this week?