Category Archives: Politics

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: July 17, 2016

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For Today… July 17, 2016

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… sunny and in the 70’s today. I’m loving the climate here.

I am thinking… about my week and some things I’m having to sort through in my personal life.

I am thankful… for an amazing service at St. Paul’s. I felt connected and present in worship for the first time in a long time.

One of my favorite things…looking out of my bedroom window and seeing all the trees. Washington really is the Evergreen State and I am so lucky to be in a place where the developers have left some intentional green space.

I am wearing… an emerald green shirt from Fred Meyer and black slacks from Kohl’s for church this morning with my black flats from Naturalizer that have worked incredibly well for the last two years. (This is the shoe for those who are wondering.) After church, I swapped the slacks out for my black capris from Kohl’s and flip-flops from Old Navy.

I am creating… emails and this blog post. 🙂

I am watching… a Leverage marathon on ION.

I am hoping… some of the ick in my mood and in my life goes away. It’s been a hard week and a half in some respects.

I am learning… to take a really long walk before writing a difficult email or letter.

In my kitchen… frozen dinner tonight. I need to go through my cookbook collection and find stuff I can cook that actually makes me want to eat. My appetite is getting zapped by the nausea I’m having because of nerves.

In the school room… Daniel is loving ESY and continues to have good days. He seems to work well with the teachers and aides. School is definitely a positive in his life and I’m glad I resisted the pressure to homeschool him.

Post Script… I wanted to share this for all the introverts like me out there: our brains need silence!

Shared Quote… I’ve been reminding myself of this in the last few weeks on the really hard days:

Wise words from Johnny Depp.

A moment from my day… Some wonderful music from Matt Maher that is speaking to my soul:

Closing Notes: Related to one of my Quick Takes, the Cleveland Police Union has asked for the suspension of Ohio’s open carry laws for the duration of the Republical National Convention. Governor John Kasich has refused.

*facepalm* Because, you know, it’s so appropriate to see grown men with AK-47’s strapped to their backs to prove a point while 40 feet away, kids are playing on a splash pad. Again… JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD!!!!!!!

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: RNC Stupidity, Pokémon Go, and Baseball Commentary

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

*snickers* Someone has made a Pokémon Go app for moms called Chardonnay Go. In it, you can hunt for glasses of Chardonnay all over your neighborhood to collect. It’s not for me because I can’t drink but I can definitely see this being popular with other mamas this summer! (Yes, I know it’s a parody.)

— 2 —

Seriously, Cleveland? According to CNN.Com, guns are allowed at the Republican National Convention but tennis balls are not. There is an entire list of banned items and some of them make sense (bombs, lasers, grappling, hooks, and crowbars for example) while others are just stupid (ice chests and tennis balls). Guns seem to be missing from the “ban” list. Just because you *CAN* open carry in Ohio doesn’t mean you *SHOULD*, especially in a politically-charged atmosphere with large crowds of people.

I can conceive of this not ending well…

— 3 —

More Pokémon Go fun. The meditation garden at my Episcopal church in southern California is apparently a Pokémon gym and the statue of the Blessed Mother has many of the creatures gathered around it. Figuring that this was a good way to do outreach, the vicar attached a brace of VBS flyers around the neck of the statue. I’m wondering how many kiddos will be at VBS there this year because either they or their parents were playing Pokémon Go and happened across the flyers.

— 4 —

Donald, where’s your trousers? This is an interesting piece on “utilikilts”.

And just for fun…

— 5 —

They needed some meddling kids. The FBI just closed the D.B. Cooper skyjacking case. Whether or not D.B. Cooper lived, he got away with it. The event meant that airliners now have doors that can’t be opened from the inside (the device is named after Cooper) and there have been episodes of shows like Leverage which have touched on the case in some way.

— 6 —

Prerequisite baseball take #1. Was anyone else wondering what the MLB was thinking with those UGLY uniforms for the All-Star game? I mean, seriously? Yellow and brown together like that??? And the lettering? I’m thinking that they need fire whoever came up with those!!!

— 7 —

Prerequisite baseball take #2. Anyone want to guess whose baseball team has the best record in the country currently? 🙂 Yep… that would be my Giants. 🙂 I should also mention that THEY ARE 6.5 GAMES IN FRONT OF THE LOSERS FROM LA RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!! Just sayin’.

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.

7 Quick Takes: So Glad The Week Is Almost Over

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

A soundtrack for today. A perfect storm of sleep deprivation, Daniel being a pill, stress in my life, and PMS has left me seriously panicky and drained today. I still have to be a functional adult (!!!!!) but this would be my soundtrack to get me through the day and remind me that God is present.

Pray for me. It’s been a really hard couple of days with Daniel and I still have to get through his peds appointment tomorrow before things might let up. Prayers that we can get through it without him hitting, kicking, breaking my fingers, or having a spectacular screaming meltdown in terror would be appreciated because he has gotten to be terrified of doctors in the last few months. (Then again, he keeps having to be poked with needles so I don’t blame him.)

— 2 —

This is so true. My friend Jamie shared this image today which perfectly summed up all the stupidity I see in the blogging world and on Facebook.

All the stupidity on the Internet refuted in one image.

— 3 —

Just a heads up. One of my friends shared this on Facebook. Before the gun nuts who troll this blog dismiss it, I should probably mention that said friend is an expert marksman, knows more about guns and weaponry than probably 90% of the NRA, and teaches gun safety. 🙂 (Yes, I do have friends who disagree with me on 2nd Amendment issues. I don’t live in a bubble with only those people who agree with me — that would be stupid.)

Why you don't take your gun out in an active shooter situation.

— 4 —

Offering this in light of the events of the last 48 hours. I’m reminded of the lyric from “Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel:

“Fools,” said I, “you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you.”
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

Black lives matter.

**UPDATE** I just flipped to the local news and saw the story about the 11 officers shot in Dallas. I’m profoundly saddened, y’all. As much as I am angry about the police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, I am so utterly pissed at those who chose to pick off these police officers. Every life is precious and nobody deserves to have their life taken away –THAT’S THE EFFING POINT OF THE “BLACK LIVES MATTER” CAMPAIGN!!!!!

— 5 —

This needs to be said. I think this needs to be reiterated.

Not Islam.

— 6 —

ESY Daniel started his extended school year (ESY) this week. He’s got a class of three kids and some aides. According to his teacher, he’s been a cooperative boy and is liking it thus far. I’m happy for some normalcy in his life.

— 7 —

Why it doesn’t pay to be sanctimonious. I know this is satire but it’s pretty accurate as well. I’ve encountered a lot of people who act similarly sanctimonious and wonder why people shy away from them or who can’t understand why their kids do what they do. It may not have to with raising their kids on only wooden toys or a vegan diet — I’ve seen similar people with respect to things like homeschooling, vaccinating their kids, paleo diets, or essential oils.

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: July 3, 2016

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For Today… July 3, 2016

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… dusk. It was sunny and around 74F this afternoon.

I am thinking… about what I have on my plate this week.

I am thankful… that Daniel is falling asleep, especially as we’re out of one of his evening ADHD meds and we can’t get another supply until Tuesday because the script I have for it is written by an out-of-state doctor. Due to all the [insert expletive] who get scripts from out-of-state doctors to abuse meds or who steal prescription pads to get meds to abuse, they have to call and verify that Daniel’s psych actually wrote the prescriptions and is authorized to prescribe them. I seriously bite my thumb at these [insert expletive].

One of my favorite things… re-runs of Leverage.

I am wearing… jammies. Church clothes were a wrap dress with a camisole and a cardigan with black flats. The rest of the day, it was my “We will not be silent” shirt and jeans.

I am creating… furniture and boxes of stuff for Goodwill.

I am reading… Fear Babe still. I have a decent drive to the house where we are having dinner tomorrow so I’m hoping to get a chunk read during that time.

I am hoping… that I can do reasonably well in all the Workweek Hustle challenges for Fitbit that I am part of this week.

I am learning… how handy I actually am these days. I managed to assemble furniture largely on my own (some of the holes were badly drilled so I had to borrow my dad’s drilling skillz) and I can do some repairs on my own.

In my kitchen… dinners with family for the next couple days. Tonight was fish, potatoes, salad, and pie.

In the school room… Daniel starts ESY up here this week!

Post Script… I’m finding that this post hits every note I was trying to hit while writing a post with my reaction to things in the news.

Shared Quote…

Opinions and coffee.

A moment from my day… What can I say? I’m not even remotely a morning person.

Why you really shouldn't mess with me before my morning coffee...

Closing Notes: If you’re considering a vote for Trump this fall, read this. You need to know what your candidate and his minions support.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Mississippi State Reps, Donald Trump Insults, and the Like

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Out of touch. So I haven’t actually read my Bloglovin’ feed in probably… a month? If anything fabulously interesting has happened and you’re someone whose blog I read regularly, could you leave me a comment? Please and thank you! 🙂

— 2 —

Why I am thankful I don’t live in Mississippi… The mother of a little girl with type 1 diabetes was having a tough time getting Medicaid/CHIPS to pay for her daughter’s insulin and diabetes supplies (which cost ~ $2500/month) so she wrote to her state lawmakers to see if they could help. One of them, Rep. Jeffrey Guice decided to reply:

“I am sorry for your problem. Have you thought about buying the supplies with money that you earn?”

*facepalm*

Simcha Fisher responds more politely than I would.

— 3 —

Scottish insults to Donald Trump read by a true Scotsman. I’ll throw up a trigger warning for language and for negative Donald Trump content because some people don’t like reading that their presumptive candidate is a bloody moron. In any case, it’s incredibly funny and involves David Tennant.

The next night, there was some follow-up discourse on Brexit. Again, there’s a trigger warning for language.

— 4 —

I have mad skillz, yo! I took this lovely Buzzfeed skills inventory and got 81 out of 100 based on my inability to cook eggs (to which I am allergic), drive a stick-shift, change my own oil, and sew. My great-aunt Jean saw it on my Facebook wall, took the inventory herself, scored a 92, and left a note on my Facebook wall to let me know her score and that I need to keep learning these skills all my life. Yes folks, she’s she’s 93 years old and she’s on Facebook. She still lives on a farm outside of Kalispell, Montana and raises ornamental chickens to show. If I was close by her again, I would totally declare a girls weekend and road-trip across Highway 2 (through Glacier National Park) for some one-on-one time to learn the skills I don’t have which I’d love to have her teach me.

— 5 —

Nice kitty… A video of a cougar swimming in a lake has gone viral.

What a bucolic scen– wait… I know where that lake is! (It’s an hour from me.)

— 6 —

Required baseball take. THE GIANTS BEAT THE A’S. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! THE GIANTS ARE 6 GAMES AHEAD OF THE LOSERS IN LA IN THE NL WEST STANDINGS. YAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

— 7 —

A well-deserved shout-out. I showed up for worship at my grandparents’ church here and the priest spoke before worship… well, actually she *chanted* before worship that the organist was out of town so all of us sitting the pews were the musicians for the day. The hymns were all very well-known ones and one of the choir members played the opening notes so we could at least start in tune. Rev. Helen is an amazing vocalist and she led us in chanting the psalm. I think the best part was the recessional hymn which was “Amazing Grace” and people were singing it in 4-part harmony. It was awesome to have people there other than myself who can sing and lead music!

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.

7 Quick Takes: Assembling Furniture and Other Events This Week

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Brexit. So the UK just voted to leave the European Union, Scotland voted to stay in, and Ireland is talking about unifying.

Yeah, I think the next Mad Max film will have something to do with the British Isles.

— 2 —

Furniture assembling. My IKEA furniture arrived on Tuesday so I spent Tuesday night and Wednesday assembling the furniture. I got 4 pieces of furniture assembled, managed to hammer a wire nail into one of my fingers, poked another finger with another nail, and hammered one of my thumbs. Given that my fingers are grumpy and stiff right now, my mom might want to hide the flamethrower for another few days until everything is assembled and my boxes are completely unpacked.

— 3 —

Prerequisite baseball take. The Giants are 6 games ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West standings. Just sayin’.

— 4 —

Required basketball take. I’m from the Bay Area so OBVIOUSLY I was watching the game on Sunday… and booing the Cavaliers like mad because LeBron James is seriously lame compared to Steph Curry and the Warriors still had a better regular season than the Cavs could ever hope to have. It was a close game to the last minute and I’m looking at seeing what the Warriors can do next year!

— 5 —

The Senate sit-in. Y’all, I’m proud of the Democratic Congresscritters for their sit-in (especially as it was for an actual issue instead of Ted Cruz’s filibuster which was purely for the sake of filibustering and not for any discernible reason) but seriously, singing “We Shall Overcome” was a bit too campy. Could you pick a more appropriate song?

— 6 —

Oooohhh… flannelgraph. The Babylon Bee story about Trump aides hurriedly teaching him Bible stories ahead of his meeting with evangelicals sounded a whole lot like the truth instead of satire. Again, just sayin’.

— 7 —

A big reason to move to Washington. It’s been chilly and rainy here for the last few days and every so often, I’ll look at my phone and thank my lucky stars that I’m not in northern California or southern California where it will be in the 90’s or in the 100’s in the next few days. I seriously prefer cold to excessive heat. I have found my tribe up here.

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.

7 Quick Takes: Is The Week Over Yet????

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

The Pope and female deacons. I’m seeing some flipping out over the announcement by the National Catholic Reporter that the Pope is creating a commission to study women deacons. Yeah… not a world-changing issue. If the Pope does anything, the result will probably look like what deaconesses do in the LCMS, effectively just being dedicated church workers who happen to be female. I don’t think female deacons/deaconesses will do any baptisms/weddings/funerals or anything like that.

— 2 —

#NeverTrump I just want to make it incredibly clear that there is no valid reason for voting for Donald Trump. NONE. Seriously, neither former president Bush is endorsing him and neither is Paul Ryan. These are three people with knowledge of the job and of how the government works. (Yes, I am siding with those three. Hell has indeed frozen over.)

#NeverTrump

Oh… and in case anyone was wondering, I would say the same things about the Cruz/Carly ticket, if not making worse criticisms. Trump is a blowhard saying what he says — Ted Cruz actually *BELIEVES* it. I’m honestly not sure who is more unfit of the Cruz/Carly duo — even John Boehner had foul things to say about Ted Cruz (with whom he *WORKED* and who was on THE SAME SIDE) and I tend to side with Boehner on this. (And yes, I actually said I was agreeing with John Boehner. Start watching for the four horsemen of the apocalypse to appear in the sky.) Carly Fiorina has no legislative experience and she completely screwed up Hewlett-Packard, laying off a number of my classmates’ parents. In short, that ticket would have screwed up the country as much as Trump will if he is elected.

— 3 —

So… who to vote for instead of Trump? Do what all the other intelligent Republicans are doing — FIND ANOTHER CANDIDATE. Here is a lovely story on the subject. And Republicans, if you actually want my vote and my support, try running someone articulate and intelligent who has more than a middle school knowledge of how the government works.

— 4 —

Yet another reason the pro-life movement can be an embarrassment. Simcha Fisher had this lovely tweet a few days ago:

Dear #prolife organizations: If there’s no one good to endorse, you don’t have to endorse anyone. Easy peasy, no soul-selling necessary.

Their endorsement of Trump is one of many reasons I will *NEVER* give money to Priests for Life or the Susan B. Anthony List. Shame on you!

— 5 —

Drop boxes for babies. Simcha had a fabulous piece on the Safe Haven drop boxes for babies that are being put into place in Indiana. It’s a good idea because they would allow mothers to surrender their babies in such a way as to put them in a safe place that protects the child and also allows authorities to automatically be notified that the child is there. The mom could remain anonymous and it would mean that there would not be any babies left in toilets or dumpsters. (The founder of the company making the boxes, herself, was a child conceived from a rape and her mom abandoned her at the hospital as a newborn.)

She also describes the combox on the original Gawker piece and it’s definitely one that I would not read even if I was paid to do so.

— 6 —

Prayer request. I managed to get a rheumatology appointment for next week. Could you please pray that we can get records sent to them so that I’m not walking in there without any documentation of my fibromyalgia? Thanks! This is really my only shot of getting a gabapentin prescription and I’m definitely having issues with the lowered dose.

— 7 —

Special intention. I know I’m vague-blogging again but I could use prayer for a special intention. Please and thank you!

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.