Category Archives: Politics

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: September 8, 2013

Posted on by

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY September 8, 2013

Outside my window… dark right now. Bloody hot even down in San Jose (got back up to my neck of the woods about 9:30 p.m.) and close to 100 up where I live. I’m watching the weather for Dallas right now because my evil twin is there for a training class and I’m laughing because he bragged about getting away to the Pacific Northwest to escape the heat… only to be sent to Dallas after a week of work!

I am thinking… about the situation in Syria.

I am thankful… for a wonderful weekend with my parents.

In the kitchen… lemon cupcakes from Friday and lots of dishes to wash.

I am wearing… my “Online Debate Team” t-shirt and running shorts.

I am creating… various posts.

I am going… to hopefully sleep better tonight.

I am wondering… when Edda will stop licking me. (Do I taste like shower gel? Is it a good taste?)

I am reading… Sundays in America by Suzanne Strempek Shea. There are points when I want to smack her but it’s been interesting to see her church visits through the lens of her experience and upbringing.

I am hoping… my new keyboard arrives soon. (I accidentally broke my H key off my laptop keyboard.)

I am looking forward to… my mani/pedi on Thursday. It will be a quiet morning and I have craziness for the next few days.

Around the house… unpacking and consolidating to do.

I am pondering… too many things.

A favorite quote for today… “There are three ways of taking the command to turn the other cheek. One is the Pacifist interpretation; it means what it says and imposes a duty of nonresistance on all men in all circumstances. Another is the minimising interpretation; it does not mean what it says but is merely an orientally
hyperbolical way of saying that you should put up with a lot and be placable. Both you and I agree in rejecting this view. The conflict is therefore between the Pacifist interpretation and a third one which I am now going to propound.
I think the text means exactly what it says, but with an understood reservation in favour of those obviously exceptional cases which every hearer would naturally assume to be exceptions without being told. . . . . That is,
insofar as the only relevant factors in the case are an injury to me by my neighbour and a desire on my part to retaliate, then I hold that Christianity commands the absolute mortification of that desire. No quarter whatever is
given to the voice within us which says, ‘He??s done it to me, so I??ll do the same to him.'” — C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

One of my favorite things… silence. I have it right now and it is glorious.

A few plans for the rest of the week: hearing aid appointments for Daniel tomorrow, Morning Prayer on Tuesday and possibly a Target run, haircut on Wednesday and ABA therapy for Daniel, mani/pedi on Thursday, quarterly meeting with Daniel’s autism people and the Regional Center in the morning on Friday as well as ABA therapy that afternoon.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: Edda Helps This Week

Posted on by

7 Quick Takes

Edda is taking refuge from Daniel on my lap (where he has to use gentle hands to pet her) so she’s going to help me with my quick takes this week.

— 1 —

Orphans. Do you see these two sweet children?

L-R: Brett and Iris
BrettIris

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and they are compiling their dossier to send to her country.

Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 2 —

“Mom of the Year” material here. Just a word of advice: if your child has been terrified of car washes in the past, it’s not incredibly good to take him through one because “he might have gotten over his fear”. It’s sensory hell and in addition to your kid flipping out to the point that they puke, you’ll also have a headache from the screaming.

Totally the “Mom of the Year” here.

— 3 —

Fasting for peace. I’m not sure what I’ll be fasting from because I’ll be with my parents but I’m taking part. There’s also a beautiful prayer here. (HT: Fr. James Martin, S.J)

Fasting for peace on September 7th.

— 4 —

Where bloggers blog. There’s a Tumblr that is showing pictures of where bloggers blog. I haven’t submitted one yet but I’m considering it.

— 5 —

Al Franken delivers. A couple weeks ago, I posted about some harmless political fun. He offered to let people vote on what Minnesota State Fair food he would eat in a virtual postcard to supporters. The verdict: deep-fried pickles with chocolate sauce. To spare you having to surf to one of his donation pages, I’m embedding the video below. (The actual eating of the pickles is at 1:18.)

And no, I don’t live in Minnesota — I just like Al Franken. 🙂

— 6 —

Wow. When Jon went to pick Daniel up today, his teacher asked why we hadn’t told her that he knew all his capital letters. Ummm… because we didn’t know? It sounds like someone has been paying attention during Circle Time! Go Daniel!

— 7 —

Hot hot hot! It’s supposed to be in the triple digits this weekend. Seriously, I’m wishing it was December in Montana with sub-zero temperatures. I hate heat. At least when it’s that cold, you can put a ton of layers on. When it’s this hot, you can only take so much off.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

7 Quick Takes: Virtual 5K’s, Harmless Political Fun, and Overheating Laptops

Posted on by

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Slow going. My laptop is overheating despite being on a cooling pad so Facebook is being slow (and of course, I have 15 hours of status updates to read) so I’m switching over here to write a Quick Take every time Facebook has to load more stuff. Whee! This is what I get for not being at my laptop for 12 hours.

— 2 —

Endocrinology grumping. I cleaned up my diet and my A1C got worse. (I didn’t see my other numbers though my liver enzymes apparently continue to be beautiful — thank God for that!) I think my endocrinologist would be an awesome coffee date but she has no clue about what my life entails. I was able to test a little bit after eating lunch today but dinner eluded me because I’m sipping on tea a lot of the time. (I need to move from my Lipton Pure Leaf stuff to Crystal Light or something because the Lipton stuff *will* up my carb load.) My thyroid function is also the lower boundary of normal (thanks Mom!) so we’re going to up my Synthroid by half and see if that makes a difference. There was the usual fight over trying new drugs because my insurance company hates me so she gave me samples while a prior authorization could be worked out and also a discount co-pay card for the meds she wanted to give me. My glucose meter had died so they found me a new one (I use a Freestyle Light) and it had a $15 co-pay card attached for test strips. (They can be between $50-$150 if you have to pay for them at the pharmacy.) I see her again in 3 months and God willing, she’ll be happier with results. I mean, I dropped 10 lbs while sitting on my butt so my dietary changes actually did something.

— 3 —

Wow. For those who are fans of the musical Les Miserables, you have to watch this.

He also does an amazing parody of Disney princesses after their “happy endings”.

— 4 —

Humorous Amazon.Com reviews. Amazon.Com has done the world a favor and has compiled a list of their products with fake reviews. George Takei also should have a decent list on his Facebook page and you might even be able to find him as a reviewer on Amazon.Com’s website.

— 5 —

Some political fun. Al Franken is up for re-election in 2014 for one of Minnesota’s US Senate seats and he is engaging in a little political fun. He is letting people vote on what Minnesota State Fair food he will be eating in a virtual postcard to supporters. Choices are things like alligator, tater tot hot dish, a chocolate-covered pickle, a steak dinner-on-a-stick, ostrich, and walleye-on-a-stick. I’m linking it here because I think it’s creative and it’s some harmless fun where Republicans and Democrats alike can vote on something. It’s the 21st century equivalent of putting him on a dunk tank or a pie-throwing booth.

— 6 —

Run for Little Flowers Giveaway. Katie at Blessed with Full Hands is organizing the Run for Little Flowers again and is having a giveaway. There’s running gear, a $20 gift card (put up by me), and other things available. The virtual 5K raises money for the Little Flower Projects.

— 7 —

More on The Bloggess’ book. Like Jenny Lawson (the Bloggess), I deal with generalized anxiety disorder but I’m not quite as humorous about it. I haven’t told people about swallowing a needle at parties but I tend to be more likely to focus on one or two people and just have a conversation with them. Like her, I also sound so much more normal online than I do in person. I was interviewing a respite worker for Daniel and it was probably one of the more uncomfortable 2-hour blocks of my life. It’s been interesting to read her book because I can totally see myself doing the stuff she has… well, kind of but with less dead animals.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

7 Quick Takes: How Many Controversial Things Can I Say This Week, Promise Walk Sponsorships, and Grumping About Basketball

Posted on by

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

o.O I will readily admit that I had never pondered the theological powers of Superman before. The questions posed by Cari’s oldest son sound like the question from teaching Confirmation about whether or not God could create a boulder so big that He couldn’t lift it Himself. For the record, I’m with Lotus — Jesus is stronger than Superman.

— 2 —

The “Why I Am Not Homeschooling Daniel” post series. Post #1 started some good discussion and brought a few trolls to the blog. Post #2 served as some kind of explanation. Post #3 was all about my reasons for not homeschooling him. I’m also inviting people to email and tell me succinctly (75 words or less) what decision you made (public/private/parochial/homeschool) and why you made it so that we can crowdsource some ideas for Bonnie. Email me by Wednesday of next week (the email address is jen @ this domain) and I’ll print all the things that fit. **UPDATE** Someone just emailed me to tell me that Elena rebutted what I had to say to her. In the interest of fairness, I’m linking the rebuttal here. I still stand by everything I said 100% but I also would rather let y’all see what she has to say and let you draw your own conclusions.

— 3 —

More obsessing about food. Actually, it isn’t really obsessing as much as it’s reporting that if I eat in such a fashion as to not irritate the ulcers (which may have healed by now), my IBS symptoms go away. If I eat one thing on the forbidden list, I return to IBS hell. I haven’t had any Coke in almost a month and I still miss it even though I’ve found some alternatives that have less of a carb load and aren’t going to corrode my insides. I haven’t checked to see if I have celiac issues yet, mostly because I’m already having to limit my diet and I’m trying not to do too much at once. I’ll be with my parents this weekend and they have a scale so I’ll see if I’ve actually lost any weight at that point.

— 4 —

Orphans. Do you see these three adorable munchkins?

First row: Brett and Iris.
Second row: Kaia.

BrettIrisKaia

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her. Kaia has a family committed to her who will be traveling to her country at the end of July to meet her on July 26th! Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 5 —

Hmph. Wipeout! was pre-empted by some stupid basketball game. NBA basketball is overrated and I say this even coming from a city that just fought tooth-and-claw to keep their team.

— 6 —

*facepalm* Could I ask a favor of the Catholic blogosphere? Could you please actually *READ* a news story in its entirety and not look for random soundbites to use as evidence that Obama is Satan? The FULL TEXT of the quote that everyone got so flipped out about yesterday is…

If towns remain divided ?? if Catholics have their schools and buildings, and Protestants have theirs, if we can’t see ourselves in one another, if fear or resentment are allowed to harden ?? that too encourages division. It discourages cooperation. (Source)

The word “theirs” in the phrase “Protestants have theirs” replaces “their schools and buildings”. He is referring to the fact that in most places, Catholics and Protestants live in separate neighborhoods divided by “peace lines” — barricades made of bricks, steel, and barbed wire. (I actually saw these in Belfast when I was there in 1998.) He is not calling for an end to Catholic education in general in either Northern Ireland or in the USA — he is calling for Catholics to integrate with Protestants for the purposes of working for peace the same way whites had to integrate with blacks in this country 50 years ago. Mining articles like that for soundbites is juvenile and shows an inability to play well with others, so can y’all please behave in a Christ-like fashion? I refrained from mining stories for Romney soundbites during the last election and I know y’all can do the same regarding Obama.

— 7 —

Promise Walk for Preeclampsia. Wanna sponsor me in the Promise Walk this weekend? Preeclampsia affects 1 in 8 pregnancies in some fashion and 1/5 of affected women lose their babies because the only cure is to deliver the baby, regardless of how premature they are. I’m blessed in that I had a doctor who caught it in time and got me transferred to the BIG hospital in Great Falls where my awesome high-risk specialist could do an emergency c-section and where there was a Level III NICU for Daniel. If you can’t sponsor me, please at least keep me and the other participants in prayer on Sunday morning.

Daniel and I at the 2012 Promise Walk.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

I Will Not Apologize

Posted on by

I’ve been wanting to write this particular post for month, especially after an election season where people on both sides were beaten up and bloodied by the time all was said and done. I’ve held off because I was afraid of losing friendships but it’s also meant that I’m walking around on eggshells on what should be my blog and that I’m only posting memes because I don’t want to offend people.

So here it is..

I refuse to apologize for the following things.

[-] For believing homosexuality is a sin. I have looked at this issue from top to bottom in multiple Biblical languages, read various theologians on this, prayed about it, and I’m still of the conviction that it is a sin. This doesn’t put me on the same level with the members of Westboro Baptist Church or the pastors in the US and Uganda who believe that all GLBTQ folks should be executed. It’s a hard position to hold because I do have friends who are GLBTQ whom I love dearly. Some of them know where I stand and some of them don’t — I don’t make a huge issue out of it. I also honestly don’t know what to do with same-sex marriage because some of my GLBTQ friends have been in committed relationships longer than some of my hetero friends have been married and I’m not touching that. It would be easy to just come down one way or another but I can’t do that. Instead, I’m sitting in ambiguity, praying for guidance on each specific situation, and trying to have patience with online friends who are sifting this blog for any sign of me not towing their particular doctrinal line (on either side because I have friends on both sides of the issue).

[-] For voting for Obama. Does anyone reading this entry *not* know that I as a conservative Christian voted for Obama? If this shocks you and disgusts you, feel free to go read blogs that are more soothing to you. I could not, in good conscience, vote for Romney/Ryan because I honestly did not support some parts of their platform which apparently have been turned into a religious dividing line. Guess what? God is not a Democrat or a Republican and while I sometimes wonder how people can vote the way they do and call themselves Christians, I know that they’re probably saying the same thing about me. God gave me a brain and intended me to use it. I did and I have no regrets.

[-] For supporting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) a.k.a. Obamacare. I find it ironic that Republicans went through 33 wasteful votes (which cost 7 figures a piece) to repeal it when the essences of it are from Gingrich’s “Contract with America” from the 1990’s and Romneycare in Massachusetts. I have a child with special needs and this means that his healthcare is prohibitively expensive. The PPACA provisions mean that insurance companies can’t place a lifetime cap on my million dollar baby and that he can never be denied insurance. I am positively giddy and counting down the days until the rest of the provisions go into place in 2014 which prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions for me which would render me uninsurable right now if I didn’t have insurance through Jon’s denomination.

[-] For not giving out the password for protected entries. I’ve actually had people email me and harass me because I won’t give them the password. Really? Do they honestly think that I’m protecting those entries purely out of selfish enjoyment? Unless I trust you, you aren’t getting the password.

Capeche?

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: May 13, 2013

Posted on by

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY May 13, 2013

Outside my window… sunny and hot. I do not approve of 90F before June 21st (or really at all).

I am thinking… about the things I would totally say on this blog if I didn’t have to self-censor for pastor’s wife reasons.

I am thankful… for getting so much sleep yesterday and for Jon getting me dinner at Subway.

In the kitchen… spinach salad.

I am wearing… brown t-shirt with a ruched collar and black running shorts.

I am creating… plot ideas for NaNoWriMo in November.

I am going… to have a pedicure on Wednesday morning. I can’t wait.

I am wondering… some really snarky things about people.

I am reading… Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke. I’m reading a bunch of silly murder mysteries these days and it’s giving me a break from my regular life.

I am hoping… it doesn’t hurt too much when they use the Dremel on the calluses on my feet. (I’m a discalced kind of girl.)

I am looking forward to… seeing my parents/evil twin/sister-in-law this weekend for the communal birthday celebration.

Around the house… next question!

I am pondering… why people like to call me a “lib” or a “liberal” as an insult but get so incredibly worked up when I call them a “fascist moron”. 🙂

A favorite quote for today… ??…My idea of God is a not divine idea. It has to be shattered from time to time. He shatters it Himself. He is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of His presence?..?? — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… Lipton Pure Leaf Raspberry Tea.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Morning Prayer tomorrow, pedicure on Wednesday, autism team meeting on Thursday, and communal birthday celebration on Saturday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: April 29, 2013

Posted on by

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY April 28, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It was in the 90’s today. I will be smacking the next person who denies climate change.

I am thinking… that in response to people posting about homeschooling their kids to keep them away from “godless liberals”, I totally want to respond by saying that I’m sending my kids to public schools to keep them away from the people saying those things. I almost want to get a shirt that says “I’m the godless liberal your parents warned you about.”

I am thankful… for the water fight and tickle fight I had with Daniel today and in general I’m thankful for his laugh.

In the kitchen… nothing from scratch. Must fix that.

I am wearing… blue v-neck shirt and capri sweats.

I am creating… nothing yarn-wise but always coming up with plot things for NaNoWriMo.

I am going… shopping tomorrow for toiletries and trying to figure out something to cook that I actually want to eat.

I am wondering… how to post something on Facebook calling out those who are posting partisan and factually incorrect things and telling me that I don’t know that I’m talking about because I give in to the “liberal media”. Riiiiight… the fact that I have a B.A. in Religious Studies focused around comparative religon and part of a Masters in Theology can’t mean that I actually know what I’m talking about, right? (Not to mention that one of the things that they’re making factual inaccuracies about is one of my areas of specialty.)

I am reading… Just finished The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. She is amazing when it comes to the chiaroscuro of the human soul. Next book will be Death by the Dozen by Jenn McKinlay or possibly taking Maphead by Ken Jennings back up.

I am hoping… my allergies/cold/crud is on its way out.

I am looking forward to… Ladies’ Night Out on Wednesday.

Around the house… clean thanks to having company on Saturday and a young mom in the congregation to come and clean for me. (I pay her well and she is the reason I’m functional.)

I am pondering… how someone could have gotten my debit card number when I’m fanatical about keeping it secret. Thank God I was checking my account online and caught the bogus charge.

A favorite quote for today… “Why I often find myself at such cross-purposes with the modern world: I have been a converted Pagan living among apostate Puritans.” — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… making a good play on Words With Friends.

A few plans for the rest of the week: shopping tomorrow and possibly filing a police report, Morning Prayer and NCIS/NCIS:LA on Tuesday, Ladies’ Night Out on Wednesday, watching the cinecast of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me on Thursday, and possibly a trip to San Jose this weekend.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook