Category Archives: Personal Issues

{five favourites}: Doing Your Christmas Shopping And Saving the World At the Same Time

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#5Faves

One

Heifer International. I have loved Heifer International for years because they have affordable gifting solutions and the animals (or shares of an animal) you give help to pay for food, school fees, medicine for AIDS patients, and so much more. When the animals reproduce, the recipients pass on the offspring to someone else and “pass on the gift”. They have expanded in recent years and you can give gifts of plants for sustainable farming and stoves for villages. Their gift catalog is here.

Two

Kiva loans. Kiva.Org is another wonderful site. They do microlending all around the world and you can buy $25 loans for someone which they can choose to loan out to the individual of their choice. When the individual pays the loan back, you can either have Kiva send you a check or you can re-loan out the funds. I just looked at my lender stats and I have $225 invested (loans that have been given as gifts) with those funds re-lent two and three times. My loans tend to be to women in the Middle East but the borrowers are from all over the world. Seriously, I’d be overjoyed to get these as Christmas presents because it is such a cool concept and organization.

Three

Samaritan’s Purse. While I frequently dislike Franklin Graham and the crap he spouts about Muslims, GLBTQ people, and anyone he disagrees with, his organization does some amazing work. A family friend has gone abroad with them and provided respite for a missionary doctor and their gift catalog is wonderful if you’re into giving religious gifts. You can feed starving children, bless the weddings of military couples, provide clean water, and help out refugees.

Four

International Rescue Committee. I saw a random link for Rescue Gifts on Facebook and bookmarked it immediately to share. I wish I had millions of dollars to spend because I would buy everything on the list. You can help refugees, give a mom a safe birth, provide teddy bears for kids…

Five

Donors Choose. I have friends who have had things through their classroom funded through Donors Choose and it is an amazing program. You pick a classroom and donate whatever amount you want toward their project. They even have gift cards so that the recipient can pick the classroom they want to support. Stephen Colbert is one of their board members and he took the proceeds from auctioning off his anchor desk from “The Colbert Report” and used them to fund every classroom project in his home state of South Carolina. I think that’s a definite endorsement of this charity!

Go love up Bonnie, DeBalino, and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: November 13, 2016

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For Today… November 13, 2016

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… grey and rainy. It’s quite delightful, actually.

I am thinking… about the news that Donald Trump named a white supremacist as his counselor and chief strategist. This jerk and his followers attacked Kristen of Rage Against the Minivan, doxxed her, and sent some of the most vulgar tweets I have ever read. I was one of the people going through her Twitter account and reporting this profoundly sick people to Twitter for harassment. We’re talking tweets about nasty things these men wanted to do to her daughters, calling Kristen and her family sickening names, and a whole lot of things that will require me to take more Ativan if I speak of further.

I am thankful… for IRIS being inundated with calls asking how to help out with their immigration and refugee services. (I know someone who works with them and she reported this on Facebook.) It’s good to know that not all of the country have lost their minds.

One of my favorite things… worship today at St. Paul’s. I love being part of a community that is so alive.

I am wearing… a charcoal shirt from Old Navy and black jeans from Fred Meyer. Church clothes were the shirt with black slacks and a black cardigan from Kohl’s.

I am creating… a chapter outline for my Practical Accounting class and a blog post about political stuff.

I am listening to… chamber music on one of the Dish Network channels.

I am hoping… Trump finds better advisors than his current band of jokers.

I am learning… about employer earnings and deductions.

In my kitchen… Dad made garlic shrimp pasta for Sunday dinner.

In the school room… Daniel came home smelling like Old Spice because they were doing OT stuff with shaving cream on Friday.

Post Script… Do me a favor and read the following links and tell me if I’m overreacting to Trump being elected: this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this. Keep in mind that this is just the tip of the iceberg as to what I’ve seen on Twitter and Facebook.

Shared Quote…

“Empathy challenge: Imagine if we’d just elected a man who said he’d shut down churches and force Christians to register with the government.” — Rachel Held Evans

A moment from my day… One of the many Joe Biden memes going around.

*snickers*

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

Addendum to the Pep Talk

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One thing I forgot to add to the list:

[+] Start listening. I absolutely suck at this right now but we need to learn to listen to each other right now. Talk to your friends who are Muslim, GLBTQ, people of color, refugees, immigrants, and even your friends who voted for Trump (if you have them — I have relationships with a handful of people who did). One thing this election (and the acts of violence against people of color/Muslims/GLBTQ folks/immigrants in the last 8 years) should have taught us is that there is an undercurrent of racism, homophobia, and misogyny in this country and that undercurrent votes. We need to share our stories, affirm each other’s self-worth, and tell each other that we believe people when they report stories of sexism, racism, and bad behavior.

A Pep Talk for the Majority of America Who *DIDN’T* Vote for Donald Trump

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If you voted for #ClasslessBuffoon (and I really don’t give a shit why you made that reprehensible choice — it was WRONG and you knew it when you cast that ballot), go read something else today because this post isn’t for you. (If you’re the Catholic blogger from Akron, Ohio who routinely visits this site against my wishes and trolls me, go away or I’ll email your priest and tell him about your cyberbullying habit.)

Everyone else who *DIDN’T* vote to screw up this country, click on the “Continue reading…” link.

Continue reading →

7 Quick Takes: AMERICA, YOU HAD ONLY ONE JOB!!!!! Edition

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7 Quick Takes

I wrote these on Tuesday night after the presidential election was called for Trump so forgive some of the cattiness and be thankful that I’m getting it out of my system. 😉

— 1 —

Political Take #1. Am I irritated that Hillary didn’t win? Yes. Did I lose sleep over it? No. I’m an insomniac — I never sleep!

Am I surprised that Trump won? No. I have never doubted the propensity of the American people to vote against their own best interests. Example: a number of people in Kentucky rely on government aid and yet they continually vote politicians into office who cut that aid.

Is my life over? No. The sun still rose on Wednesday morning and was not blocked by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse so I’m counting that as a win.

— 2 —

Political Take #2. Interestingly enough, the date on this post is November 8, 2012… and the 2016 election was on November 8, 2016. #spookycoincidence

And yes, I’ll be taking my own advice from that particular post.

— 3 —

Political Take #3. As I will *READILY* admit that I am a snarky wench who can be petty and partisan to the nth degree when it suits my purposes, I’ve decided that I need a title for Trump once he takes office. My friend Katja suggested the “Idiot-in-Chief”. What do y’all think? Leave any suggestions in the comments if you have them.

— 4 —

Political Take #4. Having said all of that (including getting the partisanship and snarkiness out of my system), we all need to work on healing from the seeds of discord that have been sown in this election. Only when we can heal and work for the common good (and not just for those things that benefit us or for our own pet issues) can we make America (which was *ALREADY* great) a greater country. We are truly *STRONGER TOGETHER*.

— 5 —

Political Take #5. The one good thing coming out of Trump’s win is that Alec Baldwin now has job security on SNL for the next four years.

— 6 —

On to other topics! *in my usual valley girl accent* Like OHMIGOSH!!!! I’m creating queries in my Access class and they are SOOOO COOL! *proceeds to geek out about the various types of queries she can write and information she can sort with them*

— 7 —

OK… one last political take! I saw this in my Facebook memories a couple days ago and it resonated with me.

Finally done!

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

Taking Some Quiet Time

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After witnessing a Facebook discussion yesterday about Obama’s response to the pro-Trump protestor at a Hillary rally and feeling serious anger at the Trump supporters claiming that Obama had screamed at the protestor (footage is here so you can judge for yourself), I realized that I needed to back away from social media and pretty much all media in general until Wednesday morning.

My friend Rebecca and the editorial team at The Catholic Conspiracy are having a day of prayer and penance for this election and I’m feeling called to join them and to extend mine another day.

I’d urge you all who pray to please pray for the state of our nation and that God’s will be done in the results of all the elections both federally, state, and locally. We as a country are going to need a lot of healing after the amount of hatred and nastiness spread in the last two years since the first person announced their candidacy for president.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: November 6, 2016

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For Today… November 6, 2016

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… sunny and quite nice. Weather.Com is saying temps are around 51F but it feels warmer than that. There’s definitely rain offshore and we were supposed to get hammered on Election Day, but it’s starting to look like the rain is holding off until Wednesday.

I am thinking… about my Accounting test tomorrow and what subjects I need to brush up on tonight after dinner.

I am thankful… for whoever found my pocketbook and turned it in at Haggen on Friday. It’s good to know that there are honest people out there.

One of my favorite things… the view of evergreen forests from my bedroom window.

I am wearing… a v-neck shirt and jeans. Church clothes were a dress, camisole, cardigan, tights, and my black flats.

I am creating… Access queries. Fun.

I am reading… Trump fans’ erroneous thoughts on President Obama defending an pro-Trump protestor at a rally. Whether or not you like him or agree with him, you have to acknowledge that Obama is a class act and so incredibly different from the degenerate nominated by the Republicans to replace him. He told the crowd that they needed to respect the protestor because he was veteran, elderly, and we live in a country where we value free speech.

I am hoping… Hillary wins on Tuesday. I’m not a fan of hers but the alternative of Trump as president makes me nauseated.

I am learning… how to perform queries in Microsoft Access.

In my kitchen… Dad is making something for Sunday dinner.

In the school room… Daniel is saying more and more words. It’s like someone turned on a faucet in the speech section of his brain.

Post Script… The Cubs set a record for the 7th largest gathering in human history. (My friend’s son described it as “the zombie apocalypse with Cubs fans”.) Beat that, Cleveland!

Shared Quote… “The American ideal is not that we all agree with each other, or even like each other, every minute of the day. It is rather that we will respect each other’s rights, especially the right to be different, and that, at the end of the day, we will understand that we are one people, one country, and one community and that our well-being is inextricably bound up with the well-being of each and every one of our fellow citizens.” – Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D.

A moment from my day… This fits my twisted sense of humor.

This fits my twisted sense of humor.

Closing Notes: An ear worm for you!

Hosted by The Simple Woman.