Catching Up: November 4, 2022

It was a dark and stormy night…

[+] Baseball. All of the baseball teams I hate were kicked out of the playoffs, so I’m chill with whatever happens in the World Series.

[+] Stomach pain. I’ve been fighting stomach pain for the last few weeks, and we’ve managed to rule out things like an ulcer, pancreatitis, and possibly gallstones. I have an ultrasound coming up on Monday, and I’ll be interested in what it shows.

[+] YouTube. I’ve gotten addicted to Apple Texts, and it’s like watching trashy TV. They are basically text conversations based on true stories, and they are read in different voices. I’ve got a ton of crocheting to do in the next couple of months, so it should keep me entertained while my fingers are busy.

Catching Up: October 21, 2022 Edition

Wow…

[+] Baseball. Unfortunately, Seattle is out of the playoffs, but the 18-inning game that knocked them out was amazing.

On the plus side, the LA Losers and the Cleveland Goof-Ups are out as well. Now if the Yankees could please go ahead and lose their last two games so that all three of Satan’s teams are out of the play-offs…

[+] Work. Work is crazy, but I’m at least getting to tutor some classes I like this quarter instead of just HSERV and Interpersonal Communications. FERPA prevents me from telling you the better stories I have about my students, so I’ll just say that I have a few who are… special.

[+] Media I’m binge-watching a lot of “Court Cam” on the A&E website, and it has been interesting. I’ll move to “Cold Case Files” eventually, but this has been keeping me entertained.

7 Quick Takes: Feeling Blah Edition

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Worst case scenario. I saw this on Facebook and decided it needed to be shared as I’m a member of the “Almost Died in Childbirth” club.

Pregnancy worst case scenario.

— 2 —

Doc take #1. We’re done medicating Doc, but he is still averse to us putting hands on him. Mom gets away with it by giving him kibble or greenies by hand. The smell of both of those makes me feel nauseated, so I’m having to rely on my natural charm. He is not impressed.

— 3 —

Doc take #2. I’ve discovered that Mr. Sissy Stripes goes absolutely crazy with the laser pointer, so the two of us now play with it every night. He is comfortable enough with me to be silly and to emerge from under the bed to eat, so that’s progress. I actually had him playing in the open tonight, and he would bound across the floor, see me, and go hide behind an afghan on the floor. Repeat that a bunch of times, and you get a tired tiger kitty looking at you upside down. He is so funny. 🙂

— 4 —

Doc take #3. Doc has very squeaky little mew. He gives it to me when I come see him in the morning before his breakfast, and he will sometimes meow me while we play.

Mr. Sleepy Stripes

— 5 —

Nooooooooooooo! Buster Posey, catcher for the Giants, is retiring. He has been a fixture with the team for 12 seasons, including three World Series victories.

— 6 —

/rolls eyes To the people who are saying “let’s go, Brandon”:

You don’t sound witty or cool. You sound cowardly because you can’t just say what is on your mind. When I hear that phrase, I automatically subtract 50-75 IQ points. This applies to politicians as well, some of whom don’t have the IQ points to lose!

Snuggles,
me

— 7 —

Wow. I just saw Kelly’s post that this is the last week of Quick Takes. Hm.

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

7 Quick Takes: Sinus Infection Blues Edition

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Gah. I’ve had some facial congestion in the last week, and Mom asked me yesterday if I was going to be able to go to Urgent Care and get my sinus infection taken care of. I told her that it was just allergies and that I would get some Robitussin DM at the store. Well, I couldn’t sleep last night because I was so uncomfortable, so I ended up clearing my morning and heading to Urgent Care. Unsurprisingly, it was a sinus infection, and they also tested me for COVID because my chronic conditions manifest symptoms of it.

— 2 —

More? I had just left Urgent Care when I got a call from Daniel’s school to let me know that Daniel was in the health room with a cough and needing to go home. If he stops coughing, he can go back on Monday. We got him tested for COVID out of an abundance of caution, and they got his results back to us within 20 minutes. (His was an antigen test, and mine was PCR.)

— 3 —

Canceled plans. My brother and nephew were supposed to come and visit us this weekend, but they are also dealing with coughs and having to get COVID tests. Mom and Dad might go down to see them on Monday if their tests come back negative.

— 4 —

*squees* Kelly, our Quick Takes hostess with the mostest, had her book come out today. There’s a video of her doing a Q&A, a giveaway, recipes for a drink and a snack, and other Quick Takes folks. Run not walk to your nearest bookstore (brick and mortar or online) to get a copy.

— 5 —

It made my day. When I was going to pick up Daniel, his teacher and aide were both telling me how much they enjoy having Daniel in class, and they seem pretty smitten with him. This warms my mama heart because he loves going to school.

— 6 —

Nick Rolovich. Nick Rolovich, the coach for the Washington State University football team, is vocally unvaccinated, and he could potentially lose his job over it because he is subject to the same state vaccine mandate that I am because we’re both in education. The Seattle Times was discussing every aspect of this on Monday because it was the last day people could get the J&J vaccine and not be fired. Nobody said anything about him getting the shot, so the theory is that he is applying for a medical or religious exemption.

My take: fire him if he doesn’t comply. He has a very public job, and he could basically wipe out the football season for the university if he gives COVID to the players. The Delta variant is nasty and much more contagious than the COVID we were dealing with 18 months ago.

— 7 —

Head’s up! This came up in a thread on Nextdoor.Com, and I thought it was worth mentioning. A third of COVID cases don’t produce any antibodies, so your natural immunity may not exist. Also, unvaccinated people are twice as likely to contract COVID than those who are vaccinated, so you’ve also got that risk.

(Source)

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

7 Quick Takes: Mixed Week Edition

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Kitty hospice. My parents’ elderly tabby Jethro likely has lymphoma, and my mom took him to the vet on Tuesday to address him not eating. They gave her the options of doing nothing, doing palliative care, doing kitty chemo, or euthanizing him. Mom and I talked about it, and she opted for palliative care. The vet will do fluids weekly, and we’ve been given medications to deal with nausea, pain, appetite, and a steroid to deal with the lymphoma. Mom is aware that this is giving us weeks, not years, and I told her that I would clear my schedule and go with her to the vet to do the talking when it comes time to let Jethro go.

— 2 —

Daniel’s health. My monster had an ADHD appointment a week ago, and his pediatrician felt a stool ball in his stomach. She put in an x-ray order and we got it on Saturday. The x-ray showed the stool ball and what looked like a kidney stone, so she put in a stat ultrasound order. The ultrasound was Tuesday, and it was thankfully clean. So… we’re dealing with the stool ball, and I’m hoping we’re not jockeying for another hospitalization.

— 3 —

A lovely fight. The Sea Chickens are headed down to rumble with my boys (THE NINERS!!!) this weekend. I’m hoping my boys win because the Sea Chickens get insufferable when they win.

— 4 —

My other boys. My baseball boys (THE GIANTS!!!) are in the mix for the NL West. I’m hoping the LA Losers stay multiple games behind and/or lose the Wild Card game to St. Louis (my other boys) if it comes to that.

— 5 —

“Special needs”. Kelly of This Ain’t The Lyceum did a piece on the term “special needs” last week. It’s worth a read.

— 6 —

Interesting hymnody. I was on a Maddy Prior binge and discovered an album of hymns from the 18th and 19th century. It includes “The God of Abraham Praise” which is a hymn I wish we would sing in my parish. (Hello minor key! Hello interesting tune!)

— 7 —

Huh. “And Can It Be?” is a song I associate with Baptist churches, and I had no idea that it’s a Charles Wesley tune. Cool! (This is another Maddy Prior recording.)

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

7 Quick Takes: Olympics Edition

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Simone Biles. As I’m starting to draft this post on Tuesday night, this is the best thing I’ve read concerning Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from the team final. (The Tl;dr of it is that people are horrified 25 years after the fact regarding Bela Karolyi ordering Kerri Strug to “shake it off” and vault again on her broken ankle.)

P.S. Kerri Strug supports Simone’s decision to withdraw.

— 2 —

Why Simone’s departure was important. Want to know why Simone said she was not comfortable competing with “the twisties”? Hannah Renno explains the damage that can happen with a bad landing on a twisting element.

There’s also the story of Elena Mukhina that illustrates why gymnasts need to be able to advocate for themselves.

— 3 —

Also… HOW COMPLETELY AWESOME WERE GRACE McCALLUM, JORDAN CHILES, AND SUNI LEE ON TUESDAY NIGHT?!?!?!?!?!? HOW AMAZING WAS SUNI LEE TONIGHT?!?!?!?!?

They proved that the US Women’s team is not just Simone Biles. The girls gave Russia a challenge on Tuesday night. Suni Lee fought hard and won a well-deserved gold medal tonight.

— 4 —

Katie Ledecky. She may not have won gold in all her events in Rio, but she had the fastest split time of every swimmer competing in the 4×200 relay. She was also swimming the 1500m race faster than some of the men at the US Swimming training camp in Hawaii, so I’m not remotely surprised that she won it.

I can’t wait to see her in the 800m freestyle final tomorrow.

— 5 —

Caeleb Dressel. Loved the 100m race last night, and I’m looking forward to the 100m butterfly final tomorrow night!

— 6 —

The Olympic dream. One of the really cool thing has been when an unexpected person wins the gold. Case-in-point: Ahmed Hafnaoui, the teenager from Tunisia who won gold in the 400m freestyle. It was an absolute shocker to everyone in the pool.

— 7 —

Divided loyalties. There’s an Irish gymnast that is a medal contender on the pommel horse as well as an American who is also in the event final. Do I go with the ancestral homeland or the USA? Decisions, decisions!

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

7 Quick Takes: OMG I’m Hosting!!!!!!! Edition

7 Quick Takes

Our intrepid hostess Kelly of This Ain’t The Lyceum has her hands a bit full, so she asked if I could host this week. My response: SURE!

So, who exactly am I? Well…

— 1 —

I’m a blogger. This July will mark 20 years of blogging. All but maybe 2-3 months of archives are here if you ever get bored one night and want to read them. Warning: I get a little verbose on occasion.

— 2 —

I am the mama of a special kiddo. My son is Daniel and he has a genetic abnormality called 22q duplication (in addition to others) that manifests in autism, ADHD, developmental delays, mild/moderate hearing loss, and a few other things.

I am also the servant of a magnificent panther named Minion.

— 3 —

I am a $tarbux junkie. My local $tarbux baristas know me so well that they start making my drink when I walk in the door if I haven’t mobile-ordered it already and me changing my milk preference is causing a great deal of shock. (They’ve re-made it a few times with apologies and expressed shock that it was supposed to be the way it was mobile-ordered.)

— 4 —

I am a tutor. I currently tutor all the Accounting and OBT classes at Skagit Valley College. I joke that my job is to teach people how not to crash their Microsoft applications and how to love Accounting. (I was sitting next to my priest at coffee hour one time when I said that, and he made the Sign of the Cross on me before saying, “bless you, child.”)

— 5 —

I am a proud Episcopalian. I sing in my church‘s choir, serve as a lector, help with the Facebook and web presences, serve on the Finance Committee, and edit the Advent and Lenten devotional books.

— 6 —

I am a 49’ers fan. I root for the SeaChickens when they aren’t playing the Niners, but I am OVERJOYED that they shredded the Packers and are headed to the Super Bowl.

— 7 —

I am a Giants fan. I gleefully root against the LA Dodgers Losers whenever possible.

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