Category Archives: Sports

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: September 27, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY September 27, 2015

Outside my window… dusk. It was in the 90’s today. I’m looking forward to seeing the blood moon tonight.

I am thinking… about what needs to happen this week.

I am thankful… that the first time I’ve lectored in 5+ years went well. (The ELCA church I attended in West Covina didn’t put me on their rotation in 2010 and Jon’s last parish also never did, probably because of it involving Daniel running loose or the ushers having to deal with him.) I got a lot of compliments on it, which is totally *NOT* the point of doing it but still was nice.

In the kitchen… gluten-free mac n’ cheese for me and a smoothie as dessert. I need to pick up some more spinach tomorrow for them as I have a feeling I’ll be having a lot of them in October.

I am wearing… dark blue-green shirt (yay Old Navy fitted tees!) and black capris.

I am going… to be reading the transcript of the Pope’s speech at the World Meeting of Families when I’m done with this. I’ve been reading transcripts of all the Pope’s addresses this week because I don’t have a TV and I can’t be online most of the time that Daniel is home.

I am wondering… about what the *REAL* reason is for John Boehner resigning. I’ve heard everything from the Pope’s address of Congress being a Nunc Dimittus call for him to him trying to end on a high note because his position as Speaker of the House is in jeopardy. Maybe a combination of both?

I am reading… Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. I finished Post Traumatic Church Syndrome by Reba Riley and really enjoyed it. It ended up being the deciding factor in me spending October gluten-free.

I am hoping… to get a call back about my biopsy results from the endoscopy/colonoscopy this week.

I am looking forward to… the weather cooling down. I hate heat and am so completely *OVER* temps in the 90’s. It’s freaking autumn already!

I am hearing… whatever my father-in-law is watching through our two bedroom doors.

A Daniel story for today… the little monster kept stealing my sun hat and trying to wear it with his soccer uniform yesterday.

Around the house… my mother-in-law is cleaning the kitchen and making biscuits while I put Daniel to bed.

A favorite quote for today… “When I went on my first antidepressant it had the side effect of making me fixated on suicide (which is sort of the opposite of what you want). It’s a rare side effect so I switched to something else that did work. Lots of concerned friends and family felt that the first medication failure was a clear sign that drugs were not the answer; if they were I would have been fixed. Clearly I wasn’t as sick as I said I was if the medication didn’t work for me. And that sort of makes sense, because when you have cancer the doctor gives you the best medicine and if it doesn’t shrink the tumor immediately then it’s a pretty clear sign that you were just faking it for attention. I mean, cancer is a serious, often fatal disease we’ve spent billions of dollars studying and treating so obviously a patient would never have to try multiple drugs, surgeries, treatments, etc., to find what will work specifically for them. And once the cancer sufferer is in remission they’re set for life because once they’ve learned how not to have cancer they should be good. And if they let themselves get cancer again they can just do whatever they did last time. Once you find the right cancer medication you’re pretty much immune from that disease forever. And if you get it again it’s probably just a reaction to too much gluten or not praying correctly. Right?” — Jenny Lawson, Furiously Happy

I love this particular quote so much because it *VERY* accurately illustrates the crappy logic people like me get from people who think that we can just magically snap out of our depression by focusing on the happy things in our lives. (For those new to this blog, I live with both depression and an anxiety disorder. I’m also a recovering self-injurer.) As Jenny has blogged many times, “depression lies” and no number of thoughts of happy things in our lives can move us past the sheer gloom and pain we feel. The cancer analogy is pretty close to home for me because I live with my father-in-law who is fighting cancer.

One of my favorite things… air-conditioning. I couldn’t survive down here without it.

A few plans for the rest of the week: walks, core work, probably some weights to make me LBD-ready for the fall fundraiser at church, Bible study on Wednesday, PT on Thursday, soccer practice for Daniel on Thursday, date night at some point, and Daniel’s soccer game on Saturday.

A peek into my day… The kiddo and I on Saturday.

Daniel and I at half-time on Saturday.

Post Script…

To the morons obsessing over various iotas of the Pope’s visit:

You do realize that flipping out over him not outright mentioning abortion in various speeches or having conniptions over Mo Rocca lectoring at Madison Square Gardens or any of the other crises I’m hearing about makes you look like fruitcakes, right? Nobody in my world believes that the Pope failing to mention the word “abortion” means that the prohibition against it has been dropped from Catholic social teaching. As for the Mo Rocca thing, you’re in a pretty select group of people if you know what I’m even talking about and can cite chapter and verse of Scrpture and the Catechism as to why this is a BFD.

If you want to evangelize the world, try being people who who show love instead of people who make me want to run screaming away from the banks of the Tiber where I’m sitting.

Snuggles,
Jen

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Gluten-Free, Soccer Moms, and Morons Taking Selfies

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Soccer mom. Daniel had his first VIP soccer practice with AYSO tonight. We only made it through about 35 minutes until he melted down and wanted to be “all done” but hey… it’s a start. Since I’m now officially a soccer mom, I’ll be starting a GoFundMe to pay off my current car and buy a minivan. Any recommendations? [/sarcasm]

— 2 —

Gluten-free take #1. My doctor hasn’t gotten back to me with my biopsy results yet from last week but I’m planning to go completely gluten-free in October to see if it helps me at all. A complicating factor is that I’m allergic to eggs and that limits what I can eat even more, which is the reason I haven’t tried going gluten-free before now. (There’s also the “my-bloodwork-did-not-show-celiac-disease-and-I-do-not-do-fad-diets” thing but that would be snarky.) If you are gluten-free and have any recipe suggestions or possible substitutions, leave them to me in the comments.

— 3 —

Gluten-free take #2. I grabbed some “rice pasta and cheese” from Trader Joe’s to see if it was any good… and it was fabulous! It tastes like the cheap $1 mac n’ cheese from Kraft that contains all the yellow dyes banned outside the USA but without the evil dyes or the gluten. Yay!

— 4 —

Fibro flare. I’ve been dealing with a fibro flare since Sunday and this has meant that I’ve been spending mornings sleeping because I’m fighting insomnia at night. It’s impeding my ability to get things done so I’d appreciate prayers that it goes the duck away. Please and thank you!

— 5 —

Because we *TOTALLY* need more cat memes! This is one of the better Kim Davis memes I’ve seen recently:

Schrodinger's cat meets Kim Davis

— 6 —

I shouldn’t laugh but… I read an article today which claims that more people have died from selfies this year than from shark attacks. I am totally unsurprised that there are people stupid enough to take selfies while running with the bulls and doing other dangerous things that require one’s full attention. This one, however, takes the cake. (I’m guessing he’s probably at Loma Linda University Medical Center given where he’s from and the fact that “Venom ER” doctor Sean Bush is there.)

— 7 —

Prerequisite baseball take. Jon had the time of his life at the Dodgers game last week while my experience was kind of “meh”. We were pretty high up so the players on the field were like little action figures and I felt pretty disconnected from everything that was going on. (The other downside: the Dodgers won.) The bus ride to and from the church was an experience in claustrophobia for me and that probably didn’t help.

Anyway, it’s pretty likely that the Dodgers are going to take the division unless the Giants can pull a serious miracle. (The magic number is “4” so the Dodgers have to win 4 or the Giants lose 4 and it’s close to the end of the season.)

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

7 Quick Takes: Church Secretaries, Books, and Going Gluten-Free

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Church office fun. I’m subbing for the church secretary this week and having fun doing it. Wednesday involved getting to be present for Bible study before immersing myself in Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Word. Today was more Microsoft Publisher fun, Microsoft Word, and whatever my priest needed to be done. Tomorrow, I get to do bulletins. I am so excited!

— 2 —

The County Fair. Daniel’s class is heading to the LA County Fair next Friday. We had a note come home asking if we wanted to volunteer to go too. My answer: “no.”. (It will be hot and I hate heat. Yes, I live in a desert; but I didn’t get a say in that.) Jon’s answer: “yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” You gotta love a non-traditional family where the dad is the field trip chaperone. 🙂 I think they’ll have a fabulous time.

— 3 —

Holy Mirth. Fr. James Martin, S.J. posted something for Joke with the Pope which has people donating their favorite jokes in the name of charity. I’m thinking of all my favorite religious ones (that aren’t in Fr. Jim’s book, Between Heaven and Mirth) and the cause for which it will go.

— 4 —

Take me out to the ballgame. Jon and I are headed to a Dodgers game tomorrow for Episcopal Dodgers night. It will be the first professional sporting event that I have ever attended so I’m excited. I wish it was the Giants or Mariners or the Cards (or pretty much any other team besides the Dodgers or the Yankees) instead; but hey, at least I will be able to say that I’ve been to an MLB game. I’ll probably root for the Pirates since it is against my sports allegiances to root for the Dodgers. (For those not in the know, the Dodgers are the mortal enemies of my Giants.)

On my to-do list today: acquire some Giants socks so I can represent my boys at the game. (According to Jon and my priest, I am not allowed to wear any Giants shirts.)

— 5 —

A book launch party for introverts. The latest book from The Bloggess is coming out next week and she’s having a book launch party via Google Plus. The launch party and the book are very likely both going to be NSFW but any fan of The Bloggess already knows that. 🙂

— 6 —

G.K Chesterton. Someone donated a book of Father Brown mysteries to my mother-in-law’s Little Free Library and she set it aside for me. I’ve only read a handful so far but they’ve kept my attention. This might be a book that I can pick up and put down every so often while I wait for my favorite authors to come out with their latest works.

— 7 —

Mmmmm… gluten-free. My bloodwork did not come back positive for celiac disease so it’s fairly likely that I don’t have it. Even if the biopsies from the endoscopy/colonoscopy don’t come back positive for it, I am considering going gluten-free for a month to see if it makes any difference with my stomach issues.

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

7 Quick Takes: Ramblings from Tiredness

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

504 plans and IEP’s. Around this time of year, the question of 504 plans vs. IEP’s comes up in the groups with whom I hang on Facebook. This is the definition of a 504 plan and this is how it compares with an IEP. (The difference is accommodations vs. specialized instruction.)

For those keeping track, Daniel has an IEP.

— 2 —

For moms of non-verbal kiddos… Daniel’s 1:1 buddy from VBS at my church sent me this. It also works for elderly adults who may wander.

— 3 —

Prerequisite baseball take. Currently, the Dodgers are losing to Cincinnati and the Giants are beating the Nats. Life is as it should be. 🙂 (Why yes, I am conveniently ignoring the fact that the Giants are 3.5 games behind the Dodgers in the standings and am instead baiting my husband with tonight’s scores.)

— 4 —

Cosmo and controversy. Last week while heading somewhere with Daniel (I think to get x-rays), I heard something about Rite Aid and a couple other national supermarket chains putting Cosmopolitan magazine behind a screen in checkout stands because the titles are too lewd for kids to read; and apparently, kids are asking their parents some pretty uncomfortable questions based on them. (We’re talking questions about sex acts and anatomy that their parents aren’t comfortable explaining to a 4 year old.)

So… should Cosmo be put behind a screen: yea or nay?

— 5 —

Don’t piss off women! Donald Trump insulted Megyn Kelly last week by blaming her hard questioning of him on her being on her period so there’s now a hashtag on Twitter with which women are trolling him with their period announcements.

I’m also heartened by Donald Trump being uninvited from the RedState Gathering for being such a jerk to Megyn Kelly. Even better: Megyn Kelly was invited in his place. It shows that Republicans are taking women seriously this time.

— 6 —

Eschet chayil! Dr. Frances Kelsey, who protected Americans from thalidomide, died last week at the age of 101. Because of her, the US was spared the scores of kids born with deformed arms and legs, deformed eyes and hearts, deformed alimentary and urinary tracts, blindness and deafness born in other countries where the use of the drug hadn’t been restricted. (It was used as an anti-nausea med and crossed the placental barrier.)

Irony of ironies, it is actually one of the chemotherapeutic agents used for my father-in-law’s type of cancer but they are meticulous about making sure that anyone prescribed it has no chance of getting pregnant or getting anyone else pregnant. It is also used to treat leprosy.

— 7 —

For Potterheads. This is funny but mildly NSFW.

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

7 Quick Takes: Clearing out My Links Cache

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

A serious uff-da! In #5 of last week’s Quick Takes, I completely blanked on having met Kym in 2011. This is why I crowdsourced stuff last week — I’m lacking the brain power and memory to do this well! Sorry, Kym.

— 2 —

Ulcer. For those who don’t normally read this blog, I ended up in Urgent Care last Saturday afternoon with stomach pain, nausea, and some other unpleasant symptoms. After an equally unpleasant exam, I was put on omeprazole (because giving me Dexilant would be wrong even if it is what works) and told to get in with my PA to get a referral to a G-I specialist. I was also given a list of foods to avoid. My PA ordered blood, various other labs, and an abdominal ultrasound as well as giving me a referral to a G-I specialist. All but the ultrasound have been done (the ultrasound will be August 18th and I’ll be having to go 12 hours without food or water which is not making me happy) so, God willing, I’ll have some preliminary results in a couple days.

— 3 —

So you’re, like, Catholic, right? I’m Episcopalian and apparently, autocorrect can’t spell it. Some of these suggestions are pretty funny, especially the one about cotillions because Episcopalians have tended to be the richer people on the mainline Christian spectrum.

— 4 —

Secret Catholics in Jamestown?!?!?!?!? Apparently, one of the bodies dug up was buried with a reliquary. Considering that a number of settlers fled England due to religious persecution, it makes total sense that one (or many) was a crypto-Catholic. The Anglican church is also very similar in terms of worship to the Roman Catholic Church so someone who was privately Catholic could hide in plain sight. That’s not to say that Jamestown wasn’t anti-Catholic; but it was not any worse than it would have been to stay on the other side of the Atlantic.

— 5 —

For those who attend book signings… A couple days ago, Twitter had the hashtag #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter and some very well-known authors weighed in. I recommend reading it.

— 6 —

A Giant at a Dodgers game. There has been some good-natured teasing going on between my husband, my priest, and me over our plans to attend Episcopal Dodgers Night in September. For you not familiar with baseball, I’m a San Francisco Giants fan and the Dodgers are our hated enemies. However, I have never been to a professional sporting match and I love baseball, so we’re going. My priest suggested wearing my Giants socks and I’m going to be sourcing a pair of those. (I’ll also be wearing black.)

— 7 —

Agnostic or atheist? Neil of Godless in Dixie has a wonderful YouTube video that explains it. Go check it out!

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

#5Faves: Miscellanea (XLII)

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#5Faves

One

Goat cheese. I’m having to avoid everything that irritates my stomach which means limited dairy, no tomatoes, no coffee (!!!!!!!!), no tomatoes, etc. I’m lactose-intolerant and I need *SOME* protein that’s easy so I picked up some goat cheese at Trader Joe’s. Now, I do cheese and crackers at night for dinner. (I don’t usually get to eat my normal dinner until about 9 p.m. because I have to put Daniel to bed.)

Two

Dishwashers. I’ve enjoyed having one for the last year. It is so wonderful not to have to wash so many dishes by hand while trying to keep up with my wee bairn. He can even help me unload it now which makes it even better.

Three

Air-conditioning. It’s hot here. (Temps on various weather websites range between 89F and 92F.) I don’t like heat. I don’t like being sweaty and my hair sticking to me. Ergo, air-conditioning is a very GOOD thing.

Four

Baseball. My boys (the Giants) just won and St. Louis (my other boys) is having Star Wars night tonight. (The pictures are pretty cool.)

Five

A quiet church. We had a midweek service tonight that involved many periods of silence. Given that I have Daniel home all the time right now, it was nice to go and be able to enjoy the quiet. It also gave me some space for prayer that I usually only get after I get Daniel to sleep.

Go love up Jenna and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook + Answer Me This: July 19, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY July 19, 2015

Outside my window… dark and probably still raining. It’s the second time this summer I’ve been greeted by serious rain between Pasadena and home on 210 when I’ve been coming back from visiting my parents. Given the fact that California is seriously short on water and that little brush fire in San Bernadino County almost prevented Jon from getting to church this morning, I’m completely content to let it rain and rain and rain.

I am thinking… about the things that await phone calls and efforts tomorrow. Argh. Social Security is *STILL* a mess and I’m hoping that my worker actually follows through and untangles this mess.

I am thankful… for a good week with my parents, time with Rebecca, and being able to attend my church back home.

In the kitchen… I microwaved some frozen pizza for dinner.

I am wearing… black v-neck shirt and navy/white striped pajama bottoms.

I am praying for… a call for Jon, Daniel to retain skills over the summer, patience as I work with Daniel in these coming weeks (not something I possess in large quantities), the marriages of some friends, and some special intentions.

I am going… to watch some Viperkeeper videos when I’m done with this.

I am reading… Vanishing Grace by Philip Yancey. I’ve picked it up again and I’m enjoying it.

I am hoping… Daniel sleeps in tomorrow.

I am looking forward to… seeing how far my minion and I can walk tomorrow morning on our death march.

I am hearing… Viperkeeper talking on one of his FAQ videos.

Crocheting… same old same old — amigurumi stuffie and Daniel’s big boy blankie.

Around the house… quiet as almost everyone is asleep.

A favorite quote for today… “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” — Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

One of my favorite things… Coca-Cola. I missed it this last week.

A few plans for the rest of the week: dealing with Social Security, errands, and whatever comes up.

Post Script…

After you’re done reading all of this, go see Kendra and some other superheroes.

Answer Me This

1. What’s currently on your To Do list? Speaking firmly with Social Security, calling to get a radiology referral for x-rays before we see the peds orthopedist, finding ways to help Daniel keep up his skills, and cleaning off my desk/sorting my mail from being gone for 9 days.

2. Better type of superhero: magic/radioactive powers? Or trauma/gadgets/hard work? Hard work and gadgets. I’m the daughter of an engineer and I love figuring out how things work.

3. Finding out if baby is a boy or a girl before birth: Good idea? Bad idea? We chose to with Daniel and I don’t regret it — I don’t think I could have waited to find out. Given that I was in no shape to give them the potential names at Daniel’s birth, I’m glad that I knew ahead of time so that I could give them the name before I was too far gone.

4. Have you ever appeared on a stadium jumbotron? Nope. Never been to a professional sporting event. This will change in September when Jon and I go to the Episcopal Dodgers Night. I have been informed by my priest that I may wear my Giants socks (note to self: acquire some!) but that I am not allowed to boo Clayton Kershaw or Yasiel Puig. Whatever!

5. Are you more book smart or more street smart? I’m actually both, depending on the topic. If there’s something I want to do, I’ll read on it or do some trial and error to figure it out.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.