Category Archives: Occuping Lent

7 Quick Takes: Alien Abduction Results Edition

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

I need this. Seriously, I need this.

— 2 —

Oh my stinking heck… One of the channels on Comcast has “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” on at night, and I’m watching it right now. Let’s just say that I’m laughing my butt off and waiting for the episode where Ryan breaks the light on Drew Carey’s desk.

— 3 —

Regarding my alien abduction… I got the results of my alien abduction sleep study today. Apparently, I have mild sleep apnea. My doctor sent the request over to my local home health care place today, and I will (God willing) have a CPAP machine in a few weeks.

— 4 —

State of the Union 2019. Because of the government shutdown and lack of adequate security, the State of the Union address might not be happening. (The DHS director says otherwise, but she is grossly underestimating the feces storm that is going to take place with all those security people having to pull this together in twoish weeks while being on furlough. I mean… we’re talking 45’s Secret Service detail and security for every member of Congress, the Supreme Court justices, and all the guests.)

It could be delivered in written form as it was up until ~100 years ago… or maybe Mango Mussolini will do it via Twitter!

— 5 —

Lenten disciplines. I’m pondering the idea of raffling off the chance to choose my Lenten discipline again. Any takers? 🙂

— 6 —

*squees* OHMIGOSH! KELLY POSTED A HOUSE TOUR!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

— 7 —

Climate change. So, um, let’s talk about the fact that WE HAVE NOT GOTTEN ANY SNOW THIS WINTER AND WE’RE IN THE FREAKING NORTHERN USA!!!!

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: January 15, 2019

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For Today… January 15, 2019

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… dark. It was not bad today — not warm but sunny.

I am thinking… about the design project for my Publisher class on which I am procrastinating by creating this blog post.

I am thankful… for a good start to tutoring this quarter.

One of my favorite things… this song. (I am spoofing it for my design project.)

I am wearing… jammies. It’s only 5:30 p.m., but I’m fighting a cold and it’s been a long day.

I am creating… this blog post. 😉

I am reading… Nailed It by Anne Kennedy.

I am hoping… that people get all the Jennifer/Jenni puns in my design project.

I am learning… about alignment and proximity.

In my kitchen… salad tonight. My cold is making swallowing painful, so it was a chore to find something I actually wanted to eat.

Post Script… this blog. Because her book was AWESOME.

Shared Quote… “‘NO’ is a complete sentence.” — me on Sunday when asking people to write devotions for me this Lent.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: March 5, 2018

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For Today… March 5, 2018

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… dark. It was shirtsleeves weather today.

I am thinking… about group work in my Excel/Access class tomorrow and plotting how to deal with a difficult person in my group.

I am thankful… to have gotten tutor training done and to have gotten paid for it.

One of my favorite things… my morning latté.

I am wearing… jammies. Clothes today were black long-sleeved shirt and jeans.

I am creating… reports in Access databases.

I am reading… various things on Reddit.

I am hoping… we get a lot done tomorrow on our group project.

I am learning… how to edit reports in Design view on Access.

In my kitchen… Subway tonight. It was a busy day.

In the school room… still trying to get Daniel’s IEP together.

Post Script… this setting of a familiar hymn by Fernando Ortega. (I give his latest album 15/10. It’s meditations and music related to the crucifixion of Jesus and it is AMAZING.)

Shared Quote… “The mold in which a key is made would be a strange thing, if you had never seen a key: and the key itself a strange thing if you had never seen a lock. Your soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contours of the divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions.

Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it — made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand.” – C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Active Shooter Drill Edition

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7 Quick Takes

Yes, my Quick Takes are late. I had homework due tonight for Excel/Access.

— 1 —

Active shooter drill. We had an active shooter drill during my Excel/Access class today. It’s in a computer lab so we had to turn off all of the monitors in addition to flipping the lights, drawing the blinds, and locking the door. This made for a dark room (which was kind of the point) and I had to code something, so we were using my cell phone as a flashlight because an actual flashlight would have been too bright.

A message also flashes onto all of the screens in the event of an active shooter (in addition to sirens going off and an automated message playing over the loudspeakers) so it’s inconceivable that someone wouldn’t know unless they were both blind and deaf.

— 2 —

Shelter-in-place drill. My school does a shelter-in-place drill quarterly and today’s happened to be an active shooter drill specifically because of the school shooting in Florida on Valentine’s Day. They take these drills very seriously and it paid off during Fall Quarter when they had to lockdown campus for a manhunt.

I find them unnerving (and today was only the second time I’ve been on campus for one), but they’re necessary these days given the fact that our government is in the pocket of the NRA and will not pass commonsense gun control legislation. (Gun control does not equal taking all of people’s guns away, contrary to what some on the rightmost fringe of the political spectrum might think.) Each instructor also has a very clear plan for what needs to happen in each classroom where they teach, and my Practical Accounting instructor admitted to spending her commute coming up with plans for these situations.

— 3 —

Book recommendation. A seminary classmate of mine wrote a book. Go check it out because she is freaking awesome. Seriously. Do it now.

— 4 —

Speaking of books… Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J. has a new one out. It is now on my wish list.

— 5 —

Must print this out to hand to people. My instructor jokes about all of us standing in the back of the room shotgunning our coffee before class. I need to print this (and a few other coffee memes) out for her.

Personning is hard without caffeine.

— 6 —

Mea culpa. Why no! This one totally doesn’t describe my morning! Never!

Mea culpa.

— 7 —

I need to put this on my door. It really was THAT kind of morning here…

RUN!

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

7 Quick Takes: Insane School Stuff Edition

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Parkland, Florida school shooting. The school shooting yesterday was #18 this year.

18.

That’s roughly one every other day.

So tell me how we don’t need appropriate gun control. (Not banning firearms. GUN CONTROL..) I effing dare you.

— 2 —

Lent. My Lenten discipline was going to be Morning Prayer every day, but it will end up being one of the Daily Offices daily because it’s been that kind of week. I think I cumulatively spent 20 hours on my Payroll Project #1 between last Saturday night and Monday when I figured out how things had gotten so screwed up. (My instructor calculated everything one way and then gave us instructions to do the opposite. Then on Monday, she was sick so she didn’t have office hours… and we had to take a quiz on the bloody thing that night. Let’s just say that my spreadsheet and email telling her that she was wrong got forwarded around almost the entire class and I had to talk a couple people off the figurative ledge.) The Payroll issue meant that my Excel final got put on the back burner because it wasn’t due until Tuesday night, and I had one thing on it that kept stymying me so much that I had to just forfeit that point and submit it. (It turns out that I was doing it right, but misinterpreted something. My instructor laughed at me when I told her about it because it was 1 flipping point out of a possible 110.) Excel being turned in on Tuesday meant that Access didn’t get started until yesterday and submitted tonight 3 hours ahead of the deadline. (I try to be at least 24 hours ahead in case something happens.)

So yeah… one of the Daily Offices every day. Yesterday, it was Compline and it will probably be Compline again tonight because I have some legal paperwork to do as well. Ay-yi-yi!

At least my Payroll Project #2 balanced last night!

— 3 —

Ash Wednesday. Because we share facilities and our priest with the Spanish-speaking congregation, the two congregations worship together on occasions like Ash Wednesday. We had bilingual Ash Wednesday worship last night and it was heavenly. The bulletin was English on the left and Spanish on the right, with Helen (our priest) switching off languages between paragraphs or readings or parts of the liturgy. My ashes got imposed with Spanish words while others had English spoken over them, and Helen preached in both languages. (I understood surprisingly much of the Spanish.)

— 4 —

Pretty choir music take #1. We’re doing this in a few weeks and the alto part is awesome.

— 5 —

Pretty choir music take #2 We get to sing this again for Palm Sunday, and it is stuck in everyone’s head.

— 6 —

Pretty choir music take #3

— 7 —

My current ear worm. Because you need it in your ear too!

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

7 Quick Takes: Sticks with Spinning Plates Edition

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7 Quick Takes

I told one of my instructors that I feel like I’m en pointe on one foot while holding sticks on which plates are spinning… and I’m trying to keep them from crashing. She laughed. Somehow, I’ve made it through my week.

— 1 —

Lenten devotional update. I’ve got the sucker compiled and edited. My priest suggested helpfully that we make this a “print your own devotional” deal because it would have cost far more to print a copy for everyone than we have in our budget at the moment. (Those who do not have Internet access will get a printed copy, but those are also our shut-ins.)

Now to just get the web version up! (It’s a lot of cut and paste.) If anyone wants the PDF, contact me.

— 2 —

Payroll project. We’re done with book work in my Payroll class so now we have a project for the rest of the quarter where we actually DO payroll. It’s a fictitious manufacturing company and the employees are all named after people from The Office. I’m looking forward to working on it this weekend.

— 3 —

Access is starting. We’re working on our Excel final projects right now so we started working on Access in class. The first chapter is database structure and building databases from scratch so I am pretty jazzed. Now to just power through my final projects for Excel so I can have some database fun.

— 4 —

Valentines for Ash Wednesday. Kelly decided to be helpful and come up with some Valentines for Ash Wednesday. I am TOTALLY printing them out and using them for Daniel’s class!

— 5 —

#TacoTrucksAtEveryMosque It’s totally a thing and I totally love it.

— 6 —

Special intention. If y’all could pray for a special intention, I would greatly appreciate it.

— 7 —

Recipe love. Some people came up with a collection of recipes for food to eat while watching the Olympics in South Korea. It looks AMAZING!

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

The Simple Woman’ Daybook: January 1, 2018

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For Today… January 1, 2018

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… sunny and cold with temps in the 30’s.

I am thinking… about the parish Lenten Devotional which I offered to coordinate.

I am thankful… for my church being such a welcoming place to Daniel. Advent IV was hard but they were fine with him there. When I was there yesterday, many people were asking about him. 🙂

One of my favorite things… pretty much everything involved in putting the devotional together. 🙂

I am wearing… my Old Navy flag shirt and black jeans.

I am creating… a survey for people in my parish to find out their wishes for the devotional.

I am listening to… my Youtube Christmas playlist. (It’s still the season of Christmas, y’all!)

I am hoping… my bloodwork doesn’t come out too horribly.

I am learning… how to make surveys in SurveyMonkey and Google Forms.

In my kitchen… plotting it currently. If Dad isn’t making anything special, I’ll probably put together a salad at Haggen or something.

In the school room… Daniel goes back tomorrow! He’s been asking about it *EVERY* day of Christmas vacation so he’ll be happy.

Shared Quote… “Creating fantasy is real work, important work. It’s a hard, cold world we live in, and sometimes we need to escape. Sometimes we need that more than food or water or a roof over our heads.” — G.A. McKevett

Closing Notes:

Word for the Year: “overcome”
Saint for the Year: St. Gemma Galgani

Hosted by The Simple Woman.