Category Archives: Memes and Link-Ups

7 Quick Takes: Big Brother, Roasting Beasts, and Not Reading 50 Shades

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

To those of you trolling the “Catholics for Choice” group on Facebook: CUT IT OUT! I’m aware that you feel that they’re raging heretics and hypocrites and you’re entitled to that opinion. I’m not going to argue with you on that one. What I will argue with you on is the efficacy of getting yourselves banned from the group. All you’re doing is giving them ammo to say that pro-life Catholics are intolerant, so cut it out! It’s also really bad manners.

— 2 —

REMINDER: Brett’s Blogathon 2012 is next Friday. It goes from 7 a.m. on Friday the 27th to 7 a.m. on the 28th over at Blogging for Brett. I’ll have information on how to donate on a sticky post at the top of the blog during the event.

— 3 —

Big Brother is back on. I don’t have a contestant I dislike thus far as much as I disliked Rachel on the last two iterations but Mike Boogie is starting to be a contender. I’m glad Frank got HOH for this coming week though — it will be interesting to see if he puts Willie up.

— 4 —

My evil twin and hopefully my sister-in-law are coming over for a barbecue on Saturday. If Jeanette (my sister-in-law) is coming, I’ll be needing to find a My Little Pony to put on her birthday cake as well as acquiring some cake mix. I also have to figure out the menu which means figuring out which beast to roast and how I want to roast it.

— 5 —

Going back to #1, I got a call from Planned Parenthood a few weeks ago. It was interesting because I never heard from them during the years when I was sympathetic to them. (I’m not unsympathetic to their practice of providing care to impoverished women — I’m just not in favor of abortion.) I’m guessing that they got my name from the campaign to take down Dan Lungren (my Congresscritter who I loathe because he’s a tool, not because he’s Republican). I don’t know exactly what they were calling about because after the person explained who they were, I politely said, “I should probably tell you that I’m pro-life and I’m not really interested.” I said good-bye and hung up. I’m sure there are some who would argue that I should have tried to debate with them but I had the bear child clamoring for my attention and I had no desire to pick a fight with someone who was probably trying to be nice and volunteer their time for their charity of choice.

— 6 —

Facebook had an interesting Yusef/Cat Stevens question this week. The question was which song you’d want to hear if he ever toured again and sang his secular stuff. It was interesting because a number of my Facebook friends commented who had absolutely no connection to each other. (My answer, by the way, is “Peace Train”.) I still can’t listen to “Moonshadow” with a straight face after the parody someone did on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me after Cat Stevens was taken off a plane in Maine for being on the no-fly list. “I’m being followed by an air marshall/Air marshall/Air marshall…”

— 7 —

I finally had a parishioner ask about 50 Shades of Grey today. She couldn’t understand why I was laughing so hard until I explained about the review that described it as “Twilight with spanking and no sparkly vampires”. What I told her was that she’s an adult and can read whatever she wants but I didn’t think it would benefit her Christian witness. It was at that point that I found out that she had joked about me having it on my NOOK during Bible study that morning. Yeah… not so much. 🙂 I’m generally not into reading whatever is popular with the exception of the Harry Potter books. I didn’t read the Twilight books until they had been out for awhile.

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

7 Quick Takes: All Star Game, Whining, and A New Addiction

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

I finally did the post-mortem on my 101-in-1001 list… two months after my deadline. Recapping for those who don’t usually read my blog, I completed 19/101 goals and that means a $82 donation to charity. (As an incentive to complete as many goals as possible, I donate $1 for every goal I fail to complete.) My charity choice this time: Brett’s adoption account at Reece’s Rainbow. I’m glad that I accomplished almost 20% of my goals this time — they’re all about bettering myself so it’s all good in the end.

— 2 —

I got just a *little* bit mouthy while watching the All Star Game on Tuesday. All those who follow me on Twitter are probably saying, “A little, Jen?” Can I help it if the evil teams are all in the American League? I mean, you’ve got the Texas Rangers, the New York Yankees (evil personified), and the LA Angels. (OK… technically, they’re the Anaheim Angels. They’re still evil.) I do enjoy a good skunking and this was a glorious one. I’m also amazed they let the minor league team from Oakland send players. [/trash-talk]

— 3 —

I hate heat. It has been in the triple digits here. Did I mention that I hate heat? I think that relocating to Alaska for summers would be a capital idea. Did I mention that this heat is oppressive and that I’d prefer it to be -20F?

— 4 —

Seriously, why is me flipping on my turn signal to change lanes a sign that people should speed up and keep me from passing? Someone did this to me last weekend in Elk Grove and nearly caused an accident. As I swerved back into my lane, the driver flipped me off. Um yeah… YOU almost caused the accident and you’re flipping *me* off? Great one. They’re freaking lucky that I didn’t call the police and report them for reckless driving.

— 5 —

We have an abundance of mulberry pollen. Did I mention that I’m allergic to mulberry pollen? This has led to lots of sneezing on my part as the A/C has to be on (and seems to be the entry point of it into the house) and Daniel is laughing uproariously every time I sneeze.

— 6 —

Oh great… I have a new addiction. I managed to kill 90 minutes of Daniel’s naptime today by surfing PassiveAggressiveNotes.Com. This is not a good thing for me to discover, especially as I think I could outdo some of them. (I learned passive-aggressiveness from the BEST.)

— 7 —

Argh. I did not find a short URL where you can donate to Brett’s adoption account. My bad. Meanwhile, you have 19 days to go if you want to participate in the Bottle Challenge and 15 days until Brett’s Blogathon 2012.

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: July 9, 2012

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY July 9, 2012

Outside my window… 93F right now. They’re predicting triple digits for the next few days so I really hope they’re wrong.

I am thinking… about this.

I am thankful… for Morning Prayer with Anne+ this morning.

In the kitchen… trying to use up contents of the freezer.

I am wearing… Survivor shirt, running shorts, and my Celtic cross necklace.

I am creating… this entry and stuff for Brett’s Blogathon 2012.

I am going… to stay inside with the A/C until we cool down.

I am wondering… how much of a nap I can get when I finish this entry.

I am reading… Death on Demand by Carolyn Hart.

I am hoping… my IBS issues settle down.

I am looking forward to… Ladies’ Night Out this week.

Around the house… dishes, dishes, and more dishes.

I am pondering… too many things internally. I need to purge my brain.

A favorite quote for today… “When all the suns and nebulae have passed away, each one of you will still be alive.” — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… Crystal Light Peach Tea.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Morning Prayer tomorrow and Wednesday, Ladies’ Night Out on Wednesday night, Bible study on Thursday, and an Elk Grove trip on Friday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: 50 Shades of Guest Posting

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Beth Anne at Beth Anne’s Best allowed me to take over her blog this week. I’m not sure she’s going to let me do that again but hey… I did make the point that we can all help each other out. Maybe I should have published the parody of “The Farmer and the Cowman Should Be Friends” about Catholics and Lutherans?

— 2 —

Thomas at Listening for the Shepherd is having me post his Quick Takes. He didn’t entrust me with his password which might be a good thing. It would be bad if I did a post of sheep jokes there. (Not that I would…) He and I did have a lovely snark fest on the Twitter regarding fundie things like eschatology, the creation/evolution debate, and The Da Vinci Code.

— 3 —

Something occurred to me regarding 50 Shades of Grey. If we as a culture stopped acting like sex was this big mysterious thing that is totally subversive and adopted the attitude that it has its place in the context of marriage, we probably wouldn’t bat an eyelash about the stuff in that book. Meanwhile, it’s a bestseller and there are off-color jokes made frequently alluding to it because we treat sex as this totally evil thing. I do like this Amazon.Com review though, especially the part where she summarizes it as “Twilight, plus some spanking, minus the sparkly vampires.”

— 4 —

I had to have my quarterly stabbing for blood on Tuesday and the venti mocha coconut frappucino with 2 shots blended in and protein power was both a good and bad thing. The good thing: it kept my blood sugar up so that I wouldn’t start puking during Morning Prayer, it helped me be productive, and it kept away the migraine that can happen when a fibro flare starts. The bad thing: it made me twitchier than a ferret and while I was able to be productive that morning, I completely crashed that afternoon and it triggered an IBS flare that I’m still fighting. (Blood work can trigger a flare of fibromyalgia and associated conditions in me.)

— 5 —

I’ve actually been turning the TV off at 9 p.m. lately. This means no “CSI” and no “The Mentalist”. I’m actually kind of enjoying it right now because it’s some quiet time which my soul has been craving. Instead, I listen to music or podcasts while working on writing, web stuff, or playing Facebook games.

— 6 —

Brett’s Blogathon 2012 is coming! It will be taking place at http://peacefulwaters.org/brett on July 27th starting at 7 a.m. I’ll have all my messengers posted and information on how to sponsor me next week.

— 7 —

Anderson Cooper is gay. Really? Huh. *goes on with the rest of my life*

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: July 2, 2012

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY July 2, 2012

Outside my window… sunny and hot — probably near 90F.

I am thinking… that I hate heat.

I am thankful… for Morning Prayer with Anne.

In the kitchen… English muffin pizzas.

I am wearing… cammo green shirt and capri sweats.

I am creating… crocheting and a topic list for Brett’s Blogathon 2012.

I am going… to probably have to take Daniel for a drive to pacify him because he woke up grumpy from his nap.

I am wondering… if I’m going to make it until 9:00 (Daniel’s bedtime) — I’m sleepy.

I am reading… Sugarplum Dead by Carolyn Hart and the latest Leslie Meier book.

I am hoping… Daniel calms down and I don’t need to take him for a drive.

I am looking forward to… Ladies’ Night Out on the 11th.

Around the house… a Cheerios tornado on the living room floor among other things.

I am pondering… many things internally.

A favorite quote for today… “You don??t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” — C. S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… sitting in the quiet and listening to the birds sing in the morning.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Bible study on Thursday and various errands throughout the week.

A peek into my day… My bottle for the Bottle Challenge for Brett.

My bottle for the Bottle Challenge for Brett

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

Categorizing Myself

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Daniel went down early so after I had gone through all my bookmarked blogs, I started surfing around and came upon Patheos.Com. A few of the bloggers in my feed reader (Unequally Yoked and Barefoot and Pregnant) have their blogs there and as I’m an established blogger (almost 12 years of blogging), I’d probably be a good candidate, right?

Yeah… not so much.

I haven’t actually submitted a sample blog to them for consideration so it isn’t like they’ve rejected me but there are a few things that would have to be different for me to probably qualify to blog there.

[+] I’d have to actually fit into one of their channels. OK… obviously, I’m not Muslim/atheist/Buddhist/Jewish/Mormon so that part is easy enough. However, I’m an anomaly of a Christian. I’m not an Evangelical per se but I’m too theologically conservative to be part of the Progressive Christianity channel. I’m Lutheran so I definitely don’t fit in the Catholic or Eastern Orthodox channels either. I could probably fit the Family channel… except that my blog doesn’t always cover family topics (though I keep it family-friendly). I might be able to get in on the Spirituality channel but I abhor pop-culture religion. Sigh…

[+] I’d have to become better about updating here. I write only about twice a week on average. It’s not that I’m lazy — OK, actually I am most of the time — it’s just that I can sit here and look at a blank post for an hour and have no idea about what I want to write. Doing The Simple Woman’s Daybook is easy because I have prompts. Doing Quick Takes are harder because I have to find seven salient points on which to write.

[+] I’d have to be topical all the time. ::Meditatio:: is a blog whose purpose is to provide me with halfway-decent therapy and to “work out my salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12b). While I’m definitely a religious sociologist and it interests me to watch people practicing their faiths and praying, I’m also a mom, a sacred music snob, a cat herder, a khouria, a preeclampsia survivor, someone who reads whatever they can get their paws on, and most importantly, I am a child of God who is doing her best to give her Father a good name. This blog is about all those things, not just the faith dimension of my life which is very fluid at this point and well… has been since I came to Christ (inasmuch as one can per the explanation of the third article of the Creed in the Small Catechism).

I guess I’ll be remaining here. It has been my home for almost 7 of the 12 I have been blogging and I quite like it.

7 Quick Takes: A Week of Being A Single Mother

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7 Quick Takes

Jon gets in tomorrow afternoon after having been in St. Louis for our denomination’s National Convention. It’s been a better week for Daniel and I than it was last October.

— 1 —

I’m actually making an effort to see people. I did Morning Prayer with someone two mornings this week, I went to Breakfast Bunch (usually the senior citizens of the church getting together), and I led Bible study on Thursday. I also had someone coming over to help with Mt. Dish Pile on Wednesday even if I spent the rest of that time by myself with Daniel. Even this little introvert needs to see people.

— 2 —

Daniel is in summer school. It actually freed me up to get things done that I wasn’t having to entertain a three year old for 14 hours straight minus any therapy times. School is 4 hours and it makes him tired enough that he needs a nap. That gives me about 2-3 more hours to get things done at home. We also have a set routine down so I don’t have to worry about him going to sleep. Jon calls and I put him on speakerphone so he can pray with Daniel which is the cue for the bear child to hibernate.

— 3 —

I know certain things about Daniel that I didn’t know then. I didn’t know how much Pediasure 1.5 would make him throw up so I ended up cleaning up kid barf multiple times. Now I know that I need to space out any cans of it that he drinks. I know how to keep him entertained now (especially as I don’t have to do it for 14 hours straight) and we’ve got more at our fingertips than just our worn-out Winnie the Pooh DVD. (God bless Netflix!)

— 4 —

I’m getting better at self-care. OK… I’ll admit that I didn’t get a shower until Wednesday night again but it was because I forgot rather than I couldn’t leave Daniel to do it. I have also been keeping up my habit of retreating to the living room after he goes to bed to work on web things and just have some “mama time”. The only downside is that I keep falling asleep in the recliner after I pray and waking up with a stiff neck.

— 5 —

I’m less concerned with making everything perfect. I’ve lost my perfectionist streak when it comes to life with Daniel, mostly because I just end up making myself overly fatigued and there are so many things that just don’t matter. Daniel ripped off his diaper and shorts? He can run around bottomless for a few minutes. I fall asleep in the recliner? The living room and hallway are Daniel-proofed and he’ll hand me his wet diaper if he needs it changed. (He’ll also hand me his sippy cup, snack cup, and whatever else he wants fixed.)

— 6 —

I have some projects to engage my mind. I’ve been crocheting and working on a Bottle Challenge as part of Brett’s Blogathon 2012. I also led Bible study this morning and working on that gave my mind something with which to engage itself. (It was Acts 17, one of my favorite passages.)

— 7 —

I have some house help. We’ve been helping out a young family in our parish by paying them to help with yard work, housework, and stuff like that. It doesn’t amount to a lot of money in the long run and it helps me out tremendously on days when moving is painful. The mother called yesterday and asked if she could come work for me and I told her that it was fine as long as she stayed and hung out a bit afterwards. She did all my dishes (we had a ton of them to do as we entertained over the weekend and don’t have a dishwasher) and did cat care stuff. It was worth every penny I paid her not to have to deal with those things while my joints were achy yesterday.

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