Category Archives: Memes and Link-Ups

11 Things

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Ann of House of Estrogen tagged me in this meme going around the Internet. Whee!

Rules
1.) The first rule is to post these rules.
2.) Post a photo of yourself then write 11 things about you/your life.
3.) Answer the questions for you set in the original post.
4.) Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5.) Go to their blog/twitter to tell them you have tagged them.

OK… so let me find a picture I like.

Me after a haircut

OK… 11 things about me.

01.) I’m a night owl. I get most of my blogging done after 9 p.m.
02.) I’m 5’1 on a bad hair day. People tell me that I seem taller online.
03.) I’m incredibly shy and very introverted. I’d prefer to people-watch rather than socialize.
04.) I have a weird accent that makes me sound like a valley girl Canadian. It makes it really hilarious when I switch into academic mode and I’m using polysyllabic words while sounding like I should be on a beach in southern California tanning myself.
05.) I graduated from college in 3 years. I’m not smart — just strategic. The fact that I was sick of being in a long-distance relationship also didn’t hurt.
06.) I read murder mysteries for fun. I’m currently reading Buried in Buttercream by G.A. McKevitt.
07.) I have part of a Masters in Theological Studies. I’m incredibly good at it but theology in general bores me. I’m more of a historian and linguist.
08.) I’ve been singing Handel’s Messiah since I was 15. It was a holiday tradition for my mom and I throughout high school and college to do the You-Sing-It-Messiah with the San Jose Symphonic Choir.
09.) I love t-shirts with interesting messages. I love my We Will Not Be Silent shirt and am heartbroken that I’m having to replace it.
10.) My promise not to blog on the Republican candidates is grating on me. There’s SOOOOOOOO much snark I want to post!!!!!!
11.) I’m a princess darnit!

OK… my questions to answer!

1.) What is your favorite movie? It varies. I like the classic Disney cartoons like “The Aristocats” and “The Sword and the Stone” as well as “Forrest Gump”, “The Birdcage”, “The Spitfire Grill”, “Whale Rider”, and “Saved”.

2.) If you could go back and give your 16 year old self one piece of advice, what would it be? Stop worrying about what people will think and join a church. (I’m a convert to Christianity.)

3.) Why do you blog? So many reasons. Generally, I do it because it’s cheaper than therapy and I’ve made so many friends doing it. It also was my way of accessing the outside world when I lived in remote areas of the US.

4.) What did you want to be when you grew up? Are you doing that? I wanted to be a lawyer until I was 15 when I started wanting to be a doctor. I’m not doing either though I’m discerning doing training as a respiratory therapist because they’ve been the coolest health professionals that I’ve encountered in my own adventures and with Daniel.

5.) M&M’s – plain or peanut? Coconut.

6.) What was your first car? 1984 Volvo 240 GL.

7.) What is your favorite Halloween costume you’ve ever worn? The cat costume my mom made us when we were 3.

8.) What are your favorite blogs to read? I have at least 30-40 in my feed reader. They range from Canadian pastors to young Catholic women to Mormon housewives. Most blogs these day happen to be mommy blogs because all my bloggy friends have kids.

9.) If you were to have a boy and a girl tomorrow, what would you name them? Aidan Michael and Hannah Grace.

10.) What was your favorite class in college? Women’s Chorale, my advisor’s history classes, Religion and Social Change, Science and Human Values, the Making of the Modern Middle East, my Organic Chemistry labs, and my college’s Core course.

11.) What celebrity do you think it would be fun to be friends with? Definitely Pauley Perette (Abby on NCIS). She’s very much in person like she is on TV and she’s also incredibly socially conscious. I also love anyone who can pull off the goth look over the age of 30. (She’s in her 40’s.)

OK… now my questions!

01.) What food would you never eat even if you were paid to eat it?
02.) What is your favorite Bible verse or quote?
03.) Should jello at church be in the proper liturgical color?
04.) What was your high school or college mascot?
05.) What do you wish you could do?
06.) What book should everyone read?
07.) What is the weirdest thing you’ve eaten?
08.) Pretend I magically arrived on your doorstep. How would we spend your ideal day?
09.) Manicure or pedicure?
10.) What is the best type of ethnic food (i.e. Italian, Japanese, Indonesian)?
11.) Grey or orange tabby cats?

Now for the tagging!

Beth @ The Catholic Couponer

Nikkiana @ Authentic Experience

Kate @ ImperfectKate

Kathleen @ So Much to Say…

The Preoteasa @ Fear Not Little Flock

Dawn @ ladydusk

I know all of you have lives and such. Please find a way to mold this meme to your blog. If you can’t post a picture of yourself, post one of your kids or something that represents you.

7 Quick Takes — IEP’s, School Lunch Quandries, and Rain

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Daniel’s IEP went well on Monday. I’m incredibly thankful that we’ve got a great staff at the local school (where they have all the preschool classes) and that they have an ABA preschool class where Daniel will go. I’ve heard horror stories about the school district in the town to the north and how hard it is to get services for your kids there. Daniel will start preschool on April 11th (his 3rd birthday is on Holy Saturday) and he’ll be in school Monday to Friday for 5 hours every day. The IEP team will meet again on May 11th and firm up goals and plans for things like physical and occupational therapy.

— 2 —

With Daniel starting preschool, I now have a new quandry: school lunches. I need to provide enough food for two snacks and Daniel isn’t feeding himself with a spoon yet. The complicating factor in this is that he also doesn’t know how to take bites out of something so it would need to be finger food. Got any suggestions? I’d welcome any and all input including how to teach him to take bites out of his food.

— 3 —

March seems to be going out like a lion here. After a wet week two weeks ago, we’ve had nice weather, rain on the weekend, and then rain the last couple days. It was pleasant enough to walk to my WIC appointment with Daniel this morning but it’s cloudy again and I think we’ll be getting more rain tonight. We do need the moisture but I sort of wish I could pick the days it would come.

— 4 —

Daniel has been using his “more” sign more and more. Considering that it took almost two years to get him to do it on his own, I’m pretty happy. He signed it to my mom last weekend when she was giving him lunch and he has done it at all his therapy sessions that happened this week. (Physical therapy got rescheduled to next week because it was a park date but was pouring by the time we got to Elk Grove.) I’m hoping to be able to teach him some more signs and have that be a help with communication. He already makes his needs known in non-verbal ways but he has to learn to communicate verbally somehow and signing can do that.

— 5 —

Daniel turns 3 in a little over a week. His birthday falls on Holy Saturday this year and it’s also the day of our church’s Easter Egg Hunt. I can’t believe that it’s been almost three years now since he was born. I don’t know if we have any Easter plans as of yet so I’m not sure how we’ll celebrate. All I do know is that next week’s Quick Takes will probably be solely Daniel-focused. We’ve already gotten some books for his birthday from my in-laws and my mom has done some clothes shopping for him.

— 6 —

“The Big Bang Theory” returns tonight. I’ve definitely missed it the past two weeks. Granted, we have Netflix and I can watch “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” or actually find out what all the “Downton Abbey” hype is all about, but my life is just not complete without seeing Sheldon being his asocial self.

— 7 —

Ahem… sponsor me.

I'm a survivor!
Symptoms of preeclampsia

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

7 Quick Takes — Writing About Music, Blegging for Promise Walk Donations, and a Synopsis of My Life

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

We didn’t get to have dinner with friends on Friday. Between Daniel and I and the weather, it was not a good idea to venture northward into the Sierra foothills. Daniel was better than Wednesday but had thrown up that morning and I hadn’t slept well meaning that I was not going to be great dinner company. (Sleep deprivation does not do good things to me.) The weather was foul and I actually did well by only going to Elk Grove to get a new router and then for some basic groceries. The upside of the rain was that I just had to leave Daniel’s crib mattress out in the morning and it got washed off.

— 2 —

Dinner with my parents, evil twin, and his fiancée was excellent. The only downside was Daniel being grumpy because he couldn’t go outside and play in the rain as well as not having a full nap. Dinner was lovely and it was good to see Sean (the evil twin) and Jeanette again. We also got to see Daniel sign “more” spontaneously as we bounced him on Jeanette’s exercise ball. When he signed it, he got LOTS more bouncing. We’ve been trying to get him to do this for almost 2 years so this was some pretty sweet success.

— 3 —

Sunday, I slept until 4 p.m. with a few wakings to change Daniel’s diaper and take care of his basic needs. I think my body was kind of tired of me beating it into submission through all the sleep deprivation. Thankfully, our living room and hallway are Daniel-proof and Jon got home at noon so Daniel wasn’t without supervision for too long. (I fell asleep in the recliner in the living room so I would have heard if he was screaming or if something happened.) I also think there was some leftover Sudafed in my system or something?

— 4 —

My 10th wedding anniversary is Friday so we headed to San Jose today. The purpose of going to San Jose is obtaining cheap babysitting via my parents and also having an Olive Garden close enough for dinner. Yes, I’m aware that Olive Garden is the McDonalds of Italian food. However, I’m trying to be faithful about not eating meat on Fridays and I know that their calamari and minestrone soup are not going to irritate my stomach.

— 5 —

It’s been nice weather for the past two days. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you have outside plans this weekend), we are supposed to be having rain in the forecast for the next few days. From here, it looks like it will just be north of us and hopefully not in the south bay — I want to have park time with Daniel this weekend. The fresh air is good for him and all the climbing and chasing is good for me.

— 6 —

I’ve been really blessed by all the music posting I’ve been doing lately. I wrote last week about all the writer’s block I’ve been having. I decided that I’d focus some more of my Lenten writing on hymns and songs that are reaching me. I had been wanting to talk about “Brethren We Have Met to Worship” for a long time as well as the song “If I Stand” by Rich Mullins. The coolest thing about doing the Rich Mullins post is that I found a YouTube video of him performing it. He died in a car accident (for the love of God people, PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE wear your seatbelts!!!!) just as I was learning about him and his music so I’ve felt cheated in a way because I never got to see him perform. Finding the YouTube video was an answer to a prayer and desire that I don’t think I’ve ever vocalized.

— 7 —

At this time 3 years ago, I had swollen hands and some pretty spectacular cankles. My body was starting to feel the effects of the HELLP Syndrome and we didn’t connect the pieces until I went into full-on preeclampsia on the night of April 6th. Being part of the Promise Walk last year was one of the most healing things I think I’ve ever done because I got to know others who had dealt with some of the same things I did. Please sponsor me and help fund studies so that we can know more about this condition and help to prevent it from occurring in others.

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: March 19, 2012

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY March 19, 2012

Outside my window… mildly sunny and in the 50’s.

I am thinking… that I hate allergy season.

I am thankful… for Daniel signing “more” on his own while I was bouncing him on my sister-in-law’s exercise ball. After he spontaneously signed it, he got LOTS more bouncing.

In the kitchen… making pasta salad at some point this week.

I am wearing… black zip-up hoodie, light blue v-neck shirt, and Left Behind shorts.

I am creating… clean dishes.

I am going… to do laundry at a parishioner’s house tomorrow. (Our dryer is demon-possessed.)

I am reading… Fearless by Max Lucado and Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner.

I am hoping… Daniel goes down for his nap soon.

I am looking forward to… my anniversary dinner on Friday. (10 years!)

Around the house… doing dishes. Whee.

One of my favorite things… Bertolli’s frozen soups for two.

A few plans for the rest of the week: PT tomorrow, speech and mid-week Lenten dinner on Wednesday, OT and leaving for San Jose on Thursday, haircuts for Daniel/me and dinner out for our anniversary on Friday, and coming home on Saturday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes — Fruit of a Grumpy Week

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7 Quick Takes

It’s been a tough week for blogging. AT&T screwed with our Internet and forced me to have to put posts on hold while I found alternate methods of posting them. When I did get back to posting, I found I had tremendous writer’s block. Oy vey…

— 1 —

I just saw that “The Big Bang Theory” is being pre-empted by some stupid basketball games. I don’t care who is playing — this is simply unacceptable. The egregiousness of this is on par with CBS News cutting into NCIS: Los Angeles to announce election returns.

— 2 —

Our router seems to be having hiccups. It worked perfectly fine in Montana and I don’t think it has anything to do with being 2.5 years old. I’m wondering if it’s issues because of the weather (again, it’s curious) or what it is. The package said not to let it near cordless phones or microwaves but as I don’t know of another phone jack in the house, I’m not sure we have a choice. It’s kind of irritating because I’d *like* decent wi-fi. (And yes, I’m aware that this is yet another first world problem.)

— 3 —

I’m finding that I could probably quote and analyze the entirety of every Sojourners article I read. They manage to speak to me on a level that I rarely find in faith-based publications. There have been articles on discourse, tithing, and retention of 20somethings that are just brilliant beyond anything else I see on those subjects.

— 4 —

I got the rest of the devotionals written for the family friend of my in-laws. Again, I ended up with weird passages from Acts and in some cases, it was a struggle to find ways to make them applicable. I’ve been asked if I’m going to post any of them on here and the answer is probably “no” because they’re going to be part of a book and I don’t want to deal with copyright issues.

— 5 —

Daniel is doing better. Those who are on Twitter with me know that he and I made a trip to Urgent Care yesterday at UCD Pediatrics. He had been coughing and after our nap (he fell asleep on top of me and I was “forced” to take a nap with him), he had a low grade fever. This a kid who can go from normal to critical in the period of an hour so I called the advice nurse at UCD Pediatrics and asked her sweetly for a same-day appointment. They had one so I got us dressed, packed what I’d need overnight (basically figuring that he wouldn’t be admitted to the hospital if I came prepared), and drove to Sacramento. The med student who saw us first could hear him wheezing and breathing quickly but her attending couldn’t, mostly because my precious sweetling was in full-on tantrum mode by the time she came in. Her thought was that his cold/allergies exacerbated his asthma and advised us to keep giving him his inhaler over the next 24 hours. (During his tantrum, he worked himself into a gagging fit and coughed up a decent chunk of phlegm so I think that was part of it.) They told me that it was good that I brought him in considering his history (two hospitalizations in a year) but that they wouldn’t have to admit him. Yay. We came home, bathed him, and spent the evening bonding.

— 6 —

We’ve got a busy couple days ahead of us. We’re headed up north to have dinner with friends tomorrow night and on Saturday, we’re headed to my evil twin’s house for my dad’s birthday celebration. (Yes, he was actually born on St. Patrick’s Day and we are indeed Irish.) He should already have received his present (a gift certificate from Oceanside Photo and Telescope) but I should probably find an irreverant card. (It’s not a milestone birthday so that narrows it down a bit.)

— 7 —

Do you love babies? I do. I also love their mommies. Preeclampsia is a pregnancy disorder that strikes 5-8% of pregnant women in some shape or form. The only cure is to deliver the baby and if it happens early enough in the pregnancy (earliest is 16 weeks), the baby will not survive. Help mommies keep their babies in the womb longer — sponsor me

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: March 12, 2012

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY

Outside my window… sunny and probably in the 50’s or 60’s. Apparently, this equals rain in the eyes of Sacramento weather people. Umm… yeah.

I am thinking… that my little bear should hopefully be going to sleep soon given that I gave him some Benadryl and have changed his diaper a few times.

I am thankful… that the Girl Scouts are going strong 100 years after their founding. I’m also thankful for the cookie program, especially for Samoas which are making me happy (and we’re not going to talk about their effect on my waistline).

In the kitchen… probably heating some Bertolli’s soup or something.

I am wearing… my black Arabic shirt and Jon’s navy “Left Behind” shorts.

I am creating… this entry and pondering ideas for Lenten ones so I can stay with my Lenten discipline.

I am going… to Bible study tonight while Jon stays with Daniel.

I am wondering… how people can claim President Obama is a Muslim when there was the grumping about Pastor Jeremiah Wright in the 2008 election — you know Obama’s PASTOR?!?!?!?!? (“Obama is Muslim” was trending on Twitter today.)

I am reading… Fearless by Max Lucado.

I am hoping… Daniel takes a good nap and goes down easily tonight.

I am looking forward to… various things this week.

I am pondering… things for Lenten writings this week.

A favorite quote for today… “If we discover a desire within us that nothing in this world can satisfy, also we should begin to wonder if perhaps we were created for another world.” — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… Samoas!

A few plans for the rest of the week: Bible study and “Hart of Dixie” tonight, PT tomorrow, speech and mid-week Lenten stuff on Wednesday, OT on Thursday, possibly Confession and dinner with Dean and Kym on Friday, and family gathering for my dad’s birthday on Saturday at my evil twin’s house.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes — Devotional Writing, Brachel, and My Current Book

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7 Quick Takes

TGIAF! It has been “a week” for sure.

— 1 —

I’m working on 12 devotions for a book being put together by a family friend. I seem to be getting the weird passages from Acts that bridge the well-known stories. When I finally looked at them on Tuesday night, my first thought was “how the heck am I supposed to come up with stuff on these?!?!?” Somehow around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, I came up with three of them. My mother-in-law (who is editing them) loved them. Today, I have finished at least four more. Maybe I’m not completely inept at this?

— 2 —

I did “A Day in my Life” over at Catholic and Crunchy. The day I profiled was last Thursday. Go take a look at it. Do it now.

— 3 —

We continue to plod along in getting Daniel transitioned over to the school district. We met with speech therapy last Friday and the meeting with the school psychologist was Wednesday. Daniel was uncooperative for the school psychologist so he is going to use the parental questionnaire forms he gave me. I probably should be filling them out but I’m kind of burned out on filling out forms and such at the moment. (I’ll probably do it during Daniel’s neuro appointment on Friday.) I’m thankful that he was understanding about Daniel’s lack of cooperation. Apparently, this is not unusual with autistic kids as well as two year olds.

— 4 —

Apparently, Brachel is on Amazing Race in this iteration. For those who are not fans of Big Brother, “Brachel” is Brendon and Rachel from seasons 12 and 13 who had a “showmance” and are now engaged. Rachel, the evil redheaded she-devil, won Big Brother 13. She is a major drama queen and I kept hoping she’d be voted off like she was in season 12. Unfortunately, I never got my wish. I’m not an Amazing Race fan anyway but having her and Brendon on is yet another reason for me to skip it and watch NUMB3RS in syndication.

— 5 —

Writing for Lent has been good for me. I know I discussed this last week but it has helped me work through some of the things I’ve seen on TV and in the media. It is also reacquainting me with Sojourners Magazine, a publication that I hadn’t read in years. Finding hymns to post YouTube videos has been fun and finding the hymns to use on Sunday has reacquainted me with our prayer books. I don’t know how this will play out when Easter comes around but it might get me posting more frequently and not just using memes like this and The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

— 6 —

I am currently reading Fearless by Max Lucado. I read Traveling Light four years ago and it was what I needed at the time. Fearless deals with the sources of our fears and how we can work to overcome them. I love Max Lucado because he has a writing style that is accessible and he is not a “pop culture” pastor like Rick Warren or Joel Osteen. (There are no words sufficient to convey how much I despise The Purpose-Driven Life and Joel Osteen preaches “the prosperity Gospel”.) I’m not actively facing major fear but I feel like it will probably really help me out at a later time to be reading this right now.

— 7 —

I know that 40 Days for Life is going on right now and sponsoring me in the Promise Walk is another way to say “yes” to life. Around 20% of the walkers and those sharing stories on the Preeclampsia Foundation website lost their babies because the c-section performed to save their lives meant that their babies were born too early. It can strike as early as 16 weeks and many women encounter it between 24-30 weeks. While they can usually save babies born after 24 weeks, many of these kids have severe developmental problems and are at risk for a number of problems like holes in their hearts, reactive airway issues, feeding issues, and more. Help mothers like me keep our babies inside longer — sponsor me.

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