Category Archives: Memes and Link-Ups

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: January 28, 2018

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For Today… January 28, 2018

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… cold and windy but not bad overall. We’re supposed to get some rain tonight.

I am thinking… about my trip to San Jose for court. I have everything set up for Daniel care and I have to trust that he’ll be OK with my mom and sleep OK tomorrow night. It’s unnerving to say the least!

I am thankful… for everything falling into place for this trip.

One of my favorite things… a good Reddit thread.

I am wearing… jammies. Church clothes were a berry-colored long-sleeved shirt with black slacks and black flats. I switched the slacks out for black jeans when I got home.

I am creating… this blog post. 🙂 Also random stuff on my hooks.

I am listening to… Shawn Colvin singing “I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon”.

I am hoping… court is decided in my favor on Tuesday.

I am learning… FICA tax calculations.

In my kitchen… I’ve been eating a lot of tuna subs from Subway.

In the school room… Daniel is becoming a little parrot so I’m having to start watching my language around him.

Post Script… sharing this infographic on how your cat is plotting to kill you. You’re welcome.

Shared Quote… “How, then, to imagine, the expansive heart of this God—greater than God—who takes seven buses, just to arrive at us. We settle sometimes for less than intimacy with God when all God longs for is this solidarity with us. In Spanish, when you speak of your great friend, you describe the union and kinship as being de uña y mugre—our friendship is like the fingernail and the dirt under it. Our image of who God is and what’s on God’s mind is more tiny than it is troubled. It trips more on our puny sense of God than over conflicting creedal statements or theological considerations. The desire of God’s heart is immeasurably larger than our imaginations can conjure. This longing of God’s to give us peace and assurance and a sense of well-being only awaits our willingness to cooperate with God’s limitless magnanimity.”
–Greg Boyle, S.J.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

5 Quick Takes: Reasons My Quick Takes Are Late Edition

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7 Quick Takes

I’m usually one of the first to post their Quick Takes when they go live on Friday at midnight (9 p.m. PST where I am) and it’s now Saturday without a post from me! Why, do you ask, are my Quick Takes late this week? Well…

— 1 —

My bed broke. At Christmas, the SKORVA beam that goes down the middle of my IKEA bed broke. My brother had experienced something similar with his IKEA bed, so he helped me prop it with books. The new part arrived after New Year’s and I installed it… but there was another problem. The LUROY slats on which the mattress sits are in two pieces, not one and certain slats kept slipping and making part of the mattress sag. My bed will be slept in by someone else while I’m in San Jose so I had to get this fixed. I just duct-taped the two halves together in such a way that Red Green would approve.

Admittedly, I still think that the designers of the SKORVA and LUROY should be trampled by a herd of syphilitic reindeer.

— 2 —

Court. As some of you know, there’s a request for order hearing this coming Tuesday in my divorce case. I was supposed to be able to testify by phone but was informed by my attorney two weeks ago that they were demanding me to be there in person because they couldn’t handle both Jon and me phoning our testimony into the hearing.

[insert me banging my head against the wall]

So… I cleared it with my parents to have them take care of Daniel and made arrangements to fly to San Jose on Monday afternoon, stay overnight, have court in the morning, and fly back to Washington on Tuesday afternoon. I’ll be gone for a little over 24 hours and am having to put everything together for my mom so that all the Daniel care stuff is automatic. While I have things more or less in place already, I’m having to edit the Daniel care journal to update it about medication and stuff like that.

— 3 —

School. I have work for two classes due on Monday and one of those classes is an enormous time suck. I’ve got everything for the first one done and am about to dive into the calculations for the class that is the time suck.

— 4 —

Daniel had no school on Friday. It was an in-service day or something so he was home yesterday, and that makes things a bit more complicated. Thankfully, he’s a good kid and we were able to go do some of the stocking-up for my trip without a problem.

— 5 —

Health. While I’m recovering more from the respiratory crap last week, I’m still not 100% and still not sleeping well because my breathing sucks. There are a large number of naps being taken and sleeping in happening as a result.

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

7 Quick Takes: Random YouTube Videos Edition

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7 Quick Takes

I finally got to see a competent medical professional (a.k.a. my regular doctor) on Wednesday and she had kittens over the mess that was my respiratory system. Apparently, the twit I saw in the ER should have done at least one more breathing treatment, checked my sinuses (which were inflamed and infected), checked my ears (also inflamed/infected), done a rapid strep test on me (my throat was a mess from coughing), and tested me for the flu.

Because the infection is primarily my sinuses and my lungs are just a casualty of that and a virus that my adorable little petri dish brought home from school, it’s not officially bronchitis and handing me a Z-pack would be wrong. Her first choice would be a boatload of Prednisone, but she can’t give me that without also making a reservation for me on a locked psych ward as well as giving me enough benzodiazepines to stun someone twice my size. (I have an abnormally severe anxiety reaction to oral steroids, so they are black-boxed on my chart.) So… I have hospital-level stuff for my nebulizer (a homemade Duo-Neb combo), some Clindamycin for my infections, Sudafed to knock out the congestion, and orders to stay in bed and rest until further notice. The Duo-Neb combo is working and I got sleep last night for the first time in probably 72 hours.

Because I’m spending large amounts of time on my computer in the middle of the night, I’ve left my YouTube on random. I’ve discovered some new music in my recommendations and I think I’ll share them instead of subjecting you to more of my pity party.

— 1 —

“Thy Strong Word” by the Concordia University Chicago Wind Symphony. This is one of my favorite hymns and this is an awesome arrangement of it.

— 2 —

“The Voyage of the Moon” by Donovan. Very lullaby-like.

— 3 —

“Jennifer Juniper” by Donovan. A favorite for obvious reasons and potentially the reason for my first name. According to various family members, they would play this for me when I was very young (ages 2-4) and I would dance to it.

— 4 —

“Jesus, I Am Resting” by The Wissmann Family. I love bluegrass and gospel music so this one is calming. It’s also my idea of beautiful church music.

— 5 —

“Jabberwocky” by Donovan. If you read the poem with your kiddo, you need to listen to the song. It’s a fabulous adaptation.

— 6 —

“The Summons” by John Bell. This is a huge favorite of mine so it pops up in YouTube recommendations a lot.

— 7 —

Mo Ghille Mear” by the UCD Choral Scholars. Breathtaking and beautiful. Probably one of my favorite versions of the song. (I also love the versions done by Sting and Mary Black.)

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: January 16, 2018

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For Today…

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… dark. I’ve been hearing some rain hit the window and the wind blowing.

I am thinking… how miserable I feel. I’ve got bronchitis and the ER doc screwed up on Sunday night in not giving me antibiotics (or doing much of anything really) while I was there. (His bedside manner was similarly abysmal. I’m disappointed because we usually have had such good luck in the ER here.)

I am thankful… I can skip classes tomorrow and I’ve built up enough of a network of notetakers that I have people who can take care of getting them to me this week.

One of my favorite things… being able to breathe. Not happening right now!

I am wearing… jammies.

I am creating… this entry.

I am reading… Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans for the second time. I highly recommend it.

I am hoping… I can get in with my doctor tomorrow for a second opinion on this.

I am learning… how to calculate gross pay in some of the weirdest situations imaginable.

In my kitchen… I made lasagna for comfort food before my ability to breathe disappeared.

Shared Quote…

Build a mirror instead of a wall.

Closing Notes: Please pray for me that they can get me in to see my doctor tomorrow and we can get to the bottom of what this really is.

Thanks!

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: January 9, 2018

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For Today… January 9, 2018

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… dark. We had rain on and off and lots of clouds with temps in the 40’s F. I have a headache from the weather change, but the rain is worth it.

I am thinking… about classes. It’s nothing profound as today was my first “long” day and I’m pretty sure I was asleep by 9:30. (I got woken up by something.)

I am thankful… that I was able to help people in my OFTEC 135 class today and that I was able to talk geek with a parishioner on my “coffee” break today. (Why yes, it involved working on homework at Starbucks in between classes. How did you know?!?!?!?)

One of my favorite things… the blissful feeling you get before you fall asleep.

I am wearing… jammies. Clothes were a black shirt and jeans today with a hoodie.

I am creating… Excel formulas. I’m in heaven.

I am reading… Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans. It’s a re-read and I’m loving it.

I am hoping… to do well on my test in 10-Key class tomorrow. (It’s just basic math on the calculator.) We also have a practice touch addition test tomorrow so I will probably be doing touch addition drills before class to warm up my fingers.

I am learning… how to effectively help my classmates in OFTEC 135. We were doing advanced formulas today and I was having to explain some of them to a classmate who got lost.

In my kitchen… leftover lasagna. (I made a batch of “lazy” lasagna this weekend and froze some of it for days when cooking required too much coherent thought… like today!)

In the school room… Daniel is ecstatic to be back at school.

Post Script… something I should try again.

Shared Quote… “It’s strange that Christians so rarely talk about failure when we claim to follow a guy whose three-year ministry was cut short by his crucifixion.” — Rachel Held Evans

A moment from my day… Our choir anthem from Sunday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Antiquated Office Machine Edition

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

10-key calculators. I had my first 10-Key class on Wednesday and my instructor started by saying that she knows we’re probably wondering why we’re learning such “antiquated” pieces of office machinery. Apparently, the employers and business owners on the advisory board for the OFTEC department keep saying “yes” when asked if they still want us to learn how to use them because “touch addition” on the 10-key pad of a keyboard is still something they want us to know how to do. So… all of us got to check an electronic calculator out of the library before class on Wednesday and rolls of papers were distributed at the beginning of class.

— 2 —

#squadgoals This might be a happy thing to show to your engineer and nerd friends.

— 3 —

Yep. This article talks about the tragedy of dumbing down Christianity. The things that the author describes are why I am positively ecstatic that Rachel Held Evans has a book on the Bible coming out this year.

— 4 —

Balancing school and training for the Olympics. NPR did a lovely piece on balancing college and the training needed for the Olympics. I’m looking forward to seeing how two of the athletes do in the Games!

— 5 —

Escape games. My mom got me addicted to escape games on my e-reader and it has been fabulous for keeping my mind sharp while sitting and waiting at doctor’s offices or other places. The two makers I’ve found to be the best are MobiGrow and Mobest Media.

— 6 —

Fernando Ortega. He released a new album with music and readings related to the Crucifixion this past year. (The album itself is called “The Crucifixion of Jesus”.) I recommend it highly.

— 7 —

Lenten devotional update. I sent a survey to the people who told me of their interest in helping put together a Lenten devotional for church a few days ago. On the question about possible themes, there were a bunch of checkboxes and I put two somewhat snarky statements in there:

“I like checking boxes!”

“I’m checking this box to troll Jen!”

I thought my priest would tell me to take them out… but she was one of the people who checked both of them and she had me include some more silly answers in the version of the survey sent to the wider parish!

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.