Monthly Archives: September 2013

52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose: How My Childhood Impacted Who I Am Today

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This week’s topic: how my childhood impacted who I am today.

This should be an interesting list.

[+] I am compassionate because my mom modeled it on a daily basis. She’s the one who would give money to people with “out of work” signs and buy the ingredients for a separate Thanksgiving dinner for the food pantry. I also had lots of service opportunities through school and Girl Scouts.

[+] I am creative because I had parents who encouraged me to read whatever I wanted, draw, and write stories. My mom has “books” that I made when I was 5 and 6.

[+] I am shy because I was bullied in school and consequently am really wary around people until I know I can trust them.

[+] I am good at thinking on my feet because of Girl Scouts, particularly my Senior troop. We got to do lots of activities where we had to think through all the steps independently and they taught me how to rely on my own everywhere from a job interview to the wilderness.

[+] I am focused because I wanted to be the best at everything and my classmates in middle schoo; and high school gave me a run for my money.

[+] I am a blogger because I was bored one afternoon in February 1997 (I think it was the 10th) and heard about this site called Geocities that allowed you to build your own personal website. I started blogging three years later.

[+] I am a Christian because I was blessed to have a neighbor who read me the Gospel when I was 6 years old and showed me what it was to be a godly woman. She was one of the Scripture readers at my wedding and I miss her so much! (She lives in Oregon now. The last time I saw her was 7 years ago when I was in Oregon for my grandfather’s funeral.)

[+] I am addicted to georgraphy because I had a first grade teacher who handed me a map and explained how it all worked. I knew all my state capitals before the year was up. Playing “Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego” obsessively in second grade also helped.

[+] I am a good cook because my mom had my brother and I “helping” her from the time we could pull chairs to the counter. It took her three times as long at first but we could follow a recipe by the time we were 7 and cook dinner by the time we were 9.

[+} I am a classical music lover because my mom had it on all the time. She also did the “You-Sing-It Messiah” with me in high school and college. By the time my awesome Music Appreciation class rolled around in high school, I knew more than most of my clasmates.

Now go see Becky and what everyone else was impacted by their childhoods.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: September 29, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY September 29, 2013

Outside my window… warm. We’re getting a chill at night though.

I am thinking… about the stray cat we dropped off at the emergency vet hospital after its legs ended up under my back wheels this morning. They thankfully have a Good Samaritan policy (we can relinquish strays and they will either treat or euthanize) and it’s making me feel mildly less horrible about the situation. At least if they have to euthanize him, he got some love and care in the last hour of his life.

I am thankful… for Jon being able to drive me to the emergency vet as I’m not in any shape to drive after not sleeping last night.

In the kitchen… I microwaved some chicken and cheese taquitos from the frozen food section. #healthyeatingfail

I am wearing… forest green v-neck shirt and running shorts.

I am creating… the last of the devotions for the book and starting on plans for NaNoWriMo this year (which pretty much consists of recycling my notes from last year).

I am going… to hope that I get sleep tonight.

I am reading… Sundays in America by Suzanne Strempek Shea. I need to just buckle down and finish it this week.

I am hoping… to get some walks in this week.

I am looking forward to… seeing my parents this weekend.

Around the house… working on laundry.

I am pondering… many things internally.

A favorite quote for today… ??If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.?? -C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… Crystal Light Iced Peach Tea.

A few plans for the rest of the week: ABA therapy for Daniel on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, audiologist appointment for Daniel on Tuesday, Ladies’ Night Out on Wednesday, nail appointment on Friday morning, possibly a massage that afternoon, interview with PCOS researcher on Friday afternoon, and heading to San Jose for the weekend.

A peek into my day… a lapful last night. (Pardon my lovely double chin that only appears when my head is tilted down.)

A lapful.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: Stylite Monks, Acapella Wonderfulness, and Prayer Requests

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Stylite monk in Georgia. I remember reading about stylite saints in college and it’s interesting to know that they still exist. It’s a fascinating article and they mention St. Simeon Stylite who was on his pillar for 33 years and used to chew out those who came to him for advice (at least according to the hagiography I read in college).

— 2 —

Sandwiches are beautiful/Sandwiches are fine/I like sandwiches/I eat them all the time. A man told his girlfriend, after she made him a sandwich, that she was three hundred sandwiches away from an engagement ring. The woman decided to blog about her sandwich-making exploits and just got featured on a bunch of news sites. Her adventure has been decried as “anti-feminist” and “1950’s housewife” but I think the way she is going about it is actually kind of cool. She’s blogging new and interesting recipes and figures that if she doesn’t have an engagement ring by the end of it, she’ll at least know how to make a bunch of different foods.

— 3 —

NaNoWriMo. Because I totally don’t have enough on my plate already, I’m thinking of doing NaNoWriMo this year. I’m thinking of doing a murder mystery again and this means that I need to get my editing project done in the next month and start compiling plot points, characters, setting, etc. Oh yes… I also need to remember to back up my progress daily so I don’t lose it if my hard drive fails like last year.

— 4 —

Amazing. Priest’s Wife shared the first video with me. This choral music snob found it amazing! (The song is “One Thing Remains” by Kristian Stanfill.) The second video (“In Christ Alone”) was featured as well.

— 5 —

This makes me smile. This video of Jimmy Fallon and The Roots has been going around Facebook today. I love how they’re playing preschool rhythm instruments and the Muppets are interspersed between them.

— 6 —

Horrible. Last night, a Dodgers fan was stabbed outside of AT&T Park. (AT&T Park is where the Giants play.) It follows the beating of a Giants fan outside of Dodgers Stadium 2 1/2 years ago. Seriously y’all, if you have to engage in violence to prove your superiority in baseball rivalries, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!!!

— 7 —

Orphans. Do you see these two sweet children?

L-R: Brett and Iris
BrettIris

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and they are compiling their dossier to send to her country.

— Bonus —

Prayers for the Fuller twins. Please keep praying for Thomas’ twin sons that they can stay in utero until 24 weeks at least. Our prayers have gotten them to 22.5 weeks and the longer they can stay in the womb, the better.

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

Five Favorites: Blogging Hacks

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Five Favorites

These are some of the things that I do that help me with blogging every week.

One

Text files with the codes for memes. I have a folder on my desktop that has all the HTML for the memes in which I take part weekly. Some bloggers will provide code, others might provide an image, and others let you figure it out. If you participate in the Quick Takes at ConversionDiary.Com every week, Jen gives you the necessary code and you just have to save it as a text file. I run WordPress on my domain so I can generate necessary code even though I know enough HTML to write my own. It’s not pretty but it works. 🙂

Two

Bookmark folders.I mostly run Chrome so I usually don’t do this one in exactly this form, but I would if I did almost everything in Firefox. In Chrome, I bookmark anything that looks interesting and then just look at any bookmarks from the last few days when I’m writing my Quick Takes or doing my Five Favorites.

Three

Create drafts for the week ahead of time. On Sunday night, I do my Simple Woman’s Daybook entry and then create drafts for the other memes I take part in during the week. I tend to be up late so I do get some quiet while working on them. 🙂 Having the drafts allows me to just plug content into the correct draft. If something happens like the Pope’s interview last week and I want to respond to it, I just cut and paste the text for the drafts into EditPad and move some stuff around. I wouldn’t worry about it except that my URL’s are generated when I save something as a draft.

Four

Read other blogs. Sometimes, someone will write something that needs to be shared. If I wasn’t in the habit of reading probably 50+ blogs, I’d definitely have some problems finding content. Thankfully, not all of them blog daily and I have a feed reader (Bloglovin) that creates a list of posts for me. The other benefit of reading other blogs: if you leave comments, the other bloggers might visit you and you’ll find some interesting people.

Five

Join memes and link-ups. This kind of goes back to #1 (where I tell you to store the codes in *.txt files) but many times, these give you a topic or a framework for something about which you can write. The Simple Woman’s Daybook and Blogging with a Purpose are two that I enjoy. There are scores of others. They also help you find other like-minded bloggers and expose your blog to people you might not otherwise get to know.

Go love up Hallie and the others.

{Virtual} Coffee Date (vol. 8)

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{Virtual Coffee Date}

Once you’re done here, go visit Karianna and the other coffee drinkers.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I’m pondering the idea of doing NaNoWriMo again this year though I’m not sure if it would be a murder mystery or just chick lit. I’m also going to offer to kill people off for a charity donation again.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I kind of wish the NCIS sitch was resolved in one episode instead of two. I’m glad that NCIS: Los Angeles resolved themselves in one episode tonight.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I have to go yell at Social Security tomorrow though my appointment is supposed to be with someone who has a brain. Hopefully, this gets them off my back and lets me know what I need to do in the future to keep them happy.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you how much I loved the rain, the hail, the thunder, and the lightning on Saturday. I don’t think we’d seen decent moisture since maybe March or April.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I’m happy that Thomas’ boys have made it to 22 weeks and how I’m praying that they’ll make it to at least 24 weeks in utero to give them the best shot at life.

Thanks for having coffee with me. I, like Karianna, am burning the midnight oil. See you next week!

52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose: A Letter to My 16 Year Old Self

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Today’s topic: a letter to my 16 year old self.

Dear 16 year old self,

I have good news: it gets better — SO SO SO MUCH BETTER. Here are a couple tips:

1.) Junior Honors English Wench is dead wrong. You might get B’s in her class but you will have straight A’s in AP English. Her drama queens won’t even get past the first week of AP English where they regurgitate whatever they read over the summer. This class will prove to you that you have no desire to do anything with literary criticism. Screw what JHEW thinks — she might take perverse pleasure in screaming at you in front of the class but that’s because she is so insecure that she needs her pets to prop her up.

2.) You will get a B+ in USH AP. You’ll live. You probably should have done more on Project A and actually gone through the magazines in the library but you’ll live. Project B will rock your world. You will find that the paper you write on the Scopes Trial will get you out of a few assignments when you hit college. Enjoy it.

3.) Your Walk-A-Day experience will show you what you truly want to do in life. You might start out being pre-med and change to religion but what you really want is to be an ER nurse or a respiratory therapist. It’s OK though — everything you learn in college and seminary will prepare you for the rest of your life and you’ll find a way to go back to school eventually.

4.) ECA will become your home and the choir will become your new family. You will find a church community who will love you because you’re Jen — not for any other reason.

Just hang in there for now. Once you graduate, you can leave high school behind and find your true self in college.

Snuggles,
Your 33 year old self

Now go see Becky and what wisdom everyone else shared with their 16 year old selves..

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: September 23, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY September 23, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It’s 2:15 a.m.

I am thinking… about my next move on Words With Friends. (I’m writing this in between ads.)

I am thankful… that Thomas’ sons have been able to stay in utero for another week and am praying they can stay in utero for longer.

In the kitchen… dishes to do.

I am wearing… my black “Governator” shirt (I am Californian after all!) and black running shorts.

I am creating… the bare bones of blog posts.

I am going… to hope I can get myself organized for the week tomorrow morning (well… technically today).

I am wondering… when Daniel’s hitting and head-butting will stop. I’m still surprised he didn’t knock out one of my front teeth on Saturday.

I am reading… Sundays in America by Suzanne Strempek Shea. I’m hoping to finish it this week so I can move on to Pastorix by Nadia Bolz-Weber.

I am hoping… for a quieter week.

I am looking forward to… all premieres of all my favorite shows.

I am pondering… waaaaaaay too many things.

A favorite quote for today… “The risk in seeking and finding God in all things, then, is the willingness to explain too much, to say with human certainty and arrogance: ??God is here.?? We will find only a god that fits our measure. The correct attitude is that of St. Augustine: seek God to find him, and find God to keep searching for God forever. Often we seek as if we were blind, as one often reads in the Bible. And this is the experience of the great fathers of the faith, who are our models. We have to re-read the Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 11. Abraham leaves his home without knowing where he was going, by faith. All of our ancestors in the faith died seeing the good that was promised, but from a distance…. Our life is not given to us like an opera libretto, in which all is written down; but it means going, walking, doing, searching, seeing…. We must enter into the adventure of the quest for meeting God; we must let God search and encounter us.” — Pope Francis in his interview in America Magazine.

One of my favorite things… iced vanilla whole milk lattés.

A few plans for the rest of the week: ABA therapy for Daniel on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, getting Daniel a flu shot on Tuesday, fighting with SSI on Wednesday, and hopefully not much else.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook