Monthly Archives: February 2015

7 Quick Takes: Things I’ll Be Doing This Weekend Instead of Going to See “50 Shades of Grey”

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7 Quick Takes

I’m pretty sure that dissing “50 Shades of Grey” is going to appear in most peoples’ Quick Takes this weekend. There are already some interesting posts on the subject here, here (warning: some swearing which makes it NSFW), here, and here.

— 1 —

Letting Kelly pick my Lenten discipline. I’ll be giving up Coke, doing some extra spiritual reading, doing some extra praying, and then one more thing that Kelly (our Quick Takes hostess-with-the-mostess) gets to pick. She has until 11:59 PST on the 17th to tell me what it is and get supplies for said discipline to me.

— 2 —

Trying to learn all the words to “Baba Yetu” (and how to pronouce them). The utterly amazing Peter Hollens and his friend Malukah covered Christopher Tin’s Grammy-winning composition “Baba Yetu” which is the theme to the computer game Civilization IV. It’s the Swahili translation of the Lord’s Prayer (or at least most of it). It’s amazing but I do have to work on how to pronounce some of the words. (I’ve learned from previous experience that Swahili is not a language that flows from my tongue well.)

— 3 —

Putting together valentine’s for Daniel’s class. I actually am almost done with these valentines from a free printable created by Amy of Living Locurto. (Go check her out. She is crazy talented!) My thanks go to Ann of House of Estrogen who featured them on her blog 4 years ago.

— 4 —

Reading Unvirtuous Abbey’s Twitter stream. If you haven’t read the Twitter stream of Unvirtuous Abbey, stop whatever you are doing and click on their name!!!! They are irreverent and funny in ways that only Canadians can be.

— 5 —

Listening to David Wesley. If you’re a fan of Peter Hollens, check out David Wesley. He does amazing acapella mixes of popular worship songs. My props to priest’s wife who introduced me to him.

— 6 —

Bonding with family. My sister-in-law Joanna, her son Patrick, and her mother-in-law Margie are coming up tomorrow to spend the afternoon with us for Valentine’s Day. I need to put together the Valentine’s Day present I have for Patrick — I’ve got some squeeze pouches of applesauce from Trader Joe’s and I’m going to put a wrap on them with his picture and some heart stickers. On his picture will be some text that says, “You are my main squeeze.”

— 7 —

Dreaming of the pedicure I’ll be getting with the present Jon gave me for Valentine’s Day. Jon has two weddings on Saturday (and probably turned down ten more) so we did “date tea” instead of doing a date night on Saturday. We went to $tarbux and Jon got lunch (a grilled cheese sandwich and passion tea lemonade) while I got my iced vanilla latté and some marshmallow dream bars. His present to me was a gift certificate for a mani-pedi which will probably be a pedicure with extras given that regular nail polish doesn’t stay on my fingers well. (My present to him was some special coffee and moscato from Trader Joe’s.) It will be nice to be able to have some pampering that isn’t usually in the budget these days.

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

#FiveFaves: Miscellanea (XXVIII)

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#5Faves

One

This offering from Peter Hollens and Malukah. It’s the Lord’s Prayer in Swahili which is used in the game Civilization IV.

Two

The fact that a school bus picks Daniel up each morning and brings him home. I had to drop some paperwork off for one of his therapists at his school and I managed to forget that Wednesday is a “Compact Day” for everyone else so pick-up time is around 12:45 p.m. Oh vey… I keep forgetting how much of a pain in the rear it is to do “drop-off” or “pick-up” and how I’m so incredibly lucky not to have that be a part of my day. I had to park a decent walk away from the school (well… a decent walk for someone with a bum foot) and it was definitely a painful walk!

Three

Marshmallow Dream Bars. These are the $tarbux equivalent of a Rice Krispies treat. In any case, it’s like kryptonite for me.

Four

Bible studies with my church ladies. The other woman at the Wednesday morning Bible study (with the exception of my priest) are old enough to be my mother or even my grandmother in some cases… but they are absolutely delightful and act happy to see me even if I’m sitting there crocheting through all of it. They tell me how wonderful it is to see me and when we had a combined service for the annual meeting, they complimented me on the choir music. (They’re all attenders of the 8:00 service and I’m at 10:00 with the choir.)

Five

Dave Barry. Dave Barry, whose writing I have loved for 25+ years, took on 50 Shades of Grey. It’s worth reading — go to it!

Go love up Jenna and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: February 8, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY February 8, 2015

Outside my window… dark. It was lovely and in the 70’s today though I kind of wish we could have had the storm that hit my parents’ house in the Bay Area.

I am thinking… about my friend Katie who is 38 weeks pregnant with her daughter and a pre-e survivor like me. I’m hoping she can carry to term and have a successful VBAC.

I am thankful… for my church community and for our leadership who really try to foster a family atmosphere.

In the kitchen… sitting here in darkness. I had some teryaki chicken and potatoes from Trader Joe’s earlier.

I am wearing… my Online Debate Team shirt and capri-length sweats.

I am praying for… the right call for Jon to come up, for some of my friends who are due this month, for healing of the flare-up of my foot injury, and for help in discerning various aspects of my life.

I am going… to bed soon. It’s 10:30 already.

I am wondering… whether I should do the virtual walk for the Promise Walk this year or do it in the Bay Area with my mom or head down to San Diego. The one in San Diego is over my birthday weekend so it might be kind of fun to spend the weekend down there with just Jon.

I am reading… Murder with Puffins by Donna Andrews. I’m also doing this Bible-reading program. Right now, I’m just finishing Exodus in the Old Testament and starting Mark in the New Testament.

I am hoping… to get my Lenten discipline nailed down soon.

I am looking forward to… Wednesday when I have some church things. Yippee!

I am hearing… the fan on my laptop. The house is silent otherwise.

Around the house… stillness.

One of my favorite things… sleep.

A few plans for the rest of the week: taking my mother-in-law to allergy shots tomorrow, doing all my church stuff on Wednesday, and whatever comes up in the course of the week.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

Blogs That You May Not Be Reading, But You Should Be: A Link-Up

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Erica at Saint Affairs had the idea of featuring “under-appreciated” blogs during the Sheenazing Awards. As many of the people in my Bloglovin are not big-time bloggers, I thought I’d share and give a few of them a shout-out.

Blogs That You May Not Be Reading, But You Should Be

Fear Not Little Flock: Priest’s Wife and I have been friends for four years and we comiserate frequently about life as a clergy spouse. Her husband is a Byzantine Catholic priest (hence the reason he is allowed to be married) and she writes quite a bit on Eastern Catholicism. I recommend her post on what her weekend looks like.

Laughing Joyously: I got to know Claire through the 7 Quick Takes when it was still over at ConversionDiary.Com. I find her commentary on politics and ethics to be well-reasoned and it’s hard to believe sometimes that she is only a freshman in college. I recommend her post on Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, the autoimmune disease she has.

Keeping It Real: Diary of a Not-Very Indian Girl is pretty interesting. Sue talks about Catholicism from an Indian perspective and she tends to read American mommy bloggers which means that she’s keeping some strange company. 🙂 She wrote an amazing piece on Christian persecution in India today.

Restless Until I Rest in Thee: Agnes is a pharmacy student who blogs about her studies, her marriage, and her cat. 🙂 She’s looking at being a pediatric pharmacist in a hospital which warms my heart — I’ve dealt with some wonderful ones.

Go see the others featured in this link-up!

New Year’s Questions!

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Beth Anne tagged me for this meme (that she procrastinated in filling out). I have no desire to tag anyone so I’m just doing this for fun and to have something to do while icing a swollen foot.

Four names that people call me:

1. Jen

2. Jenni

3. Lepicat (college email address)

4. Jenni-fur (mother-in-law)

Four jobs I have had:

1. Camp counselor

2. Library Assistant

3. Bookseller (Barnes & Noble)

4. Administrative assistant for an import brokerage owned by UPS

Four movies I have seen more than once:

1. Forrest Gump

2. The Princess Bride

3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

4. The Birdcage

Four books I’d recommend:

1. Surprised by Joy

2. What’s So Amazing about Grace?

3. A Year of Biblical Womanhood

4. The Chronicles of Narnia

Four Places I’ve Lived:

1. Santa Cruz, CA

2. Bexley, OH

3. Madison, MN

4. Galata, MT

Four Places I Have Been:

1. Dublin, Ireland

2. Lethbridge, Alberta

3. London, England

4. Salt Lake City, UT (Not Mormon but I seriously love SLC!)

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:

1. A redwood forest

2. Asleep

3. Seattle

4. Not staring at laundry to be put away

Four Things I Don’t Eat:

1. Broccoli

2. Spam

3. Thai food

4. Mexican food

Four of My Favorite Foods:

1. Sushi

2. Lamb gyros

3. Lamb kebab

4. My mother-in-law’s chocolate peppermint vegan cupcakes

Four Things I’m Looking Forward to This Year:

1. Making healthier choices

2. Possibly getting my mid-life crisis tattoo

3. Seeing what God has in store for me 🙂

4. Daniel hopefully starting to talk more.

Four Things I’m Saying:

1. “Seriously?!?!?!?!?”

2. “Yeah… no.”

3. “What the fur?!?!?!?!?” (I live in a house of cat-punsters.)

4. “Gentle hands!”

Four People I’m tagging:

Nobody. 🙂

7 Quick Takes: Latin Woes, Why You Should Not Watch the Jordanian Pilot Execution Video, and More.

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

I despair at the state of our public education system. An eighth grade girl in Vermont suggested that Vermont adopt a Latin motto and the Senate minority leader of the state decided to take her suggestion up in the state legislature. Things go horribly awry as various Vermont citizens flip out about adopting a state motto in “Latin” because *gasp* it might have something to do with Latin-Americans, also known as “illegal immigrants”. Reading some of the comments made my inner grammar Nazi convulse.

— 2 —

New Year’s resolution update: plank challenge. As I mentioned last week, I didn’t get to finish the plank challenge and I am not able to hold a plank for 5 minutes straight. However, I am still able to consistently plank for more than 60 seconds each and that in itself is pretty amazing. I might repeat the challenge again later this year and see if I can do better then.

— 3 —

There’s sane and then there’s Kelly. I’m sure many of you have seen the 23 tips for sane eating, right? Kelly of This Ain’t the Lyceum decided to add a few of her own. 🙂

— 4 —

New Year’s resolution update: Bible reading. In the Old Testament, I’m through Genesis and into Exodus now which means lots and lots of information on the various commandments and laws being put into play. (My reading on Wednesday had to do with the priestly garments and how to make them as well as the various specifications of the altars and the sacrifices offered.) In the New Testament, we crucified Jesus. Definitely not the most uplifting reading! On the plus side, we got to resurrect Him today and I’m loving all the Psalms I get to read.

— 5 —

Pick my Lenten discipline for me. I’m raffling off the right to choose my Lenten discipline for me. Click here for more information. The only rules are that it has to be doable (bread and water is not as I’ve got health conditions that preclude that) and I have to be able to do it around my schedule with Daniel. Otherwise, BRING IT!

— 6 —

Got picky eaters? Here are 32 kids who are hilariously picky eaters. Scarily enough, I know some adults who are worse! I’ve had co-workers who will not eat foods that are touching other foods on principle.
*

— 7 —

Simcha nails it again! I really recommend the piece by Simcha Fisher where she talks about the dangers in watching the execution video of the Jordanian pilot and ties in the watching of Fifty Shades of Gray. She mentions this post by Marge Fenelon and I agree wholeheartedly with it. There is no good that can come from watching it.

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

Yarn Along: February 4, 2015

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I’m linking up with Ginny of Small Things to show what is in my yarn bag and what I am reading at the moment!

Book and blankie.

The crocheting: Still working on Daniel’s big boy blankie. I’ll probably have it on my hook for a few weeks to come unless I take a break to do some baby crocheting.

The book: Yarn Over Murder by Maggie Sefton. After this book, I’ll be caught up with the series.

Click here to see what others are doing.