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.

Struggling Here

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Four months ago, I blogged about a Montana couple who had filed a lawsuit because their daughter was born with cystic fibrosis. They contend that the doctor, hospital, and childrens’ hospitals should have tested them so they could have aborted her and saved themselves emotional and financial stress. A judge ruled a week or two ago no the case (no link to the article because the Great Falls Tribune now requires a paid subscription) and said that the lawsuit could go forward.

W.T.F.??????????

Do they hate their child that much?!?!?!?!?!? I mean, it sucks to be them or the parent of any child with special needs but guess what… YOU DON’T GET TO PICK YOUR F-ING DESIGNER BABIES!!!!!!!!! Yes, their life sucks and yes, it is stressful to have a kid that sick; but their daughter will eventually grow up and learn to read and she’s going to discover that her parents would have aborted her if they’d had the chance. How exactly are they going to explain THAT?

As the mom of a son with autism and developmental delays, I can tell you that it is a really hard life and there are a lot of days when it is an absolute struggle to drag myself out of bed because I feel overwhelmed. It’s why I’ve built up a support system around me where I can call someone and say, “I really need prayer today” or “I really need to vent about how frustrated I am.” I’m far from perfect, I throw the best pity parties around, but I can’t imagine my life without Daniel. Almost losing him last March almost killed me and I still tear up and cry a year later at the memory of that night. My life is so much immeasurably better with him in it and his laugh makes up for all the stress of the emergency c-section, my pregnancy from hell, the NICU stay, the PICU stays last year, and the struggles to get him where he is now. IT. IS. ALL. WORTH. IT.

I just want to ask people to pray for this couple that they get out of their selfish mindset. Right now, it’s a struggle for me not to curse about them any more than I have.

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.

The Winners in the SCOTUS Decision on “Obamacare”

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I should probably mention that the Obama administration *likes* it being called “Obamacare” because it shows that they do care.

So… I thought I’d post a picture of the winners of the Supreme Court decision.

We win!

Wait… isn’t that — yes, that’s Jon and I with Daniel 3 years ago. Obama had only been in office for 2 1/2 months when Daniel was born prematurely. His NICU bill alone was $254K and with all the x-rays and specialists, the bills were close to $300K. Last year’s hospital stay in March totaled more than $500K when all was said and done. The provisions of the Affordable Care Act keep there from being limits on lifetime medical coverage (which I’m pretty sure we could hit easily with Daniel) as well as there being laws prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to kids with pre-existing conditions which is actually in place in California today. This means that my little medical mystery child will always be covered. (Medicaid is also a lovely thing as they’ve paid the majority of what insurance hasn’t covered.)

I didn’t ask for all the pre-existing condition designations placed on me after having HELLP Syndrome with Daniel and I didn’t ask for Daniel to have to be delivered prematurely at 29 weeks. God willing, insurance companies will not be able to deny me coverage based on pre-existing conditions come 2014. I am thankful, however, that the provisions in place now cover Daniel and I’m thankful to every representative and senator who voted it through.