7 Quick Takes — The World Series

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7 Quick Takes

I related my major massive news yesterday. As this is the first time I’ve watched the whole World Series, I figured I’d make it the subject of the Quick Takes.

— 1 —

OMG GAME SIX!!!!!!! I was hoping the Cardinals would pull it out of the bag but I never expected them to go into two extra innings, for so many errors to be committed early in the game, and for so many runs to happen in the last innings. It was freaking INSANITY.

— 2 —

Derek Holland is from the town where Jon did his pastoral internship. When we discovered this, we started playing “6 Degrees of Separation”. We think that he probably had some of Jon’s parishioners at the internship site as teachers. I don’t remember hearing about him when I was there but I also didn’t follow high school sports because none of our kids played anything.

— 3 —

We’ve been trying to figure out who the MVP will be. For the Rangers, we’re thinking Derek Holland and possibly Mike Napoli or maybe Neftali Feliz. For St. Louis, it would be Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman, or David Freese. I’ll be interested to see whether I’m right.

— 4 —

I’m rooting for the Cardinals as the Rangers used to be owned by our former president and I am trying not to hold that against them. It would be a nice thing if Texas won because they never have but I’m glad that St. Louis is giving them a run for their money. Both teams seem to be equally matched so it’s been fun to watch.

— 5 —

Game 4 on Sunday was pretty impressive. Derek Holland should really get the MVP honors if the Rangers win. He pitched 8 1/3 innings which is hugely impressive and he shut out the Cardinals. It will be interesting to follow his career because he’s only 25 and has some of the best years to come.

— 6 —

I was a little perturbed at a St. Louis fan. One of the Rangers players was retrieving a ball that had gone into the stands and a St. Louis player called out, “you missed it!” I honestly wouldn’t have blamed the Rangers player for throwing a punch and it showed class on the part of the Rangers player that he didn’t respond back. Seriously dude (referring to the fan), learn some manners.

— 7 —

I’ll be in San Jose with my parents tomorrow and am hoping to be able to watch the game. My parents aren’t big sports fans and I’m hoping we can have the game on so I can listen. If tonight is any indication, it should be an awesome game.

**UPDATE**
I got to watch the game with my mom (a rare bonding thing for us because my parents aren’t into sports and we were happy to see St. Louis win. It was a great series and I do feel some pangs for Texas because it would have been cool to watch them get their first win. David Freese was the MVP (called it!) and it was, I think, even cooler because he’s a hometown boy.

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

Massive Major News

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Daniel has been walking with his physical therapist for about the last month, the last few weeks holding on to an object in the false idea that he’s holding on to something to help him balance. (Think Dumbo’s feather.) Well, he walked all by himself with S (his physical therapist), Jon, and I following him. I thought that this is great but it would be awhile before he walked on his own and of his own intention.

Well… last night, he just walked over to me. He let go of whatever he was holding and walked by himself. (Yes, I know he’s 2.5 years old and most kids walk by the time they’re 1.) This is massive major news for us and a BIG development toward him being independent and catching up with his peers. I am so incredibly thankful to God that we’ve FINALLY hit this milestone. Granted, he’s not doing this 100% of the time… but he can!

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: October 24, 2011

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY

Outside my window… sunny and in the 70’s.

I am thinking… that it’s almost November and we need some cooler weather and maybe even some rain.

I am thankful… that Daniel is taking his nap.

In the kitchen… nothing cooked yet though I’m sitting here eating garlic-stuffed olives from WinCo.

I am wearing… black shirt and Jon’s Left Behind shorts.

I am creating… NaNo plots and the second half of the super-secret crocheting project.

I am going… to Bible study tonight.

I am reading… Shirt of Flame: A Year with St. Therese of Lisieux by Heather King.

I am hoping… that it’s a quiet week.

I am looking forward to… heading to San Jose for the weekend.

I am hearing… Catholic Weekend on iTunes. I’m their token Protestant listener.

Around the house… floors to clean.

One of my favorite things… Crystal Light lemonade.

A few plans for the rest of the week… Daniel’s therapies, errands, and heading to San Jose on Friday.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing… Daniel at the pumpkin patch yesterday.

Daniel at the pumpkin patch.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes — More of the Same

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

I need to apologize to someone. Elia of ConservaMom has been referring to the Occupy protesters as “dopes” and instead of just ignoring her site and not reading it (which is what I do when I come across sites that make me want to throw things), I left a really terse comment. She responded to all my points more gracefully than I deserved and I owe her an apology for the comment I left. Elia, I’m sorry. In the future, I’ll just skip her blog on the Quick Takes list. I also still resent her calling the Occupy protesters “dopes” but it’s something on which I’ll have to agree to disagree with her.

— 2 —

The shots of Morgan at the end of CSI this week reminds me of the way I feel like I look at the end of the day. For those who aren’t CSI addicts like I am, she had been in a helicopter that had been hijacked and shot down. There are a lot of days where I feel like I’ve had all those things happen during the day. Yes, I’m a stay-at-home mom and yes, I only have one child. However, Daniel isn’t your normal child and I feel like I’m constantly on my toes trying to reinforce what we do in therapies and also trying to keep the “terrible two’s destructiveness” to a minimum.

— 3 —

KFC has a new famous bowl which features bacon and cheese. I can’t believe people eat stuff like this. It’s mashed potatoes, chicken, cheese, and bacon in a bowl. They were talking about it on KLOVE on Wednesday with people calling in and playing “can you top this?” with worse foods. One mentioned was on the Denny’s menu and it’s a patty melt with mac n’ cheese in it. My dearly departed gallbladder is seizing in a specimen jar someplace.

— 4 —

Speaking of food, I made quinoa for the first time this week. For those not in the know, it’s a “pseudo-cereal” grain-type plant from South America that is a complete protein and has a number of nutrients like iron and calcium. It looks like birdseed and it has a nutty flavor that’s kind of like that of some wild rice components. Daniel didn’t care for the texture though I ate it quite willingly. (I had made my family’s chicken recipe and the sauce will make anything taste good.) I’m scanning all my recipe websites for other things to do with it because it’s not something that would work with pesto. (The grains are too small — it really does look like birdseed.)

— 5 —

I’m currently reading Shirt of Flame: A Year with St. Therese of Lisieux by Heather King. I’ve gotten partway into the introduction and I think I’m going to have to read the chapters in their entirety like I would an essay. It’s so new that it’s not available for my e-reader so I have an actual paper copy. (I like my Nook but I also love real books.)

— 6 —

We have a new speech therapist for Daniel. His former speech therapist is having surgery so Easter Seals put us with a new one. She’s a sweetheart and just engaged Daniel in whatever he wanted to do, which was putting things into a sorter and opening/closing the doors of it. (I learned the signs for “open” and “close” today.) It was educational for me because it showed me that I need to stop flipping out about Daniel not engaging and going with the program. As my mom reminded me, these therapists get paid to do this and it’s not the first time they’ve dealt with an obstinate child. His new therapist is also just going to piggy-back on whatever we’re doing in other therapies.

— 7 —

I have had to change some of the names in my NaNo piece to protect the stupid. If I were to ever edit my piece and submit it for publication, I would have to go back in and redo all the names of the stupid people because I based them on the initials of the real life people from whom I was drawing the inspiration. (Believe me… there could be some really good slander suits if the real life people could reasonably connect themselves to what I wrote.) So… I’m having to go back into my plans and do a “find and replace” — I just wish OneNote gave me the option to replace whatever I found.

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: October 17, 2011

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY October 17, 2011

Outside my window… sunset. It was a beautiful day — around 80F.

I am thinking… about upcoming events in the next two weeks.

I am thankful… that Daniel’s new speech therapist has an opening on Wednesday AFTERNOON. (Driving to Sacramento during rush hour on Tuesday morning was not working for me.)

In the kitchen… the family chicken recipe tomorrow.

I am wearing… black shirt and navy blue running shorts.

I am creating… this entry, NaNo plots, and the super-secret crocheting project.

I am going… on errands at some point tomorrow.

I am wondering… if I will ever be caught up on sleep.

I am reading… Scones and Bones by Laura Childs.

I am hoping… to get a shower tonight.

I am looking forward to… “Two Broke Girls” and “Hart of Dixie” tonight.

I am hearing… “Jane and the Dragon” on TV.

Around the house… vacuuming to do.

I am pondering… many things, none of which I can vocalize.

One of my favorite things… “Adventure World” on Facebook.

A few plans for the rest of the week… Daniel’s therapies, Oktoberfest at church on Friday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

Reflections on Tonight’s Episode of “Harry’s Law”

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Yes, I’m aware that it’s technically Sunday morning. Deal with it.

Baseball has taken over FOX (meaning that I can’t watch COPS on Saturday nights) so I was surfing around and found “Harry’s Law” to be an acceptable substitute. The main case of the episode was involving a girl who was being held criminally liable for a classmate’s suicide. The blogger (Sela) had posted that her classmate was gay, had called her names, and had called on her classmates to be “tuna helpers” and nod to let this girl know that they knew that she was lesbian. Said girl killed herself by car exhaust poisoning. The jury finds Sela not guilty of being criminally liable for the death but it takes Harry (Kathy Bates) pointing out that the lesbian girl had pretty much had to keep her sexual orientation a secret from everyone including her family/friends/church. Harry also points out that it’s the mean people in media who get the attention.

It was interesting casting because Camryn Manheim played the prosecuting attorney. She’s known for playing characters that aren’t the norm. She’s a huge advocate for gay rights, fat acceptance, and generally the rights of women. (She’s also a UC Santa Cruz alum. Go banana slugs!) Given her work on “The Practice”, she was the perfect choice.

One of the main issues was cyber-bullying and the fact that there have been a rash of suicides resulting from it. Nobody can say that Sela was out of line in what she posted and the Camryn Manheim character accuses her of recruiting her classmates to torment this girl. She has a snark blog and by being a snark, she gains some popularity. It’s kind of a reminder that our words have consequences and we can unintentionally cause someone’s life to fall apart by what we write.

My first inclination as my blog is a form of therapy is that I should be able to dump all my feelings here and people need to suck it up. I may criticize people in the media (example: my intense dislike of our former president) but I never go after people in my real life. There are several reasons for this: in order for this blog to be therapeutic, there has to be somewhat of a disconnect between it and my real life; and in many of the places Jon served, what I wrote could have been influential or it could have really screwed him as things did in 2005 when people got together and cut-n-pasted my blog entries together. (I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if they could have gotten into the passworded stuff.) Basically, things work better when my readers aren’t living in my community and part of my every day life.

Having said all that, I would never advocate the kind of things that Sela did on her site. My faith would preclude that kind of thing and honestly, it would really ruin things for Metanoia and their community outreach. Being a pastor’s wife, I do represent the church whether I like it or not and whether I’m intentionally trying to represent or whether I’m being my usual hermit self. If I was still living in Montana or Minnesota, the kind of stuff that Sela did would be a BIG DEAL because it dealt with someone’s sexuality and identity. In northern California, being gay is not a huge deal (even in the smaller town in which I life) and I can’t see that someone coming out or not coming out would be a big deal. (I can think of five or six things that rank higher on people’s minds.)

Truthfully, I’m also just not that popular or widely read. It isn’t like what I write is stirring people to political action or causing people to vote a certain way. The only thing I might do is increase advocacy about a cause or issue.

/ranting and reflection

7 Quick Takes: NaNoWriMo Prep and Alone with the Kid

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7 Quick Takes

Jon was in St. Louis for a denominational pastor’s retreat so I had Daniel by myself this week.

— 1 —

Bathroom breaks were a privilege this week and showers were a luxury. Daniel was a little clingy. I’m usually home with him during the day but he knew that Jon was gone and I think he was a little afraid of me leaving as well. We’d play the “knock knock” game where I’d be in the bathroom and knock on the door. He’d knock back and this would let him know that I was still here. However, I didn’t get a shower until his nap on Wednesday. That night, he puked on me (as well as pretty much every surface in the house) and managed to remove the faucet head for the hot water in the bath/shower. I had to make do with Clorox wipes to clean myself up.

— 2 —

Daniel walked the length of the driveway TWICE while holding on to a leaf. His physical therapist calls this “Dumbo’s feather”. (I haven’t seen “Dumbo” in 20+ years but I guess he could fly while holding on to a feather?) Basically, he can balance and be confident if he has something in his hand, regardless of whether it’s actually helping him balance. The key now is to build his confidence so that he can do it without holding something.

— 3 —

The hardest time this week has been bedtime. Jon usually puts Daniel to bed while I chill, crochet, and/or work on NaNoWriMo prep. With him gone, I’m the one putting him to bed and his bedtime seems to coincide with my 9:00 shows. We watched “Hart of Dixie” together on Monday and “He-Man” last night. When Jon called to read Daniel his Winnie the Pooh story, Daniel gave me a look as to say, “Woman! You’re disturbing ‘She-Ra’!” (“She-Ra” comes right after “He-Man” on Qubo Night Owl.)

— 4 —

The NaNoWriMo is updated for the event this year. This is good because it forced me to get my mind back on my novel and choose a title. Given that I don’t have enough hatred built up to do a murder mystery this year, it will be chick lit. (They actually have “chick lit” as a genre on the NaNo website which kind of scares me.)

— 5 —

One of the corporate sponsors for NaNo this year is PangurPad. I’m sure that PangurPad provides great software and I may try a trial membership with them; but that isn’t the reason why they are unbelievably cool. The reason they’re that cool: their name comes from the 9th century Old Irish poem written by an Irish monk about his cat Pangur Bán. Why yes… I am that kind of geek. What was your first clue?

— 6 —

I’m taking requests for gratuitous killings again. (Sorry to Pisco and Anita — I didn’t get you killed off last year. I’ll kill you for free this year unless you want to donate to the cause.) I haven’t decided what the charity donation will be but I’ll announce it on this page as soon as I decide on one. (For those who haven’t read my blog during a NaNo attempt before, I’ll kill you off in the creative way you choose in exchange for a charity donation of some kind. One year, we did food bank donations and last year, it was to Daniel’s band for March of Dimes.)

— 7 —

I think we’ll have another He-Man/She-Ra marathon tonight. I’m sleep-deprived enough that I don’t know if I can deal with Daniel refusing to go down again (Thursday night) so I’m willing to wait until Jon gets in and can put Daniel down himself. This might mean some Qubo Night Owl watching but I think Daniel will probably consent to cuddle during that. He’s the age I was when He-Man was popular in the first place.

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