The Simple Woman’s Daybook: May 8, 2016

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For Today… May 8, 2016

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… dark. It was cloudy for most of the day and Lick Observatory was quite socked in with fog when we went up there in the afternoon. It got sunny in the late afternoon though.

I am thinking… about grade inflation in the homeschool world and misreporting of class values in portfolios for college. Long story, trust me.

I am thankful… for the chance to see the big telescope at Lick Observatory and for the volunteer who let us walk around on the platform while he was talking. Keith, you rock!

One of my favorite things… a quiet evening after a busy day.

I am wearing… jammies. (It’s 8:45 p.m.) Church clothes were a black decorative top, black pants, black flats, and my burgundy choir robe. After-church clothes were a charcoal fitted tee from Old Navy and black capris from Kohl’s with my running shoes.

I am creating my temperature afghan. I’m about two months behind but I might be able to get a little caught up this week, depending on how long a couple tasks take me and if I can get them done at the beginning of the week.

I am reading… Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber. I might be able to finish this week if I read during lunch instead of being on my laptop.

I am hoping… to get a lot of my errands done in the first part of the week.

I am learning… to ask for help and not act like everything in the next month is completely for me to do.

In my kitchen… Dad made the usual Sunday fare for us for Mother’s Day — steak, tater tots, and caesar salad. It was what Mom and I both chose as it was our day.

In the school room… I’m working on fine motor tasks with Daniel to strengthen his hands and help him maintain his tripod grip while writing without special grips on the pencil.

Post Script… This is an interesting piece on missions and why you shouldn’t build a house on your next mission trip.

Shared Quote…

This week's quote found on Facebook.

A moment from my day… A picture from my first Mother’s Day in 2009.

Hard to believe this kid is now only a foot shorter than I am!

Closing Notes: May is Preeclampsia Awareness Month. Learn more here.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: TGIAF!

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7 Quick Takes

It’s been an insane week here and I have one more thing tomorrow before I feel like I can breathe again. Thank goodness it’s almost Friday!

— 1 —

Prayer request. The person assigned to Daniel at the Lodi Social Security Office fouled up his SSI payments and I have an appeal hearing tomorrow on some issues related to them. Please lift me in prayer around noon PDT. Thanks!

— 2 —

Climate change deniers. This video explains climate change in a way that even Donald Trump supporters can understand. 😉

— 3 —

One last political take. While I am completely overjoyed at Ted Cruz dropping out of the race and Carly Fiorina being an even bigger loser than before, I’m kind of bummed that I won’t be using this picture more often…

Thank goodness this isn't a possible combination in the White House!

— 4 —

I want this shirt! My birthday is two weeks from today and I will be your BFF if you get me this shirt in green and XL.

— 5 —

On the homeschooling front… Dawn of Ladydusk wrote this amazing piece on starting to homeschool and what she learned from it. I recommend reading it if you think you eventually want to homeschool your kids as Dawn is a mom I trust for this kind of thing.

— 6 —

Making a crossbow out of office supplies. This is kind of cool.

— 7 —

Doctrine vs. discipline. Simcha nails it with her post on Ascension, the crazy go nuts schedule of her kids, and why it actually matters to make it to Mass if it’s a holy day in your diocese. (San Jose abrogates it to Sunday.)

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

The Simple Woman’s Day Book: May 2, 2016

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**NOTE** I did one yesterday and then found that the prompts had changed a bit when I went to link up. I’ve got some spare time this morning so I’m redoing it for today. Also, for anyone that needs the new prompts and wants some code for them to insert into an entry, click here and copy/paste into a text editor so that you can create a text file (*.txt file) with them for use every week.

For Today… May 2, 2016

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… sunny and clear. I think it is supposed to be in the 80’s.

I am thinking… about the things that are supposed to be happening this week. I apologize for vague-blogging but I can’t talk about the upheaval in my life until things are more set in stone. (It’s nothing bad — just a lot of uncertainty.)

I am thankful… for the day trips with my parents and Daniel this weekend. We went to Henry Cowell Redwoods on Saturday and the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Sunday.

One of my favorite things… café vanilla frappucinos at Starbucks. I’m also a fan of functional Internet and functional plumbing but that’s another story for another day!

I am wearing… charcoal fitted shirt from Old Navy and jeans from Kohl’s.

I am creating my temperature afghan. I’m 2 months behind now but I will eventually get caught up.

I am listening to… the Reply All podcast which was recommended to me by a couple friends. This episode involves an email malfunction that tangents into stories of survival in a Chinese concentration camp during World War II. The story that the woman tells is told in a very cheerful and matter of fact way that seems to be somewhat common among survivors of concentration camps in Europe and Indonesia that I’ve met. (If you have a sizeable Jewish population, you probably have someone of that generation who survived and emigrated from Europe afterwards, so I remember hearing probably 5-10 of them speaking to us in middle school and high school. The one I know who was in the Indonesian one was one of my seminary professors.)

I am hoping… my fibromyalgia medication snafu gets resolved soon. (My PA is being a jerk about refilling my meds and is referring me to a rheumatologist. After he mansplained fibromyalgia to me on Thursday, I may or may not have ripped his head off and got a ONE TIME LAST REFILL because I managed to make logical sense. Of course, he cut my dose in half but half a dose is better than no dose.)

I am learning… to just shake things off. It helped me when I came out of the house this morning and found a flat tire. I rolled my eyes, went back in the house to drop my stuff off, and got ready to change it on my own. My mom saw this and replied, “Just call AAA. It’s why we have them.” OK. They had someone out to change it in 15 minutes and while I missed my meeting this morning, it wasn’t an essential one and we were able to just check in by phone.

In my kitchen… no clue on dinner tonight. Dad did the normal Sunday fare of steak, tater tots, and Caesar salad last night and all the adults ate outside by lantern light. Fun fun fun.

In the school room… I have an IEP amendment meeting for Daniel on Thursday afternoon to go over occupational therapy goals.

Post Script… for all who read the selfish essay on “meternity leave” from the NY Post, there are some good rebuttals and satires here, here (tw: language), and here (tw: mention of body parts). I think the last one is the best one of all.

Shared Quote… I think I’ll share my Facebook commentary on the above foolishness!

“Is of the opinion that she can have a “meternity” leave for self-discovery and growth if she is willing to gain 50+ lbs over a 7-month period, have emergency surgery requiring at least a 8 week recovery (from which she returns 2.5 weeks early for financial reasons), deal with scar tissue adhesions on her abdomen every time she moves, and then give up regular sleep for a year following it.”

Because, you know, it’s not like that all happened to me or anything…

A moment from my day… Here’s a picture of my very silly and ticklish boy and me at the Monterey Bay Aquarium yesterday.

My silly boy and me at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Closing Notes: Someone shared this story on the winners of the Biggest Loser and their weight gain battles in one of my Facebook groups and it makes SO. MUCH. SENSE.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

Blog Break

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The rest of April is going to be chaotic for me in my personal life and I’m feeling like I am needing to retreat inward for a little bit. I will be back on here on May 1st after the nice Geek Squad people fix my laptop and Comcast decides that restoring our Internet is a good thing.

In the meantime, pray for my nerves which are pretty frayed at the moment.

{five favorites}: Miscellanea (LXIII)

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#5Faves

One

Coptic Holy Week music. Laura, the amazing tasoni and blogger at Coptic Dad and Mom, has put together a YouTube channel of Coptic Holy Week music so that the Coptic readers of her blog can teach their kids (and themselves in some cases) the songs that they’ll be singing in church next week which is their Holy Week. The tonality is different from what many of us are used to in the West but it is beautiful.

Two

This video from Spode. Spode is a British pottery and housewares company and one of their designs, Blue Italian, turns 200 years old this year. They company produced this video which shows the making of each piece.

Kind of a cool story: my great-great-aunt had a set of pink Spode that got passed down to a couple of the women in my mom’s generation. The set was actually the second set she had ordered (and it was service for 24!) because the first set was on a ship sailing from England to America that was sunk by a German u-boat during World War II.

Three

Naps. I have a small child who is not sleeping well so I had to take one today. It was glorious.

Four

Prescription sunglasses. I’m on my second pair. Given how migraine-prone I am, it’s money well-spent.

Five

Air-conditioning. It’s been in the 80’s here. If it’s this hot now, I’m dreading this summer. #climatechangeisreal

Go love up Ashley and the others.

Jeremiah 29

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Jessica posted something on Jeremiah 29:11 yesterday and I was pondering it this morning while taking Daniel to school.

Here it is for those who are unfamiliar:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord.

For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (vv. 4-14, NRSV)

I feel like the command to build houses, plant gardens, take wives, marry, and seek the welfare of the city is a good one. I mean, what else could Israel do during the 70 years of exile? Sitting around and pouting was useless. This is why this is the passage I go to when I’m being forced to live out a situation that I don’t like — it speaks to me about living my life as fully as I can in the moment, knowing that God has a plan for me and will eventually bring me out into a better place that He has created for me. This particular reading of it has gotten me through some very intense times.

I bolded verse 11 because that’s the verse that end up on all the inspirational kitsch. I mean, it’s a fabulous piece of Scriptures but as Jessica said, it needs to be read in context.

I’m facing a lot of changes in my life right now and it honestly helps me to know that God has my back and has a plan for all of this which will protect me and heal me and bring me into a good place that is beyond anything I can imagine. It also helps to know that the blueprint for the present is to live my life as fully as I can.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: April 17, 2016

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY April 17, 2016

Outside my window… dark. It was 90F today. So *NOT* a fan!

I am thinking… about what the week of April 24-30 holds for us.

I am thankful… that Jon’s visit last week went so well.

In the kitchen… steak, fries, and caesar salad. Yum.

I am wearing… jammies (my Run for the Little Flowers shirt and black capri sweats) but I wore a dress from Kohl’s for church today and then a fitted tee from Old Navy and running shorts from Target afterwards.

I am going… to have to drive Daniel to school all this week. Mother-son bonding time!

I am wondering… what the next couple months hold for me. (Yes, I’m vague-blogging. Once I’m allowed to talk about the details, I’ll make all of this clear.)

I am reading… Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber. I have a bunch of books from the library as well.

I am hearing… Long Lost Family, a show on TLC. I may or not be getting really teary.

A Daniel story for today… Kiddo was so adorable when meeting people at church today when Mom met me there with him.

A favorite quote for today…

I didn't know I was drowning...

One of my favorite things… Chunky Monkey almond milk ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s.

A few plans for the rest of the week: collateral services meeting with Clementine, psych appointment for Daniel on Thursday, morning prayer and Bible study on Thursday morning after the psych appointment, and whatever else comes up.

Post Script…

My college classmate Ian passed away this morning from acute myeloid leukemia.

Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant, Ian. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.

Please pray for his widow Christy and their daughters Asha and Fiona as they adjust to the new normal in their life without Ian.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.