#5Faves: Miscellanea (LII)

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#5Faves

One

My mommy. She has backed me up with giving Daniel his meds in the morning which is becoming a trial because he has caught on to the fact that the capsule of Adderall is in the spoonful of peanut butter. She also watched Mr. Ornery this morning so I could go deal with Social Security.

Two

Rain. We got an inch of it yesterday. I am positively giddy.

Three

This hymn. I love Michael Card and I love The Ash Grove so I definitely love his version of “Let All Things Now Living”.

Four

Van Morrison and the Chieftains. Totally sharing these for my favorite Tasoni. 🙂 This is how I hear these particular songs in my head.

Five

NaNoWriMo As usual, I decided to participate at the last minute and I think it will make for an interesting month. I’m doing it for fun this year to process some things in my life. (For those not familiar with it, go check out the NaNoWriMo website.)

Go love up Jenna and thank her for being the hostess with the mostest for the last year or so.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: November 2, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY November 2, 2015

Outside my window… dark. It was raining when I woke up this morning and I was overjoyed to see this. It was a little chilly the rest of the day but not bad. I didn’t even freeze when I went to go drop Halloween candy off for Operation Gratitude.

I am thinking… about my NaNoWriMo characters and how to best catch up on my word count. I only got about 500 words written yesterday instead of the 1667 they recommend for the starting day. Oh well! If my sweet boy EVER goes to sleep, I might be able to catch up. *looks at the squirming kid next to me who is shredding his blankie*

I am thankful… for the chance to reconnect with my home congregation yesterday even if I’m seriously missing St. John’s (my church in La Verne). Also thankful for coffee with mi amiga Rebecca yesterday who gets me… way too well.

In the kitchen… minestrone soup and sourdough bread.

I am wearing… navy blue shirt from Old Navy and pajama bottoms from Kohl’s.

I am going… down to the local Social Security office tomorrow morning in hopes that they can fix the SSI-Medicaid issue we’re having with Daniel. *shakes fist at LA County for refusing to answer the phone and fix the freaking problem on their end and at Social Security for making me waste my morning by meeting with them because they won’t communicate with LA County*

I am wondering… why Daniel has been such a bear to get to sleep tonight.

I am reading… the epilogue of Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson and then (likely) Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber.

I am hoping… we can get Daniel in school this week. Special Ed for San Jose Unified needs to get on this!

I am looking forward to… maybe getting to go the the knitting/crocheting group at church this week.

I am hearing… Daniel squeaking and shredding his blankie.

A Daniel story for today… he has been curling up in one of the recliners in the living room watching TV with his Grandpa Jim (my dad). It is insanely cute because the two of them have always seemed to have this unspoken bond.

Around the house… mostly quiet except for my wee bairn refusing to sleep and my parents watching different TV shows at opposite ends of the house.

A favorite quote for today… “Getting sober never felt like I had pulled myself up by my own spiritual bootstraps. It felt instead like I was on one path toward destruction and God pulled me off of it by the scruff of my collar, me hopelessly kicking and flailing and saying, ‘Screw you. I’ll take the destruction please.’ God looked at tiny, little red-faced me and said, ‘that’s adorable,’ and then plunked me down on an entirely different path.” — Nadia Bolz-Weber (I’ve actually seen her talk about this on a YouTube video and you have to hear her say it.)

One of my favorite things… sleeping kids. *looks at my child and ponders finding a recording of the Go the F to Sleep book to play for him*

A few plans for the rest of the week: Social Security tomorrow, hopefully an IEP meeting for Daniel at some point this week, and whatever else life decides to throw at me.

A peek into my day… The prerequisite Halloween pic of Daniel as a soccer player and me as a soccer mom.

Daniel and I dressed up (or not) for Halloween 2015

Post Script…

I’m doing NaNoWriMo this summer so I might be hard to find this month. If you are participating too, find me and let me know — I’m “khouria”.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: School Enrollment Woes, the Latest Disrespect Toward Black Women, and Books to Which I Look Forward

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Srsly?!?!?!?! San Jose Unified sprung a new requirement on me: a TB test for Daniel. Apparently, they (not every other school district) require it of kids transferring from outside the district. I get it (sort of) but it seriously would have been nice to know that BEFORE TUESDAY. We found a CVS Minute Clinic and got it done this week but it knocked off our ability to enroll Daniel by a few days.

— 2 —

Prayer Request. I have an enrollment appointment with the district tomorrow morning at 8. Could y’all please pray that they’re happy with all my documentation (especially since Daniel’s withdrawal form may not be what they want)? He has to be enrolled before they will even look at his IEP and determine placement. I’m also praying that wherever he gets assigned has an autism program because a special day class (SDC) doesn’t guarantee that the teacher has any experience with autism.

— 3 —

WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!? Here’s the video and commentary on the young African-American woman who was thrown to the ground and handcuffed in South Carolina. She had just been orphaned and was acting out by refusing to put her cell phone away or let the teacher confiscate it. Still, that was no excuse to have the police called, be thrown in her desk to the floor, and then be dragged across the room with her desk to be handcuffed. Seriously, I question the humanity of anyone who can justify all of that!

— 4 —

Sage advice. Dear Abby answered a non-believing teenager in Alabama who was pondering becoming Christian to fit in. My take on her answer: brilliant. (HT: Friendly Atheist)

— 5 —

Seriously looking forward to this! I’ve known Maria through various channels for a couple years now and am *seriously* looking forward to her book on saints. I encourage you to check it out.

— 6 —

Fighting the fearmongerers. There is a new book called The Fear Babe: Shattering Vani Hari’s Glass House that takes down the Food Babe. Given that I’ve seen only a handful of Hari’s schlock and she makes me stabby, I’m seriously looking forward to reading this.

— 7 —

Why I don’t watch daytime TV. My mom told me today that there are some anti-vax groups that are taking out ads on daytime TV to spread their deceit.

…

Because, you know, none of the people in these groups actually *REMEMBER* a world with measles outbreaks or serious widespread fear of polio because… THEIR PARENTS VACCINATED THEM!!!!! Why the fur would anyone *willingly* choose to subject your kids to these diseases?!?!?!?!?!?

VACCINATE YOUR FREAKING KIDS!!!!

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

#5Faves: Miscellanea (LI)

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#5Faves

Before I get into my “faves” for the week, I wanted to announce that Daniel and I just moved in with my parents in northern California. Don’t worry — Jon and I are not divorcing. At the present time, my parents can give me better support with Daniel than our living situation in southern California could and I’m grateful to my in-laws for giving us a home for 16 months.

One

My parents’ cat Homer. When Daniel and I arrived on Monday, Daniel was chattering to my dad using the word “cat” in which he pronounced all three letters instead of it sounding like “cah” or “tah”. He then started repeating the syllable “gree” with “cat”. We put together today that he was talking about Homer and was saying “gris cat”. (We call Homer “gris-gris” because he is a gray cat.) Homer has been Daniel’s buddy — tolerating him, hanging out with him, and even was asleep on my bed when I came in to start putting Daniel to bed last night.

Two

The Trader Joe’s in Claremont, California. I love Trader Joe’s anyway but the store in Claremont has gone above and beyond in how they’ve loved on Daniel for the last 16 months. Almost every crew member in the store knows his name and greeted him by it when we walk in. Their assistant store manager let him ring their bell and one of the crew members who is a psych major would find new and interesting ways to communicate with him. If you are anywhere nearby, please consider patronizing them — they could seriously give lessons to churches and businesses on how to interact with customers who have special needs.

Three

Rain. It was cloudy last night and we got enough to wet down the patio a bit. I am ecstatic. Bring it on, El Niño!

Four

My friend Jenn. Girlfriend had an article on NFP that was picked up by Cosmo, Redbook, and Good Housekeeping. Eschet chayil!

Five

“Open Your Ears, O Faithful People”. I had been listening to a hymn mix that included this hymn on Saturday night and we sang it on Sunday morning. It’s one of my favorites as well!

Go love up Jenna and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: October 27, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY October 27, 2015

Outside my window… dark as it’s 1 a.m. Temps have been summery though.

I am thinking… about the things I need to do tomorrow to start building Daniel’s support issue in San Jose.

I am thankful… that the first part of the move and the 7 1/2 hour drive are over.

In the kitchen… Dad brought home Hawaiian pizza for me. I’m thankful to be done fasting from gluten!

I am wearing… Momcat shirt and navy/white striped pj bottoms.

I am going… to hopefully be able to sleep soon.

I am reading… Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson.

I am hoping… that my call to Social Security goes well tomorrow.

I am looking forward to… church on Sunday at ECA.

I am hearing… silence.

A Daniel story for today… he woke up to find himself alone in his bedroom tonight around 10 so he went and climbed into bed with my mom. Thankfully, she found it cute and I was able to settle him back on his bed.

Around the house… painting and decluttering going on.

One of my favorite things… the song “God of This City” by Bluetree. The Chris Tomlin version is sub-par.

A few plans for the rest of the week: un packing, enrolling Daniel in school, and getting services for him transferred up here.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Thoughts While Trying to Get My Kiddo to Sleep…

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Dealing with SSA is an occasion of sin for me. Every so often, the Social Security Administration makes people receiving SSI prove that they qualify medically (what… you thought “SSA” was “same-sex attraction?) so I spent the better part of two evenings filling out a ton of paperwork and copying about 50-100 pages of documentation to send in to their office in Pomona. The 50-100 pages of documentation are the assessments and IEP from March because it’s a triennial IEP. (Every three years, they do a whole new battery of tests to see if an IEP is really necessary. In Daniel’s case, that would be a resounding “YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”) I couldn’t fit the documentation in the envelope they sent so off to the post office for a Priority Mail envelope I went! The good thing about using them: I can track it to make sure the SSA office received it as I’m completely convinced from past experience that their mailbox is connected to a paper shredder with all the paperwork they lose! (Currently, it is sitting at the sorting center in City of Industry.)

— 2 —

I resonate with this. A friend sent me this article on how doctors take women’s pain less seriously. I’ve had several ovarian cysts and on a scale of 1-10, the pain is an 11. It is seriously the worst pain I have ever had and required Demerol to even remotely touch it. (Waking up after abdominal surgery is a 7.) Anyway, I agree — doctors do not take our pain seriously and I say this having a fairly high pain tolerance. This might also be why many doctors think fibro pain is imaginary.

— 3 —

Prayer request. My dear friend Mandi is in the home stretch of her pregnancy and I would like to ask if you’d please pray her through. Thanks!

— 4 —

Srsly?!?!?!?!? I’ve had a couple of friends whose younger sisters have gone through this. I get the need for modesty but subjecting young women to a hem test like this one is just wrong. Equally if not more wrong were some of the adult comments.

— 5 —

What are the odds??? All three radio stations I listen to on a regular basis (Air1, NPR, and a classical station) are having their pledge drives right now. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I could afford to give to all three, I would totally do it just to make the madness stop!!!

— 6 —

Prerequisite baseball take. So… THE METS KNOCKED THE DODGERS OUT OF THE PENNANT RACE LAST WEEK!!!!! The Mets also just took the National League pennant. (I feel that any news about Dodger losses trumps any other baseball news unless it’s the Giants winning.) I haven’t even looked to see who the Mets will play!

— 7 —

I’ve been saying this for a while… Yet another person talking about the movement of my peer group to more ancient forms of worship. Not all of us want rock n’ roll!

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

#5Faves: Miscellanea (L)

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#5Faves

One

Canticle of the Turning. It’s on of my favorite newer hymns and it probably doesn’t hurt that I like the folk song from which its tune comes.

Two

Concerts with my father-in-law. I’ve been blessed to be able to attend a lot of different classical concerts in the area because of escorting my father-in-law. It has ranged from the select choirs at the Claremont colleges to lunchtime harp recitals to Claremont Symphony Orchestra concerts such as the one we attended last Sunday. These are definitely not concerts I would have attended on my own, so I am incredibly grateful to my father-in-law Ray for helping me expand my taste in classical music.

Three

Early music with harps. Another pretty one by la harpe de melodie. This one is “O Viridissima Virga” by St. Hildegard of Bingen.

Four

Jenny Lawson. I am so incredibly thankful for Jenny Lawson, a.k.a. The Bloggess because she is giving mental illness a face and her latest book is educating people about what it looks like. As one dealing with depression and an anxiety disorder, I appreciate this more than most.

Five

The hymn tune “THAXTED”. It comes from Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite “The Planets” and is the tune for “Jupiter”. I think I’ve only sung it once in church but you tend to hear it a lot in British choral music.

Go love up Jenna and the others.