Jen isn't quite sure when she lost her mind, but it is probably documented here on Meditatio. She blogs because the world needs her snark at all hours of the night... and she probably can't sleep anyway.
Outside my window… dark. I’m writing late at night as usual
I am thinking… about who the protagonist in the Miss Julia books reminds me of in my life.
I am thankful… for the life of my former co-worker Karen. One of my favorite memories of her took place in the fall of 2009 when we were sitting and eating lunch with a few other people. The other young 20something woman at the table and I were discussing pregnancy and breastfeeding and I mentioned the things we’d be doing with my next baby. Karen, who had watched my horrific pregnancy with Daniel, interrupted me and exclaimed, “You mean they’re letting you get pregnant again?!?!?!?!?” Believe me, nobody laughed harder than I did because she had a way of speaking whatever was on her mind and doing it in a humorous way.
In the kitchen… my mother-in-law made some fabulous pizza.
I am wearing… green shirt and running shorts.
I am praying for… a call for Jon, healing from cancer for one of my brother’s Boy Scout friends, safety for some friends in Israel right now, and some other special intentions.
I am going… to have to find things to do with Daniel tomorrow which should be interesting because my mother-in-law is probably going to veto him leaving the house after the pukesplosion he had tonight.
I am reading…Miss Julia’s Marvelous Makeover by Ann B. Ross. I finished the latest Jan Karon book this past weekend.
I am hoping… for decent sleep tonight.
I am looking forward to… choir practice on Wednesday.
I am hearing… Jon in the kitchen eating dinner.
Around the house… quiet other than the sounds from the kitchen.
One of my favorite things… ice. It’s horrible for my teeth to chew it but it’s helping with my water intake.
A few plans for the rest of the week: choir practice and whatever comes up otherwise.
It has taken me until now to weigh in on the election for several reasons:
1.) I’ve been sick so my personal time while Daniel is at school has been spent sleeping and trying to fight this cold.
2.) I want anything I say to be based in fact and I want to be able to point to a place where people can go to get more information.
So… here are my thoughts on the election:
1.) My life actually hasn’t changed. I live in California which is one of the bluest states in the nation. Our governor won a historic fourth term, beating his GOP opponent by 18 percentage points, and pretty much held every other electable job in the state in between his second and third terms. While we were out doing errands on Tuesday, my mother-in-law asked me if I had heard of his challenger. My answer: “Yes, but only because I saw him on TV before the primary.” The GOP pretty much abandoned him because I didn’t see a commercial or mailing for him from June until Election Day. Our two senators weren’t up for election (and are pretty hard to defeat anyway) and my congressional rep didn’t have much of a fight to be re-elected. In other words, my state is in good hands and my congressional representation is where I want it to be.
2.) It was not surprising that the Republicans had a good night. One party regaining congressional control during a midterm election happened during Clinton’s tenure in the White House as well as during Bush’s time. Given how completely divided our country is and the fact that the Republicans completely outspent the Democrats in a lot of the campaigns, it was a forgone conclusion.
3.) The Republicans have a majority in both houses of Congress but it’s not one that will make a huge difference. The majority in the House is +16 seats and the majority in the Senate is +2 seats. It’s a simple enough majority to pass bits and pieces of legislation but not nearly enough to do damage. On legislation that doesn’t require a 2/3 majority, it will pass even if everyone votes along party lines. However, the Republicans don’t have enough of a majority to override presidential vetoes. To do that they would need 290 seats in the House and 66 seats in the Senate. They also don’t have enough people to invoke cloture in the Senate (they would need 60 seats) which means that filibusters can and likely will happen. Likely, the only thing they’ll be able to do is hold up nominations of judges and just be a thorn in the President’s side.
4.) This means that the system of checks and balances works out well. Does anyone else remember learning about our government having “checks and balances” in school or is that one of those weird things we learned about back in the Dark Ages (also known as 17 years ago in my Government class in high school)? The basic idea is that no one branch of the government has too much power. Given that the executive branch is run by a Democrat, it’s actually not that weird to me that the legislative branch is controlled by the Republicans. The judicial branch has appointees from both Republican and Democratic presidents. This means that the legislative and judicial branches are not going to function as rubber stamps for the executive branch and that’s actually the way it should be.
For the sake of full disclosure, I double-checked all my facts at Project Vote Smart.
For those expecting me to be a perfect pastor’s wife. One of Jon’s higher ups posted this on his Facebook and I find it to be pretty accurate. One of my pet peeves is when parishioners put me on a pedestal and expect me to be so much more spiritual/holy/whatever. It really doesn’t work that way. It also seriously shocks people when they find out that I’m a convert to Christianity. Apparently, I’m too well-read to be a convert?
Yet another link on how to keep kids in the faith.This one from HuffPo is interesting but the parents being committed to the faith only goes so far. You can usually control your kids when they’re living under your roof but your ability to micromanage their life and thoughts disappears when they leave home for college and/or adulthood. So how do you keep your kids in the faith? You encourage them to own their faith so that it isn’t just “the faith of [their] parents”. Nothing pisses me off more than teaching Confirmation to kids who are doing it because their parents have promised that they can stop attending church when they are confirmed. It’s a waste of my time and a waste of theirs. Another important way to keep them in the faith: give them an adult role (ushering, cantoring, lectoring, etc.) after Confirmation so that they’re integrated into the life of the church by the time they hit actual adulthood.
I am Father James Martin, S.J.’s Lutheran fan girl. Seriously, the guy makes me happy to be Christian when he writes stuff like this. His book on Jesus (from which most of this column is drawn) should be required reading and I don’t say this lightly. It’s on my list of books to give to new Christians in addition to Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and What’s So Amazing About Grace? by Phillip Yancey.
Srsly?!?!?!?!? I’m getting carded left and right these days. In the last week alone, I’ve been carded while buying Robitussin to fight my mutant death cold and also while buying wine at Trader Joe’s. I can’t really blame them for carding me for the wine (I think the rule is that they have to card anyone who appears to be under 30) but being carded for the cough syrup was interesting because I’m almost twice as old as I’m required to be to buy it! It also has only been a little over six months since the LAST TIME I was carded while buying it.
So why no takes on politics? I’m avoiding politics in my Quick Takes today because if/when I weigh in on the election on Tuesday, I want it to be well-researched and well-worded — something I can’t do in one Quick Take as I don’t want to flippantly post random quotes from people who may share my opinion but make other people stabby. I have to deal with enough trolls as it is.
Outside my window… sunny. It’s allegedly 80F outside but it is freezing in the house. Well… either that or I’m having chills.
I am thinking… about Thanksgiving week and how to keep Daniel entertained on the 2.5 days he’ll be off of school before we leave for my parents’ house.
I am thankful… for my mother-in-law and Jon taking Daniel on errands so I can get some more rest and fight this stupid cold.
In the kitchen… all I’ve had today is Instant Breakfast and yogurt so nothing is cooking on my end. I smelled onions when I went in for water so I think Jon has a raw onion cut up in the fridge.
I am wearing… a wine-colored shirt and jeans.
I am praying for… friends traveling in the Holy Land, a call for Jon, for Katie and her husband as they adopt Felicity
I am going… to try not to go online to see any election returns today. It’s one of the few times I’m thankful I don’t have access to TV.
I am wondering… about how to work Christmas this year.
I am reading…Gossamer Ghost by Laura Childs. Apparently, I was #1 on the list for it in the LA County library system.
I am hoping… to get back to walking every morning again once this stupid cold goes away.
I am looking forward to… being well again.
I am hearing… Daniel — they just got home.
Around the house… it was relatively quiet until a few minutes ago.
A favorite quote for today… “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” — Douglas Adams
One of my favorite things… being able to breathe easily. I miss it.
A few plans for the rest of the week: a trip to the grocery store that isn’t Trader Joe’s, the new dishwasher being installed tomorrow (the other one broke last week so we’ve been having to wash by hand… I know, #firstworldproblems), and whatever else comes up.
Rules for eating and such rendered in the style of the Old Testament. I first read this 10+ years ago and it still makes me almost die from laughing so hard. Anyone with small children will understand. My favorite line is, “Leave the cat alone. For what has the cat done that you should so afflict it with tape?”
So… I guess you heard that the Giants won the World Series? It was an amazing series and I’m thankful that I got to watch/listen to all or part of 6 of the 7 games. (I watched all of Games 1-3, saw a portion of Game 4 in addition to my mom checking the score on her smartphone during dinner on Saturday, listened to Game 5 on my long drive home on Sunday, and got to watch/listen to over half of Game 7 last night.) I’m impressed that Madison Bumgarner pitched in Game 1, Game 5, and then 5 innings of Game 7 last night. (So is Jason Motte, my favorite closer with the St. Louis Cardinals. Real classy, Jason. It’s why I follow you.)
To the Royals fans who read: you guys have a kick-@$$ team and you made my boys work for that World Series victory. I wouldn’t doubt that y’all give the MLB a run for their money next year because Game 7 could have gone either way. And seriously… your team had the Kansas City Symphony play the national anthem one night and had one of your opera stars sing it the next night — y’all are classy. 🙂
Yet another baseball Quick Take. One interesting trend this season has been “Hunter Pence signs”. It was a weird trolling thing started by some Mets fans this past summer and it went viral. At all of the away games, fans of the home team bring the signs. There s a Twitter collection of them here.
One of the few times I miss having a TV and cable. I’m kind of bummed that I likely won’t be able to watch Election Night stuff from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Apparently, it’s going to be fun.
This one goes out to all the moronic conspiracy theorists claiming that vaccines cause autism. Actually, there are more than 100 genes that contribute. That many genes are a bit much to be turned on by the body’s response to a vaccine.
And for the morons who are citing a bad reading of a Canadian study linking the MMR vaccine to febrile seizures, you might want to read the part of the study which mentions the seizures occur most often in kids who had been selectively vaccinated or on delayed schedules. There’s also the fact that some kids get these seizures around ages 2.5 to 4 years old and said seizure is the first sign that the kid has a fever. I should know… Daniel is/was one of them and we made 3 trips to the ER for them in the year after his third birthday. (One of those trips was actually the night before his third birthday.) It’s terrifying to watch your kid seize like that, but it sure beats watching your kids on a ventilator because your delusion and paranoia over pseudoscience landed them in the hospital with a completely preventable disease.
Wow… a somewhat balanced look at Common Core. I don’t love everything Simcha Fisher has to say but her piece on Common Core was very balanced. I hear a lot of complaining about the math portion, but the way they’re doing math actually makes a great deal of sense to me. There was a teacher who taught my elementary school class how to do mental math, how math works, and how numbers relate to each other. This means that I have a better than average grasp of the metric system and scientific notation, both of which make infinitely more sense than the English/imperial system used in the United States.
As for literature, Simcha mentioned that they tend to err on the side of non-fiction which is fine with me. I always read things that interested me and my parents didn’t have to introduce me to good literature because I generally found it on my own.
Here’s something for Halloween. I found this piece on the history of witchcraft to be pretty interesting. (Then again, my college degree dealt with this sort of thing, especially in the history and anthropology classes I took.) She’s not endorsing the practice of Wicca or anything (and she mentions that Wicca is a 20th century invention) and she makes some interesting points about cultures in which witchcraft is still an excuse for stuff going wrong. It’s definitely worth a read.
I am praying for… a call for Jon, some special intentions, and continual discernment regarding a few aspects of my life.
I am going… to hopefully get my hair cut tomorrow. It’s definitely time.
I am reading…Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self from Thomas Merton and Other Saints by James Martin, S.J. and another murder mystery whose title is eluding me.
I am hoping… to find lots for Daniel to do on Friday when he is off school.
I am looking forward to… the costume parade at Daniel’s elementary school on Thursday morning. He’ll be dressed as a Giants fan so I’m also hoping that the Giants win the World Series. 😉
I am hearing… Jon’s CPAP.
Around the house… quiet because everyone else is asleep.
A favorite quote for today… “Isaiah 55 provides an entirely different framework for thinking about God’s justice, because it suggests that we have it backward — the mystery lies not in God’s unfathomable wrath but in his unfathomable mercy. God’s ways are higher than our ways because his capacity to love is infinitely greater than our own. Despite all that we do to alienate ourselves from God, all that we do to insult and disobey, God abundantly pardons again and again.” — Rachel Held Evans, Evolving in Monkey Town
One of my favorite things… watching “raccoon TV” in the evenings — there are raccoons nearby who stop by my in-laws’ yard for a snack and they get whatever leftovers there are that aren’t edible for the humans.
A few plans for the rest of the week: possible haircut tomorrow, some walks by myself/with Daniel, choir practice on Wednesday, Daniel’s costume parade for school on Thursday, and whatever comes up this weekend.
You know you’re loved when you walk into church on Sunday and the acting music director hugs you and tells you that you should have shown up earlier so you could have sung with the choir. Before June, I hadn’t been back to the church for 11.5 years and in the two times I’ve been home since, I’ve gotten recruited for music the next Sunday. (I’m not THAT good — the music director has known me since high school and knows that I can sightread vocal music passably on my first try.) This Sunday, the anthem is “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” with organ and violin. I haven’t sung soprano in 16 years… but I’ll be trying to help the section on Sunday and practice went really well tonight. Thankfully, it’s a piece I know backwards and forwards.
Coffee dates. I got coffee with my friend Rebecca twice while I was home. It’s hard to do, given that I usually come up here with Daniel, so it was good to see her. She also came to church with me on Sunday which was lovely.
World Series. I’m kind of bummed that the Series is tied at 1 game apiece because I was hoping the Giants would sweep and I’d get to see all the games. (I don’t have access to TV in southern California and I’ll also be driving home during the game on Sunday.) Still, Game 1 was glorious and I’m glad that Blanco got a lead-off homer in Game 2.
I’m (almost) caught up on all the TV I usually watch. My parents have “On Demand” so I’ve been able to catch up with all the CBS stuff I usually watch but haven’t this fall because I don’t have much online time and that makes watching my shows online hard. I haven’t watched the new NCIS spin-off yet and I may not just because it’s another couple hours of stuff to watch.
I’ve gotten some fabulous walks in. I’ve taken some walks on the trail by Los Alamitos Creek and they’ve been really nice. It’s a good setting for getting in some prayer time because while there are people around, it’s also pretty quiet.
I’ve unfortunately had to watch political ads. “On Demand” usually protects me from them but I’ve had to put up with them if I’ve wanted to watch baseball. It’s kind of scary how normal people don’t actually look to see who has paid for the ads… because it is really quite telling. I also wish there was something that killed all the ads, mailings, etc. if you have already voted. (I’m a permanent absentee ballot voter so I voted about a week and a half ago.)
Thankfully, the only really contentious races this year for us in California are the House ones and some of the ballot measures. Neither of our Senators is up for re-election and our Democratic governor is about 20 percentage points ahead of the Republican challenger. (He’s so far ahead that I think the GOP in California has given up on the challenger because I haven’t seen *ANYTHING* about that particular race since the primaries in June.)
