Author Archives: Jen

About Jen

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.

Our Lord Who Never Sleeps

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Neil Armstrong passed away from complications due to cardiac procedures yesterday. It was a blow to the nation because he was the first man to walk on the moon and as Neil DeGrasse Tyson pointed out, it was the only positive event in the last 50 years where everyone can remember where they were at that moment.

Yesterday’s devotion in Our Daily Bread was fitting:

One of the most dangerous aspects of flying is the landing. As the aircraft gets closer to land, the air traffic is more congested, the weather on the ground may be far worse than the weather at 30,000 feet, and the runways may not be clear of other planes. So pilots rely on the air-traffic controller to coordinate all the details so that every plane can arrive without incident. Without the air-traffic controller, chaos would be certain.

Imagine, then, the panic when the pilot of an airliner full of passengers radioed the tower and got no answer. It was eventually discovered that the air-traffic controller was in fact there but sound asleep, putting pilot, passengers, and plane in great jeopardy. The good news is that the plane landed safely.

Even better news is that God, the ultimate traffic controller, neither slumbers nor sleeps. From His heavenly vantage point, He knows all that is going on in and around your life. As the psalmist notes, ??My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber?? (121:2-3).

You can count on it??God knows the impending dangers and will tirelessly direct the traffic of your life for your good and His glory (Rom. 8:28).

The reading was Psalm 121 and the words of the RSV from the Book of Common Prayer are often the words in my head:

I lift up my eyes to the hills; *
from where is my help to come?
My help comes from the LORD, *
the maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved *
and he who watches over you will not fall asleep.
Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel *
shall neither slumber nor sleep;
The LORD himself watches over you; *
the LORD is your shade at your right hand,
So that the sun shall not strike you by day, *
nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; *
it is he who shall keep you safe.
The LORD shall watch over your going out and your coming in, *
from this time forth for evermore.

I love the last verse in which we are reassured that “the Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth for evermore.” I love that this translation renders the words as “coming in and going out” because it’s a psalm that was read/recited while traveling to the Temple in Jerusalem. The Lord protected Armstrong’s steps as he left his capsule and walked on the moon and he will protect my steps as I head to church with Daniel today (it’s 1:07 a.m.) as well as wherever my journey takes me.

Godspeed, Neil.

My Thoughts on Todd Akin

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Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about Todd Akin’s comments and the firestorm ignited by them. As this blog is the place where I toss my toxins, I felt like I should weigh in. I have good friends who are rape survivors and this could be triggering so please click on the cut if you want to read what I have to say. Oh yeah, comments are closed because this is not up for debate. Those who want to talk with me civilly know how to get in touch with me.

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7 Quick Takes: Things Not to Say To Me If You Want To Live

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

“Don’t you know that vaccines cause autism?” Actually, they don’t. The British doctor who spread that fallacy admitted to falsifying the data and his name was stricken from the British Medical Register. (Translation: he lost his license to practice medicine.) Unfortunately, airhead celebrities like Jenny McCarthy are still spreading that lie. Daniel is completely caught up on vaccines and if I had any say in the matter, all kids would be required to be vaccinated. There’s no excuse for kids in the USA dying from diseases like whooping cough if the access to vaccines exists.

— 2 —

“Have you heard of the GAPS diet? It cures autism.” Yes, I’ve heard of it — I don’t think any parent of an autistic kid hasn’t because we do a huge amount of research in the hopes of finding something to help our kids. It also doesn’t cure autism because there is no cure. It sometimes *helps* some kids who have gluten intolerances and whose behavior is affected by them but it isn’t a cure-all thing. Besides, I have a kid with enough food issues that I’d rather not do anything to limit his diet any more than it already is.

— 3 —

“I can’t believe you didn’t breastfeed Daniel. Don’t you know that ‘breast is best’???” The fun part is that it’s people who know about my pregnancy from hell and the emergency c-section from the HELLP Syndrome who ask me this. Anyway, I have no regrets about not breastfeeding with Daniel. I actually did try pumping but I was so incredibly sick that I needed the sleep too much to have to wake up every few hours to pump. My doctor and I made the decision to suppress my milk supply (it had already started coming in because of the pumping) and it was probably what got me out of the hospital sooner rather than later.

— 4 —

“I can’t believe you want to vote for Obama!!!” I’d love to respond by saying that I can’t believe they would vote for Romney, but that would be wrong to do. 🙂 In all seriousness, I vote my conscience and I can’t, in good conscience, support Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan. Our third party system is crappy at best so my other option is Obama. I stay out of discussions of this on Facebook and elsewhere because I believe one of the blessings of being American is being allowed to vote one’s conscience. If your conscience says “Romney”, more power to you. Mine says “oh Hades no!” to the though of voting for Mitt Romney so “Obama” it is.

— 5 —

“What do you mean your son has never had McDonald’s?!?!?!? Are you some kind of hippie granola freak?” Strangely, I’ve gotten this from people who are astonished that Daniel wasn’t breastfed. No, he has never had McDonald’s. He had a lot of texture issues when he finally started eating solid foods and I just never took him through the drive-thru because I didn’t think he’d eat it. When we were at his preschool picnic in May, peoples’ jaws dropped when they saw me bring the exact same lunch item for Daniel as I had brought for myself instead of going the Happy Meal route. I did get him a cheeseburger from Carl’s Jr a few days later and he was chill with that; but I’ve never gotten him anything from McDonald’s and probably won’t in the foreseeable future.

— 6 —

“Why aren’t you homeschooling Daniel because he’s autistic?” The thought of homeschooling Daniel has never occurred to me and when Jon brought it up, I shot it down immediately… and that was before he was diagnosed with autism. I am not a patient person by nature and homeschooling was never in the plans, especially once he was diagnosed with autism. While I’ve had ABA training, I would rather have people who are far better trained than I am working with him. His preschool class provides him with music, art, behavioral therapy, speech therapy, and teachers/aides who adore the kids. I couldn’t ask for a better situation, especially in a public preschool. Not to mention, he gets mainstreamed with the other state preschool classes in increasing amounts which is educational for them as well as for him.

— 7 —

“Can’t you just take some Tylenol for your fibromyalgia?” If that was a possibility, don’t you think I’d be doing that instead of spending $50+ a month on gabapentin and massage therapy? If you want your death to be slow and painful, just tell me that you don’t think fibromyalgia exists. I dare you!

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: August 21, 2012

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY August 20/21, 2012. (It’s midnight right now.)

Outside my window… dark. Actually pretty nice outside.

I am thinking… about Daniel starting school tomorrow. He has a new teacher and while he’s probably going to be fine, I’m a nervous wreck.

I am thankful… for a good trip to see family.

In the kitchen… ramen. I’m having problems eating and it’s a food that doesn’t irritate my stomach.

I am wearing… black shirt and Left Behind shorts.

I am creating… just this entry.

I am going… to try and get some better habits started this school year.

I am wondering… about creating a Facebook page for this blog. It’s probably not going to happen but it’s an interesting possibility.

I am reading… Clergy Killers by G. Lloyd Rediger. I probably would have finished it but I slept most of the way home today.

I am hoping… my clothes dry in time for tomorrow.

I am looking forward to… time with a friend tomorrow.

Around the house… lots of cats.

One of my favorite things… my recliner.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Morning Prayer, errands, and hopefully getting a haircut on Friday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

Because Friday Is Five Days Away…

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I’m down in LA with my in-laws and need to purge my brain. As it isn’t Friday and I can’t do this in seven nice Quick Takes, I’ll do it my way.

[+] I’m going to be shot for saying this but Bad Catholic sounds like a teenager wrote it. Whaddaya know… Marc Barnes is 19! Shocker. I’m not saying that all his writing has grammar mistakes and sounds like bad text messages but the voice speaking sounds like the blogs I read of 16-18 year olds when I was in seminary. 1Flesh.Org sounds about the same. I’m not anti-NFP — I’m a huge fan of iuseNFP — but the 1Flesh.Org site sounds immature and simplistic when it’s not a simple issue in the slightest.

[+] Jon’s parents suprised him with tickets to Mary Poppins: The Musical yesterday. After the family cupcake brunch, we took Metro-Link to Union Station, took the subway to the Civic Center station, and then walked to the Ahmanson Theatre for it. The show was all manner of awesome — music, special effects, etc. were great. They had to fudge the story a bit to fit the musical but it was still pretty faithful to the Disney movie with things from the book thrown in. Afterwards, we had dinner at Buca di Beppo where I had some lovely calamari and enjoyed some of Jon’s pizza.

[+] The downside to yesterday: MY FEET!!! My nice shoes gave me serious blisters on my ankles and my small toes. I’d post pictures but the blisters on my toes have popped and are nasty-looking. (There are also some people who haven’t recovered from me posting pictures of my foot when I suffered an avulsion fracture in my ankle with a sprained foot.) I’m thinking I’ll be rocking some Old Navy flip-flops for at least a week when I get home.

7 Quick Takes: Camp Songs, Road Trips, and Speed Reading

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

It’s Shark Week on Discovery Channel. Someone posted this video of “Baby Shark” in honor of Shark Week and as it’s a camp song and as a former camp counselor, I think these songs need to be shared. This video is from a Boy Scout camp in Connecticut and as usual, the Boy Scouts know how to do these songs well.

— 2 —

I think we need to add The Penguin Song for good measure. It’s another camp song that I learned from some members of my Bible study in college who learned it as YMCA camp counselors. I have memories of standing outside Marianne’s (an awesome ice cream parlor in Santa Cruz) singing it. I’m pretty sure it would have been banned in the Girl Scouts because it looks like you’re mocking people with mental disabilities.

— 3 —

OK… throwing a question out to my readers. What were your favorite camp songs? They can be from whatever camps you attended — Girl Scout, Boy Scout, church, CYO, whatever.

— 4 —

By the time you read this, I’ll be down in southern California with Jon, Daniel, and my in-laws. Jon’s birthday is Saturday and he wants to take a weekend off. Since he hasn’t actually had one in like… a year, we’re doing it! He has a few surprises waiting for him on this trip so hopefully it will be enjoyable for him.

— 5 —

I got a few books read on the way down. No, I wasn’t the one driving. I finished The Wurst Is Yet to Come by Mary Daheim, read The Fifty Shames of Earl Grey by Fanny Merkin (a.k.a Andrew Shaffer — it’s a parody of THAT OTHER BOOK, stop judging me!) before starting/finishing The Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke, and starting on Clergy Killers by G. Lloyd Rediger. Yes, I do read that fast.

— 6 —

My in-laws are the only people I know with more cats than me. I think the current count is 5 or 6? My mother-in-law is seriously deserving of the hashtag #crazycatlady that I bat around the Twitter. My sister-in-law has three chihuahuas but we don’t talk about it.

— 7 —

Why yes, I’m aware that I’m not #1 this week in posting my Quick Takes. I’ve been busy taking care of my kid and attempting to be social with my in-laws? Oh yes… also catching up on Twitter and Facebook because I didn’t get a chance to be online until tonight.

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

Late Night Thoughts on Fitness

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When I lived in Minnesota, I was under so much stress from church crud that I would do taebo for an hour and then go for a 3 mile walk. It wasn’t impossible — I had started walking 3 miles every non-Sunday morning during my first summer there and it was a pain when winter came, the snow flew, and I couldn’t go on walks because it was -20F outside. I probably would have continued the practice once I moved to Montana except that there were these obnoxious things called hills. When I worked for UPS, we had a virtual triathlon where we could run, bike, walk, or swim and rack up miles that way. I would have won the first year had I not gotten bronchitis and then morning sickness which made me stop walking at lunch because I couldn’t breathe and was puking.

I should ideally be walking these days except for a few excuses reasons:

1.) It’s bloody hot outside these days. Triple digits and I don’t get along. Why yes, I’m fully aware that it’s not 104F at 9 a.m. Shut up.

2.) I’m not a morning person. I have the living room childproofed so that if I accidentally fall back asleep, Daniel isn’t going to cause much damage. This rules out 9 a.m.

3.) Every time I’ve wanted to do this, I wake up having an achy day with fibromyalgia. Of course, I’d have fewer days like that if I walked more but that would make too much sense and besides, it’s a catch-22 because when I end up in pain when I try to walk.

So anyway, Daniel starts back to school in a week and I technically have no excuse why I shouldn’t go for a nice walk in the mornings… most of the time.

The lovely and snarky Cari Donaldson announced a virtual 5K in a Catholic Exchange post a few months back and according to it, we can either run, walk, limp, or crawl. Yeah… I think I can do that. At the very least I’ll limp the 3.1 miles and go get a frappucino or something.

Oh wait… I’m Lutheran. Should I even be doing this?

Catholic Exchange Virtual 5K