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.

Meet Brett

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This is Brett.

Brett

Cute, isn’t he?

He lives in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. I found out about his status on Reece’s Rainbow thanks to Leila of Orphan Report. Leila is completely smitten with him but she’s already the Guardian Angel of two children and after prayer, I emailed them and asked if I could be the Guardian Angel for Brett.

According to his bio on the site:

Boy, born September 2007

Brett is a handsome young man who was born with CP. He is very smart, he gets around on his own by crawling, but he is not able to walk. Therapy will do wonders for him! He deserves to have a family!

From a volunteer who knows him: He plays with other children. He speaks with separate words. He understands the addressed speech. The boy is curious, likes classes. He loves when his nurse reads for him, he likes making pyramids.

The 4 year old sounds like Daniel in so many ways and I know from my experience with Daniel that with some physical therapy, he could learn to walk eventually. As much as I would love to take him home, there’s no way I could take care of both him and Daniel so I’m doing the next best thing: advocating to find him a “forever family” and fundraise so they can bring him home.

It takes around $25,000 for an international adoption and he only has $42.50 in his account to put toward said adoption. Please consider going to his page and making a donation.

There will be more posts about him in the future as well as a blog dedicated to bringing him home (once I get taxes done).

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: April 16, 2012

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY

Outside my window… it was sunny but now seems cloudy.

I am thinking… about where my printer cables are so I can print out my tax extension form.

I am thankful… Daniel is adjusting to preschool slowly but surely. He only cried for an hour today which is a huge improvement.

In the kitchen… some Bertolli soup for dinner, I think.

I am wearing… forest green v-neck shirt and capri sweats.

I am creating… tax files and this entry.

I am going… to hopefully find printer cables and stuff tomorrow so I can print out my extension form.

I am wondering… where they are.

I am reading… Style, Sex, and Substance: 10 Catholic Women Consider the Things that Really Matter by Hallie Lord.

I am hoping… I hear back from Reece’s Rainbow about being a Guardian Angel tomorrow.

I am looking forward to… the quiet of weekday mornings while Daniel is at preschool.

I am pondering… assorted things in my heart.

A favorite quote for today… ??I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to “rejoice” as much as by anything else.” — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… Crystal Light peach tea.

A few plans for the rest of the week: probably errands, taxes, and a massage on Friday.

A peek into my day… Daniel and I at Miwok Park at his last physical therapy session

Daniel and I at Miwok Park for physical therapy

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

Rosen vs. Romney

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NOTE: I’m blogging to add my two cents on the whole dust-up and not to compare the merits of Romney as a candidate vs. Obama or Ron Paul or anything else. My commitment not to trash any of the candidates stands firm.

I’m sure this is going to be a SHOCKER but I agree that Hillary Rosen misspoke in saying that Ann Romney “never worked a day in her life.” Why, pray tell, do I agree?

1.) The way she phrased it made it sound to some like she was assuming that stay-at-home mothers don’t work. (Huh. I didn’t construe it that way and neither did a number of people I know.) What she probably intended to say was that Ann Romney had never worked a day outside the home in her life. Funny that I somehow figured that out when the mainstream media couldn’t…

2.) It is considered really bad manners to attack a candidate’s family. I mean, you can question whether or not Romney is correct in relying on Ann for advice on women and finances, but it is unfair to attack Ann Romney herself or to attack their kids. The same thing goes for Michelle, Malia, and Sasha — you can criticize President Obama and his policies but you sound really rude when you go after Michelle and the girls.

In the interest of being fair, Hillary Rosen did have a valid point in that Romney should probably be receiving advice on his policies on women from a female campaign staffer who is working full-time and raising her kids without the aid of a housekeepers and nannies like Ann Romney had. You could bring up her MS but then you’d have to bring up the fact that there are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of women in this country who work full-time and raise their kids while simultaneously dealing with autoimmune diseases like lupus, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia (the one I deal with on a daily basis).

According to just about every major news source, Rosen apologized and Romney graciously accepted her apology. Can we stop hating on her now?

7 Quick Takes — Starting Preschool, Rescue Panthers, and Preeclampsia Studies

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7 Quick Takes

I missed having Quick Takes last week. I didn’t necessarily need more writing to do (still continued my Lenten discipline) but I missed the community and being able to empty my brain this way.

— 1 —

Daniel started preschool on Wednesday. The preschools in our elementary school district are housed at the school a block away from the parsonage and they have an ABA class which is where Daniel was put. (The IEP was 2 1/2 weeks ago.) Putting it mildly, Daniel did not approve and spent most of the day crying. It wasn’t a crying jag about being separated from Jon and I — it was all about people not letting him do what he wanted to do. My words to his teacher: he can like it or lump it. She laughed and her aides laughed when she told them my response. Here’s hoping that next week goes better.

— 2 —

Things not to say to me: “What are you going to do with yourself now that Daniel is in preschool? Seriously, I now have 4 1/2 hours free in my day. I have decluttering projects up the freaking wazoo on my plate as well as some posts I promised for people. Yeah… I think I have things to do. I will admit that Wednesday morning, I just sat in my recliner with my laptop and enjoyed the quiet. Today, I collapsed in the recliner and took a nap until UPS and the home health care people pounded on the door to wake me up.

— 3 —

Daniel seems to have no ill effects from his seizure on Friday. This confirms the ER doctors and residents’ suspicions that it was a simple febrile seizure. I also learned that he flips out less on the gurney in the ER bay if I lie down with him and hold him. He slept in my lap there for most of Friday evening after we got to the ER and I got some reading done during that time. Thank God (and the family friend who bought it for me) for Popadija (my NOOK)!

— 4 —

Yes, I do name my electronic items. My current laptop is “Presbytera”, my former laptops were “Khouria” and “Pristina” (a spelling error for “Prifteresha” so I might use that name again), my NOOK is “Popadija”, and my iPod is “Panimatushka”. What are these names, you ask? They are Orthodox Christian titles for the priest’s wife. While I’m not Orthodox, I am a pastor’s wife and I decided that I needed a title which is why “khouria” figures into my Twitter ID because people usually have no idea how to refer to me. (My pat answer: “I go by Jen.”)

— 5 —

I finished my latest murder mystery (Burried in Buttercream by G.A. McKevett — go read it) and am now reading Sex, Style, and Substance. I got through the introduction and am about to read Jennifer Fulwiler’s chapter. Even having read as little of the book as I have, I can honestly say that it is seriously made of win. I might be reading it on Friday morning while Daniel is in preschool. (I’d read it sooner but I have some writing projects to plan out if not finish.)

— 6 —

My “rescue panther” would like me to post this video. She has vowed to sit on my lap and block my access to the keyboard of my laptop unless I post the Geico video involving the couple who adopted a “rescue panther” to take care of their home security needs.

— 7 —

There is a study out on the effects of preeclampsia on the brain. Wow… so I’m not just at a loss for words because I’m so sleep-deprived? Huh. In all seriousness, it’s something that frustrates me because I write so much and it’s maddening to have a word or idea in my brain but not to be able to express it. Let’s fund some more studies on preeclampsia and its long term effects. Sponsor me in the Promise Walk to help fund studies like this.

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

How to Get Ready for Preschool

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Daniel starts preschool tomorrow (OK… technically today because it’s 1:30 a.m.) and at 12:50 a.m., it occurred to me that I should probably get some things ready so that I’m not in a huge rush tomorrow. So… here’s my process for getting Daniel ready for preschool:

12:50 – Decide that you should probably prep some things ahead of time. Remove the comforter and peel yourself out of the recliner. Walk across the living room that is covered with Cheerios. (I didn’t get a chance to vacuum today. Stop judging me!) Step over the baby gate into the kitchen and switch on the light. Catch a picture of yourself in the microwave and realize that your eyes are mostly closed. Realize that you are also hungry so get Lean Cuisine meal out of the fridge.

12:55 – Wash out sippy cup using zip ties to poke the congealed formula out of the crevices. Make sure that sucker is CLEAN. Dry sippy cup and latex plug for it. Fill with properly-sourced apple juice from Trader Joe’s. Take a swig of juice while you’re at it.

12:57 – Remove a tortilla and pub cheese (think spreadable cheese that is two steps up from Velveeta) from the fridge. Use butter knife to spread cheese over tortilla. Roll as tightly as possible and cut into thin slices. Eat reject slices and put majority of roll-up in snack bag. Take a handful of Cheerios and put in another snack bag. Ponder investing in another kind of Cheerios for variety’s sake. Obsess about the fact that your kid probably will not sit down for any period of time to eat. Freak out about this. Remind yourself that these teachers are used to this and getting paid for it.

1:02 – Realize that you have not microwaved your midnight snack (which is actually dinner). Remove meal from box and stick in microwave for some ungodly amount of time. Remember that you need to supply diapers and wipes.

1:10 – Find alternate clothes that are not too holey (thank you broken dryer!) and label with initials. Label lunchbox, diapers, and wipes with name.

1:15 – Finally get dinner out of the microwave. Be thankful that it has cooled sufficiently so that it can rest on laptop while eating. Climb back over baby gate and settle in recliner. Remind the pair of glowing eyes nuzzling your left hand that rescue panthers don’t eat Lean Cuisine meals.

1:20 – Take plastic dish back to kitchen and toss it. Feel pangs of guilt for not recycling it. Decide that it’s too late to really care about the environment and that we’re all screwed anyway. Settle back into recliner. See a figure moving toward you. Point your laptop toward it and discover that it is the sissy tabby. Watch Mr. Tabbykins shrink away to cower on the couch. Feel guilty that the big orange lump is spooked.

1:24 – Type this entry with your eyes closed. Proofread later.

He has already seen his classroom and met his teacher today while I was trying to drop off paperwork at the school. I’m glad he got to meet his teacher — it might make things easier tomorrow. She is made of awesomeness and wasn’t fazed at all by Daniel running around and opening/closing things. She also has promised to call several times a day with updates on him during this week. I am blessed.

Mind Blown and The Book of Eli

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During our last Bible study, one of the women brought up the movie The Book of Eli in the context of how much Scripture we could remember. It was decided that we would watch the movie at the next Bible study. I went home and read the wiki on it, deciding to skip the movie. Well, the movie plans got made and I decided to just bring crocheting with me so I could look down if necessary.

I should probably insert here that C and M (our Bible study leaders) are freaking geniuses when it comes to creating interesting environments. We had a haunted hallway for Halloween that was awesome, a Valentine’s Day dinner in the fellowship hall which they decorated to look like a 5-star restaurant (and pulled it off!), and they didn’t disappoint for tonight. They took all the couches from the Fireside Room and the narthex and arranged them in a semi-circle around the projection screen. On the coffee table (also from the Fireside Room, I think), there were individual movie buckets of popcorn, caramel corn, bowls, bottles of green tea, and brownies that someone else had made. (I donated cupcakes from Daniel’s birthday.) C had dared me to wear my penguin pajama bottoms and she came in her jammies too.

(I seriously believe that there has to exist a picture of the two of them holding the Marauder’s Map from Harry Potter that says, “I do solemnly swear that I am up to no good.)

The movie was awesome. It was less bloody than I thought it would be and they did a great job with the plot twist at the end. (I can’t say much more because I don’t want to give away the ending.) I got a few rows crocheted on the baby blanket I’m working on intermittently and I’m glad I went.

Mostly, I’m blown away at how quickly the set-up was able to be taken down. When I came back from taking a couple people home, they had the couches removed and everything looking like it did before. It furthered strengthened my conviction that these are the two people I’d want to be stranded with on a deserted island because the two of them could hatch a plan to get OFF the island while making it into a five-star resort in the meantime.

An Easter Hymn

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A story regarding this hymn: we were at someone’s house for Christmas 2004 and we were having a jam session with their son. During said session, we discovered that you can actually sing “Jingle Bells” to the tune used for this hymn (“Noel Nouvelet”, a 15th century French carol). We had a parishioner who HATED this particular hymn so we were only allowed to sing it ONCE at Easter and the three of us couldn’t look at each other as we sang it because we knew we’d laugh.

Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
Wheat that in the dark earth many years has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

In the grave they laid Him, Love Whom we had slain,
Thinking that He??d never wake to life again,
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

Up He sprang at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain;
Up from the dead my risen Lord is seen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

When our hearts are saddened, grieving or in pain,
By Your touch You call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.
(HT: NetHymnal)

The hymn sung by choristers at Ely Cathedral: