Category Archives: Web Schtuff

7 Quick Takes: Temperature Afghans, Chuck Jones, and Why I Don’t Homeschool Daniel

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Temperature afghan progress. My yarn finally arrived yesterday and I did all the calculations on how many to chain for the correct width for this pattern. Let me tell you… it’s so much easier to chain 402 stitches in groups of 16 than it is to count to 400 and then have to put stitch markers in various places! (Don’t worry — I just counted to 16 every time and then counted the stitch markers, 25 in all, plus the two extra chains for turning.) I’m in the part I hate most right now (the first row) but when I’m done with that, things will be a lot easier!

The chain last night with stitch markers:

The chain with stitch markers.

The first row (yarn is Herrschner’s 2-Ply Afghan Yarn in “Forest”):

Row #1

What I have left to do on the first row:

What I have left on Row #1

— 2 —

Beep-beep! I did not know that Chuck Jones had 9 sacred rules for every episode with Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. This explains *SO* much.

— 3 —

The immigrant experience. Reddit users were asked what the most pleasant surprise they experienced when they came to America as immigrants. Here are their answers.

— 4 —

A political sign I can stand behind. Godless in Dixie shared this on Facebook and it cracked me up!

Anyone but Trump 2016!

— 5 —

To the twits who give me a hard time for not homeschooling Daniel. Seriously, I still get people asking me why I don’t homeschool Daniel because he’s autistic. For the last time…

#1: I don’t have a degree in education with specializations in special education and rare conditions. I believe that whoever is teaching my kid needs to have a 4-year college degree in the subject and the specialized knowledge to do so. (Most of the people I know who turned out brilliantly from being homeschooled were that way because their parents had college or graduate degrees which gave them the mindset and skills to teach them well. I’ve also seen some people come out almost completely illiterate when the parents have barely a high school diploma and decide that it’s enough to be able to teach their children.) This would apply even if Daniel was neurotypical — I’d still send him to school because… I DON’T HAVE AN EDUCATION DEGREE.

#2: I have the patience of a Marine drill sergeant. Can we say “not a good combination with a kid who does not respond to conventional tactics”?

#3: I am a serious introvert and already am pretty taxed by the amount of intensive time I spend with Daniel and what that time constitutes. You can’t give what you don’t have and if I don’t have some Daniel-free time to myself to recharge (even if that means I’m working a 9-5 job outside of the home), I have a really hard time being the mom I need to be. I’m good with spending time away from my kid — it means I get to miss him a little bit and it makes the time we do spend better.

— 6 —

For those who love to read. There’s a reading group over at Liturgy of Life and it looks interesting. I’ve got too many balls in the air to participate but I wanted to put it out there for those who are interested.

— 7 —

Because Geraldine is AWESOME. For those who are into yoga and fitness, go read this. You will die laughing.

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

{five favorites}: Miscellanea (LVI)

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#5Faves

One

My temperature afghan yarn. I finally have it in my hot little hands!!! *bouncebouncebounce* I’ve got the scheme worked out and I’m doing my least favorite part: chaining and the first row. My pattern involves stitch sets so I’m having to count off a specific number of stitches and put a safety pin to mark the stitches. Once I’ve gotten a couple rows in, it will be easier.

My yarn for my temperature afghan.

Two

Coffee. Given that it’s an El Niño winter, I’m waking up with a decent headache every morning. (Weather changes are one of my migraine triggers.) This is not making me happy but my daily coffee does.

Three

The Rose Ensemble. I have seriously fallen in love with this ensemble from the Twin Cities. So much pretty music! So much academic background! This is one of my loves right now:

(It’s a medieval hymn to St. James sung on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Campostella. #musicgeek)

Four

This bedtime checklist for toddlers. It also exists in our house except that it involves requests for cheese and milk. While I’m not a fan of negotiating with terrorists Daniel, giving in to that one means I don’t get woken up at 3 a.m. with requests for food… most of the time.

Five

Viperkeeper. This is probably the worst thing for me to watch to fall asleep because of my fear of snakes but it’s so darn entertaining!

Go love up Ashley and the others.

7 Quick Takes: Some New Year’s Musings

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Appropriate music. Rather than find a new and cool version “Auld Lang Syne” (which I think I have maybe sung once in my life, if at all), here’s a beautiful song for the New Year sung by Golden Bough, one of my favorite Celtic ensembles in northern California. You’re welcome. 🙂

— 2 —

Final update on resolutions. If my sweet angel decides to sleep tonight, I’ll be reading the last chapter of Zechariah and all of Malachi tonight. I recommend reading the Bible in a year and two good programs for that are here and here.

**UPDATE** Finished at 11:45 p.m. Boo yah!

My planking challenges were craptastic at best. Not to mention, who the heck does planks for fun?!?!?!?!?

— 3 —

Another Golden Bough song. This one is the song I associate with Golden Bough. The ensemble has been around since the time of my birth. My parents used to hear them perform at an Irish pub in Campbell. Enjoy!

— 4 —

Book suggestions for 2016. Kelly asked for book suggestions for 2016. My suggestions: anything by Rachel Held Evans (I read Searching for Sunday by her this year and loved it), Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, and Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber if you can deal with the profanity. (Nadia is nothing if not fluent in cursing like a sailor.) For murder mysteries that are completely absurd, check out Donna Andrews.

— 5 —

Resolutions for 2016. Here are some resolutions for 2016:

-Make a temperature afghan. Thankfully, Herrschners has good sales because my local Michael’s is sub-par and my ethics don’t allow me to shop at Hobby Lobby.

-Potty-train the munchkin. Because autism and living skills.

-Finish the various yarn things on my plate and make my parents their Christmas presents. I’ve got sock yarn for my mom’s striped socks and fleece to tie for my dad’s John Deere blankie. (My dad is a retired mechanical engineer and loves farm equipment so I get him all manner of John Deere things.) I also need to finish a stuffed animal for a friend who had a baby last year (aiming for the kiddo’s 1st birthday because I’ve managed to miss their birth and 6 month birthdays) and finish the munchkin’s big boy blankie.

-Get my prayer life back on track.

There are some others but I can’t talk about them yet.

— 6 —

Coming up on the blog. I’d like to do a series on parenting kids with special needs and get some guest posts (*coughcoughcough* Kelly *coughcoughcough* Kathleen) on the subject as well.

— 7 —

My plans for the evening. Dinner will be served as soon as I hit “publish”. Dad grilled up some steak and there are tater tots and Caesar salad. Dessert are some double chocolate Magnum bars. There’s a party and dancing at church tonight but I’m kind of looking forward to a quiet evening at home. If I beg hard enough, Dad might even make me a fire in the fireplace. I’ll be up at midnight but no champagne — I can’t drink.

**UPDATE** Dad fell asleep in his recliner early so little Miss Gold Award Girl Scout here tried to build her own fire, the first one in 17 years… and failed. I uttered the magic word (“Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!!!!!”) and he woke up, shook his head at me, and opened a secret case that had special aged tinder used to start a fire. Thankfully, he did not comment on how I should know how to do this.

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

{five favorites}: Miscellanea (LV)

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{five favorites}

One

Year of Mercy. Kerry Weber has a fabulous article on this in the Washington Post.

Two

Marie. Girlfriend posted her birth story in two installements here and here. I have seen pics of the kiddo on Facebook and she is a cutie pie!

Three

Geek Squad. I took my old laptop in on Monday to get the data off the hard drive and they had it back to me today (Tuesday). Additionally, they had me book an appointment so they could chat with me for 15 minutes about my wishes, how I wanted to handle things, and were just fabulous in terms of customer service. Go here for details on them. If you get anything through Best Buy, you need to work with them. Seriously, I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Four

This Christmas carol. Someone recommended checking out this carol in the comments on this post:

Five

This version of “I Saw Three Ships”. I’m seriously loving Blackmore’s Night and their “Winter Carols” album right now:

Go love up Ashley.

#5Faves: Miscellanea (XLIX)

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#5Faves

One

la harpe de melodie. This is the YouTube channel of a woman who is a fabulous harpist and vocalist. From what I can tell of her channel, she does Celtic music and early/medieval/renaissance music which are two of my favorite genres. Here are two songs I am liking after discovering her only 15 minutes ago.

Two

My mom. She made sure I got some down time to watch NCIS and crochet this weekend as well as backing me up with Daniel when needed.

Three

This piece on the Rosary. This piece in America magazine resonates with me though I am more introverted when I pray. I have a full Catholic rosary in my purse from Sara, a chaplet from Rebecca that I use on my walks when I pray, and a couple Anglican rosaries from my priest and from a class I took at church during Lent. I find that the beads help me to focus and pray when I need to not be distracted. I am using the Jesus Prayer more often than the Rosary these days but both provide me with words for prayer when I have none.

Four

Sara Groves. I first heard of her on Valentine’s Day 2008 when I was driving to work and listening to Your Network of Praise. It seems like every time I find a new song that seems to describe my life, she is singing it. She has also teamed up with International Justice Mission, one of my favorite charities for advocacy purposes. Her website is here.

Five

Words with Friends. It’s brainless enough to let me think through things while I play and I enjoy trying to put together fabulous moves.

Go love up Jenna and the others.

7 Quick Takes: Gluten-Free, Soccer Moms, and Morons Taking Selfies

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Soccer mom. Daniel had his first VIP soccer practice with AYSO tonight. We only made it through about 35 minutes until he melted down and wanted to be “all done” but hey… it’s a start. Since I’m now officially a soccer mom, I’ll be starting a GoFundMe to pay off my current car and buy a minivan. Any recommendations? [/sarcasm]

— 2 —

Gluten-free take #1. My doctor hasn’t gotten back to me with my biopsy results yet from last week but I’m planning to go completely gluten-free in October to see if it helps me at all. A complicating factor is that I’m allergic to eggs and that limits what I can eat even more, which is the reason I haven’t tried going gluten-free before now. (There’s also the “my-bloodwork-did-not-show-celiac-disease-and-I-do-not-do-fad-diets” thing but that would be snarky.) If you are gluten-free and have any recipe suggestions or possible substitutions, leave them to me in the comments.

— 3 —

Gluten-free take #2. I grabbed some “rice pasta and cheese” from Trader Joe’s to see if it was any good… and it was fabulous! It tastes like the cheap $1 mac n’ cheese from Kraft that contains all the yellow dyes banned outside the USA but without the evil dyes or the gluten. Yay!

— 4 —

Fibro flare. I’ve been dealing with a fibro flare since Sunday and this has meant that I’ve been spending mornings sleeping because I’m fighting insomnia at night. It’s impeding my ability to get things done so I’d appreciate prayers that it goes the duck away. Please and thank you!

— 5 —

Because we *TOTALLY* need more cat memes! This is one of the better Kim Davis memes I’ve seen recently:

Schrodinger's cat meets Kim Davis

— 6 —

I shouldn’t laugh but… I read an article today which claims that more people have died from selfies this year than from shark attacks. I am totally unsurprised that there are people stupid enough to take selfies while running with the bulls and doing other dangerous things that require one’s full attention. This one, however, takes the cake. (I’m guessing he’s probably at Loma Linda University Medical Center given where he’s from and the fact that “Venom ER” doctor Sean Bush is there.)

— 7 —

Prerequisite baseball take. Jon had the time of his life at the Dodgers game last week while my experience was kind of “meh”. We were pretty high up so the players on the field were like little action figures and I felt pretty disconnected from everything that was going on. (The other downside: the Dodgers won.) The bus ride to and from the church was an experience in claustrophobia for me and that probably didn’t help.

Anyway, it’s pretty likely that the Dodgers are going to take the division unless the Giants can pull a serious miracle. (The magic number is “4” so the Dodgers have to win 4 or the Giants lose 4 and it’s close to the end of the season.)

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

#5Faves: Miscellanea (XLIII)

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#5Faves

One

Mary and Jerry. Mary of Passionate Perseverance and her “significant otter” Jerry are doing a series of vlogs answering reader questions on how their marriage survived having a special kiddo like Courtney, how they remember her, how they cope, etc. They are hysterically funny together and play off of each other well.

Two

Adam Eichelberger. This is my friend Kate’s husband and he looks like he should be in some kind of punk motorcycle gang. (Serious tats and piercings.) Looks are deceiving — this guy is a Catholic youth minister, a husband who seriously cherishes his wife (he secretly fundraised for a ticket and travel to Edel ’14 last year as a surprise 30th birthday present and was going to be selling some prized possessions to make sure she could go), and an amazing dad. The most wonderful picture of fatherhood that I’ve ever seen was him doing kangaroo care with his son Gus after he was born.

Anyway, he was interviewed on the Building Bridges podcast and I recommend you listen.

Three

Pie St. This is a local pizza place in the Village and the premise of it is the same as Pieology. Basically, you choose the dough and they make your pizza in front of you to your specifications with choices for sauces, cheeses, and meats. Unlimited toppings are $7.99 and they have some classics which are $6.99. It makes for an inexpensive date night for us.

Four

These cards. One of the chicas in the HELLP Syndrome Survivors group on Facebook linked these cards that say “Stop Talking” on them. I kind of want to just hand them out to random people who are spouting conspiracy theories about the government, vaccines, Obama, and the Illuminati.

Five

Mary Daheim. I’m re-reading The Alpine Zen and I’ve requested The Alpine Yeoman to refresh my memory on the things that led up to the latest book. She also has a series of books about a bed and breakfast which make fun of various Seattle landmarks and businesses.

Go love up Jenna and the others.