Category Archives: Media/TV

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: August 7, 2016

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For Today…

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… dark. It was 70F earlier but just touching being warm enough to be outside without a light sweatshirt. We also had some sprinkles earlier which is expected for western Washington.

I am thinking… about how annoying all the SCANDAL-style reporting is on gymnastics. Tonight’s scandal: ALY RAISMAN IS GOING TO NUDGE OUT GABBY DOUGLAS FROM PARTICIPATING IN THE ALL-AROUND!!!!! WHAT WILL WE DOOOOOOOOOOOO?!?!?!?

I am thankful… for the discovery of Snow Goose Produce, a local seasonal produce market. I really wish the line for their ice cream hadn’t been out the door because it looked pretty good and I wanted some!

One of my favorite things… having the bed to myself. Waiting to Daniel to go back to sleep so I can put him back in his own bed and not have him taking up 2/3 of my bed.

I am wearing… jammies. Church clothes were a black top, black slacks, and black flats. The rest of the day, it was an indigo shirt, jeans, and my running shoes.

I am creating… a big boy blankie for Daniel. I’ve picked it back up and am working on the edging.

I am watching… the Olympics. Gymnastics just finished and the medal ceremony for US Men’s Swimming is going on.

I am hoping… for decent sleep tonight with this stupid cold.

I am learning… my limits in functioning while this sick.

In my kitchen… Dad made burgers and we also had corn from one of the local farms.

In the school room… Daniel is still off of school and will go back on the 30th.

Post Script… I thought this was interesting, especially as I’m one of those ladies. 🙂

Shared Quote… This is Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 which was the passage I was lectoring this morning:

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old– and Sarah herself was barren– because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.”

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

{five favourites}: Miscellanea (LXX)

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#5Faves

I usually do this link-up around Tuesday/Wednesday but my week got a little crazy. I figured I’d get my 7 Quick Takes up because they were pretty prominently on my mind and then link up here over the weekend. 🙂

One

The Parade of Nations during the Opening Ceremonies. I love seeing what the various countries are wearing because sometimes it includes beautiful ethnic costumes. They did not disappoint. The Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar had women who looked completely elegant and some of the nations that are part of Oceania had beautiful dresses and sarongs. I also loved the traditional-style dresses that the Georgian team was wearing even if their nation petitioned to have the costume changed. I was not enamored with the clothes Team USA was wearing and I think the women should have done the blazer-over-a-sheath-dress thing that many of the other western nations did. Those women looked very pretty and not like they were in some boring pants suit for a meeting.

Two

COPS. The show has been on since I was a kid but it’s addictive and it sometimes shows the lighter side of law enforcement.

Three

Jail. They film footage in jails around the country though Las Vegas, Portland, and various cities in Texas and Florida are the more popular ones. Sometimes, the inmates can be pretty humorous.

Four

Locally-sourced foods. While I live in town, it’s only about a 5-10 minute drive until you’re out in the fields. We’ve been stopping at little farm stands when we’re out doing errands and we’ve learned about some interesting things that are grown in the area such as tayberries.

Five

Robitussin Nighttime Cough DM. We’ve been fighting colds in this house for the least week or so and as it’s a chest cold, I’m definitely having problems breathing which lead to problems sleeping. This formulation of Robitussin has an antihistamine in it which is making me feel really chill. I’m hoping it helps me sleep.

Go love up Bonnie, babystylista, and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: July 31, 2016

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For Today… July 31, 2016

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… sunny. It was a blistering 74F today and I seem to be annoying various Californians by pointing this out. 🙂 (It was 109F in Sacramento on Friday.) I’m hoping for a pretty sunset tonight.

I am thinking… about my week and what is on my plate.

I am thankful… for the sweet woman from church who wrapped me in a prayer shawl today. It was a good surprise.

One of my favorite things… Coffee Almond Fudge ice cream from Tillamook.

I am wearing… jammies. Clothes from church were a blue-green shirt from Old Navy and stretchy black skirt that I got from Lands’ End 10+ years ago. When I got home, I exchanged the skirt for my black capris from Kohl’s.

Me with Daniel while wearing my prayer shawl.

I am creating… plans for new WIP’s on my hooks.

I am watching… “Lockup: Indiana – Extended Stay” on MSNBC. I’m kind of a forensic show junkie.

I am hoping… for good sleep tonight and that I can be competitive in the various Workweek Hustles I am part of on Fitbit.

In my kitchen… the normal Sunday fare.

In the school room… Daniel is done with ESY and school is starting on August 30th.

Post Script… I liked the list of signs that one is a counterfeit Christian. Let’s just say that I know a few people who fit the profile and the list is a warning to me to be authentic with my faith.

Shared Quote… “So, look, so don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on earth!” — Michelle Obama

A moment from my day… One of the pictures I took at Deception Pass today.

Puget Sound @ Deception Pass

Closing Notes: Unless you’ve been intentionally avoiding all political news (which I think is a totally rational option for this election season), you’ve heard Trump’s criticisms of Khzir Khan and his wife Ghazala who spoke at the DNC. Their son, US Army Captain Humayun Khan, was killed by a car bomb in Iraq in 2004 while serving as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. One of Trump’s criticisms was that Ghazala was not the one who spoke at the DNC. She didn’t speak because… SHE’S GRIEVING HER SON, EVEN 12 YEARS LATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is her op-ed from the Washington Post, which I found to be very tender and very well-written.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Political Fun, History, and Grizzly Bears Scarfing Down Salmon

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

A little fun with all the political drama going on right now… Stephen Colbert goes to the two conventions as the character “Julius Flickerman” (brother of “Caesar Flickerman” from The Hunger Games with his pet weasel Caligula

— 2 —

History made this week. Even if Hillary Rodham Clinton doesn’t win the election in November, she is still the first woman to secure the nomination of a major political party as a presidential candidate. (I emphasized that part because she is not actually the first woman to run for president, as various people have been pointing out all week.)

— 3 —

Yeah… no. In her beautiful speech at the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama pointed out that she lives in a house that was built using slave labor. Fixed FOX News pundit Bill O’Reilly disputed this, mansplaining and whitesplaining to the First Lady that they were well-fed and were local moochers. Hate to break it to you, Bill, but the First Lady is correct. She is backed up by primary source material from Abigail Adams and by the Smithsonian.

If you want a good read on our tendency to whitewash some of the negative effects of slavery and our inability to deal with our society being complicit in it even if some of our ancestors weren’t in the country yet, I recommend this piece by a woman who used to lead tours at a southern plantation.

— 4 —

More fun related to the DNC. Quartz Magazine posted this piece talking about Bill Clinton and his speech on Tuesday night but did it in the style of a puff piece about a woman’s appearance giving the speech rather than the content of it.

— 5 —

Radio Free Babylon for the win! Sometimes Frequently, Coffee with Jesus manages to communicate the truth better than I can articulate it.

Closed to Dialog

— 6 —

Green smoothies. It’s hot here this week (translation: it’s in the 80’s) so I’ve been doing lots of green smoothies for meals because it helps to keep me cool. My recipe: a little bit of whole milk, some Greek yogurt, a handful of frozen fruit and a handful of spinach. Yum.

— 7 —

Something to watch when bored. Have you ever had the urge to watch grizzly bears in Alaska eat salmon and go fishing? Here you go!

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

7 Quick Takes: Lots of Politics and Some Other Randomness

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Butterflies in my stomach. I’m currently waiting for my cousin Sarah to come over with her fiancé Evan. I have serious butterflies in my stomach because I haven’t met him yet. I’m excited to get to see Sarah for the first time in almost 6 years — she’s one of my favorite cousins and I think Daniel will love her. (We all love her so that’s not surprising.)

**UPDATE** It was a fabulous visit.

— 2 —

Introverts for the win! I saw an article this week on why silence is much for important to our brains than previously thought. This totally explains how my mind works better than I could ever vocalize, especially why I could sit down at my computer and bang out a 10 page paper without writing a bunch of drafts first and have it receive the highest grade in my college classes.

— 3 —

Fascinating. Someone shared this piece which has a bunch of pictures from the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. As know most of my readers are fans of her books, I thought I’d pass it on.

— 4 —

A chart of lying liars who lie. Someone shared this chart of the biggest liars in the 2016 election and not surprisingly, Donald Trump is at the top. Hillary is 2nd from the bottom and Obama is at the bottom. Why am I mentioning this? IT WAS MORMONPRESS.COM WHO COMPILED IT!!!! You would think that they would be anti-Hillary which makes me trust their chart a bit more because why would they publish something like this unless the numbers backed it up?

— 5 —

Because food is a uniting force. Instead of having a protest, the Wichita police department had a cook-out with the local Black Lives Matter group. Props to police chief Gordon Ramsey and activist A.J. Bohannon for putting this together and finding a way to get along and show that police and the BLM can get along!

— 6 —

This terrifies me. As the mom of a kiddo with autism, this terrifies me. And seriously, y’all? The autistic man had A FREAKING TOY FIRE TRUCK!!!! That officer should be facing some serious charges!!!

— 7 —

In all seriousness… I was going to share the picture of Donald Trump’s star in Hollywood surrounded by a miniature concrete wall. However, in light of him accepting the nomination from the GOP to be their candidate for the presidential election in November, I thought it better to share what it really does look like to “throw a little gas” as Trump joked about Saddam Hussein doing. Genocide isn’t a joke, y’all, and I really hope that any Trump supporters reading this take a long hard look at themselves because voting for someone who thinks this is funny is a foul move.

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

Why I Generally Don’t Weigh In On Current Events As They Happen Anymore

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Back when I started blogging, I would weigh in on things going on in the world as they happened. It was 2000 and the big news was The Election That George Bush Stole. Sixteen years later, I’m pretty quiet on most things going on in the world. I didn’t weigh in on the Target transgendered bathroom debate, the shooting at the Pulse, the massacre in Nice on Bastille Day, or really anything that has happened in the last three months. Part of it has been that I’ve been swamped. (I haven’t read any blogs in my Bloglovin’ in probably two months because of the move.)

Part of it, however, is this:

There are times when I simply lack the words to say. Seriously, what can one say about the Bastille Day massacre other than “Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.” With regard to the transgendered bathroom issue, I have friends who are transgendered and while I am totally in favor of standing up for them, I didn’t have permission from all of them to write about them so any decent blog entry I could write would have unfairly outed them.

There are times to write and times to connect with people instead. When the Pulse shooting happened, I chose to reach out to my queer friends and let them vent about their anger and feelings of fear instead. It seemed more important at the time.

There are frequently people who can either put things more eloquently than I can or who can write more authoritatively on a subject than I can. This is why I chose to share the John Pavlovitz post on the bathroom issue and the explanation of why #AllLivesMatter is so offensive rather than weighing in on each of them. Let’s also add in the fact that I as a white chick am not qualified to write about the black experience.

Facebook is useful for sharing other things. Facebook is useful for sharing the random links of things that I find though I do save some of them to share as Quick Takes.

There you have it — the reasons I am not blogging on a lot of what happens in the news these days.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: July 17, 2016

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For Today… July 17, 2016

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… sunny and in the 70’s today. I’m loving the climate here.

I am thinking… about my week and some things I’m having to sort through in my personal life.

I am thankful… for an amazing service at St. Paul’s. I felt connected and present in worship for the first time in a long time.

One of my favorite things…looking out of my bedroom window and seeing all the trees. Washington really is the Evergreen State and I am so lucky to be in a place where the developers have left some intentional green space.

I am wearing… an emerald green shirt from Fred Meyer and black slacks from Kohl’s for church this morning with my black flats from Naturalizer that have worked incredibly well for the last two years. (This is the shoe for those who are wondering.) After church, I swapped the slacks out for my black capris from Kohl’s and flip-flops from Old Navy.

I am creating… emails and this blog post. 🙂

I am watching… a Leverage marathon on ION.

I am hoping… some of the ick in my mood and in my life goes away. It’s been a hard week and a half in some respects.

I am learning… to take a really long walk before writing a difficult email or letter.

In my kitchen… frozen dinner tonight. I need to go through my cookbook collection and find stuff I can cook that actually makes me want to eat. My appetite is getting zapped by the nausea I’m having because of nerves.

In the school room… Daniel is loving ESY and continues to have good days. He seems to work well with the teachers and aides. School is definitely a positive in his life and I’m glad I resisted the pressure to homeschool him.

Post Script… I wanted to share this for all the introverts like me out there: our brains need silence!

Shared Quote… I’ve been reminding myself of this in the last few weeks on the really hard days:

Wise words from Johnny Depp.

A moment from my day… Some wonderful music from Matt Maher that is speaking to my soul:

Closing Notes: Related to one of my Quick Takes, the Cleveland Police Union has asked for the suspension of Ohio’s open carry laws for the duration of the Republical National Convention. Governor John Kasich has refused.

*facepalm* Because, you know, it’s so appropriate to see grown men with AK-47’s strapped to their backs to prove a point while 40 feet away, kids are playing on a splash pad. Again… JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD!!!!!!!

Hosted by The Simple Woman.