Category Archives: Media/TV

7 Quick Takes: My Life As It Is Sung

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7 Quick Takes

I am feeling pretty flattened by a cold that may/may not be pondering a turn to bronchitis so thinking of unique and interesting Quick Takes is not on my list this week. Instead, please accept 7 songs that are speaking to me at the moment.

— 1 —

“Washed by the Water” by NEEDTOBREATHE. (Thanks, Kassie.) This is so incredibly relevant to my life as a pastor’s wife, especially when Jon’s parishes have gotten bitey. It’s such a blessing to know that I am “washed by the water”, that I’m a child of God through it all.

— 2 —

“Give Me Jesus” by Fernando Ortega. It’s a hymn that we sing in church and I love Fernando Ortega doing it because he limits the instrumentation to piano and guitar. It moves me because one of the things I want most in my day is just Christ’s presence with me.

— 3 —

“On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand” by Jars of Clay. There’s been a lot of death among my friends in the blogging world lately so this one is on my mind. I lovelovelove it because it reminds me of the hope we have in being with God after we die and the fact that this world is not our home.

Speaking of such things, please keep praying massively for Dwija of House Unseen and her family The funeral for baby Nicholas is tomorrow at 11 a.m. and they will need much in the way of prayer for comfort, strength, and peace.

— 4 —

“Whom Shall I Fear” by Chris Tomlin. There was a shooting of a police officer in my small town in January and it was definitely a tough week for us. He was a K-9 officer and all of us felt so much pain for his canine partner who couldn’t understand why his master had departed. I was out for a late night Jack in the Box run (don’t judge) and this came on the radio. It was seriously perfect timing.

— 5 —

“Who Am I” by Casting Crowns. This has been a favorite since I heard it on the radio while driving back from Appleton when we lived in Minnesota. My father-in-law reminds me frequently to “remember not only who you are but whose you are.” This song answers that beautifully.

— 6 —

“The Way” by Jeremy Camp. I am not at all ashamed to admit that I sing along with the radio in the car. LOUDLY. 🙂 This is one of my favorites to sing along with whether it be on KLOVE, Air1, or a mixed CD. I may have also cranked up the volume and blasted it to drown out inappropriate music from other cars at stoplights… a few times.

— 7 —

“God’s Not Dead” by the Newsboys. This is another song I love to belt out in the car when it comes on the radio. I haven’t used it to drown out inappropriate music from car stereos at stoplights only because I didn’t have it on a CD… until now. 😀 With the confusion over the Pope offering a plenary indulgence for those who follow World Youth Day on Twitter, I thought it was appropriate for this week. By the way, the best line from the article linked in this Quick Take is from the last paragraph:

The worst headline came from the normally careful Slate: Pope Francis is not offering indulgences ??in exchange for Twitter followers.?? He has plenty of Twitter followers. But he??d probably exchange a few hundred of them for headline writers who actually read the story.

I love the wit of Fr. James Martin, S.J. and I recommend his book Between Heaven and Mirth very highly.

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

7 Quick Takes: Eclectic Stuff Week

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Ziva leaves NCIS. Yep, it’s true. Cote de Pablo, the actress who plays Ziva David, is leaving the show after her character is wrapped up this fall. Ziva isn’t my favorite character so I’m not as bummed as I’d be if Abby (Pauley Perrette) but still kinda bummed nevertheless. I’m just wondering what will be done with her character and how they’ll tie that particular end up.

— 2 —

Orphans. Do you see these three sweet peas?

First row: Brett and Iris.
Second row: Kaia.

BrettIrisKaia

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her. Kaia has a family committed to her who will be traveling to her country to meet her on July 26th! Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 3 —

A benefit to singing. According to CNN, choir singers’ hearts beat as one. It isn’t completely surprising to me — when you’re that focused on your breathing and modulation of tone, your body gets into it. The best choirs function as a unit rather than as individual singers, after all.

— 4 —

Prerequisite baseball take. My Giants are at the bottom of the NL West. The freaking DODGERS are doing better and this is a fact that has not gone unmentioned by the fan of said team to whom I am wed. C’mon boys! Knock off the Padres tonight!

The All-Star Game is this weekend. Why yes, I will be annoyingly tweeting the entire game. 🙂 (Those who follow me on Twitter might want want to unfollow me temporarily.) Go NL!

— 5 —

Daniel’s ABA therapy. We’re back on track with ABA therapy for Daniel. He has established that he’ll work for tickles and he’ll try to get those tickles for free if he can. 🙂 It’s too bad his lead consultant is quitting next week because he loves her tickling him. We’re working on getting rapport built up with his normal tutor right now and I think he (the tutor) will do well once he and Daniel are used to each other.

— 6 —

Stop hating on millenials. If you haven’t read this, surf on over and do so. (Please surf back though.) It’s fascinating and I love how the author communicated his message.

— 7 —

For those who missed it… This is the zucchini of light from last week:

The zucchini of light

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: July 1, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY July 1, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It’s 3:15 a.m. so I’m trying to blog out my brain so I might be able to fall asleep.

I am thinking… that climate deniers need to be shot. This could also be the triple digit heat talking.

I am thankful… for A/C right now.

In the kitchen… teryaki chicken marinating.

I am wearing… olive-colored t-shirt and running shorts.

I am creating… blog entries on various subjects

I am going… to hope and pray I can eventually get some sleep. I took some more Benadryl so hopefully that works.

I am reading… Between Heaven and Mirth by Fr. James Martin, S.J.

I am hoping… the heat goes away soon.

I am looking forward to… seeing my in-laws this week.

I am learning to be patient with myself.

Around the house… the Roomba is broken so I’ll be chatting up tech support today to find out what they want me to do.

I am pondering… my faith.

A favorite quote for today… “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance.” — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… cool rainy weather. I want some. NOW.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Trying to get caught up on devotions, ABA therapy on Monday afternoon, Morning Prayer on Tuesday, heading down south on Wednesday, my nephew’s baptism on Thursday, coming home on Saturday.

A peek into my day… Ernie singing “I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon”. It’s been stuck in my head so I thought I’d share.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: An Update on Daniel, Hot Weather, and Interesting Posts This Week

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Update on Daniel. Everything went as well as things could go today. We had to be at UCD Medical Center at 6:15 am and though we were a bit late (the main hospital is a maze), it worked out fine. The Child Life therapists met us at the the desk while we were checking in and took us back. They entertained Daniel while we got him measured and weighed and then while they were taking blood pressure/pulse ox/hooking him up to monitors. He got to pick out two toys to play with and that kept him entertained until the Versed (which he took by syringe with no problem) kicked in. Our anesthesiology resident was lovely (and a former autism therapist before she went to medical school) and our audiologist (who I had met the day before) was great. I had a 2 hour wait while he was in the test and then we got the news that they did find something: mild hearing loss in Daniel. (More later.) They let Daniel sleep the anesthesia off instead of rousing him and while we were waiting, I talked to his nurse about his knitting/crocheting/quilting projects. (The conversation got started because the nurse was telling me about the pillows one of the nurses and her daughter make for all the kids to take home. Daniel’s has Sesame Street characters on it.) Daniel woke up and had some juice while we waited for anesthesiology to clear him to go home. He is now (Thursday night) his normal bearish self. As far as these things go, this was an absolutely painless experience.

— 2 —

So, about that hearing loss… I was suspecting that he wasn’t hearing things totally and this was actually a relief because it means that my suspicions were correct. Yeah, it’s not ideal that he has the mild hearing loss (something that was probably present at birth and missed on his newborn hearing screening) but he qualifies for hearing aids and between insurance, Medi-Cal, and California Childrens’ Services, we can get them paid for. It’s also one more puzzle piece in place for the medical mystery that is Daniel. It isn’t ideal but very little in my life is at the moment and I’ll settle for “we know what’s going on” rather than all of the “we have no freaking clue why this is the case” that I usually get. This will probably also affect his speech therapy because he’ll probably be able to understand the things his teachers and speech therapist are trying to do with him.

— 3 —

The next steps. The next step is an ENT appointment to look at this from a medical perspective and then we’ll meet with her for a hearing aid appointment where they’ll give us a boatload of information and do ear molds (so we can mold the hearing aids to his ears). I also really like this particular audiologist — she’s a warmer person than the other one we’ve had through UCD and she’s got other autistic patients who have hearing aids so it’s not like this is new for her.

— 4 —

All is well again. Wipeout is back this week. All is well with the world. At least they just pre-empted ABC shows for the NBA Finals instead of CBS ones — that would have been just brutal.

— 5 —

Orphans. Do you see these three cherubs?

First row: Brett and Iris.
Second row: Kaia.

BrettIrisKaia

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her. Kaia has a family committed to her who will be traveling to her country to meet her on July 26th! Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 6 —

Blog posts of note. This week, I wrote about my experience with the Promise Walk this year, 10 things I live for, and five of my favorite passages of Scripture.

— 7 —

Hot hot hot! It was 97F today and will be 100F or higher for the next 5-6 days. This would be lovely if I didn’t have to be out in it. However, we’ve got the parish picnic tomorrow so I’ve got to deal with at least an hour of it in addition to whatever time I spend out doing errands and at Daniel’s WIC appointment tomorrow. I’m thinking that it would be great if Jon were called to a church in Alaska…

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

7 Quick Takes: How Many Controversial Things Can I Say This Week, Promise Walk Sponsorships, and Grumping About Basketball

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

o.O I will readily admit that I had never pondered the theological powers of Superman before. The questions posed by Cari’s oldest son sound like the question from teaching Confirmation about whether or not God could create a boulder so big that He couldn’t lift it Himself. For the record, I’m with Lotus — Jesus is stronger than Superman.

— 2 —

The “Why I Am Not Homeschooling Daniel” post series. Post #1 started some good discussion and brought a few trolls to the blog. Post #2 served as some kind of explanation. Post #3 was all about my reasons for not homeschooling him. I’m also inviting people to email and tell me succinctly (75 words or less) what decision you made (public/private/parochial/homeschool) and why you made it so that we can crowdsource some ideas for Bonnie. Email me by Wednesday of next week (the email address is jen @ this domain) and I’ll print all the things that fit. **UPDATE** Someone just emailed me to tell me that Elena rebutted what I had to say to her. In the interest of fairness, I’m linking the rebuttal here. I still stand by everything I said 100% but I also would rather let y’all see what she has to say and let you draw your own conclusions.

— 3 —

More obsessing about food. Actually, it isn’t really obsessing as much as it’s reporting that if I eat in such a fashion as to not irritate the ulcers (which may have healed by now), my IBS symptoms go away. If I eat one thing on the forbidden list, I return to IBS hell. I haven’t had any Coke in almost a month and I still miss it even though I’ve found some alternatives that have less of a carb load and aren’t going to corrode my insides. I haven’t checked to see if I have celiac issues yet, mostly because I’m already having to limit my diet and I’m trying not to do too much at once. I’ll be with my parents this weekend and they have a scale so I’ll see if I’ve actually lost any weight at that point.

— 4 —

Orphans. Do you see these three adorable munchkins?

First row: Brett and Iris.
Second row: Kaia.

BrettIrisKaia

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her. Kaia has a family committed to her who will be traveling to her country at the end of July to meet her on July 26th! Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 5 —

Hmph. Wipeout! was pre-empted by some stupid basketball game. NBA basketball is overrated and I say this even coming from a city that just fought tooth-and-claw to keep their team.

— 6 —

*facepalm* Could I ask a favor of the Catholic blogosphere? Could you please actually *READ* a news story in its entirety and not look for random soundbites to use as evidence that Obama is Satan? The FULL TEXT of the quote that everyone got so flipped out about yesterday is…

If towns remain divided ?? if Catholics have their schools and buildings, and Protestants have theirs, if we can’t see ourselves in one another, if fear or resentment are allowed to harden ?? that too encourages division. It discourages cooperation. (Source)

The word “theirs” in the phrase “Protestants have theirs” replaces “their schools and buildings”. He is referring to the fact that in most places, Catholics and Protestants live in separate neighborhoods divided by “peace lines” — barricades made of bricks, steel, and barbed wire. (I actually saw these in Belfast when I was there in 1998.) He is not calling for an end to Catholic education in general in either Northern Ireland or in the USA — he is calling for Catholics to integrate with Protestants for the purposes of working for peace the same way whites had to integrate with blacks in this country 50 years ago. Mining articles like that for soundbites is juvenile and shows an inability to play well with others, so can y’all please behave in a Christ-like fashion? I refrained from mining stories for Romney soundbites during the last election and I know y’all can do the same regarding Obama.

— 7 —

Promise Walk for Preeclampsia. Wanna sponsor me in the Promise Walk this weekend? Preeclampsia affects 1 in 8 pregnancies in some fashion and 1/5 of affected women lose their babies because the only cure is to deliver the baby, regardless of how premature they are. I’m blessed in that I had a doctor who caught it in time and got me transferred to the BIG hospital in Great Falls where my awesome high-risk specialist could do an emergency c-section and where there was a Level III NICU for Daniel. If you can’t sponsor me, please at least keep me and the other participants in prayer on Sunday morning.

Daniel and I at the 2012 Promise Walk.

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

Five Favorites: Miscellanea (VII)

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Five Favorites

One

The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia. I’m walking on Sunday the 23rd in the Promise Walk for Preeclampsia in San Jose this weekend. I’m a HELLP Syndrome survivor (HELLP Syndrome being a nasty variant of preeclampsia) and Daniel was born at 29.5 weeks because they had to perform an emergency c-section to save both of our lives. I’m all in favor of other mamas not ending up with their lives threatened by preeclampsia or losing their babies because doctors have to deliver the baby to save the mother. If you’d like to sponsor me, click here.

Two

Trader Joe’s “Hold the Cone” Ice Cream Cones. Think of these as mini Drumsticks. I inhaled a box of them yesterday, 7/8 of it in one sitting. Can we just say that I was menstrual and leave it at that?

The empty box.

Three

Subway. They have a nutritional app on their website where you can effectively build your sandwich and it will tell you the calories and nutritional information. This is great if you’re having to enter everything you’re eating on a site like FitDay because you’re trying to keep your calories down below a certain level. Of course, it might actually help if I owned a scale so I could see if there has been any weight lost but I figure that I’ll end up seeing my doctor soon for something anyway and will find out if I’m doing any good at that point.

Four

Mani-Pedis. I got a pedicure last Friday and my pedicurist talked me into letting her do gel nails on my hands. This is me we’re talking about so my toenails are a light sparkly pink and my fingernails are a slightly lighter pink. My nail diva is awesome and did some freehand designs on my big toes, my thumbnails, and my ring fingers. I am blown away at how pretty my nails look. I know the polishes and gels are OPI but I have no idea what the numbers or names of each of the shades are.

Five

Last week’s episode of “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me”. They had Buzz Aldrin on as their “Not My Job” guest and he had to answer three questions on “mooning”. I learned more about it than I think I intended to… EVER. Their “Bluff the Listener” game was on cats and it was fun to listen to while I typed this and obsessed about the fact that my Internet is down. 🙂 Oh yes… I also loved when they were doing the “Listener Limerick Challenge” and Faith asked the pastor who called in if she cursed. (The answer: yes.)

Go love up Hallie and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: June 11, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY June 11, 2013

Outside my window… dark. Yesterday, it was back down to decent temperatures (70’s) after a high of 110F on Saturday.

I am thinking… that I wish I’d discovered Call the Midwife sooner. I just started watching the first season on Netflix and I’m hoping Season 2 gets added soon!

I am thankful… for the quality time Jon and I have been getting after Daniel goes to bed.

In the kitchen… teryaki chicken on my George Foreman grill.

I am wearing… my Run for Courage shirt and my fleece pajama bottoms.

I am creating… threads for my NaNoWriMo piece in November.

I am going… to hope I can get my father-in-law’s present mailed tomorrow.

I am wondering… how to gently tell someone to cut the apron strings already for their kid. Once they pass a certain age, they need their freedom and they’ve already proved themselves capable of living on their own.

I am reading… Maphead by Ken Jennings (still) and a few other things.

I am hoping… I can get all of Call the Midwife before the season 2 episodes expire on PBS.

I am looking forward to… Respite Night on Saturday night for Daniel.

Around the house… *closes my eyes and sticks my fingers in my ears in the hope that the mess will GO AWAY!!!!*

A favorite quote for today… “Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati” — Red Green

One of my favorite things… Coffee Latté and Cream Bars from Trader Joe’s.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Home with Daniel, mani-pedi on Friday, and Date Night/Respite Night on Saturday.

A peek into my day… My parents’ cat Jethro looking quite irritated at being swaddled so I could clean out a wound and prevent an abscess from developing during one of my visits last month.

Just wait until I'm unwrapped!

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook