Category Archives: Personal Issues

{five favourites}: Miscellanea (LXVIII)

Posted on by

#5Faves

One

Walks. I’m dealing some messes in my personal life and have been walking either a loop around the neighborhood or down to Haggen and back. It’s helping a lot with regard to the endorphin boost regulating my moods better.

Two

Quiet. I love the quiet time after everyone goes to sleep when I am the only one up. I’m a pretty quiet person and I really do like stillness.

Three

The climate. It’s 10-15 degrees cooler here most of the time and I’m loving not having 90F heat! It means that I can go for walks during the day and I am not having to wait until the temperature drops significantly before I go outside.

Four

The green space around me. The developers have left quite a bit of forest land around as has the local golf course where there is an actual beaver pond. I love walking around the area for that reason — it’s incredibly pretty. 🙂 I also love looking out my bedroom window and seeing mountains and forests in the distance.

Five

Daniel being in a good mood. He was a pill for much of last week and was kicking off with tantrums and screeching. And seriously, HOW IS IT THAT A NON-VERBAL KIDDO CAN WHINE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? He seems to have worked through whatever it is and he’s a pretty chill for the most part.

Go love up Bonnie, babystylista, and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: July 10, 2016

Posted on by

For Today… July 10, 2016

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… dark. It was a beautiful day today with temperatures in the 70’s. I’m loving the climate here in Washington.

I am thinking… about my meeting with the insurance agent tomorrow to get my policy changed to Washington. It won’t be bad but it’s one more thing to cross off my to-do list.

I am thankful… for a good visit with my evil twin, his long-suffering wife, and her family. I’m also really thankful that after a few days of being a pill, Daniel had a pretty good day.

One of my favorite things… a day when my alarm doesn’t have to be set and I can sleep in. That’s not going to be happening for a while though.

I am wearing… jammies. Church clothes were a black fitted tee from Old Navy, a black paisley skirt from Kohl’s, and my black cardigan from Kohl’s. After church, I traded my skirt and cardigan for jeans.

I am creating… emails.

I am watching… COPS: Reloaded. I’m a cop show junkie.

I am hoping… certain emails of mine eventually get answered this week.

I am learning… where all the cool farms are in the area.

In my kitchen… tri-tip, potatoes, and salad tonight with a surprise birthday cake for my sister-in-law for dessert.

In the school room… Daniel is enjoying ESY and good reports are coming home for him each day. It isn’t surprising — he loves school and tends to be a sweet kid there.

Post Script… a friend shared this piece on why #AllLivesMatter is offensive to #BlackLivesMatter supporters. The gist: all lives *SHOULD* matter but, in practice, they don’t.

Shared Quote… “… Reading the Scriptures in church has to be an authentic proclamation of the reader’s faith. Preparation is essential – there are far too many last-minute readings in our churches.” — Olivia de Havilland on reading Scripture as a lector.

Closing Notes: I’m hoping this week to be able to write something on why I don’t weigh in on everything that happens in the media and why there is frequently radio silence from me these days after a week like last week.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: So Glad The Week Is Almost Over

Posted on by

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

A soundtrack for today. A perfect storm of sleep deprivation, Daniel being a pill, stress in my life, and PMS has left me seriously panicky and drained today. I still have to be a functional adult (!!!!!) but this would be my soundtrack to get me through the day and remind me that God is present.

Pray for me. It’s been a really hard couple of days with Daniel and I still have to get through his peds appointment tomorrow before things might let up. Prayers that we can get through it without him hitting, kicking, breaking my fingers, or having a spectacular screaming meltdown in terror would be appreciated because he has gotten to be terrified of doctors in the last few months. (Then again, he keeps having to be poked with needles so I don’t blame him.)

— 2 —

This is so true. My friend Jamie shared this image today which perfectly summed up all the stupidity I see in the blogging world and on Facebook.

All the stupidity on the Internet refuted in one image.

— 3 —

Just a heads up. One of my friends shared this on Facebook. Before the gun nuts who troll this blog dismiss it, I should probably mention that said friend is an expert marksman, knows more about guns and weaponry than probably 90% of the NRA, and teaches gun safety. 🙂 (Yes, I do have friends who disagree with me on 2nd Amendment issues. I don’t live in a bubble with only those people who agree with me — that would be stupid.)

Why you don't take your gun out in an active shooter situation.

— 4 —

Offering this in light of the events of the last 48 hours. I’m reminded of the lyric from “Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel:

“Fools,” said I, “you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you.”
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

Black lives matter.

**UPDATE** I just flipped to the local news and saw the story about the 11 officers shot in Dallas. I’m profoundly saddened, y’all. As much as I am angry about the police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, I am so utterly pissed at those who chose to pick off these police officers. Every life is precious and nobody deserves to have their life taken away –THAT’S THE EFFING POINT OF THE “BLACK LIVES MATTER” CAMPAIGN!!!!!

— 5 —

This needs to be said. I think this needs to be reiterated.

Not Islam.

— 6 —

ESY Daniel started his extended school year (ESY) this week. He’s got a class of three kids and some aides. According to his teacher, he’s been a cooperative boy and is liking it thus far. I’m happy for some normalcy in his life.

— 7 —

Why it doesn’t pay to be sanctimonious. I know this is satire but it’s pretty accurate as well. I’ve encountered a lot of people who act similarly sanctimonious and wonder why people shy away from them or who can’t understand why their kids do what they do. It may not have to with raising their kids on only wooden toys or a vegan diet — I’ve seen similar people with respect to things like homeschooling, vaccinating their kids, paleo diets, or essential oils.

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

{five favourites}: Miscellanea (LXVII)

Posted on by

#5Faves

One

Grey kitties. My parents’ grey kitty Homer really wants to be Daniel’s friend. Daniel is afraid of him. If Homer is on the bed passed out on my chest, Daniel will stay off my bed. Guess how I’m enforcing the expectation of Daniel sleeping in his own room? You guessed it — lots of Homer snuggles at night. Homer seems to be a fan. 😉

Two

The MLB All-Star Game roster. While I’d prefer to have the infield all be from the Giants, I’m happy that Buster Posey is the starting catcher. The best part about the ASG starting roster? NO DODGERS ARE STARTING PLAYERS!!!! #BeatLA #GoNationalLeague

You can also vote for the final player from each league to be added. My recommendation: Brandon Belt from the Giants for the NL spot. He’s a fabulous hitter and a good first baseman.

Three

Schuh Farms. They’re a local farm that Mom and I discovered while making a run to the county recycling facility with a load of paper and cardboard. They were advertising homemade pie and ice cream. We went back to find it a few weeks later and have patronized them a couple times a week since. I normally hate pie (I loathe pie crusts) but their cherry pies are amazingly good. We also got some cheese curds there from another local farm and they were good enough that they barely made it into the house!

Four

This Stephen Colbert video. I recommend watching the original video.

Five

“Rockelbel’s Canon” by The Piano Guys This never fails to make me laugh. The embed script isn’t working so here’s the link.

Go love up Bonnie, babystylista, and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: July 3, 2016

Posted on by

For Today… July 3, 2016

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… dusk. It was sunny and around 74F this afternoon.

I am thinking… about what I have on my plate this week.

I am thankful… that Daniel is falling asleep, especially as we’re out of one of his evening ADHD meds and we can’t get another supply until Tuesday because the script I have for it is written by an out-of-state doctor. Due to all the [insert expletive] who get scripts from out-of-state doctors to abuse meds or who steal prescription pads to get meds to abuse, they have to call and verify that Daniel’s psych actually wrote the prescriptions and is authorized to prescribe them. I seriously bite my thumb at these [insert expletive].

One of my favorite things… re-runs of Leverage.

I am wearing… jammies. Church clothes were a wrap dress with a camisole and a cardigan with black flats. The rest of the day, it was my “We will not be silent” shirt and jeans.

I am creating… furniture and boxes of stuff for Goodwill.

I am reading… Fear Babe still. I have a decent drive to the house where we are having dinner tomorrow so I’m hoping to get a chunk read during that time.

I am hoping… that I can do reasonably well in all the Workweek Hustle challenges for Fitbit that I am part of this week.

I am learning… how handy I actually am these days. I managed to assemble furniture largely on my own (some of the holes were badly drilled so I had to borrow my dad’s drilling skillz) and I can do some repairs on my own.

In my kitchen… dinners with family for the next couple days. Tonight was fish, potatoes, salad, and pie.

In the school room… Daniel starts ESY up here this week!

Post Script… I’m finding that this post hits every note I was trying to hit while writing a post with my reaction to things in the news.

Shared Quote…

Opinions and coffee.

A moment from my day… What can I say? I’m not even remotely a morning person.

Why you really shouldn't mess with me before my morning coffee...

Closing Notes: If you’re considering a vote for Trump this fall, read this. You need to know what your candidate and his minions support.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Mississippi State Reps, Donald Trump Insults, and the Like

Posted on by

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Out of touch. So I haven’t actually read my Bloglovin’ feed in probably… a month? If anything fabulously interesting has happened and you’re someone whose blog I read regularly, could you leave me a comment? Please and thank you! 🙂

— 2 —

Why I am thankful I don’t live in Mississippi… The mother of a little girl with type 1 diabetes was having a tough time getting Medicaid/CHIPS to pay for her daughter’s insulin and diabetes supplies (which cost ~ $2500/month) so she wrote to her state lawmakers to see if they could help. One of them, Rep. Jeffrey Guice decided to reply:

“I am sorry for your problem. Have you thought about buying the supplies with money that you earn?”

*facepalm*

Simcha Fisher responds more politely than I would.

— 3 —

Scottish insults to Donald Trump read by a true Scotsman. I’ll throw up a trigger warning for language and for negative Donald Trump content because some people don’t like reading that their presumptive candidate is a bloody moron. In any case, it’s incredibly funny and involves David Tennant.

The next night, there was some follow-up discourse on Brexit. Again, there’s a trigger warning for language.

— 4 —

I have mad skillz, yo! I took this lovely Buzzfeed skills inventory and got 81 out of 100 based on my inability to cook eggs (to which I am allergic), drive a stick-shift, change my own oil, and sew. My great-aunt Jean saw it on my Facebook wall, took the inventory herself, scored a 92, and left a note on my Facebook wall to let me know her score and that I need to keep learning these skills all my life. Yes folks, she’s she’s 93 years old and she’s on Facebook. She still lives on a farm outside of Kalispell, Montana and raises ornamental chickens to show. If I was close by her again, I would totally declare a girls weekend and road-trip across Highway 2 (through Glacier National Park) for some one-on-one time to learn the skills I don’t have which I’d love to have her teach me.

— 5 —

Nice kitty… A video of a cougar swimming in a lake has gone viral.

What a bucolic scen– wait… I know where that lake is! (It’s an hour from me.)

— 6 —

Required baseball take. THE GIANTS BEAT THE A’S. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! THE GIANTS ARE 6 GAMES AHEAD OF THE LOSERS IN LA IN THE NL WEST STANDINGS. YAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

— 7 —

A well-deserved shout-out. I showed up for worship at my grandparents’ church here and the priest spoke before worship… well, actually she *chanted* before worship that the organist was out of town so all of us sitting the pews were the musicians for the day. The hymns were all very well-known ones and one of the choir members played the opening notes so we could at least start in tune. Rev. Helen is an amazing vocalist and she led us in chanting the psalm. I think the best part was the recessional hymn which was “Amazing Grace” and people were singing it in 4-part harmony. It was awesome to have people there other than myself who can sing and lead music!

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

{five favourites}: Christian Music That I Need to Hear

Posted on by

#5Faves

I was all ready to do a miscellanea post and was having a hard time coming up with things until I was searching for YouTube videos for “No Longer Slaves”. My search convinced me that I needed to do another post of my favorite Christian songs that I’ve heard on the radio lately or that speak to some part of me.

One

“Diamonds” by Hawk Nelson. I was switching between radio stations on my drive north from San Jose to northern Washington and this one kept coming on. Pretty soon, I was driving up I-5 singing it. 🙂 (Why yes, I *DO* sing along to the radio while I drive.)

Two

“My Lighthouse” by Rend Collective. I love the metaphor of God as a lighthouse that I look to for guidance of what lies on the shoreline and how to get to a place of safety in a storm. Them filming the video on a working fishing boat was also pretty cool.

Three

“Build Your Kingdom Here” by Rend Collective. I seem to share this one every few months but I seriously love the video for it. I mean, incorporating Salvation Army trumpeters and fire jugglers into the same video is pretty creative. Not to mention, they’re from Belfast and I love their accents.

Four

“To Live is Christ” by Sidewalk Prophets. With the amount of life changes I’ve faced this year, I can always use a reminder that I need to be focusing on Jesus in all of this and that my suffering is not something that He doesn’t know. One of the things drawing me closer to Catholicism on my faith journey is their understanding of suffering and how it is a part of life but can be redeemed.

Five

“No Longer Slaves” from Bethel Music. The song has been out for awhile but it came on the local Christian radio station this weekend and I fell in love with it yet again. It’s one that I need to listen to often to remind me that I don’t have to be afraid and that I am a beloved child of the Most High. It can bring me to tears, y’all.

The radio version is here:

Go love up Bonnie, babystylista, and the others.