Category Archives: Faith

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: June 25, 2012

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY June 25, 2012

Outside my window… sunset. No idea how warm it was today — I wasn’t really outside for much of it.

I am thankful… for Sara’s package.

In the kitchen… dishes, dishes, and more dishes.

I am wearing… charcoal shirt and black sweats.

I am creating… assorted things.

I am going… to the store for apple juice. (Back now.)

I am wondering… why some people think that someone signalling a lane change with a turn signal is a cue to speed up and keep them from doing so safely.

I am reading… Sugarplum Dead by Carolyn Hart.

I am hoping… this week goes smoothly with Jon gone.

I am looking forward to… Bible study on Thursday.

Around the house… dishes to do from Saturday’s dinner party. My kingdom for a dishwasher!

I am pondering… way too many things internally.

One of my favorite things… snuggling with Daniel after his bath.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Breakfast Bunch on Wednesday and Bible study on Thursday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: Travel Memories, Prayer Requests, and a Trivia Question

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Daniel starts back to school tomorrow. It’s not the regular school year — it’s summer school (an hour shorter each day) and goes for a month but it will be a good thing. Daniel needs structure and consistency and it’s a bit hard to get that when he’s home with me. I do my best to replicate his schedule at school (and to keep his naps consistent) but it’s better to have him with teachers who know what they’re doing. During the summer, they have water days on Fridays so we’re supposed to send a swimsuit and swim diapers to school with him. Daniel should enjoy that.

— 2 —

My trip down to southern California last week was awesome. The flights were mostly good — Daniel learned how to take off his seat belt on the way back so I had to hold it on and howled about that — but he slept most of the flight home. My father-in-law was ecstatic to have us down there and he spent as much time as he could with Daniel. We’ll back down in two months and I’m going to try and have us go down on long weekends if at all possible during the school year even if it’s just Daniel and I.

— 3 —

Brett’s Blogathon will be on July 27th starting at 7 a.m. I’m trying to come up with ideas like having a spare change challenge and all this will be announced on the Blogging for Brett site.

— 4 —

The [insert expletive] heat has started. It was 105 on Saturday when I flew in from Ontario and 102 the next day. On Wednesday (the first day of summer), it was 97. I’m thankful that it’s cooling down for the moment. I *need* to do some walking and it’s hard to do when it’s eleventy billion degrees outside.

— 5 —

After my grumpy post on Tuesday, I should probably enumerate some *good* things that happened on Tuesday. Les Schwab fixed my tire for free because it was my first time there. (We had been at the park while the tire was changed.) The woman at Michael’s gave me a really cool bag left over from their giveaway for me to use for the yarn I bought. (The recipient of the yarn product reads this blog so this is all I can currently say…)

— 6 —

I have a prayer request for y’all. My college friend Brian just had back surgery and is in a world of pain. This is the guy who carried me like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder to the health center whenever I’d sprain my ankle, forced food down my throat when I was too depressed to eat, and who is my incredibly wonderful surrogate big brother. Please pray for healing for him.

— 7 —

I have a trivia question for you. Where are the pictures used in my profiles taken? Here are the three I use:

A statue of Our Lady
Sunflowers
The ruins of the original church.

First person to answer correctly and tell me why this place is famous gets bragging rights. You may not guess if you are married to me or are related by blood or marriage. Combing my Facebook albums is also prohibited.

OK… Hevel got it right. It’s Mission San Juan Capistrano and it is the only mission in Orange County. There is one more trivia fact about why it is famous. Who can tell me? In an email, he got the return of the swallows. Thanks for playing everybody!

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: June 18, 2012

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY June 18, 2012

Outside my window… sunny and hot but we’ve got a “Delta breeze” unlike the last two days when it was 105 and 100 respectively with no wind.

I am thinking… that I’m glad Daniel heads back to preschool on Friday even though we’ve had some fun while he has been on break.

I am thankful… for my secret trip to southern California to see my in-laws last week. My father-in-law was definitely surprised and it was the first time he had seen Daniel in 10 months.

In the kitchen… leftover pizza from yesterday’s Father’s Day dinner.

I am wearing… charcoal shirt and running shorts.

I am creating… stuff for Brett’s Blogathon 2012 and this entry.

I am going… to Target and probably Michael’s at some point this week.

I am reading… Sugarplum Dead by Carolyn Hart.

I am hoping… my neck/back pain goes away.

I am looking forward to… maybe doing errands tomorrow.

Around the house… unpacking to do.

I am pondering… things related to my faith.

One of my favorite things… quiet.

A few plans for the rest of the week: WIC appointment Thursday morning, Daniel starting school again on Friday, and hopefully a lot of unscheduled time.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: British Choral Competitions, Autistic Gripings, and Honest Toddlers

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Holy British choral music, Batman! A YouTube video off of Unapologetically Episcopalian fed into the UK School Choir of the Year competition videos.

This is from Ysgol Y Strade and the way they performed made me weep from the sheer beauty and the harmonies. The solo is in English but they do the rest in Welsh and perform it more beautifully than I’ve ever heard it sung in English.

Their inspirational song was “Clap Yo Hands” by Gershwin which they also did in Welsh. Gershwin is difficult in English so I have a huge appreciation for them translating it. I also love that a staid school choir instantaneously morphed into an African-American church choir.

The other two schools that made it to the finals are also breathtaking but Ysgol Y Strade just captivated me to the point of tears. Here are the others for comparison:

Their inspriational piece didn’t go over well so I’m not embedding it.

This is the choir that won:

This is the song that clinched it.

— 2 —

My monsters have vet appointments this week. I took Cullen/Edda (who is trying to sleep on my hands as I type this) on Wednesday and Finian/Freya will go tomorrow. Both Cullen and Edda got relatively clean bills of health though Cullen needs a teeth cleaning. We’re hoping he can wait until August/September when they have a special where they’ll do it for 10% off. (Cullen’s name, BTW, has absolutely nothing to do with Twilight. I had him long before I had ever heard of the Stephenie Meyer books.)

— 3 —

Just a tip: if a parent has an autistic kid, they’ve probably read all the studies and know that a gluten-free diet sometimes works. Seriously, it’s getting hard not to slap people who ask me if I’ve heard about a gluten-free diet when I tell them that Daniel is autistic. I was talking to a parishioner last night who has an autistic grandson and she expressed the same frustration. Autism is one of those disorders which affects everyone differently. For some people, the GAPS diet is a miracle. For others, it does nothing. I’m also about to mangle the next person who (not knowing Daniel is autistic) tells me that they’re not vaccinating because they don’t want their kid to develop autism. The 1998 study positing that was disproven and the doctor was stricken from the British Medical Register (a.k.a. lost his license to practice medicine).

— 4 —

Daniel loves being “watered”. Jon was watering today while Daniel was playing in his wading pool (which has a sprinkler function attached) and he accidentally splashed Daniel with the water from the watering head on the sprinkler only to have Daniel squeal and giggle. He had to go grab some stuff at the church and asked if I could “water the bear” while he was gone. Too funny! We knew he was aquatic but maybe this will help him grow?

— 5 —

The Proposition 29 vote is still too close to definitively call right now. About 55,000 votes separate “yes” and “no” with all the absentee ballots from people like me left to count. They shared a statistic on the news last that about 50% of Sacramento County voters requested absentee ballots and about 18,000 people in San Joaquin County requested them. If this is the trend across the state, it will be July before we actually know anything. California residents, you can go to the Secretary of State website if you want to see how a candidate or ballot measure did.

— 6 —

I’m still plugging along on planning Brett’s Blogathon. Head over to his site to see my progress and donate a few bucks to his adoption fund while you’re at it.

— 7 —

I have found a website that describes my life. Kendra @ The Nerdy Wife introduced me to Honest Toddler on Twitter and I found their blog. One entry describes the mom “drinking room temperature white wine out of a ceramic mug” and while I’m not that bad (mostly because I can’t drink), this is how I look after a day like the one described in by that entry:

Me in the morning... or maybe at 6 pm.

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

Hymns That Speak to Me Right Now (VII)

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Technically, this could also be titled “A Hymn for Trinity Sunday” because it is is…

*drumroll*

Holy Holy Holy!

It was one of the first hymns I learned as a Christian and the tune (Nicaea) was used in my Summer Greek class when we were learning various Bible verses in Greek. (The second part of Revelation 4:8 was set to this tune.)

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who was, and is, and evermore shall be.

Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!
(HT: NetHymnal)

As always, we have a YouTube video with the music and words.

7 Quick Takes: Jesus Music, Political Grumping, and Brett’s Blogathon

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

I downloaded a Mandisa song. Hades hath officially frozen over. It’s the “Good Morning” song and I got it off iTunes because I love the Toby Mac section in which he starts out going, “Top of the morning to ya ‘Disa!” It got stuck in my head and I finally had to download the song to get it out. I would normally rather have my nails pulled out with pliers than listen to Mandisa but this song is OK even if it has a “Jesus is my boyfriend” feel. Here’s the video:

— 2 —

The song blowing me away at the moment is “Jesus, Friend of Sinners” by Casting Crowns. Casting Crowns does it again in coming up with a song that is completely quotable. I honestly can’t come up with a “best” lyric because it’s all wonderful. The more interesting of the lyric videos is below.

— 3 —

In case anyone doesn’t normally read my blog, I have a cool eclipse pic. My suburb of Sacramento was too far south to get the full ring but I got what looks like a cat’s eye. My parents brought eclipse glasses up with them when they came for the communal birthday on Saturday so I got to watch it staring at the sun. It was quite spectacular and if Jon hadn’t had baccalaureate on Sunday night, we might have gone north to a place where we could get the full ring. Here’s the pic:

The eclipse from my porch.

— 4 —

I’ve had large amounts of insomnia which leads to naps while Daniel is at preschool. I’ve found that if NPR or Airline Pilot Guy don’t manage to put me to sleep, a good episode of old school “Mythbusters” does. Explosions calm me. If only I could get “World’s Wildest Police Chases” or COPS streaming on Netflix…

— 5 —

I’m continuing to be thankful for my pledge not to discuss electoral politics this election season. I’m blown away by the rhetoric from both sides in the presidential, Congressional, and Prop 29 campaigns. Some of it, especially in the presidential campaign, are outright lies. I knew our country was polarized but seriously… get a grip, people. Even if you think someone is a complete idiot for supporting the candidate they do, you don’t have to be rude about it. I wish I could actually do some of my own campaigning but it would really not be good to do as the pastor’s wife. Anything I say/do reflects on Jon and has the significance of Jon saying it which isn’t great because he and I are on opposite sides of the political coin.

— 6 —

The one thing we do agree on is that the “No on 29” campaign is the work of Satan in the form of the tobacco companies. It’s absolutely hideous that those monsters have come into California and are outspending the “Yes on 29” campaign 8-1. I don’t believe smokers have rights. It’s a filthy and disgusting habit and I think it should have as high a tax as possible to discourage people from doing it. I also believe those jerks who drop their butts on highways and streets should have to dodge cars to pick them up. I definitely don’t believe it should be allowed in any public place, especially since I’m asthmatic and cigarette smoke triggers respiratory distress in both me and Daniel. I’d love to make the people who land us in the hospital pay our ER bills. OK… off my soapbox.

— 7 —

Even though Brett’s Blogathon is two months off, I’m working on it now. I have some Pioneer Woman type entries so I’m trying to get the pictures for those while I’m actually cooking them. (I’ll add the text later.) I also need to compile links and such so that I have them at my fingertips for the event. Come check out the fun at http://peacefulwaters.org/brett. While you’re there, consider donating to his adoption fund.

Brett

C’mon… he’s really cute and he needs to get to the USA so he can get some therapy for his cerebral palsy.

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