Category Archives: Health

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: May 22, 2016

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For Today…

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… cloudy and in the 60’s. It’s been cool all day and threatening to rain. Given how much I hate hot weather, I’m all in favor of it even if it gives me migraines.

I am thinking… about the move in 2 1/2 weeks.

Oh yeah… this is what the vague-blogging has been about. My parents and Daniel and I are moving to Washington in June. It’s been in works since November. We had to be out of the house for two weeks in April while the floors were redone, the doors replaced, and the trim replaced. After that, we had a week of realtor showings that required vacating the house at a moment’s notice. The house sold fast and Mom and Dad spent a couple days in Washington house-shopping. They put in an offer which was accepted and closing is on June 3rd.

I am thankful… for today’s choir anthem going well.

One of my favorite things… office supply stores. Staples is my idea of nirvana.

I am wearing… long-sleeved green striped shirt and jeans. For church this morning, I traded my jeans for my black dress slacks and black flats.

I am creating change-of-address postcards.

I am reading… The Fear Babe: Shattering Vani Hari’s Glass House by Marc Draco, Kavin Senapathy, and Mark Alsip. The book takes all of the Food Babe’s pseudo-scientific stupidity and deconstructs it using facts, actual science, and logic.

I am hoping… a friend comes home from his missions trip safely.

I am learning… about the various state agencies that work with kiddos like Daniel in Washington.

In my kitchen… Dad is making hot dogs tonight.

In the school room… Daniel has two weeks left and I’m starting to scan paperwork to send to the school district in Washington.

Post Script… if you know someone with fibromyalgia, I recommend reading this.

Shared Quote… From Facebook…

I couldn't resist sharing this one from Facebook...

A moment from my day… As it is Trinity Sunday I thought I’d share this.

Closing Notes: I saw a blog post shared on Facebook this weekend in which a mommy blogger who had done lots of giveaways and earned money from her blog was telling all the other mommy bloggers to give up their blogs because she had seen the error of her ways and, like, nobody cares or is reading mommy blogs anymore. I’d disagree that mommy bloggers need to stop writing and give up their blogs. Readership of blogs is down across the board but if it brings you joy to blog and scratches that itch, go for it. Unless you are saying something dangerous, something seriously untrue, or being a complete and utter Sanctimommy, I’ll generally ignore you if your blog has too many sponsored posts or if you bore me to pieces.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: May 15, 2016

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For Today…

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… sunny and breezy with temps in the mid 70’s. (I’m doing this during daylight hours for a change.)

I am thinking… grumpy thoughts about the hospital pharmacy who made a typo when they transferred one of my prescriptions to Target which caused the prescription to expire 11 months early. (Prescriptions expire after a year — they said it was written on April 13, 2015 instead of April 13, 2016. I only have one dose of it left and I’m not feeling optimistic about it getting fixed tomorrow. Hmph!

I am thankful… for one of my favorite church kids doing a flawless job reading the Acts 2 passage this morning. I usually have to sit in the pew and cringe while adult lectors butcher all the names and nationalities of the people so it was wonderful to hear it done well. I’m kind of hoping my priest puts her in the lector rotation even though she’s only in elementary school because I think she’d do a fabulous job.

One of my favorite things… the smell of star jasmine in the morning when Daniel is leaving for school or I am leaving for church.

I am wearing… a burgundy fitted tee from Old Navy in honor of Pentecost and jeans from Kohl’s. I swapped out my jeans for my black dress slacks this morning for church.

I am creating my temperature afghan during my spare moments.

I am reading… Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber. I need to swap out my e-reader for my laptop at night so I can finish the book and move on to my mountain of books-to-be-read.

I am hoping… Daniel sleeps through tonight and doesn’t wake me up wanting milk/juice/cheese/my credit card.

I am learning… about social services in other states. Woohoo.

In my kitchen… something grilled for tonight. It’s Sunday family dinner and Dad is in charge of the food.

In the school room… working on various speech things with the kid.

Shared Quote…

Wise words on the bathroom debate.

I have friends who are transgendered and most of them have been using the bathroom of the gender with whom they identify for years without issue. In fact, one of them shared the story of a woman in Kentucky who was attacked for looking too masculine while people looked on without helping her. This terrifies me. There is no excuse for violence.

And for the record, the man that strangled the 8 year old girl in the bathroom in the Chicago deli was not transgendered. Most pedophiles are statistically married and heterosexual, not transgendered.

A moment from my day… Kiddo climbing one of the apple trees while helping my mom in the garden.

A boy in a tree.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Is The Week Over Yet????

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

The Pope and female deacons. I’m seeing some flipping out over the announcement by the National Catholic Reporter that the Pope is creating a commission to study women deacons. Yeah… not a world-changing issue. If the Pope does anything, the result will probably look like what deaconesses do in the LCMS, effectively just being dedicated church workers who happen to be female. I don’t think female deacons/deaconesses will do any baptisms/weddings/funerals or anything like that.

— 2 —

#NeverTrump I just want to make it incredibly clear that there is no valid reason for voting for Donald Trump. NONE. Seriously, neither former president Bush is endorsing him and neither is Paul Ryan. These are three people with knowledge of the job and of how the government works. (Yes, I am siding with those three. Hell has indeed frozen over.)

#NeverTrump

Oh… and in case anyone was wondering, I would say the same things about the Cruz/Carly ticket, if not making worse criticisms. Trump is a blowhard saying what he says — Ted Cruz actually *BELIEVES* it. I’m honestly not sure who is more unfit of the Cruz/Carly duo — even John Boehner had foul things to say about Ted Cruz (with whom he *WORKED* and who was on THE SAME SIDE) and I tend to side with Boehner on this. (And yes, I actually said I was agreeing with John Boehner. Start watching for the four horsemen of the apocalypse to appear in the sky.) Carly Fiorina has no legislative experience and she completely screwed up Hewlett-Packard, laying off a number of my classmates’ parents. In short, that ticket would have screwed up the country as much as Trump will if he is elected.

— 3 —

So… who to vote for instead of Trump? Do what all the other intelligent Republicans are doing — FIND ANOTHER CANDIDATE. Here is a lovely story on the subject. And Republicans, if you actually want my vote and my support, try running someone articulate and intelligent who has more than a middle school knowledge of how the government works.

— 4 —

Yet another reason the pro-life movement can be an embarrassment. Simcha Fisher had this lovely tweet a few days ago:

Dear #prolife organizations: If there’s no one good to endorse, you don’t have to endorse anyone. Easy peasy, no soul-selling necessary.

Their endorsement of Trump is one of many reasons I will *NEVER* give money to Priests for Life or the Susan B. Anthony List. Shame on you!

— 5 —

Drop boxes for babies. Simcha had a fabulous piece on the Safe Haven drop boxes for babies that are being put into place in Indiana. It’s a good idea because they would allow mothers to surrender their babies in such a way as to put them in a safe place that protects the child and also allows authorities to automatically be notified that the child is there. The mom could remain anonymous and it would mean that there would not be any babies left in toilets or dumpsters. (The founder of the company making the boxes, herself, was a child conceived from a rape and her mom abandoned her at the hospital as a newborn.)

She also describes the combox on the original Gawker piece and it’s definitely one that I would not read even if I was paid to do so.

— 6 —

Prayer request. I managed to get a rheumatology appointment for next week. Could you please pray that we can get records sent to them so that I’m not walking in there without any documentation of my fibromyalgia? Thanks! This is really my only shot of getting a gabapentin prescription and I’m definitely having issues with the lowered dose.

— 7 —

Special intention. I know I’m vague-blogging again but I could use prayer for a special intention. Please and thank you!

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

{five favorites}: Miscellanea (LXIV)

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#5Faves

One

This good news. A species of starfish that was dying off has made a rebound. Given that they’re a keystone species and they predict the health of the ocean, this is amazing news.

Two

Tuesday being over. A psych appointment for Daniel, errands, a massive meltdown over Daniel’s communication issues… I was happy to go to sleep and end the day.

Three

Prescription sunglasses. Mine have disappeared and I’m really missing them today as I’m fighting a fibromyalgia flare-up and migraine.

Four

The DMV counter at my local AAA office. If you live in certain states (California being one of them) and you’re a AAA member, you can go to your local AAA office to register your car, renew your driver’s license, and do a couple other DMV tasks. I was able to go in and put my car in my name and it only took 5 minutes compared to the hours I would have spent at the DMV.

Five

Grey kitties with tummies. My parents’ cat Homer is rolling around on the patio exposing his tummy. It is very soft and he is purring. He is a wonderful “loaner cat” for me. (He also loves Daniel.)

Go love up Bonnie and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Day Book: May 2, 2016

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**NOTE** I did one yesterday and then found that the prompts had changed a bit when I went to link up. I’ve got some spare time this morning so I’m redoing it for today. Also, for anyone that needs the new prompts and wants some code for them to insert into an entry, click here and copy/paste into a text editor so that you can create a text file (*.txt file) with them for use every week.

For Today… May 2, 2016

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… sunny and clear. I think it is supposed to be in the 80’s.

I am thinking… about the things that are supposed to be happening this week. I apologize for vague-blogging but I can’t talk about the upheaval in my life until things are more set in stone. (It’s nothing bad — just a lot of uncertainty.)

I am thankful… for the day trips with my parents and Daniel this weekend. We went to Henry Cowell Redwoods on Saturday and the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Sunday.

One of my favorite things… café vanilla frappucinos at Starbucks. I’m also a fan of functional Internet and functional plumbing but that’s another story for another day!

I am wearing… charcoal fitted shirt from Old Navy and jeans from Kohl’s.

I am creating my temperature afghan. I’m 2 months behind now but I will eventually get caught up.

I am listening to… the Reply All podcast which was recommended to me by a couple friends. This episode involves an email malfunction that tangents into stories of survival in a Chinese concentration camp during World War II. The story that the woman tells is told in a very cheerful and matter of fact way that seems to be somewhat common among survivors of concentration camps in Europe and Indonesia that I’ve met. (If you have a sizeable Jewish population, you probably have someone of that generation who survived and emigrated from Europe afterwards, so I remember hearing probably 5-10 of them speaking to us in middle school and high school. The one I know who was in the Indonesian one was one of my seminary professors.)

I am hoping… my fibromyalgia medication snafu gets resolved soon. (My PA is being a jerk about refilling my meds and is referring me to a rheumatologist. After he mansplained fibromyalgia to me on Thursday, I may or may not have ripped his head off and got a ONE TIME LAST REFILL because I managed to make logical sense. Of course, he cut my dose in half but half a dose is better than no dose.)

I am learning… to just shake things off. It helped me when I came out of the house this morning and found a flat tire. I rolled my eyes, went back in the house to drop my stuff off, and got ready to change it on my own. My mom saw this and replied, “Just call AAA. It’s why we have them.” OK. They had someone out to change it in 15 minutes and while I missed my meeting this morning, it wasn’t an essential one and we were able to just check in by phone.

In my kitchen… no clue on dinner tonight. Dad did the normal Sunday fare of steak, tater tots, and Caesar salad last night and all the adults ate outside by lantern light. Fun fun fun.

In the school room… I have an IEP amendment meeting for Daniel on Thursday afternoon to go over occupational therapy goals.

Post Script… for all who read the selfish essay on “meternity leave” from the NY Post, there are some good rebuttals and satires here, here (tw: language), and here (tw: mention of body parts). I think the last one is the best one of all.

Shared Quote… I think I’ll share my Facebook commentary on the above foolishness!

“Is of the opinion that she can have a “meternity” leave for self-discovery and growth if she is willing to gain 50+ lbs over a 7-month period, have emergency surgery requiring at least a 8 week recovery (from which she returns 2.5 weeks early for financial reasons), deal with scar tissue adhesions on her abdomen every time she moves, and then give up regular sleep for a year following it.”

Because, you know, it’s not like that all happened to me or anything…

A moment from my day… Here’s a picture of my very silly and ticklish boy and me at the Monterey Bay Aquarium yesterday.

My silly boy and me at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Closing Notes: Someone shared this story on the winners of the Biggest Loser and their weight gain battles in one of my Facebook groups and it makes SO. MUCH. SENSE.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

{five favorites}: Miscellanea (LXIII)

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#5Faves

One

Coptic Holy Week music. Laura, the amazing tasoni and blogger at Coptic Dad and Mom, has put together a YouTube channel of Coptic Holy Week music so that the Coptic readers of her blog can teach their kids (and themselves in some cases) the songs that they’ll be singing in church next week which is their Holy Week. The tonality is different from what many of us are used to in the West but it is beautiful.

Two

This video from Spode. Spode is a British pottery and housewares company and one of their designs, Blue Italian, turns 200 years old this year. They company produced this video which shows the making of each piece.

Kind of a cool story: my great-great-aunt had a set of pink Spode that got passed down to a couple of the women in my mom’s generation. The set was actually the second set she had ordered (and it was service for 24!) because the first set was on a ship sailing from England to America that was sunk by a German u-boat during World War II.

Three

Naps. I have a small child who is not sleeping well so I had to take one today. It was glorious.

Four

Prescription sunglasses. I’m on my second pair. Given how migraine-prone I am, it’s money well-spent.

Five

Air-conditioning. It’s been in the 80’s here. If it’s this hot now, I’m dreading this summer. #climatechangeisreal

Go love up Ashley and the others.

{five favorites}: Miscellanea (LXII)

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#5Faves

One

Caramel frappucinos. It’s been a bit of a crazy week and this was breakfast for me this morning as I fought traffic on my way to my psychiatrist appointment. It made a hectic morning a bit better.

Two

The $tarbux mobile app. It lets me put my order in at the nearest $tarbux and pay on my phone so that all I have to do is walk in and pick it up without having to wait in the drive-thru or stand in any line. This is a godsend when I am in a hurry as I have been the last few mornings.

Three

My psychiatrist. She found a justification for prescribing me my migraine preventative. It’s actually a psychiatric medication used off-label for migraines so she’s claiming it as something to help with my depression. Given that I’ve been on it for 6.5 years without a problem with it interacting with my normal anti-depressant, I’ll take it.

Four

World’s Largest Virtual Hallelujah Chorus. Michelle of Scenes from the Wild shared this and I am so jealous of everyone who got to participate! My mom and I used to do the You-Sing-It Messiah sponsored by the San Jose Symphonic Choir when I was in high school and college. Since then, I’ve performed the Christmas section a few times or have been a rent-a-soprano or rent-an-alto when choir directors I know have done choruses from Handel’s Messiah.

Five

Simcha’s article on daily prayer. The only thing I would add to Simcha’s article on daily prayer is saying Compline while putting your kiddos to bed.

Go love up Ashley and the others.