Category Archives: Cats

52 Weeks of Blogging with A Purpose: A Room Within My Childhood Home

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The topic this week: a room within my childhood home.

I can see the living room with the leather chairs that had the sheepskin throws on them, the leather couch, and te TV which we used to watch Sesame Street. I can also see our old coffee table with the slats to hold magazines underneath. At night, Mom used to read to us with one of us in the “nest” between her and the couch and the other one on her other side. It seems that she read to us every night without fail. Against the back wall was the fish tank.

Later, the leather couch and chairs were replaced by white loveseats and a white couch from some Danish furniture store and the coffee table disappeared. The TV was moved into another room and the fish tank was moved into a different position where it is now. I have memories of sitting on them and reading or sitting and doing my homework there in middle school and high school. The piano also replaced the fish tank against the wall and the fish tank was moved to enclose a coffee table. It’s the current layout of the room but it hasn’t changed in 25 years.

When I was home this last weekend, two of my parents’ cats would jump up on the back of the couch to be brushed, sitting on one of the afghans I had gifted them with over the last 10 years. I fell asleep on the couch on Saturday and woke up to find Daniel asleep on the floor on one of the afghans that my mom had put in front of the fireplace. It brought back memories of the times in college when I would be home for whatever reason and fall asleep reading there.

Now go see Becky and what memories everyone else has of a place in their childhood home.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: September 8, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY September 8, 2013

Outside my window… dark right now. Bloody hot even down in San Jose (got back up to my neck of the woods about 9:30 p.m.) and close to 100 up where I live. I’m watching the weather for Dallas right now because my evil twin is there for a training class and I’m laughing because he bragged about getting away to the Pacific Northwest to escape the heat… only to be sent to Dallas after a week of work!

I am thinking… about the situation in Syria.

I am thankful… for a wonderful weekend with my parents.

In the kitchen… lemon cupcakes from Friday and lots of dishes to wash.

I am wearing… my “Online Debate Team” t-shirt and running shorts.

I am creating… various posts.

I am going… to hopefully sleep better tonight.

I am wondering… when Edda will stop licking me. (Do I taste like shower gel? Is it a good taste?)

I am reading… Sundays in America by Suzanne Strempek Shea. There are points when I want to smack her but it’s been interesting to see her church visits through the lens of her experience and upbringing.

I am hoping… my new keyboard arrives soon. (I accidentally broke my H key off my laptop keyboard.)

I am looking forward to… my mani/pedi on Thursday. It will be a quiet morning and I have craziness for the next few days.

Around the house… unpacking and consolidating to do.

I am pondering… too many things.

A favorite quote for today… “There are three ways of taking the command to turn the other cheek. One is the Pacifist interpretation; it means what it says and imposes a duty of nonresistance on all men in all circumstances. Another is the minimising interpretation; it does not mean what it says but is merely an orientally
hyperbolical way of saying that you should put up with a lot and be placable. Both you and I agree in rejecting this view. The conflict is therefore between the Pacifist interpretation and a third one which I am now going to propound.
I think the text means exactly what it says, but with an understood reservation in favour of those obviously exceptional cases which every hearer would naturally assume to be exceptions without being told. . . . . That is,
insofar as the only relevant factors in the case are an injury to me by my neighbour and a desire on my part to retaliate, then I hold that Christianity commands the absolute mortification of that desire. No quarter whatever is
given to the voice within us which says, ‘He??s done it to me, so I??ll do the same to him.'” — C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

One of my favorite things… silence. I have it right now and it is glorious.

A few plans for the rest of the week: hearing aid appointments for Daniel tomorrow, Morning Prayer on Tuesday and possibly a Target run, haircut on Wednesday and ABA therapy for Daniel, mani/pedi on Thursday, quarterly meeting with Daniel’s autism people and the Regional Center in the morning on Friday as well as ABA therapy that afternoon.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: Edda Helps This Week

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7 Quick Takes

Edda is taking refuge from Daniel on my lap (where he has to use gentle hands to pet her) so she’s going to help me with my quick takes this week.

— 1 —

Orphans. Do you see these two sweet children?

L-R: Brett and Iris
BrettIris

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and they are compiling their dossier to send to her country.

Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 2 —

“Mom of the Year” material here. Just a word of advice: if your child has been terrified of car washes in the past, it’s not incredibly good to take him through one because “he might have gotten over his fear”. It’s sensory hell and in addition to your kid flipping out to the point that they puke, you’ll also have a headache from the screaming.

Totally the “Mom of the Year” here.

— 3 —

Fasting for peace. I’m not sure what I’ll be fasting from because I’ll be with my parents but I’m taking part. There’s also a beautiful prayer here. (HT: Fr. James Martin, S.J)

Fasting for peace on September 7th.

— 4 —

Where bloggers blog. There’s a Tumblr that is showing pictures of where bloggers blog. I haven’t submitted one yet but I’m considering it.

— 5 —

Al Franken delivers. A couple weeks ago, I posted about some harmless political fun. He offered to let people vote on what Minnesota State Fair food he would eat in a virtual postcard to supporters. The verdict: deep-fried pickles with chocolate sauce. To spare you having to surf to one of his donation pages, I’m embedding the video below. (The actual eating of the pickles is at 1:18.)

And no, I don’t live in Minnesota — I just like Al Franken. 🙂

— 6 —

Wow. When Jon went to pick Daniel up today, his teacher asked why we hadn’t told her that he knew all his capital letters. Ummm… because we didn’t know? It sounds like someone has been paying attention during Circle Time! Go Daniel!

— 7 —

Hot hot hot! It’s supposed to be in the triple digits this weekend. Seriously, I’m wishing it was December in Montana with sub-zero temperatures. I hate heat. At least when it’s that cold, you can put a ton of layers on. When it’s this hot, you can only take so much off.

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

Five Favorites: Miscellanea (XIV)

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Five Favorites

One

The guy who helped me at the Social Security office today. You know how I was complaining about having to deal with Social Security today? I got the one competent person in the office. He figured out immediately what had happened regarding Daniel’s SSI and fixed it. (It was a data entry error.) He also had the brilliant insight about the SSA not needing copies of my taxes because they could just get the numbers from the IRS. Wow… government agencies actually communicating. That’s so… obvious.

Two

Black cats. Why yes, Edda is helping me write this post. How did you guess? (Edda, for those new to my blog, is my house panther.) She would like to register her objection to the existence of the Daniel kitten and the fact that he torments her by chasing her and not petting her with gentle hands.

Three

Sub-zero temperatures. Wishful thinking on my part because it’s bloody hot here and I also miss living in a place where there are four distinct seasons. We don’t have decent fall colors here because it doesn’t get cold enough and I strangely miss snow. (Edda would like to register her objection to snow because it confuses her as a black cat.)

Four

Daniel’s ABA therapists. He loves them enough that last Friday, they were meeting at our house outside of session and I had to very pointedly distract him because he couldn’t understand why they weren’t there to play with him. (These are people who exist to make him do things he hates doing.) He also fell asleep snuggled between two of them while they were tabulating data today. (They feel similarly about him.)

Five

Sleep. Daniel was off for Monday and Tuesday (translation: no sleep-in day for Jen which she needs in order to fight off a stomach bug) and I was on the go all day today other than an attempted catnap (in my case, an attempted nap with a big orange tabby) before Daniel’s ABA session started this afternoon. I think I’ll page my tabby and curl up now.

Go love up Hallie and the others.

7 Quick Takes: Prayer Set to Pop Music, Back to School Night, and News on Kaia

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

More than one way to pray. Mayim Bialik (“Amy Farrah Fowler” on The Big Bang Theory) linked up this video of the Listen Up! Jewish Vocal Band singing the Adon Olam to the tune of the Cup Song from “Pitch Perfect”. (There’s also a video of how they made the video.)

I remember teaching various “graces” to tunes like “Zippety Doodah” and “The Addams Family” theme song so it’s not surprising that you can fit various prayers into songs. “Amazing Grace” is another one that works well. I also remember figuring out how to set the Lutheran table grace (the linked version is all fancy, done in canon and then in 4-part harmony) to the tune of “Two Princes” by the Spin Doctors when Jon and I were off doing errands in Watertown, back when he was pastoring in Minnesota.

— 2 —

Camp song fun. The actions for the Cup Song remind me of the camp song, “It’s Not Hard I Tell You So”:

(And yes, I was totally the CIT and counselor who led the really off-the-wall camp songs. Fortunately for me, no recorded proof of this exists because I’d be paying major dollars to keep those quiet.)

— 3 —

Jim Gaffigan’s video “Mr. Universe”. I’ve been listening/watching “Mr. Universe” while I go to sleep lately. It’s positively lovely and it’s clean comedy. (I have it on at 2 a.m. as I’m typing this.) My tabby has been getting grumpy about this because it means that I’m not positioned correctly for him to climb on my side and displace my hips. Currently, he’s talking about McDonalds and is making me crave a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, some fries. and a Coke. (Yes, I’ve seen Supersize Me. I don’t think I ate anything from there for 5 years after that.)

— 4 —

Orphans Do you see these two darling children?

L-R: Brett and Iris
BrettIris

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and they are in the homestudy stage.

Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 5 —

Miss Kaia. I haven’t forgotten about Kaia.

Kaia

Her mama (and, I think, also her papa) are in her country to spring her from her orphanage either today or tomorrow. Once they’re all back in the States, I’ll update people with details of her actual name and everything.

— 6 —

Back to School Night. Daniel’s preschool had Back to School Night tonight and I went on behalf of Jon. It was good to go because I got the hand-out that Daniel’s teacher has given out to other parents before and that was helpful because it talks a little more about autism and ways to work with the kids. The parents of one of the kids who went off to kindergarten were there (their younger son is also autistic and in the class) so it was good to see them again and talk to them. It was also nice to find out that Daniel’s teacher prays for her kids and their families.

One other cool thing: they have an English class for some of the moms at the preschool and are looking for volunteers to help. I am not fluent in Spanish (the other mom is — she’s Mexican and her husband is Anglo) but I have experience teaching ESL so I’m going to email the principal about helping.

— 7 —

New Music. I realized this week that I had never heard “Fat-Bottomed Girls” by Queen so I went on YouTube to find it. Can we just say that I think it is freaking awesome? (I predict Jon cringing when he reads that last sentence.) I also realized that I hadn’t heard “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele before (it turns out that I’ve heard part it) so it’s playing on YouTube.

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: August 18, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY August 18, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It’s a full moon tonight though and I’m pretty sure my in-laws’ mew-mews are out being lions or something.

I am thinking… about all that I have to get done this week.

I am thankful… for a good visit down here and for my mother-in-law who has taken on a lot of Daniel duty so I can sleep in and take naps. She keeps me sane on these visits.

In the kitchen… cleaned up the leftovers from the manicotti that a neighbor brought over for Jon’s birthday dinner.

I am wearing… charcoal shirt and running shorts.

I am creating… blog entries.

I am going… to have a long drive back up to northern California tomorrow. I’ll actually be reading through most of it so I should hopefully be able to clear some of the “Mount TBR” on my NOOK.

I am wondering… what my kitties are up to back home.

I am reading… Confessions of a GP by Benjamin Daniels MD. It’s an interesting look at how the NHS looks in Britain in addition to anecdotes about his experiences as a doctor.

I am hoping… all goes well with my father-in-law’s surgery on Wednesday. If you could spare a prayer on his behalf, I’d appreciate it. His name is Ray.

I am looking forward to… my mani/pedi on Wednesday.

Around the house… nothing to report because my mother-in-law keeps a completely sterile house to the point that I could eat off of her kitchen floor.

I am pondering… what things to talk about for Thomas’ link-up. (If you have any thoughts/blog posts/etc on what was helpful when your kids were babies, go participate in the link-up. Thomas’ wife Alison is pregnant with twins and he’s picking the brain of the Internet on what to use.)

A favorite quote for today… ??When I lay these questions before God I get no answer. But a rather special sort of ‘No answer.’ It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook His head not in refusal but waiving the question. Like, ‘Peace, child; you don’t understand.?? ? C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… solitude.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Daniel starts back to school on Tuesday, Morning Prayer on Tuesday, endocrinologist appointment and mani/pedi on Wednesday as well as my brother visiting, nothing on Thursday (thank God!), and ABA therapy on both Wednesday and Friday for Daniel

A peek into my day… My bed kitty while I’ve been down here. My cats are going to kill me.

Arthur

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: ELCA Presiding Bishops, Helping Jenn Become a Nun, and Cat Bribing.

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

A wine alternative. We have several winemakers in our parish (we’re a cow town in wine country) and Jon will sometimes be gifted wine by some of them. A couple of them know that I don’t drink so I was surprised when I got a call from the wife of one of the winemakers, telling me that she had something for me. The “something” turned out to be two bottles of really good sparkling cider because she didn’t feel it was fair that Jon always got wine and I never got anything. I was seriously touched by this but this person is incredibly conscientious about making sure that people feel included so I shouldn’t have been surprised.. She is one of the few people in the parish who is allowed to have my cell phone number and I keep a couple messages from her on there to listen to when I really need to hear that I’m loved. (She left a message the first night Daniel was in the hospital in January and I cried when I heard it because I totally needed to hear that she and her husband love us and were praying for us.)

— 2 —

Helping Jenn become a nun. I am blessed to have been a part of this.

A family (wishing to remain anonymous) offered to take over her student loans so that she could enter on August 28th. This is a huge sacrifice on their part and Jenn has asked that if people would like to make a gift toward paying them down, it would help them out tremendously. (She writes the BEST thank you emails too.) She has a blog here if you’d like to keep up with what is going on until her entrance on August 28th.

— 3 —

Send Liliana a birthday card. This kid kicked cancer’s butt and all she wants is a birthday card. She loves receiving mail and this would really make her happy. Details are here.

— 4 —

Orphans.Do you see these three darling children?

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

BrettIrisKaia

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and they are in the homestudy stage. Kaia has met her family and they are in love with her!!! 🙂

Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 5 —

It’s a girl! Some of you know that I used to be part of the ELCA so I was watching news of Churchwide Assembly with a cocked ear because we would be electing a new presiding bishop (the head of the ELCA). On the fifth ballot, Elizabeth Eaton, the bishop of Northeastern Ohio Synod was elected, beating out Mark Hanson (our current presiding bishop) and Jessica Crist (my former bishop from Montana).

I was never a fan of Mark Hanson for many reasons so I’m glad that he’ll be gone. My feelings about Jessica are mixed. Her assistant to the bishop threw us under the bus in Montana and there are some who feel that more could have been done for us. Thing is… Jessica always treated me like an actual person vs. “the wife of the pastor at _____________ Parish” and I appreciated that. The reason I would have been chill with her being elected bishop was that when she found out about me having Daniel, she hauled butt to the hospital (at 7 a.m.) and my first lucid memory after my night of trauma and c-section is her sitting by my bed, holding my hand and explaining to me that I had just had a baby. I don’t know that I will ever be able to express how much it helped to have her there, considering that it was during a period of 36-48 hours where my memories are hazy. That kind of pastoral care is rare. She also did a good job of talking to the congregations who wanted to leave over the sexuality decisions in 2009 despite the fact that they were really rude to her and pretty much just came to the meeting to find out the process to leave the ELCA.

Anyway, my friends who have served with Presiding Bishop-Elect Eaton are happy for her but are really sad to lose her because she was an awesome bishop for them. I think that speaks volumes about her fitness for the job — that her pastors are bummed to no longer have her as bishop. I also have Facebook friends who are talking about “the stained glass ceiling being broken” and I’m trying not to roll my eyes too much. It’s a church that is used to female bishops — Jessica Crist is the head of the Council of Bishops so you can’t tell me that there are no women in leadership. I mean, it’s cool that Presiding Bishop-Elect Eaton is the first female presiding bishop in the ELCA but it’s hardly surprising.

— 6 —

Cat-bribing. I’m down in southern California with my in-laws for Jon’s birthday and I have their cat Arthur in the guest room with me. Once he realized my mother-in-law wasn’t going to come sleep with him, he vanished under the bed. I grabbed a thing of cat treats and shook some onto the cat spread next to me. Guess which kitty is now next to me munching on cat treats? Yep… Mr. Mama’s Boy. I’m hoping he stays. He is a fabulous cuddler even if I did get a cat bite infection from him in January.

— 7 —

Why I love my mother-in-law. She stocked the freezer with 4 boxes of Trader Joe’s Coffee Latté and Cream Bars. Enough said.

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