Category Archives: Cats

7 Quick Takes: Baseball, British TV Shows, and How Not To Talk To Kitties

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

North Korean propaganda. I don’t know how real this particular video is but it both amuses and scares me.

I’m guessing the footage of the United States was taken after Superstorm Nemo? In any case, I wonder if it’s too close to bedtime for another cup of snow coffee.

— 2 —

Easter. Easter was quiet for us. We had church in the morning and stayed home in the afternoon. I sort of wish that we could have gone to see family or something but after two busy weekends, Holy Week with a lot going on, and Daniel being on Spring Break, it was good to have a quiet Sunday. Jon needed the naptime as did Daniel.

— 3 —

Take me out to the ballgame. Baseball season has officially started. My Giants took the series with Jon’s Dodgers 2-1. In the last game, my boys got their first two home runs of the season. Our Panda hit a 2-run homer in the 3rd and Hunter Pence shot one off in the 6th. They open against the Cardinals in San Francisco on Friday and I’ll be gone so I’ll unfortunately miss it. The World Series ring ceremony is on the 7th and I’ll unfortunately miss that one as well.

— 4 —

The doctor is in. My mom introduced me to the British series “Doc Martin” while I was in San Jose for my anniversary a few weekends ago. It’s addictive — Jon and I watched the rest of the first season the next day. If I hadn’t had a little boy on Spring Break, I probably would have finished the series that week! He’s the British version of “House” and the recurring characters are wonderful. His receptionist is the picture of apathy and the people in Port Wenn (his small town) are lovely. It kind of makes me want to catch up on “Hart of Dixie”.

— 5 —

Talking to kitties. Catfoodbreath, one of my favorite Twitter kitties, has a useful blog post on how not to talk to a kitty. I’m not guilty of #1 on that list… per se. When I talk to my demon spawn cat Freya, I have a tendency to say things like “CAT! CAT CAT CAT CAT CAT CAT CAT!” (She was fostered with Rottweilers so I sometimes have to remind her that she is a cat.)

— 6 —

Forty to Forever. Forty Days to Forever is done and we raised $10,000! Woohooooo!!!! Brett had a little over $100 added to his adoption grant so that’s some success there. He still needs a mama so go click on his picture to find out more about him.

Brett

— 7 —

Querying the Hive Mind. My church is doing a craft fair after Thanksgiving. Could you go to my Pinterest page for crocheted stuff and tell me what you think I should make? Please and thank you!

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

7 Quick Takes: Little Bear’s Recovery, Lent Madness, and Things Not Related to Good Friday

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7 Quick Takes

It’s Good Friday so Jen Fulwiler is taking the week off of hosting Quick Takes. I need something for blog fodder so I’m still going to post mine. If you also post yours and want me (or others) to read them, leave a comment with the link to them.

— 1 —

Reece’s Rainbow. This is Kaia and this is Brett.

Miss KaiaMr. Brett

Kaia has a family coming for her but they need to raise the money to do so. Brett needs a family and that family will likely need help raising the funds. Click on their pictures to see more.

— 2 —

Lent Madness. My pick, Luke, made it into the final match but was thwarted by Frances Perkins, who served as FDR’s Labor secretary. Curses! Oh well… there is next year. It was definitely a fun thing to do during Lent and I thank the Episcopal clergy peeps who put it together.

— 3 —

Update on Little Bear. Little Bear made it through his surgery and is home recovering. He is wanting to lick his cast off which is not amusing his mama. His buddy, Luna, is wanting to guard him and misses playing with her little buddy. I should probably explain… Luna is a gigantic German Shepherd and adores this little black kitten. I’m glad LB has a good buddy in her and it has been fun to watch the videos of the two of them in LB’s community. I’m sure his mama would appreciate continued prayers that his healing goes well. Oh yes, please also vote for him in the AmazeCats contest.

— 4 —

Polling the Hive Mind. Metanoia (my parish) might be having a craft bazaar after Thanksgiving to raise money for the parish. Would you mind going to my Yarn Goodness board on Pinterest and tell me what you think you would buy? The link to the Pinterest board will open in a new tab/window so you don’t have to surf back and forth.

— 5 —

Meeting the parents. My sister-in-law Jeanette graduated with her B.S. in Criminal Justice from ITT-Tech last night and I carpooled with my parents to downtown Sacramento to meet up with my evil twin and Jeanette’s parents for dinner beforehand. I hadn’t met them before and had heard stories so I thought dinner would be interesting. It did not disappoint. Her mom is a lot like my mom… and our dads were apparently separated at birth. They’re alike other than being 180 degrees apart politically so I had a great time listening to all the hunting and gun stories from Jeanette’s dad. Having spent the first 6 years of Jon’s ministry in the rural Midwest, I could hold my own pretty well. 🙂 Seriously, he’s really a lovely person and gives my brother as much hell as my grief as my brother gives him.

— 6 —

Dealing with C & E Christians. Simcha Fisher has some interesting advice on how to deal with “C & E Christians”. I never thought I’d be thankful to be part of a small church — we don’t really have parking problems and the twice-a-year people who come know better than to play on their phones during the service. I’m usually on my feet but that’s because I have a toddler who insists on opening and closing the sanctuary doors and trying to escape out the narthex doors, causing a couple people to give me the evil eye.

— 7 —

NCIS this week. How many people enjoyed McGee’s dad on NCIS this week? It was good to see Gibbs and a few others standing up for McGee when his dad would criticize him. It was also good seeing a McGee-centric episode.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen next week at ConversionDiary.Com or (hopefully) check my comments.

7 Quick Takes: March Madness

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

March Madness. The stupid basketball games have started again (later than usual) so I’m grumping about my CBS shows being pre-empted. Because I couldn’t care less about who wins, I thought I’d share some non-basketball alternatives, of which there seem to be an abundance this year.

Lent Madness
Public Radio Bracket Madness
American Jesus Madness
The Best Christian Book of All Time
TV Couples March Madness Challenge

— 2 —

Brett. This is Brett.

Brett

He needs a mama. Wanna help? Head over to his page and share it on Facebook/Twitter/whatever. His mama is out there and I hope we can find her soon. Want updates on the process? Like him on Facebook.

— 3 —

Kaia. According to the FSP for Kaia’s family, their homestudy is done. Yay!

Miss Kaia

Go show her family some love!

— 4 —

Search term fun. I installed Jetpack for my WordPress a month or so ago which means that I get to see the search terms that come in for my site. There aren’t a lot because I chose to hide it from spiders and search engines for a long time but occasionally some interesting ones come through.

The current interesting one: “serving with a prickly pastors wife”

I am so honored. 🙂

— 5 —

Bible student essays. The professor who runs Bible Students Say… is grading tonight. *rubs hands gleefully*

Some gems:

“God used diff. people to write the Bible b/c diff. author writing abt the same story paid attention the things the other author different.”

“I don??t think not following the bible as is doesn??t mean you’re criticizing the bible & people who are offended need to get with the ages”

“I think, as a believer somebody needs to be bless with an understanding of the bible from the holly spirit to interpret it right.”

— 6 —

Little Bear. Please pray for Little Bear. He was born with deformed legs (which honestly made him much cuter) and he won a contest to be on the cover of Modern Cat Magazine earlier this year. He is currently at the vet having one of his legs fixed and will be back home with his mommy on Sunday. Truthfully, he’s stinking cute as is (his feet add to the cuteness) and he doesn’t even know that his feet aren’t normal. He manages to beat up his siblings and get around just fine but his mommy wants him to have full function. He has a Facebook page here.

— 7 —

Lenten blogging. As one of my Lenten disciplines, I’ve been blogging on hymns and praise songs. You can find all my posts on them here.

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

7 Quick Takes: Habemus Papam, Prayer Requests, and Drinking Games.

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Forty Days to Forever. Brett’s special day to be featured as part of the Forty Days to Forever fundraiser was on Wednesday. If you missed this and would like to donate, click here. If you could pray for us to be able to find him a mama, I would muchly appreciate it.

— 2 —

Kaia’s Kindergarten Fund. The Kaia’s Kindergarten Fund fundraiser kicked off on March 1st. If you want to participate, you still can. Details are here. I also have a printable sheet for any families with homeschoolers who want to count coins that they donate. Kaia’s adoptive mama just started a blog dedicated to bringing her home. The Saving Kaia blog will remain active however because I can use it to raise awareness for her and hopefully help to raise some of the funds to bring her home.

— 3 —

Habemus Papam. I’m probably the only Protestant who was watching for white smoke on Wednesday when I got up and saw that there had been no black smoke after I went to sleep. (The morning votes in Rome were shown at 2:00 a.m. my time.) I was sitting at $tarbux working on devotions and flipped to Chrome where I saw the smoke. About 5 seconds later, I got a text from the Pope Alarm. After about forty minutes of waiting for them to announce it, I had to run to the bathroom due to the venti Cool Lime Refresher I was sipping on while I worked. Thankfully, I didn’t miss anything. I couldn’t understand the announcement in Latin because the microphone was echoing too much (I was watching the EWTN feed on my laptop) and all I could pick out after “Habemus Papam” was “Franciscum”. I knew that “Franciscum” was Francis so I was looking at the list of all the cardinals with that name until I heard them explain that it was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. (I was able to go onto YouTube later and find a clean recording of it that I could understand.)

— 4 —

My thoughts on Pope Francis. Truthfully, I’m happy. He has a commitment to social justice while also being committed to preservation of doctrine and a reputation for living simply. I was displeased when Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI because he had written some rather inflammatory things about non-Catholics in his pre-papal days but I respected him because of his office. Not so much with Pope Francis — I’m a fan. It’s a moot point because I’m Lutheran and he isn’t considered an authority for us but it’s still nice to have a Pope with whom I am enamored. And seriously… he’s a Jesuit — that’s a pretty long shot to become Pope because Jesuits are not supposed to aspire to higher office.

— 5 —

Grumpy Cat. Tard the Grumpy Cat is at SXSW and has landed on our CBS affiliates in Sacramento because the anchors were amused by her. Friskies has done a photo shoot and filmed a commercial with her and I found this online tonight. It’s a parody of the backstage rider for Van Halen that is tailored to Tard herself.

— 6 —

I’ll drink to this. Are you a fan of The Big Bang Theory? There’s a drinking game for you! Consider it’s on for an hour every day in syndication on one of our antenna channels in addition to the new episodes on CBS, I think I could get blotto drunk really fast if I actually drank alcohol.

— 7 —

On a somber note. Ian, a friend of mine from college, is fighting leukemia. His wife posted this today:

I’m writing with tears streaming down. We just heard that they have diagnosed him with a rare liver disease associated with the transplant called “sinusoidal obstructive syndrome” or SOS. Basically, there are clots in the lining of the veins of his liver stopping the flow of fluid, and actually reversing the flow causing fluid to build up in his stomach. The ultrasound this morning confirmed this is the case.

Up until recently, there has been no cure for this and it’s an end game situation. There is a medication called Defibrotide they are very hopeful about via clinical trial that they are working on getting for him. It is only made in Italy and there are hoops to jump through but they assure us he will get it. It takes a week or two for response from the medication, and he will be on it for at least three weeks. In the mean time, things are expected to get worse and they may need to drain his belly multiple times to allow room for his kidneys to function. His stomach looks twice as big as it did last night and he hasn’t been able to eat or drink. He is in such pain and discomfort already, I can’t imagine two more weeks of this progressing… I’m still in shock.

Please pray they can get Ian in the clinical trial and receive the Defribrotide quickly.
Please pray he responds as fast as possible and it is completely effective in treating his liver. Sometimes people never fully recover even with the medication and need to have their stomach drained regularly for the rest of their lives. Please pray this is not the case with Ian.

So it seems the heat has been turned up a few notches. Please pray that when we walk out of this furnace we’d be like the young men in Daniel- glowing brighter with a testimony and not even smelling like smoke.

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: March 4, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY March 4, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It’s only 6:30 but it’s better than it getting dark at 4:30 like it did a few months ago.

I am thinking… about the storms that they claim are coming in. Are they exaggerating or are we due for some catch-up for the rain that has been lacking?

I am thankful… for Daniel napping and for being done with the Proverbs 31 Project so I can get back to doing this meme.

In the kitchen… nothing at the moment. Pasta salad for the midweek Lenten supper come Wednesday.

I am wearing… my shirt from the Run for Courage and black shorts.

I am creating… afghan squares when my hands and wrists allow it. (It’s one of my Lenten disciplines and I’m doing badly at it because my hands have been achy.)

I am going… to hope that Edda decides to stop standing in front of my laptop screen. *looks sternly at Edda*

I am wondering… when this stupid cold will go away.

I am reading… The Alpine Xanadu by Mary Daheim — I’m re-reading it actually.

I am hoping… I sleep tonight.

I am looking forward to… Ladies’ Night Out tomorrow night and I’m hoping that people got the memo about the night being changed.

Around the house… *ignores the question*

I am pondering… various things internally.

One of my favorite things… ginger ale when my stomach is irritated.

A few plans for the rest of the week: working on editing devotions, Ladies’ Night Out, and whatever else comes up.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

6 Quick Takes: Things I Hadn’t Realized I Had Given Up for Lent

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7 Quick Takes

Daniel came home from school grumpy and coughing on Tuesday… and had a febrile seizure in my lap at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday. I found myself making a 2 a.m. ER run this morning (Thursday) and sobbing all the way up because I was feeling so alone in dealing with Daniel’s illness. (His fever had spiked and gone down by the time we got to the ER thanks to the Tylenol/Ibuprofen combo the on-call doctor told me to give him.) He’s doing fine now but I’m exhausted and having blogger’s block. For this reason, you’re going to get a light-hearted set of Quick Takes this week.

Don’t forget to go love on Brett and Kaia.

— 1 —

Sleep. I’m a night owl by nature but the last week has been harsher than usual in terms of insomnia. I’m having sore joints, headaches, and neck pain because I’m so tired but none of it is helping me sleep better. I need my NP to call in some Trazadone for me or something. Then again, I might sleep well tonight given how long I was up yesterday.

— 2 —

Coffee. OK… so technically I haven’t quite given this one up. I’m having to cut down on it because I can only drink it with milk and I keep forgetting that I’m lactose-intolerant. This doesn’t work well for my stomach. I can also only drink my lattés cold because the hot milk actually does worse things to my stomach that lactase pills don’t even cover.

— 3 —

Having unscratched arms. The house panther likes to lie across my chest and rest her front paws on my left arm. The only problem: it had been a while since her last mani-pedi. She got one on Monday night so all the scratches on my arms are healing and largely scabbed over. (Yeah, I know you love that picture.)

— 4 —

Patience with stupid people. OK… I actually never had this but fasting makes me crankier and less inclined to put up with stupid remarks. No… it would not be good if the next pope is from Africa so you can call their critics “racists”. No, Benedict XVI is not retiring to avoid arrest on child rape charges stemming from the sex abuse scandals all over the world. No, the meteor in Russia was not a result of Americans trying to prove global warming. [sarcasm] Why yes, the supermajority in California was a direct result of vote tampering. How did you know? [/sarcasm]

— 5 —

My ability to come up with Quick Takes. Writing these is like pulling teeth. It might be the extreme sleep deprivation, the lack of a life I’ve had this week, or the current phase of the moon. In any case, it’s irritating.

— 6 —

The show Hart of Dixie. I’m woefully behind (it competes with two other shows I watch) and yet I haven’t made an effort to catch up on episodes since December. It might be that I’m irritated that Zoe is settling for Wade or something else — I’m not entirely sure.

OK… there is no seventh Quick Take. I need sleep.

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

7 Quick Takes: Sybil’s Death, Pre-Gaming, and Go Niners!

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Forty Days to Forever. Brett is part of this fundraiser.

Forty Days to Forever

This weekend we’re pre-gaming a bit on behalf of two families who didn’t quite make it onto the list of the forty families being featured during Lent. Go check out the site tomorrow (Friday) to find out more! **UPDATE: Introducing the Fund Bowl!**

Meanwhile, go love up Brett!

Brett

— 2 —

Sybil’s death. Not sure if anyone *hasn’t* seen last Sunday’s episode of Downton Abbey but Sybil dies of eclampsia. Mi amiga Kate sent me this article talking about her death and how realistic/un-realistic it was. I learned that magnesium sulfate has been in use since 1907 for eclamptic seizures which was interesting to me. As a preeclampsia/HELLP Syndrome survivor, I had a few people warn me about the episode because they thought it might be triggering for me. (It’s a distinct possibility.) I do remember the night Daniel was born, they refused to let me be alone in my hospital room at both Marias Medical Center and Benefis East because they were afraid of me seizing. I was blessed to have a doctor who caught it in time and got me transferred to Benefis where I had a capable perinatalogist who did an emergency c-section to save both me and Daniel. I recommend the article — it’s interesting and everyone needs to know the warning signs for preeclampsia.

— 3 —

Kaia. This beautiful little girl needs a mama.

Miss Kaia

Do you know someone who might be her mama? Go check out her profile and show her some love.

— 4 —

Oh. Em. Gee. NCIS!!! Anyone else reduced to tears at the end of this week’s NCIS episode? It was interesting to see what drives Abby to do what she does and I loved the little girl who played Abby as a child. Seeing that Gibbs kept the fortune from the first day he met her was also endearing. I loved the message that the good you do now has ripples for the future. Abby is (of course) my favorite NCIS character and Pauley Perette (the actress who plays her) is an AMAZING person off-screen. I’ve supported her in AIDS Walk Los Angeles for two years now and she writes the names of all her sponsors on her shirt.

— 5 —

Why are we surprised? Apparently, cats are killers. Apparently, they account for 33 of the modern bird, mammal, and reptile extinctions. Wow. I had no idea there were that many species of mice, lizards, and birds that my cats were eating. Well… not my clowder — they’re an indoor bunch.

— 6 —

Proverbs 31 Project. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be featuring guest posts and my own meditations on Proverbs 31:10-31 which talks about “a virtuous woman” or a “woman of valor”. My friend Rebecca made the graphic and we’ll be starting it tomorrow.

— 7 —

Ahem. GO NINERS!!!! I had the blessing of growing up in the Bay Area during the glory years of the 80’s and early 90’s with Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, and Steve Young. So proud of my homeboys regardless of what happens on Sunday.

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