Category Archives: Gold Country Life

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: January 2, 2012

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY January 2, 2012

Outside my window… foggy this morning and sunny in the afternoon. It was supposed to be near 60 today but I don’t think I noticed while I was outside.

I am thinking… about what to suggest to use next for Bible Studies.

I am thankful… for Jon being home today. It’s why I’m able to do this now instead of after 9:00 tonight when Daniel is in bed.

In the kitchen… veggie chips and pub cheese from Trader Joe’s.

I am wearing… grey shirt and my penguin pajama bottoms.

I am going… to hopefully have a quiet night tonight with Daniel not in a bearish mood.

I am wondering… where the people on CA-99 learned to drive.

I am reading… just finished In Stitches by Anthony Youn M.D. He had an article on CNN a few weeks ago and it mentioned that he had written this book. It’s pretty light in terms of tone though he does talk about his lack of sex in college and medical school. Despite that, I enjoyed it.

I am hoping… Daniel either goes down for his nap now or goes to sleep early tonight.

I am looking forward to… having nothing on Wednesday because Tuesday is going to be packed.

I am hearing… Daniel pushing his shopping cart around and Catholic Weekend on iTunes.

Around the house… dishes and stuff to do.

I am pondering… things in my heart.

One of my favorite things… veggie chips and pub cheese.

A few plans for the rest of the week… doctor’s appointment and PT for Daniel tomorrow, nothing on Wednesday, and OT on Thursday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

New Year’s Intention

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Wow… I actually kept my resolution last year which was to participate in at least one 5K though I didn’t end up walking the 10K by the end of the year.

So… my intention this year (yes, the wording is a complete cop-out) is to walk/run at least two 5K’s for charity or otherwise. I’m 99% sure that I’ll be doing the Promise Walk again this year so I just need to find one more.

7 Quick Takes — Awkward!

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7 Quick Takes

Yeah… it’s been one of those weeks.

— 1 —

I drove back from San Jose on Sunday morning to try and make it to church in time for the Christmas pageant. Unfortunately, a certain two year old decided to be grumpy and throw tantrums. I’m thankful that people at church understand that he is acting his age and didn’t get too crabby about it.

— 2 —

I got my Christmas cards done on Monday night. The first 75 people on my list got cards with an un-Photoshopped picture on it. It’s not a bad picture — it’s Jon, Daniel, and I walking around at the Sacramento Zoo… with me wearing a shirt that exposed my navel. Oops! I didn’t think it would be glaringly obvious when I ordered the cards but it was. I tried coloring it with a sharpie pen. No luck. Oh well. If people are going to flip out over this, they don’t need to be on my Christmas card list.

— 3 —

I had a WIC appointment on Tuesday morning. The new office is only a few blocks from home which is good. However, it’s cold and foggy in the mornings these days so we drove. Daniel did not want to play with the toys there — he wanted to open and close doors/drawers and play with the printer. Cue tantrums. The scale was also being catty and it was hard to get a good weight on him until we just decided to use the baby scale. I’m thankful that the WIC people were chill about him wanting to take apart the office and that the dietician was great about him tantruming. She gave us some suggestions for things to try with him and one of them (a tortilla roll-up with pub cheese or cream cheese) works.

— 4 —

After physical therapy on Tuesday, we went to Trader Joe’s. We got some yogurt-covered stars and cat cookies for Daniel. I discovered after eating a couple star cookies that they aren’t good for those who are lactose-intolerant. Oops!

— 5 —

I had to deal with flea market traffic on Wednesday. I despise the trading/flea market in the town where I live, especially because people see no problem with taking up library parking spaces because they are too lazy to try to find them in the regular places to park. (I wish they would ticket the cars, especially on Tuesdays when there is no reason that parking lot should be full before 11:50 a.m. as the library isn’t open until noon that day.) Anyway, I was turning to go toward the freeway when three cars sped up and almost hit me. I leaned in on my horn and leaned in on it again when the last car was weaving. About the time that I finished honking at them, a community police car passed me. I was really hoping that he wasn’t going to try and pull me over because I was in a hurry and trying to get to Elk Grove to pick something up before heading on to speech in Sacramento.

— 6 —

House Republicans passed the payroll tax cut. I think my representative’s office has put me on the “please for the love of God stop calling — we’ll do whatever it is you want!!!!!!!!!” list. 🙂 Considering that the Republicans had to re-convene, this is kind of AWKWARD for them.

— 7 —

I don’t have a #7 for you. Oh well… maybe next week.

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

7 Quick Takes — Brain Purge

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7 Quick Takes

As I had themed Quick Takes last week, you all will be subjected to the purging of my brain this week.

— 1 —

PROJECT SIPPY CUP: Successfully completed. Last Thursday, I moved Daniel from exclusively bottles to exclusively sippy cups. He was biting the nipples in half and after he sprayed the living room with milk, I decided it was time. Thanks to all those who told me to stay the course and that this would be the “new normal” within a couple days. He finally relented at about 7:00 p.m. that night and hasn’t had a bottle since.

— 2 —

My retail Christmas shopping (at least in brick and mortar stores) got done last Friday. I had to buy for my kid at church and for my mom. It took three tries but I got it all done. Additionally, I found some nice soft socks for my father-in-law that we hadn’t been able to find a year earlier at Kohl’s. Given how much I hate being in any retail establishment at Christmas time, I’m glad that the rest of my stuff just involves giving my credit card number to Amazon.Com and the place where my dad buys his telescope stuff.

— 3 —

I managed to piss off a psychopath at the grocery store on Saturday. She nearly ran me over with her cart when I stopped by the exit to see if there were any bell ringers and started cursing at me. OK… whatever. I get in the car and am turning to get to the exit of the shopping center that is nearest where I was going when she comes tearing through the parking lot in her SUV. She almost hit me, flipped me off, and started screaming obscenities out of her open window. I probably could have called police but she had left too fast for me to get her license plate number. I have no idea what her problem was or why she was in a hurry.

— 4 —

I head down to San Jose tomorrow (Friday) for a concert. Mom and Dad saw Golden Bough in concert this summer as part of the concert series that takes place at Lick Observatory during the summer. When they found out that they were going to be playing at a church in Los Gatos, they asked if I wanted to go. Originally, we thought that we’d all go and Mom would take Daniel out if he got fussy but she decided to just keep him at home with her and let me have a date with Dad. (This will be the first “date” for the two of us in 25 years — since I was 5 or 6.)

— 5 —

I’m glad that there were two episodes of “Hart of Dixie” this week but they weren’t the best episodes. I’m kind of hoping for two more next week and hoping that they’re good episodes. I know that I can watch them live on the CW website but it’s kind of nice to hang out with Daniel and watch them with him snuggled on my lap.

— 6 —

I probably have enough material for another Judge Judy set of Quick Takes. Seriously… I had bonus items last week and could probably write seven more based on this week. From tonight’s episode: if you no longer reside at a place and your ex tells you not to come over, DON’T COME OVER!!!!!! Doing so is trespassing. I was also happy that Judge Judy gave some dog owner a stern lecture on keeping the dog chained up because they’re liable if the dog attacks people. (We have too many unchained dogs around here.)

— 7 —

I’m wishing for rain. This probably will sound weird because I get weather-change migraines and the pressure changes wreak havoc on my joints but I love the sound of rain beating against the windows and on the roof. We got a little bit this morning but it wasn’t worth mentioning. I’m wishing for a decent rainstorm with thunder and lightning.

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

Purging My Brain

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It’s 7:52 a.m. — an hour at which I have never risen joyfully, even when I worked at UPS and loved my job. (This also includes the times I got up at 6 to kick-box before work.) I woke up at 4:15 and couldn’t get back to sleep. Instead of going and making myself some Instant Breakfast, I played online and listened to podcasts. Bad idea. So… I’m going to purge my brain so that I can go back to sleep (if Jon does office hours from home this morning) or at least cat-nap (if he doesn’t).

[+] Lowe’s, you suck. I could understand if you pulled advertising from “All-American Muslim” because you disagreed with how the show portrayed Muslims and felt that it was not a correct representation of life in America in a Muslim household. (I’ve read non-biased opinions of the show that say that it isn’t really all that accurate. Then again, Islam is as diverse as Christianity in terms of practice and how people observe the tenets of the faith.) Instead, you caved into a group that claims that all Muslims are terrorists. I’ve signed eleventy billion petitions to boycott you and have your CEO removed. Apologize, OK?

[+] Daniel had a good park date with his physical therapist yesterday. We met S at a park in Elk Grove that’s tailored for younger kids and we got him working on climbing things, going down slides, doing steps, going on suspension bridges… It was great. S is also trying to hook us up with a play group in Elk Grove so he can be around other kids.

[+] I’m finally getting over the mutant death cold that landed Daniel in the hospital and gave me a sinus/bronchial infection. We have an appointment with his pediatrician today to re-check him and to maybe try and come up with a strategy so that we don’t have another hospitalization.

[+] Ahem CW… you picked two of the crappier episodes of “Hart of Dixie” to show on Monday. Could we remedy this please?

[+] We got Daniel on a sippy cup and off the bottle cold turkey on Thursday. This meant TODDLER RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but it was worth it.

[+] I have online shopping to do once Jon gets paid tomorrow and then I’ll be DONE for Christmas. I have to toss a box in the mail to Claremont today but that will be once I have brain cells to spare.

OK… going back to bed.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: December 5, 2011

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY December 5, 2011

Outside my window… night and supposed to dip down below freezing. I am positively giddy.

I am thinking… that I should probably start pondering what to get people for Christmas.

I am thankful… that Daniel is occupying himself right now so I can do this entry.

In the kitchen… I haven’t had to cook today — I had something frozen for breakfast, Jon brought home some awesome veggie pizza from a meeting, and he brought me home fries for dinner tonight.

I am wearing… blue maternity shirt (no, I am not pregnant — it’s just comfortable) and my blue striped pajama bottoms.

I am creating… entries and Postcrossing postcards.

I am going… to be doing a fair amount of laundry tomorrow.

I am wondering… if I’ll ever get into the Christmas spirit this year. (I am seriously a Scrooge.)

I am reading… The Alpine Winter by Mary Daheim. Technically, I finished it last night but it could use a re-read.

I am hoping… Daniel doesn’t have another puke fest tonight.

I am looking forward to… Ladies’ Night Out on Wednesday.

I am hearing… Daniel playing with remote controls and “The Magic School Bus” on TV.

Around the house… *whistles innocently*

I am pondering… many things in my heart.

One of my favorite things… black cats who aren’t routing around in the laundry pile.

A few plans for the rest of the week… “Hart of Dixie” tonight, PT tomorrow, neuro appointment/speech therapy/Ladies’ Night Out on Wednesday, OT and child development on Thursday, and hopefully nothing on Friday or Saturday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes — Purging My Brain

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7 Quick Takes

This is a week of quick takes for purging my brain, It’s been crazy here and I have too much ruminating in my head.

— 1 —

I’m almost done with Shirt of Flame: A Year with St. Therese of Lisieux by Heather King. It’s been an interesting read and I have 3 chapters (October to December) to go. I highly recommend it as I believe King stays true to the spirit of St. Therese’s writings. I got mine from Barnes & Noble though Amazon also has it and has a Kindle version available.

— 2 —

NaNo has been going well. I’ve been able to keep up with my word counts though I need to find some things for my characters to do. This is my first year of writing straight fiction instead of a murder mystery so it’s been interesting.

— 3 —

We’re prepping for Daniel’s yearly IFSP. “IFSP” stands for “Individualized Family Services Plan” and it’s essentially an IEP for the Regional Center in California when they’re providing early intervention services for kids like Daniel. It involves reports from his occupational, physical, and speech therapists as well as a status report on where things are medically. The meeting with our case worker from the Regional Center is the 22nd and I’ll be doing LOTS of cleaning before that.

— 4 —

My Christian witness is being completely eroded by having to drive in Sacramento. OK… not just Sac but also around town. We’ve got teenagers who are under the mistaken impression that they are the only ones on the roads, people who drive according to the rules of their country of origin, and the traffic mess that are the Tuesday and Wednesday markets. My horn has become my friend and I’m having to force myself not to use my driving finger. Geez… I live in a bedroom community of Sacramento, not a third world country.

— 5 —

We’re getting back to normal in terms of Daniel’s bedtimes. During the week Jon was gone last month, he got used to staying up late with me. It’s taken about a month to get him back to normal and the days when he doesn’t nap are actually the ones where he goes down with less of a fight. We’ve also learned that after his story and prayer, he’ll stay calm if we put some classical music or instrumental hymns on. (I recommend “Guitar Prayer” which is put out through GIA Music.)

— 6 —

I am seriously in love with “Hart of Dixie”. I wish we had it on DVR so I could watch hours of it on end. Oh well… I could probably go onto the CW website and do it. Still, I find myself wishing that each episode was two hours long because I find myself getting lost in them.

— 7 —

I was totally amused by CBS actors/actresses taking over Facebook and Twitter this week on the day of their big shows. My favorite was probably Mayim Bialek talking about her character and how it worked out. She’s actually a neuroscientist in real life and they actually changed the character of Amy Farrah Fowler to reflect that.

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