Category Archives: Family

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: August 2, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY August 2, 2015

Outside my window… dark. It’s my usual late night blogging time. It was hot today though not completely unpleasant considering it was reported as being 95F. The breezes help.

I am thinking… about the things going on this week and the trip to be with my parents this coming weekend. I’m hoping my car’s CD player starts working well or it will be a boring drive.

I am thankful… that Todd, the newest cat addition in our house, is calm and not growling or swatting at us. Last night, he sat with me even though he was growly. When I went out for a midnight snack, he touched his nose to my fingers and let me pet him. Today, he has been licking my fingers and purring for me. I think he really just needed to know that he would be loved up and have human attention.

In the kitchen… my mother-in-law made pizza from scratch for my sister-in-law’s birthday.

I am wearing… jammies.

I am going… to have to figure out a game plan for Wednesday when the power will be off from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and I have to entertain Daniel.

I am wondering… about how to remove certain food dyes from Daniel’s diet and if it will make a difference.

I am reading… The Alpine Zen by Mary Daheim. I actually finished it earlier this week (I could barely put it down) so I’m re-reading it. I finished Vanishing Grace by Phillip Yancey this week as well and *VERY HIGHLY* recommend it.

I am hoping… that my sleep deprivation feelings cease soon.

I am looking forward to… seeing my family.

I am hearing… the hymns I am listening to on YouTube.

A Daniel story for today… my little monster fell asleep at 7:30 and at 10:30, he walked into my bedroom rubbing his eyes and climbed on the bed where he preceeded to fall asleep.

Around the house… quiet. It’s wonderful.

One of my favorite things… well-done hymns.

A few plans for the rest of the week: PT on Tuesday morning, Daniel’s dentist appointment on Wednesday, and whatever else comes up.

A peek into my day… Today was the “bread of life” reading in the Gospel of John so I thought I’d share one of my favorite hymns.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Crowdsourced Content

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

What I’m doing and why I’m doing it. Daniel is off school for the next month and now that we’re back from my parents’ house, I’ve got him pretty much all day. My mother-in-law has stepped up and helped *A LOT* this week because I’m fighting stomach issues (which is meaning that I’m feeling more run down than usual and am napping a lot) but today, I had him pretty much all day so writing this post with insightful Quick Takes was just not going to happen.

So… I decided to take a page from Kelly of This Ain’t The Lyceum and crowdsource some content. I had three people give me questions that I’ll answer (and I’ll put one person’s two part question into two Quick Takes) and then I’ll give you two things I saw online that amused me. Sound like a plan?

— 2 —

From Kelly of This Ain’t The Lyceum: Your feelings on Klondike bars? Absolutely neutral. I don’t think I’ve eaten one in years so I honestly can’t say what I would or wouldn’t do for one.

— 3 —

From Beth Anne of Beth Anne’s Best: In honor of your 15 years of blogging, what site did you start blogging on? I started out hand-coding a web journal on Peacefulwaters.Org, my own domain, in July 2000 and used Microsoft Front Page to generate some of it. (I’ve been doing website stuff for 18 years so this wasn’t that weird.)

— 4 —

From Beth Anne of Beth Anne’s Best: What sites have you used over the years? This is actually the second part of the question and I split it up because her question could honestly have been a post of its own. I did the hand-coding for a year and then did Livejournal for a bit, tried Grey Matter a few times, used Moveable Type for a few months, and then switched to WordPress’ predecessor b2. I fully switched over to WordPress in 2004.

::Meditatio:: itself has existed in pretty much unbroken form since 2003 when I switched to b2 and has been hosted on Grace-Filled.Net since 2005. I’ve imported all of the hand-coded stuff, the Livejournal entries, and one of the Grey Matter sections. I still need to import about 6 months or so of Grey Matter and Moveable Type which unfortunately has to be done by hand and it requires a working CD-ROM… which I currently do not have. (Laptops don’t like falling on hardwood floors. It’s under warranty but that would involve sending it to HP for weeks at a time.)

— 5 —

From Jen (@Jentoinfinity): How many people have you met IRL from blogging? You can name them if you want or just a number. This is kind of a weird question because I’ve known some of my blogging friends since before they had blogs, as in the case of my BFF Rebecca who was my maid-of honor, is Daniel’s godmother, and whom I have known for 20+ years. As far as fellow people I’ve met because of my blog, I’d say 3? I met Ellen of Stranger in a Strange Land in 2002, Dawn of ladydusk in 2003, and Chris of Father Christopher (and formerly of SomethingUnderstood.Org) in 2004.

Related to this, I think one of the stranger things that has happened was standing in the receiving line at a church in Ponoka, Alberta where Jon was interviewing for an associate pastor position in 2009 and having someone come up to me and tell me that they love my blog. It turns out that they were talking about my Blogathon site but it gave me a shock for a few days because I keep pretty quiet about my real name on here.

**UPDATE** I also met Kym back in 2011. Sorry for missing you in my count!

— 6 —

Something for which I really respect Sen. Lindsey Graham. So some of you might have seen the news about this yesterday:

This was Senator Graham’s response:

Stay classy, Senator!

— 7 —

Finally, some lovely music. Here’s one of my favorite videos from The Piano Guys:

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook + Answer Me This: July 19, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY July 19, 2015

Outside my window… dark and probably still raining. It’s the second time this summer I’ve been greeted by serious rain between Pasadena and home on 210 when I’ve been coming back from visiting my parents. Given the fact that California is seriously short on water and that little brush fire in San Bernadino County almost prevented Jon from getting to church this morning, I’m completely content to let it rain and rain and rain.

I am thinking… about the things that await phone calls and efforts tomorrow. Argh. Social Security is *STILL* a mess and I’m hoping that my worker actually follows through and untangles this mess.

I am thankful… for a good week with my parents, time with Rebecca, and being able to attend my church back home.

In the kitchen… I microwaved some frozen pizza for dinner.

I am wearing… black v-neck shirt and navy/white striped pajama bottoms.

I am praying for… a call for Jon, Daniel to retain skills over the summer, patience as I work with Daniel in these coming weeks (not something I possess in large quantities), the marriages of some friends, and some special intentions.

I am going… to watch some Viperkeeper videos when I’m done with this.

I am reading… Vanishing Grace by Philip Yancey. I’ve picked it up again and I’m enjoying it.

I am hoping… Daniel sleeps in tomorrow.

I am looking forward to… seeing how far my minion and I can walk tomorrow morning on our death march.

I am hearing… Viperkeeper talking on one of his FAQ videos.

Crocheting… same old same old — amigurumi stuffie and Daniel’s big boy blankie.

Around the house… quiet as almost everyone is asleep.

A favorite quote for today… “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” — Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

One of my favorite things… Coca-Cola. I missed it this last week.

A few plans for the rest of the week: dealing with Social Security, errands, and whatever comes up.

Post Script…

After you’re done reading all of this, go see Kendra and some other superheroes.

Answer Me This

1. What’s currently on your To Do list? Speaking firmly with Social Security, calling to get a radiology referral for x-rays before we see the peds orthopedist, finding ways to help Daniel keep up his skills, and cleaning off my desk/sorting my mail from being gone for 9 days.

2. Better type of superhero: magic/radioactive powers? Or trauma/gadgets/hard work? Hard work and gadgets. I’m the daughter of an engineer and I love figuring out how things work.

3. Finding out if baby is a boy or a girl before birth: Good idea? Bad idea? We chose to with Daniel and I don’t regret it — I don’t think I could have waited to find out. Given that I was in no shape to give them the potential names at Daniel’s birth, I’m glad that I knew ahead of time so that I could give them the name before I was too far gone.

4. Have you ever appeared on a stadium jumbotron? Nope. Never been to a professional sporting event. This will change in September when Jon and I go to the Episcopal Dodgers Night. I have been informed by my priest that I may wear my Giants socks (note to self: acquire some!) but that I am not allowed to boo Clayton Kershaw or Yasiel Puig. Whatever!

5. Are you more book smart or more street smart? I’m actually both, depending on the topic. If there’s something I want to do, I’ll read on it or do some trial and error to figure it out.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Taking on Some Controversy in the Media and Talking About A Couple Books

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

The bakers fined $135K for refusing to bake the wedding cake. I actually had some sympathy for the couple who refused to bake the cake. They should be allowed to politely refuse to do so and face some bad publicity for their decision. My sympathy vanished, however, when I found out that they not only declined rudely to make the cake but they also doxxed the lesbian couple by giving out their names, address, email address, and phone number. Granted, this information *IS* public record because of the lawsuit, but the husband of the baker specifically shared it in anger and people used the information to send death threats to the lesbian couple.

(Libby Anne has a good blog post on this.)

— 2 —

The Planned Parenthood debacle. So here’s the thing: it wouldn’t surprise me if Planned Parenthood has had some unscrupulous people selling fetal tissue and I’m good with Congressional panels looking into this. HOWEVER… the Center for Medical Progress acted pretty dishonestly inasmuch as they had actors portraying people from a tissue company and in the fact that the video was pretty edited. All of the sites like LifeSiteNews that have broken the story are acting really smug about it and in a really distasteful way. LifeSiteNews in particular is so liberal with the inaccuracies in the news that they report that I honestly wouldn’t believe them as far as I could throw them and this is making me really leery to believe what they’re saying. On the other hand, I don’t trust Planned Parenthood either.

Truthfully, the news makes me feel tired. This article from America Magazine probably comes the closest to how I’m feeling.

— 3 —

A situation completely foreign to me as a West Coaster. Libby Anne’s blog post referred me to this one about a teacher in Mississippi who lost his job when a student outted him as an atheist. This horrifies me because I’m the daughter of a secular humanist and an agnostic/Buddhist and it scares me that one of my parents could be the person behind Godless in Dixie.

— 4 —

Why California does better under Jerry Brown. My mother-in-law gets a happy expression on her face every time someone mentions Governor Jerry Brown because, according to her, the state just does *sooooo* much better under his leadership. I’m having to admit that I agree, especially as he just signed into law a bill ending religious and personal exemptions for vaccines. Only kiddos who have specific medical conditions and a note from their doctor are exempt from the requirements. The only two other states who have passed a similar law are West Virginia and Mississippi, which kind of surprises me because you’d think that those two states would allow religious exemptions given the religious nature of their populations.

— 5 —

Owning one’s atheism. Neil Carter of Godless in Dixie appeared in a report on CBS This Morning on atheism. I’m watching it right now and it’s interesting. It saddens me however that his girlfriend’s father shunned him and his girlfriend because of it. The father just passed away and specifically asked that Neil not be allowed to be around the family while they mourned. That’s pretty serious hatred of someone right there.

Still, I’m glad for Neil and the others in the video that they are owning what they believe. Do I agree with them on their stances? No. Do I respect their dignity as people and would I have a drink with them? No question that I would!

— 6 —

The book I just finished. I just finished The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows and while it wasn’t as good as her first book, it was pretty fabulous.

— 7 —

You know your book is old when… Killer Pancake by Diane Mott Davidson has been interesting to listen to, partially because the book is pretty dated. They’re talking about things like payphones which I haven’t personally seen in probably 5 years!

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: Answer Me This Edition

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY July 13, 2015

Outside my window… dark. When I opened this window to start writing, it was probably in the 70’s. I’m up in San Jose with my family so it’s about 10 degrees cooler than it is in southern California.

I am thinking… about the Social Security mess that is waiting for me when I get home.

I am thankful… for church and coffee with Rebecca yesterday and a Kohl’s trip with my mom today to get more shorts for me.

In the kitchen… Dad made spaghetti and sauce from scratch tonight.

I am wearing… a black v-neck and capri sweats right now. Earlier, I was wearing a navy blue “perfect tee” from Old Navy and khaki capris from Kohl’s.

I am praying for… a call for Jon and a bunch of special intentions.

I am going… to get a lot of walking done this week because a lot of places we go are within walking distance here.

I am wondering… about a lot of things in my life these days.

I am reading… The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows and listening to Killer Pancake by Diane Mott Davidson on my long drives.

I am hoping… to have as relaxing a week as possible.

I am looking forward to… the Bay Area Promise Walk on Saturday. I did the virtual one for my birthday in May because I didn’t think I’d be up here for this one. It will be the 5th straight year that Daniel, Mom, and I have done this particular one.

I am hearing… crickets chirping outside.

Crocheting… Daniel’s big boy blankie — it’s the only project I brought up with me this trip.

Around the house… quiet. Mom and Dad are in bed or headed to bed shortly, their cats are curled up with Mom, and Daniel is asleep beside me.

A favorite quote for today… “Reading mysteries: the recreation of intelligent minds.” — Donna Andrews

One of my favorite things… a decent iced vanilla latté.

A few plans for the rest of the week: playground time with Mom and Daniel, assorted errands, and the Bay Area Promise Walk on Saturday.

Post Script…

Answer Me This

Go see Kendra and the others when you’re done seeing my answers to these questions.

1. At what temperature do you keep the thermostat set? Summer, winter, day, night?

Good question. I can’t remember what the settings have been in our parsonages. I know that my in-laws have their A/C set to 75 in the summer and I can’t remember what it is in the winter because I never touch it and I haven’t paid much attention.

2. What is your favorite frozen beverage?

Probably a smoothie. I can’t drink so anything alcoholic is out. I haven’t had an Icee or Slurpie in years so those are out as well.

3. Where do you keep your keys?

In my pocket or on my desk. I have to be able to physically feel them so most of the time, they’re on me along with hand sanitizer and my cell phone.

4. Have you ever really been lost?

The only time I’ve been really super lost was when I was in London 17 years ago and I was with my twin brother and our friend Eric. We were trying to get from the Underground to our hotel and we got super turned around. This was, of course, before cell phones were common and we were almost too late to meet our parents to catch a taxi to the airport to make our flight to Dublin.

5. What is the last movie you saw in the theaters?

A live taping of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me which was broadcast live to movie theaters around the country. The last actual *MOVIE* I saw in a theater was The Expendables and that was 5 years ago. (I’m really not a movie person.)

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Pretend This Has An Interesting Title

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Blech. I’m actually in bed right now sipping some Coke to see if it will help calm my stomach. My Annie’s Deluxe Shells and Real Aged Cheddar is not sitting well on my stomach tonight for some reason and I’m not feeling like staying up at the kitchen table when I’m feeling nauseous like this.

— 2 —

Hoping and praying for this! The weather powers-that-are seem to be predicting a strong El Niño this winter for California. For those who are confused, an El Niño event means a seriously wet winter for California, especially northern California, and this could really help with the current drought situation. The last really significant El Niño I remember was during my senior year of high school and it meant massive flooding in some places and huge storms in the Sierras. (And yes, I’m aware that “Sierras” is redundant.)

— 3 —

Simcha nails it again. Her latest excellence: Is Your Facebook Feed the Sea of Galilee or the Dead Sea?. The reason for its excellence: I’ve found the most ignorant people I’ve met to be the ones who surround themselves with people who think the way they do, believe the way they do, and vote the way they do. My blog readership is pretty diverse and I read a pretty wide variety of blogs as well. While I don’t agree with ever blogger out there, some of them say some interesting things and I think I understand why people might vote differently as I do as a result.

— 4 —

Taking a page from Bonnie. Bonnie usually starts her Quick Takes off with a song so here’s my latest discovery.

— 5 —

Wow. One of my friends from Reece’s Rainbow shared this today. You seriously need to watch it.

— 6 —

Why you should leave service dogs alone. Someone distracted a woman’s service dog, even after being instructed by the woman to stop petting him, and she was injured while having a seizure. Had her dog not been distracted, he could have signalled to her that the seizure was coming and they could have gotten her to a safe place.

— 7 —

Prayer request. If y’all could please pray that my car would be done getting fixed tomorrow afternoon, I’d appreciate it. I have plans to head up to San Jose on Saturday and I can’t do that unless I have my car back because my rental car from my insurance company has to be returned the day my car is done being fixed. If I’m in San Jose, it will be impossible as I’ll be 350 miles north of where I’d need to return it and pick up my own car. Thanks!

For more Quick Takes, visit Bonnie (our guest hostess with the mostest) at A Knotted Life. While you’re visiting, congratulate her on her little one who is due on January 1st.

#FiveFaves: Miscellanea (XXXIX)

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#5Faves

One

Simcha Fisher. She hit a home run yesterday with her post on how St. Maria Goretti did not die for her virginity and today’s list of 10 ways to insult Catholic bloggers is applicable across the blogosphere.

Two

Viperkeeper. Despite the fact that I am terrified of snakes and burrow under my covers to keep snakes from biting me at night (I’ve been doing this for 30 years, OK?), I watch his YouTube channel while trying to go to sleep

Three

My local $tarbux. They were swamped yesterday and gave me my latté for free as a way to apologize for the wait. They totally didn’t have to do it but I did appreciate it!

Four

This list of pastor’s wife confessions. I’ve been a vicar/pastor’s wife for almost 13 years and I find this list pretty accurate.

Five

Sleep I really am behind on it and am looking forward to getting some tomorrow morning once Daniel is off to school.

Go love up Jenna and the others.