Category Archives: Family

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: February 23, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY February 23, 2015

Outside my window… sunny but a bit chilly still. It will probably be in the high 50’s today and we have a chance of more rain. Given how completely far behind we are, I say, “BRING IT!!!!” Despite the pain I get from all the weather changes, I really *did* enjoy the rain yesterday and the intermittent downpours last night. My beneficent mother-in-law (who quite graciously watches “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” with my child so I can have a shower and who is also reading over my shoulder) took Daniel to play in the gutters yesterday. The way our cul-de-sac is, they turn into a pretty decent river when it rains and my wee bairn had a blast!

I am thinking… about the tax stuff I’m trying to do.

I am thankful… that Daniel has a 5-day school week again though we’re headed into vacation time and teacher-inservice days next month.

In the kitchen… not sure what I’ll do for lunch. Maybe chicken over quinoa?

I am wearing…my Run for the Little Flowers 5K shirt and jeans. (I also added my UCSC Alumni sweatshirt midway through typing this.)

I am praying for… the Social Security blunders that I’m having to spend time straightening out, a call for Jon, Daniel’s IEP next week, and a bunch of special intentions along with my Lenten prayer practices.

I am going… to call Social Security in a few minutes to yell at them.

I am wondering… if we’ll be getting any refund this year on our taxes.

I am reading… The Hen of the Baskervilles by Donna Andrews. I read and finished Landlines by Rainbow Rowell this past week.

I am hoping… for a good afternoon with Daniel.

I am looking forward to… Wednesday.

I am hearing… various machines and robots cleaning.

Around the house… machines going (dishwasher, washer/dryer, Roomba, Mints…).

A favorite quote for today… “God loves human beings. God loves the world. Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find repulsive in their opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, namely, real human beings, the real world, this is for God the ground of unfathomable love.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

One of my favorite things… mint and chocolate.

A few plans for the rest of the week: sort out taxes, Bible study/meeting with speech therapy/class/choir on Wednesday, date night on Friday, and whatever else comes up.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: February 15, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY February 15, 2015

Outside my window… warm. Weather.Com is saying it’s 75F outside at 5:22 p.m. and I believe them. I know everyone on the eastern seaboard is going to throw things at me (especially any readers around Boston) but I miss living in places with snow. I actually had to shave my legs last night!!!! (I don’t usually have to in the winter.)

I am thinking… about my camera that bit the dust just now. Oh well… it served me well for 12 years.

I am thankful… that Daniel can (usually) entertain himself while I shower.

In the kitchen… teryaki chicken and potatoes. (Eating a combination of leftovers.)

I am wearing… Run for the Little Flowers 5K shirt and khaki shorts.

I am praying for… sanity (like that’s going to happen!), a good night’s sleep, a call for Jon, and a bunch of special intentions.

I am going… to be wearing flip-flops for the next few days until the top of my right foot stops hurting from the burns. (I burned it checking Daniel’s bathwater.)

I am wondering… what the 50 Shades of Grey junkies thought when they realized they were watching full-on pr0n.

I am reading… the Bible. I finished Murder with Puffins by Donna Andrews this morning during my pedicure.

I am hoping… Daniel goes down without too much of a fight tonight.

I am looking forward to… Daniel having normal school weeks and not having Mondays off for holidays.

I am hearing… Daniel playing with his tablet.

Around the house… laundry cycling and various cleaning robots working.

One of my favorite things… Coca Cola. It is disappearing for Lent though.

A few plans for the rest of the week: tea on Tuesday afternoon with a family friend, pancakes at church on Tuesday night, Ash Wednesday things on Wednesday, and whatever else the week holds for me.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Things I’ll Be Doing This Weekend Instead of Going to See “50 Shades of Grey”

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7 Quick Takes

I’m pretty sure that dissing “50 Shades of Grey” is going to appear in most peoples’ Quick Takes this weekend. There are already some interesting posts on the subject here, here (warning: some swearing which makes it NSFW), here, and here.

— 1 —

Letting Kelly pick my Lenten discipline. I’ll be giving up Coke, doing some extra spiritual reading, doing some extra praying, and then one more thing that Kelly (our Quick Takes hostess-with-the-mostess) gets to pick. She has until 11:59 PST on the 17th to tell me what it is and get supplies for said discipline to me.

— 2 —

Trying to learn all the words to “Baba Yetu” (and how to pronouce them). The utterly amazing Peter Hollens and his friend Malukah covered Christopher Tin’s Grammy-winning composition “Baba Yetu” which is the theme to the computer game Civilization IV. It’s the Swahili translation of the Lord’s Prayer (or at least most of it). It’s amazing but I do have to work on how to pronounce some of the words. (I’ve learned from previous experience that Swahili is not a language that flows from my tongue well.)

— 3 —

Putting together valentine’s for Daniel’s class. I actually am almost done with these valentines from a free printable created by Amy of Living Locurto. (Go check her out. She is crazy talented!) My thanks go to Ann of House of Estrogen who featured them on her blog 4 years ago.

— 4 —

Reading Unvirtuous Abbey’s Twitter stream. If you haven’t read the Twitter stream of Unvirtuous Abbey, stop whatever you are doing and click on their name!!!! They are irreverent and funny in ways that only Canadians can be.

— 5 —

Listening to David Wesley. If you’re a fan of Peter Hollens, check out David Wesley. He does amazing acapella mixes of popular worship songs. My props to priest’s wife who introduced me to him.

— 6 —

Bonding with family. My sister-in-law Joanna, her son Patrick, and her mother-in-law Margie are coming up tomorrow to spend the afternoon with us for Valentine’s Day. I need to put together the Valentine’s Day present I have for Patrick — I’ve got some squeeze pouches of applesauce from Trader Joe’s and I’m going to put a wrap on them with his picture and some heart stickers. On his picture will be some text that says, “You are my main squeeze.”

— 7 —

Dreaming of the pedicure I’ll be getting with the present Jon gave me for Valentine’s Day. Jon has two weddings on Saturday (and probably turned down ten more) so we did “date tea” instead of doing a date night on Saturday. We went to $tarbux and Jon got lunch (a grilled cheese sandwich and passion tea lemonade) while I got my iced vanilla latté and some marshmallow dream bars. His present to me was a gift certificate for a mani-pedi which will probably be a pedicure with extras given that regular nail polish doesn’t stay on my fingers well. (My present to him was some special coffee and moscato from Trader Joe’s.) It will be nice to be able to have some pampering that isn’t usually in the budget these days.

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

New Year’s Questions!

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Beth Anne tagged me for this meme (that she procrastinated in filling out). I have no desire to tag anyone so I’m just doing this for fun and to have something to do while icing a swollen foot.

Four names that people call me:

1. Jen

2. Jenni

3. Lepicat (college email address)

4. Jenni-fur (mother-in-law)

Four jobs I have had:

1. Camp counselor

2. Library Assistant

3. Bookseller (Barnes & Noble)

4. Administrative assistant for an import brokerage owned by UPS

Four movies I have seen more than once:

1. Forrest Gump

2. The Princess Bride

3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

4. The Birdcage

Four books I’d recommend:

1. Surprised by Joy

2. What’s So Amazing about Grace?

3. A Year of Biblical Womanhood

4. The Chronicles of Narnia

Four Places I’ve Lived:

1. Santa Cruz, CA

2. Bexley, OH

3. Madison, MN

4. Galata, MT

Four Places I Have Been:

1. Dublin, Ireland

2. Lethbridge, Alberta

3. London, England

4. Salt Lake City, UT (Not Mormon but I seriously love SLC!)

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:

1. A redwood forest

2. Asleep

3. Seattle

4. Not staring at laundry to be put away

Four Things I Don’t Eat:

1. Broccoli

2. Spam

3. Thai food

4. Mexican food

Four of My Favorite Foods:

1. Sushi

2. Lamb gyros

3. Lamb kebab

4. My mother-in-law’s chocolate peppermint vegan cupcakes

Four Things I’m Looking Forward to This Year:

1. Making healthier choices

2. Possibly getting my mid-life crisis tattoo

3. Seeing what God has in store for me 🙂

4. Daniel hopefully starting to talk more.

Four Things I’m Saying:

1. “Seriously?!?!?!?!?”

2. “Yeah… no.”

3. “What the fur?!?!?!?!?” (I live in a house of cat-punsters.)

4. “Gentle hands!”

Four People I’m tagging:

Nobody. 🙂

7 Quick Takes: Latin Woes, Why You Should Not Watch the Jordanian Pilot Execution Video, and More.

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

I despair at the state of our public education system. An eighth grade girl in Vermont suggested that Vermont adopt a Latin motto and the Senate minority leader of the state decided to take her suggestion up in the state legislature. Things go horribly awry as various Vermont citizens flip out about adopting a state motto in “Latin” because *gasp* it might have something to do with Latin-Americans, also known as “illegal immigrants”. Reading some of the comments made my inner grammar Nazi convulse.

— 2 —

New Year’s resolution update: plank challenge. As I mentioned last week, I didn’t get to finish the plank challenge and I am not able to hold a plank for 5 minutes straight. However, I am still able to consistently plank for more than 60 seconds each and that in itself is pretty amazing. I might repeat the challenge again later this year and see if I can do better then.

— 3 —

There’s sane and then there’s Kelly. I’m sure many of you have seen the 23 tips for sane eating, right? Kelly of This Ain’t the Lyceum decided to add a few of her own. 🙂

— 4 —

New Year’s resolution update: Bible reading. In the Old Testament, I’m through Genesis and into Exodus now which means lots and lots of information on the various commandments and laws being put into play. (My reading on Wednesday had to do with the priestly garments and how to make them as well as the various specifications of the altars and the sacrifices offered.) In the New Testament, we crucified Jesus. Definitely not the most uplifting reading! On the plus side, we got to resurrect Him today and I’m loving all the Psalms I get to read.

— 5 —

Pick my Lenten discipline for me. I’m raffling off the right to choose my Lenten discipline for me. Click here for more information. The only rules are that it has to be doable (bread and water is not as I’ve got health conditions that preclude that) and I have to be able to do it around my schedule with Daniel. Otherwise, BRING IT!

— 6 —

Got picky eaters? Here are 32 kids who are hilariously picky eaters. Scarily enough, I know some adults who are worse! I’ve had co-workers who will not eat foods that are touching other foods on principle.
*

— 7 —

Simcha nails it again! I really recommend the piece by Simcha Fisher where she talks about the dangers in watching the execution video of the Jordanian pilot and ties in the watching of Fifty Shades of Gray. She mentions this post by Marge Fenelon and I agree wholeheartedly with it. There is no good that can come from watching it.

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

Being a Titus 2 Woman in the 21st Century (II)

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I was hoping to get this post up on Saturday but I was at a Gospel concert put on by the Claremont Interfaith Council in the afternoon and the Respect Life Mass at the Cathedral in the evening. (My father-in-law is super-involved with ecumenical things down here in Southern California and one of his colleagues is the ecumenical officer for the diocese so I’ve had the blessing of getting to go to the cathedral and sitting with the ecumenical guests or at least their plus-ones.) I spent my computer time last night up with a very sick little boy who decided to spike a 104F fever. (We thankfully got it down and he is headed to school tomorrow.)

The previous entry I posted on this subject had a pretty negative tone so I thought I’d talk about the positive “Titus 2 women” in my real life and online.

Mary Lenaburg: I’m sure Mary would be surprised to see her name on here (hopefully not all that surprised) but she is a huge encourager of everyone that finds themselves in her sphere. Seeing her life with her daughter Courtney (who went to be with Jesus after Christmas) has inspired me to be a better mother to Daniel and at times like last night when I was up with my sick kiddo, she sends me messages to let me know that she’s praying for me. Girlfriend also just captured the “Most Inspirational Blog” and “Miss Congeniality” awards in the Sheenazing awards this year and I can’t think of a more deserving person.

Michelle Lehnardt: I come from a pretty amazing family and yet I really wish Michelle and Erik would adopt me! Not only is she a phenomenal photographer, but Michelle has managed to raise 2 wonderful young men, has three fabulous teenagers, and one wonderful daughter. She is the first to name her shortcomings but she and her husband have managed to instill a sense of honor and kindness in their kids as well as an ability to find fun ways to include other people. Her oldest son Ben is back at BYU after serving a mission to Italy, her next son Stefan comes home from his mission to Russia in a few months, and her kids left in school are phenomenal musicians and quite bright.

My mother-in-law Victoria: We have a good relationship but we both have to work at it to make all that goes into sharing a house work. She knows just about everything about cleaning just about anything and she had ideas about the ways she wants things to work; but at the same time, she’s also willing to listen to what I have to say. She prays for me daily and is willing to listen and help me talk out a lot of stuff I’m dealing with in order to find a solution.

Lou Ellyn Griffin: I wish she had a blog because I would publicize it as much as I could. She and her family used to live down the street from my parents and her older daughters baby-sat for us. My brother and I were her pet and house sitters growing up and I worked for her during my summers from the time I was 10 until I was 19 with a couple summers off to be a camp counselor. The reason she’s on my list: she read me the Christmas story when I was six and made sure I knew that God loved me and that she would answer any questions I had. I took her up on it as a teenager and she is my godmother.

Dee Rheingans: Dee was one of our parishioners in Minnesota and a woman who is now in her 80’s. She is incredibly young at heart and she was honestly one of the best church women I could have had as a young pastor’s wife. She loved me for who I was, was wonderful about not giving advice unless I asked for it, and always willing to answer questions I had about how to do something, no matter how stupid the question probably seemed. She prayed for me every time I took my driving test (3rd time was the charm!) and I remember her leaving a message on our answering machine on a really snowy day telling me that she was laughing at the thought of me out playing in it. (At that point in time, I had only been out of California for 3 years and snow was still a novelty.)

I bring these women up as examples for others in the faith to try and emulate because they have a good relationship with my generation and I feel that others who want to be “Titus 2 women” can learn from them.

7 Quick Takes: NFC Championship Game, Police Lip-Syncing, and

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

NFC Championship Game. I was watching the game in Seattle with my extended family which was pretty entertaining because Green Bay was shutting out Seattle until almost the 4th Quarter… and then came back to win in OT. I think it’s probably for the best that my long-suffering sister-in-law (she’s married to my evil twin) wasn’t watching the game with us — she’s a Green Bay fan and there would have been some good-natured abuse directed at her.

— 2 —

Crocheting. The yarn for Daniel’s big boy blanket arrived just as I was leaving on Friday so I stuffed a couple skeins into my laptop bag and started the blanket while flying to Seattle. I’m almost two skeins in and had to order more because I’m pretty sure that the 5 skeins I have are not enough. Oh well… I’ve got about 2.5 months to get this done and I can catch-up on all my TV stuff while I work on it.

— 3 —

Apparently, some people think I’m “sheenazing”. Click on the image to vote for me in the “Best Blog by a Non-Papist” category. Please and thank you. 🙂

I'm Sheenazing.

While you’re voting, I’d really appreciate your votes for Mary of Passionate Perseverance in the “Most Inspiring Blog” and the “Miss Congeniality” categories. She deserves to win both this year purely because of how much encouragement she gave to us other moms of special needs kids while she was watching her daughter Courtney slowly die. She is honestly a bright spot in the Catholic blogosphere.

— 4 —

Totes amused. I have relatives who are in law enforcement so I’m finding this pretty awesome. 🙂

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I know a Taylor Swift song…

— 5 —

This is pretty cool. A Massachusetts teacher won $150,000 and donated it all back to the school. Ellen had her on the show and gave her a few surprises. This video seriously restores some of my faith in humanity and it also makes me love Target even more.

— 6 —

Coming attractions. I tried writing the post on being a Titus 2 woman last night but fell asleep. I’m going to try and get it up this weekend.

— 7 —

New Year’s resolution updates. Today’s plank time was 3 minutes. I am having some bursitis issues so I’m having to do a modified version of it. I tried being up for the whole 3 minutes but had to quit halfway because Jon needed to get into our room to get ready for pastoral meetings. (I was doing the plank on the floor of our bedroom.) Oh well… I can try for the whole 3 minutes tomorrow!

The Bible reading is on track and I’m really enjoying it.

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