Category Archives: Family

Five Favorites: Miscellanea (V)

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Five Favorites

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Fitday My endocrinologist wants me tracking my diet and carbs and such. I started using FitDay many moons ago (OK… like maybe 7.5 years) and abandoned it after a few weeks because I didn’t necessarily need to track my eating. I wish I’d gone back to using it 6 years ago when they diagnosed me with pre-diabetes because I think I would have done a lot better and maybe even lost some weight. I don’t have a smartphone so the app my doctor suggested is a moot point and I just went with FitDay again. I’m already finding it useful because it has shown me some bad patterns in terms of my carb consumption.

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Patrick This is my new nephew Patrick who was born last Thursday to Jon’s sister Joanna. This is a picture of Jon holding him.

Jon holding Patrick for the first time.

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Agony of the Leaves This is the latest in Laura Childs’ mysteries about the owner of a tea shop in Charleston. (My favorite genre of mysteries are the “cozies”.) I got addicted to her books a few years ago and in addition to this one, I have another one on request at the local library.

Agony of the Leaves by Laura Childs

Plaub

NOOK A family friend gifted me with a NOOK two years ago and I’m still loving it. It doesn’t have a glow screen (which is probably not a bad thing — I’d be up all night reading otherwise) and it’s first generation (I think) but that’s fine for me. I probably would have bought a Kindle if I’d spent my own money but now I can’t imagine life without it. It’s indispensable on long car trips (I have a flashlight in the glove compartment specifically for reading at night with it) and it saves a huge amount of space on my bookshelves. Best of all, they have a free book every Friday and I’ve found some pretty interesting books that way.

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George Foreman Super Champ Family Size Grill With having to watch my diet, I decided to break out my George Forman Grill again… only to find out that the teflon is coming off and it doesn’t heat up as fast. Given that it’s 11 years old and not all that expensive to replace, I put some Amazon.Com giftcards toward it. I’m looking forward to its arrival because I tend to grill something daily right now. (It’s quick and allows me to have flavor without the calories.) Now if I could keep a certain black cat off the counter after I use it… *glares at the pair of glowing eyes at my feet*

George Forman Super Champ Family Size Grill

Go love up Hallie and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: May 27, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY May 27, 2013

Outside my window… dark though it’s a full moon or something so it’s fairly light out despite it being 1 a.m.

I am thinking… that I really shouldn’t have finished that bottle of iced tea. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping any time soon which is why I’m doing this now.

I am thankful… we figured out what was going on with my stomach.

In the kitchen… attempting to find a happy medium between the meal plan my endocrinologist gave me and the restrictions I have because of the esophagitis and ulcers.

I am wearing… faded charcoal grey shirt from Foot Locker and my blue penguin pajama bottoms.

I am creating… plans for NaNo this fall.

I am going… to pray that tomorrow is a quiet day for Daniel and I.

I am wondering… how people can claim that Christians are hated and persecuted and then turn around and be equally hateful toward those not like them.

I am reading… nothing — just finished The Diva Digs Up the Dirt by Krista Davis on the way to the airport today.

I am hoping… Daniel sleeps in tomorrow. He was certainly up late tonight.

I am looking forward to… Jon getting home on Tuesday and having another set of hands. Daniel is at the stage where it’s hard to get things done because he’s actively destroying things while I’m trying to get housework done or even run to the bathroom.

I am learning the ins and outs of my Roomba.

Around the house… dishes to do and a mountain of laundry to do as I’m low on clean clothes.

I am pondering… way too much.

One of my favorite things… Lipton Pure Leaf Raspberry Tea even though it’s messing up my carb counts for the day.

A few plans for the rest of the week: LAUNDRY, grocery shopping tomorrow, Morning Prayer on Tuesday, PCP appointment on Wednesday, end of school for Daniel on Friday, and my massage on Friday as well.

A peek into my day… Cullen helping me with my auction for Little Bear.

Cullen helping me with the $tarbux card auction.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: Facebook Foxes, Patrick’s Arrival, and Prayer Requests

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Firefox in the real world. A family of California grey foxes has made its home in the Zen Garden at Facebook’s Menlo Park campus. The Facebook peeps set up a special Facebook page for them as well as an Instagram.

— 2 —

What the what?!?!?!?!?!?!? In the last 2 1/2 hours, there has been a bridge collapse near where I have family in Washington (my dad is up there right now and actually drove over it earlier) and there was an earthquake 3 hours north of me. It’s also a full moon tonight. This is eerie.

— 3 —

OMG Hawaii Five-O!!!! I’m bummed that Kono will be out for at lease a chunk of next season and I’m wondering if Grace Park (the actress) is pregnant or if her contract was just not renewed. It was still an interesting episode and I’m wondering who is breaking in to kill Wo Fat.

— 4 —

I’m an auntie!!!!! Jon’s sister Joanna had her baby today!!!!! His name is Patrick and he was born at 1:19 p.m. by c-section. He is 19 inches long and weighs 9.5 lbs. I’m totally excited to be an auntie. We’ll probably head down in a few weeks to see them once Joanna heals and they have things a little more on schedule.

My new nephew!!!!!

— 5 —

Diagnosis time. I had my endocrinology consult this Wednesday and the diagnosis is PCOS based on my bloodwork. We’re going to clean up my diet (see #7 for details on that) and discuss medication changes at my next appointment in August. If any of you are on FitDay.Com, email me (jen @ grace-filled dot net) and let me know. (My username is my incredibly long and complex last name.)

— 6 —

Orphans. Do you see these two precious children?

BrettKaia

Brett (on the left) needs a mama and Kaia (on the right) has a family who needs help raising the funds to bring her home so she can start kindergarten (hopefully this autumn). If you can help out at all, click on their pictures. Please and thank you!

— 7 —

Prayer request. I will be having an endoscopy tomorrow (Friday) morning at 7:30 a.m. PDT (Pacific Daylight Time). Even if you don’t see this before then, I’d appreciate your prayers that the procedure goes well, that they find SOMETHING, and that anything they find is treatable. I’ve been having nausea and loss of appetite since January and it took forever to get the G-I consult (May 8th) where this procedure was scheduled. Any findings will hopefully enable me to eat again and being able to do that will help me clean up my diet. My endocrinologist suspects that I might have celiac disease and this might be what shows it.

**UPDATE** The endoscopy went well and they *did* find something — mild esophagitis and erosive gastritis in the form of 20 smallish ulcers in the lower part of my stomach. It’s all treatable and I’m just relieved that they found SOMETHING because it’s been annoying not to be able to eat without problems for the last few months.

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

What I Wore on Sunday: May 19, 2013

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Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

What I Wore on Sunday

Pentecost is kind of a hard birthday to have if you’re a pastor’s wife because it means festival worship (smells and bells though one step below Christmas and Easter) and it frequently means that it’s Confirmation Sunday so there’s usually a special reception afterwards which doesn’t work well with a child like Daniel.

Moving on…

Red and I don’t do well unless it’s a more brickish red and that shirt in my wardrobe is long-sleeved, making it incompatible with the temperatures in the 80’s today. Daniel also decided to disable my alarm clock (!!!) so I woke up at 9:45 and had to come up with clothes for both of us really quickly. Thankfully, I’d showered last night so my hair was manageable and I had clean clothes! Church also started late because of a recording malfunction that had to be fixed.

So… here are the outfits:

Jen with Daniel upside down

I need something to use as a prop because I feel strange posing by myself.

Just resetting the bear...

Daniel was more than happy to be my prop. 🙂 He also had no problem being upside down.

Jon with his guitar.

I decided to make this a family affair and hit Jon up for his picture before he headed out to his afternoon/evening engagements.

Here are the details on the outfits:

Jen
Shirt: Kohl’s
Pants: Kohl’s
Sandals: Naturalizer

Daniel
Shirt: Target
Shorts: Kohl’s

Jon
Shirt: Auton (hand-me-down from one of his father’s colleagues)
Pants: Nordstroms (hand-me-down from a colleague)
Belt: Kohl’s
Shoes: Kohl’s

Go visit Fine Linen and Purple and see what everyone else wore today.

7 Quick Takes: Season Finales, Pretty Toes, and Guilty Pleasures

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

OMG Big Bang Theory! Raj can talk to women without resorting to booze!!! So crazy. It was a bummer about Lucy but I guess she was a good thing in his life if it means he can talk women now. It’s also sad that Leonard and Penny are going to be separated for a few months but it will be interesting to see if they do shows on the research vessel like the shows they did when Howard was in space.

— 2 —

OMG NCIS: Los Angeles!!! The last 5-10 minutes made me queasy and I had a class where judicial torture was part of the reading list! I’m definitely going to be wondering how things will come back this fall. And OMG… the Deeks/Kensi kiss!!! *fans myself*

— 3 —

I’ll take “Guilty Pleasures” for $1000, Alex! Wipeout is back. It’s my favorite show to watch at 8 p.m. on Thursday nights. (The Big Bang Theory is on at 7 p.m. where I am because our CBS affiliate does the news at 10 p.m.) The humor is incredibly sophomoric and it’s essentially watching people fall off of things but we don’t have satellite so I can’t watch this.

— 4 —

prerequisite baseball update. We (the Giants) pulled three of four off against the Braves, fell twice in Toronto, and pulled off an insane save tonight over the Rockies. Woohooo!!! I’m hoping we can sweep Colorado this weekend.

— 5 —

“Objection! #2 ripped my flesh!” I was petting the demon spawn Freya this morning and I had some loose hair in my face… which Freya decided to move… with her talons claws. It reminded me of this line from the following episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway?:

The little monster got a pedicure shortly after.

— 6 —

Speaking of pedicures… Aren’t my toes pretty?

My pretty toes.

The pedicure was my Mother’s Day present from Jon and Daniel. My manicurist was lovely and next time, I’m going to *gasp* let her do my nails too!

— 7 —

Orphans Do you see these two darlings?

BrettKaia

Brett (on the left) needs a mama and Kaia (on the right) has a family who needs help raising the funds to bring her home so she can start kindergarten (hopefully this autumn). If you can help out at all, click on their pictures. Please and thank you!

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com. Just a reminder: my birthday is Sunday so you only have a few more shopping days! 😀 (Hint: I *love* Barnes & Noble gift cards.)

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: May 13, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY May 13, 2013

Outside my window… sunny and hot. I do not approve of 90F before June 21st (or really at all).

I am thinking… about the things I would totally say on this blog if I didn’t have to self-censor for pastor’s wife reasons.

I am thankful… for getting so much sleep yesterday and for Jon getting me dinner at Subway.

In the kitchen… spinach salad.

I am wearing… brown t-shirt with a ruched collar and black running shorts.

I am creating… plot ideas for NaNoWriMo in November.

I am going… to have a pedicure on Wednesday morning. I can’t wait.

I am wondering… some really snarky things about people.

I am reading… Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke. I’m reading a bunch of silly murder mysteries these days and it’s giving me a break from my regular life.

I am hoping… it doesn’t hurt too much when they use the Dremel on the calluses on my feet. (I’m a discalced kind of girl.)

I am looking forward to… seeing my parents/evil twin/sister-in-law this weekend for the communal birthday celebration.

Around the house… next question!

I am pondering… why people like to call me a “lib” or a “liberal” as an insult but get so incredibly worked up when I call them a “fascist moron”. 🙂

A favorite quote for today… ??…My idea of God is a not divine idea. It has to be shattered from time to time. He shatters it Himself. He is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of His presence?..?? — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… Lipton Pure Leaf Raspberry Tea.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Morning Prayer tomorrow, pedicure on Wednesday, autism team meeting on Thursday, and communal birthday celebration on Saturday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: TV Shows, Stupid Criminals, and Baseball

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Orphans Do you see these two cuties?

BrettKaia

Brett (on the left) needs a mama and Kaia (on the right) has a family who needs help raising the funds to bring her home so she can start kindergarten (hopefully this autumn). If you can help out at all, click on their pictures. Please and thank you!

— 2 —

NCIS. I am TOTALLY looking forward to the season finale next week. I’m sure it will be a cliffhanger given the nature of the show but I’d love to know who exactly is going after Gibbs. I’m also delighted to see Colin Hanks acting. I never saw his father in anything on TV but I’m a fan of his movies.

— 3 —

The Big Bang Theory. Tonight’s episode of The Big Bang Theory was actually pretty cute. It was nice seeing Howard doing his imitations of various actors and I thought the way Sheldon handled things with Amy was surprisingly good, given the nature of his character. (I think you have to watch it to understand what I mean and you can do that on the CBS website for free.)

— 4 —

Such a helpful boy. I spent last weekend in San Jose with my parents. On Saturday, I was feeling really sleepy due to allergy-induced sleep deprivation and while sitting on one of my parents’ loveseats in the living room, I dozed off sitting up with my hands in typing position. My mom came in and started talking to me before realizing that I was fast asleep. I apparently slept that way for a good 2 hours so my mom put Daniel to work in the yard with her. She would hand him cuttings of something and he would walk over to the yard waste container and put it in there. She also had him do that with the lemons that were on the ground. Well, he started doing it with the lemons on the tree once the ones on the ground were gone. Thankfully, my parents’ lemon tree is abundantly stocked with lemons so this wasn’t the end of the world. Still, I love that he was able to help my mom that way. 🙂

— 5 —

Fail-proof smoking cessation plan. I promise I am not making this up. This might just be me but I think Nicorette is cheaper than the fines and jail time for the assault charge. Heck, the UCD Medical Center cafeteria gives it to people for free because the medical center is a smoke-free campus.

— 6 —

Medical humor. Have you ever worked in medicine (i.e. doctor, nurse, receptionist, etc.)? I recommend Doctor Grumpy in the House. He’s an anonymous neurologist who does not suffer fools gladly and also posts about stupid criminals and interesting war stories. I recommend his blog highly — I’m in the process of reading through several years of his archives right now.

— 7 —

The required Quick Take on baseball. The Giants played several games with the Dodgers last weekend so it’s probably good that I wasn’t home — Jon is a Dodger fan and I support the better team the Giants. I might have been a wee bit… enthusiastic about the fact that THE GIANTS SWEPT THE SERIES. We got our butts kicked by Philly but that’s OK — it wasn’t LA so I can live with that. 😉

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