7 Quick Takes: Blessings, Wait Wait Cinecast, and a Diagnosis.

7 Quick Takes

Usually, I’m chomping at the bit to be first. Tonight, that’s not going to happen. I headed to the Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me cinecast tonight which is a birthday present from my AWESOME and WONDERFUL husband Jon who is staying home with Daniel while I go live it up. (My birthday isn’t until the 19th so you have 16 more days to shop! Hint: I love Barnes & Noble giftcards!) I got home at 10 p.m. and decided to take a shower before I got caught up on blogs/surfing/news and it’s 1:30 a.m. as I’m settling down to do Quick Takes (which are usually done in advance).

— 1 —

Orphans. Do you see these adorable kids?

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. If you can help out at all, click on their pictures. Please and thank you!

— 2 —

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me cinecast. It was *fabulous*. It was basically the live taping of the radio show but beamed to movie theaters across the country. It was nice to actually see what Tom Bodett looks like, to see Paula Poundstone now 20 years after she used to occasionally be on VH-1, and to watch Mo Rocca who looks so much older than he did in all the “I love the [insert decade]” shows on VH-1. (Yes, I’m aware that it’s been 5-10 years since those were made in many cases). Steve Martin was the special guest and I was a bit underwhelmed by him. Peter Sagal was fabulous and reminded me of a sexy Fortune 500 CEO. Carl Kasell looks elderly but I also remember him reading the news on Morning Edition 30+ years ago while getting dressed in my parents’ bedroom for school while my mom woke up and got ready as well. I’m totally glad I went!

— 3 —

God’s sense of humor. Last Saturday, Daniel decided to take some keys of the keyboard of my laptop while I was in the bathroom dealing with IBS issues. I was able to get most of them back on but some of the plastic pieces were broken so I called HP parts and ordered a new keyboard. After placing the order, I logged into my bank account to transfer funds around because Jon’s paycheck wouldn’t be there until Monday… and found a charge on my debit card for $73 (almost the exact price of the new keyboard) that I hadn’t made. Oh crap! I immediately called my bank and reported it. They were awesome, took all my information, gave me a claim number so I could file a police report, credited the money back to me, and started an investigation. In the meantime, they told me to go to my local branch and get a temporary debit card as mine had been compromised and would need to be replaced. I did have to wait 30 minutes to get a new one (which sucked because my parents were visiting) but I did get some of my murder mystery (A Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny) read and the banker I worked with was helpful. I filed the police report on Monday with my town’s police department and had two excellent officers work with me. My new debit card arrived yesterday and things seem to be fixed for the moment. Meanwhile, I’m having to watch my checking account to see if it has been completely compromised.

Why is this God’s sense of humor? If Daniel hadn’t broken the keys off my laptop, I would never have looked in my account and found the charge and the person could possibly have done worse damage.

— 4 —

Finally! I had to drop pages of health history off with the G-I specialist I see next week this past Wednesday and I scheduled an appointment with my regular nurse practitioner to go over my bloodwork from last week and get back on Singulair because allergies are kicking the crap out of me. Well, last week I had been telling her about all the health issues that I was having and mentioned that my period was being screwy after nearly 20 years of cycles like clockwork (except for pregnancy). She has been suspecting that I have some kind of metabolic syndrome so she added that panel to my lab order. Lo and behold, the panel came back indicating a high likelihood of PCOS which my neurologist (whom I loved and whom I miss a lot) had suspected 5 years ago when she first started treating me. (It was something she picked up on in my health history.) I’m getting in for an endocrinology consult ASAP and will probably also be going to bond with an OB/GYN as well (there will be an ultrasound needed) but it’s nice to know that my inability to lose weight and all that isn’t because I’m lazy — there’s something else going on!

— 5 —

Blessings. Tuesday night, I notice water on the floor of the laundry shed and a load of laundry on Wednesday morning exacerbated it. It was, of course, the morning where I was supposed to be running from 8:30 a.m. until Daniel was picked up from school at 1 p.m. so I expected all this to put hold when I called one of our deacons to deal with it. D, our deacon, cheerfully told me he would be over in 20 minutes and showed up with towels to mop up the water and a bucket to bail the water out of the washer. He took it apart and discovered the issue. While consulting with one of our elders (who used to be one of the deacons), they were en route to a parts store and passed a used appliance place. Well… it turns out that a new used washer was incredibly cheaper than parts and would function better. Our council president went and took care of buying it, the store delivered it, and took the old one away. Meanwhile, D took the clothes that had been in the washer back to his house and washed/dried/folded them before leaving them on our back porch. Given that I was out of clean underwear, convinced that I would have to hit up a laundromat, and deal with that plus Daniel, I was almost sobbing with gratitude to have clean clothes and most importantly CLEAN UNDERWEAR!!!!!! I thanked D profusely over the phone and told his wife M at dinner (it was Ladies’ Night Out for church) how incredibly grateful I was to her for D and how wonderful her husband is. Thank God for wonderful deacons and elders!

— 6 —

Promise Walk for Preeclampsia. You’ll see me start publicizing my Promise Walk in a few weeks but today, I’d like to draw your attention to my dear friend Kate.

Kate and Gus

(I stole this picture off her participant page. Kate, if you want a different one, email it to me and I’ll replace it post-haste.)

Kate is one of the reasons I’m involved with the Promise Walk. She’s heard me talking about my experiences with preeclampsia/HELLP Syndrome and her recognition of her symptoms meant that they were able to monitor her and she was able to carry Gus almost to full-term(?). Things did go south during his birth and a c-section was needed to keep both of them alive but knowledge of the condition was what saved their lives. She’s participating in one of the walks this year so that other women can be made aware of the condition and more lives can be saved. I am totally proud of her and I’d like to ask you to consider throwing a few bucks her way.

— 7 —

Wedding bells. One of the blessings of participating in the Quick Takes for the last two years is that I’ve been blessed to form friendships online with some pretty amazing women. One of them, Emily of A Day in the Life / Emily Runs / Fine Linen and Purple, is getting married tomorrow after an epic engagement (594 days!). Blessings to you and your beloved, dear one and I really hope that some of the wedding pictures involve a light saber battle because you *are* getting married on Star Wars Day. 😉

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

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: April 29, 2013

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY April 28, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It was in the 90’s today. I will be smacking the next person who denies climate change.

I am thinking… that in response to people posting about homeschooling their kids to keep them away from “godless liberals”, I totally want to respond by saying that I’m sending my kids to public schools to keep them away from the people saying those things. I almost want to get a shirt that says “I’m the godless liberal your parents warned you about.”

I am thankful… for the water fight and tickle fight I had with Daniel today and in general I’m thankful for his laugh.

In the kitchen… nothing from scratch. Must fix that.

I am wearing… blue v-neck shirt and capri sweats.

I am creating… nothing yarn-wise but always coming up with plot things for NaNoWriMo.

I am going… shopping tomorrow for toiletries and trying to figure out something to cook that I actually want to eat.

I am wondering… how to post something on Facebook calling out those who are posting partisan and factually incorrect things and telling me that I don’t know that I’m talking about because I give in to the “liberal media”. Riiiiight… the fact that I have a B.A. in Religious Studies focused around comparative religon and part of a Masters in Theology can’t mean that I actually know what I’m talking about, right? (Not to mention that one of the things that they’re making factual inaccuracies about is one of my areas of specialty.)

I am reading… Just finished The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. She is amazing when it comes to the chiaroscuro of the human soul. Next book will be Death by the Dozen by Jenn McKinlay or possibly taking Maphead by Ken Jennings back up.

I am hoping… my allergies/cold/crud is on its way out.

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

Around the house… clean thanks to having company on Saturday and a young mom in the congregation to come and clean for me. (I pay her well and she is the reason I’m functional.)

I am pondering… how someone could have gotten my debit card number when I’m fanatical about keeping it secret. Thank God I was checking my account online and caught the bogus charge.

A favorite quote for today… “Why I often find myself at such cross-purposes with the modern world: I have been a converted Pagan living among apostate Puritans.” — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… making a good play on Words With Friends.

A few plans for the rest of the week: shopping tomorrow and possibly filing a police report, Morning Prayer and NCIS/NCIS:LA on Tuesday, Ladies’ Night Out on Wednesday, watching the cinecast of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me on Thursday, and possibly a trip to San Jose this weekend.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: Picnic on the Green, Pizzas for Doctors, and Blasting Music

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Facebook. I have a tendency to post a *few* cat memes on Facebook every day. I didn’t quite realize how… well-received they were until I got this message from Kelly of This Ain’t The Lyceum:

Jen, I haven’t seen anything humorous about cats pop up in my News Feed for the last hour; are you alright??

I’m sorry, Kelly. I’ll try to post many many more cat memes for you. 😉

— 2 —

Payback. Various people have posted pictures of this on Facebook so I thought I’d share. An E.R. doctor at Mass General Boston (site of the Boston Marathon bombings) called a pizzeria in Waco (the nearest big city to the town where the fertilizer plant explosion happened) and ordered pizzas for all the surgeons in the ER at Hillcrest with the message, “Thanks for all your hard work!”

Awesome payback.

Dr. Chris Kabrhel, you are awesome and I hope people took as good care of you on Monday night as you did of the Hillcrest docs.

— 3 —

I’m a t-shirt person. Adidas has created some shirts whose proceeds will go to One Fund Boston. Go here to order. (HT: Emily)

— 4 —

Just a tip. To the person behind me at the stop sign by the library:

Honking your horn to kindly remind me to move (especially when it isn’t safe to do so and you apparently can’t see this) will cause me to adhere *strictly* to the speed limit (25 mph) for as long as you are behind me or until I hit Highway 99 — whichever would drive you more batty. I’m perfectly aware that it has been 3 seconds but there’s an older woman who is trying to decide whether to cross or not and I’m quite sure that the nice police officer coming the other way would prefer that I not run her over.

Cuddles,
jen

— 5 —

Remedying the situation. Last Saturday night, I was getting gas as a Shell station in Elk Grove after dropping Daniel off at Respite Night. While I was pumping gas, a young man drove up in a car with the windows rolled down and some foul hiphop/R&B thing blasting loudly. Why was it foul? Let’s just say that I’m not sure many young women like to be referred to as prostitutes and female dogs. (Substitute the foul language words for those things and you’ll understand why.) I wasn’t amenable to being forced to listen to this while the guy went in and tried to convince the clerk to hook him up with some gas so I finished pumping my gas, got in my car, turned my stereo up to 11, and started blasting the chorus of “The Way” by Jeremy Camp

I regret nothing.

— 6 —

Orphans. Do you see these adorable kids?

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. If you can help out at all, click on their pictures. Please and thank you!

— 7 —

Picnic. Daniel’s preschool has “Picnic on the Green” tomorrow where the parents bring a picnic lunch for themselves and their kids and eat with them on the lawn. The ABA class(es) seem to get the playground and shady area by their portable to themselves so I’m looking forward to it. The parents usually bring McDonalds stuff for their kids but I think I’ll go with Subway. Daniel has actually tasted McDonalds once (this week, I let him try a bite of my double cheeseburger) but I know he’ll probably eat Subway’s food. (I’m also trying to keep my fake crunchy mom cred which falls short because of Subway’s dough conditioners.)

For more Quick Takes, visit Grace at Camp Patton. She is guest-hosting for Jen again this week while Jen is (hopefully) enjoying having little Joseph home from the NICU.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: April 8, 2013

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY April 8, 2013

Outside my window… dark. We just got back from So Cal where it rained hard this morning, blew the car around going over the passes on I-5 between LA and Bakersfield. It was windy during most of the drive home and temperate when we rolled in around 7:45 p.m.

I am thinking… about way too many things right now which is why I’m blogging to empty my brain.

I am thankful… for our house sitter who shampooed our carpet in the living room. Can we say “going above and beyond the call of duty?”

In the kitchen… food brought home from my in-laws.

I am wearing… black Arabic “We will not be silent” shirt and navy blue “Left Behind” shorts.

I am creating… nothing at the moment.

I am going… to hope my packed week stays relatively quiet.

I am wondering… what my dreams will hold tonight.

I am reading… Maphead by Ken Jennings. I also finished a bunch of Mary Daheim “Alpine” murder mysteries this weekend.

I am hoping… for interesting dreams tonight.

I am looking forward to… my massage on Friday.

Around the house… unpacking to do.

I am pondering… too many things.

A favorite quote for today… “I must say my prayers today whether I feel devout or not; but that is only as I must learn my grammar if I am ever to read the poets.” — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… Coca Cola.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Morning Prayer/editing tomorrow, Daniel’s well-child appointment on Wednesday, WIC appointment on Thursday, eye appointment and massage on Friday, and Respite Night on Saturday night.

A peek into my day… My in-laws’ new cat Tony.

My in-laws' new cat Tony.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

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

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

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.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: March 25, 2013

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY March 25, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It was temperate today but I’m hoping for rain at some point this week to make the pollen go away.

I am thinking… about things to make for a possible Christmas craft bazaar at Metanoia.

I am thankful… for a good time in San Jose last weekend.

In the kitchen… nothing from scratch.

I am wearing… Arabic shirt and black running shorts.

I am creating… plans.

I am going… to hope I can get all my cleaning done tomorrow with help from a parishioner.

I am reading… The Alpine Traitor by Mary Daheim.

I am hoping… the rest of this week (Spring Break with Daniel) goes well.

I am looking forward to… seeing family on Wednesday.

Around the house… cleaning to do.

A favorite quote for today… “Ford, you’re turning into a penguin. Stop it.”

One of my favorite things… chocolate-flavored Instant Breakfast.

A few plans for the rest of the week: cleaning and WIC appointment (ick) tomorrow, cleaning/time with family/dinner/sister-in-law’s college graduation on Wednesday, and whatever else comes up.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook