Category Archives: Food/Drink

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: July 1, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY July 1, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It’s 3:15 a.m. so I’m trying to blog out my brain so I might be able to fall asleep.

I am thinking… that climate deniers need to be shot. This could also be the triple digit heat talking.

I am thankful… for A/C right now.

In the kitchen… teryaki chicken marinating.

I am wearing… olive-colored t-shirt and running shorts.

I am creating… blog entries on various subjects

I am going… to hope and pray I can eventually get some sleep. I took some more Benadryl so hopefully that works.

I am reading… Between Heaven and Mirth by Fr. James Martin, S.J.

I am hoping… the heat goes away soon.

I am looking forward to… seeing my in-laws this week.

I am learning to be patient with myself.

Around the house… the Roomba is broken so I’ll be chatting up tech support today to find out what they want me to do.

I am pondering… my faith.

A favorite quote for today… “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance.” — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… cool rainy weather. I want some. NOW.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Trying to get caught up on devotions, ABA therapy on Monday afternoon, Morning Prayer on Tuesday, heading down south on Wednesday, my nephew’s baptism on Thursday, coming home on Saturday.

A peek into my day… Ernie singing “I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon”. It’s been stuck in my head so I thought I’d share.

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7 Quick Takes: How Many Controversial Things Can I Say This Week, Promise Walk Sponsorships, and Grumping About Basketball

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

o.O I will readily admit that I had never pondered the theological powers of Superman before. The questions posed by Cari’s oldest son sound like the question from teaching Confirmation about whether or not God could create a boulder so big that He couldn’t lift it Himself. For the record, I’m with Lotus — Jesus is stronger than Superman.

— 2 —

The “Why I Am Not Homeschooling Daniel” post series. Post #1 started some good discussion and brought a few trolls to the blog. Post #2 served as some kind of explanation. Post #3 was all about my reasons for not homeschooling him. I’m also inviting people to email and tell me succinctly (75 words or less) what decision you made (public/private/parochial/homeschool) and why you made it so that we can crowdsource some ideas for Bonnie. Email me by Wednesday of next week (the email address is jen @ this domain) and I’ll print all the things that fit. **UPDATE** Someone just emailed me to tell me that Elena rebutted what I had to say to her. In the interest of fairness, I’m linking the rebuttal here. I still stand by everything I said 100% but I also would rather let y’all see what she has to say and let you draw your own conclusions.

— 3 —

More obsessing about food. Actually, it isn’t really obsessing as much as it’s reporting that if I eat in such a fashion as to not irritate the ulcers (which may have healed by now), my IBS symptoms go away. If I eat one thing on the forbidden list, I return to IBS hell. I haven’t had any Coke in almost a month and I still miss it even though I’ve found some alternatives that have less of a carb load and aren’t going to corrode my insides. I haven’t checked to see if I have celiac issues yet, mostly because I’m already having to limit my diet and I’m trying not to do too much at once. I’ll be with my parents this weekend and they have a scale so I’ll see if I’ve actually lost any weight at that point.

— 4 —

Orphans. Do you see these three adorable munchkins?

First row: Brett and Iris.
Second row: Kaia.

BrettIrisKaia

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her. Kaia has a family committed to her who will be traveling to her country at the end of July to meet her on July 26th! Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 5 —

Hmph. Wipeout! was pre-empted by some stupid basketball game. NBA basketball is overrated and I say this even coming from a city that just fought tooth-and-claw to keep their team.

— 6 —

*facepalm* Could I ask a favor of the Catholic blogosphere? Could you please actually *READ* a news story in its entirety and not look for random soundbites to use as evidence that Obama is Satan? The FULL TEXT of the quote that everyone got so flipped out about yesterday is…

If towns remain divided ?? if Catholics have their schools and buildings, and Protestants have theirs, if we can’t see ourselves in one another, if fear or resentment are allowed to harden ?? that too encourages division. It discourages cooperation. (Source)

The word “theirs” in the phrase “Protestants have theirs” replaces “their schools and buildings”. He is referring to the fact that in most places, Catholics and Protestants live in separate neighborhoods divided by “peace lines” — barricades made of bricks, steel, and barbed wire. (I actually saw these in Belfast when I was there in 1998.) He is not calling for an end to Catholic education in general in either Northern Ireland or in the USA — he is calling for Catholics to integrate with Protestants for the purposes of working for peace the same way whites had to integrate with blacks in this country 50 years ago. Mining articles like that for soundbites is juvenile and shows an inability to play well with others, so can y’all please behave in a Christ-like fashion? I refrained from mining stories for Romney soundbites during the last election and I know y’all can do the same regarding Obama.

— 7 —

Promise Walk for Preeclampsia. Wanna sponsor me in the Promise Walk this weekend? Preeclampsia affects 1 in 8 pregnancies in some fashion and 1/5 of affected women lose their babies because the only cure is to deliver the baby, regardless of how premature they are. I’m blessed in that I had a doctor who caught it in time and got me transferred to the BIG hospital in Great Falls where my awesome high-risk specialist could do an emergency c-section and where there was a Level III NICU for Daniel. If you can’t sponsor me, please at least keep me and the other participants in prayer on Sunday morning.

Daniel and I at the 2012 Promise Walk.

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

Five Favorites: Miscellanea (VII)

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Five Favorites

One

The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia. I’m walking on Sunday the 23rd in the Promise Walk for Preeclampsia in San Jose this weekend. I’m a HELLP Syndrome survivor (HELLP Syndrome being a nasty variant of preeclampsia) and Daniel was born at 29.5 weeks because they had to perform an emergency c-section to save both of our lives. I’m all in favor of other mamas not ending up with their lives threatened by preeclampsia or losing their babies because doctors have to deliver the baby to save the mother. If you’d like to sponsor me, click here.

Two

Trader Joe’s “Hold the Cone” Ice Cream Cones. Think of these as mini Drumsticks. I inhaled a box of them yesterday, 7/8 of it in one sitting. Can we just say that I was menstrual and leave it at that?

The empty box.

Three

Subway. They have a nutritional app on their website where you can effectively build your sandwich and it will tell you the calories and nutritional information. This is great if you’re having to enter everything you’re eating on a site like FitDay because you’re trying to keep your calories down below a certain level. Of course, it might actually help if I owned a scale so I could see if there has been any weight lost but I figure that I’ll end up seeing my doctor soon for something anyway and will find out if I’m doing any good at that point.

Four

Mani-Pedis. I got a pedicure last Friday and my pedicurist talked me into letting her do gel nails on my hands. This is me we’re talking about so my toenails are a light sparkly pink and my fingernails are a slightly lighter pink. My nail diva is awesome and did some freehand designs on my big toes, my thumbnails, and my ring fingers. I am blown away at how pretty my nails look. I know the polishes and gels are OPI but I have no idea what the numbers or names of each of the shades are.

Five

Last week’s episode of “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me”. They had Buzz Aldrin on as their “Not My Job” guest and he had to answer three questions on “mooning”. I learned more about it than I think I intended to… EVER. Their “Bluff the Listener” game was on cats and it was fun to listen to while I typed this and obsessed about the fact that my Internet is down. 🙂 Oh yes… I also loved when they were doing the “Listener Limerick Challenge” and Faith asked the pastor who called in if she cursed. (The answer: yes.)

Go love up Hallie and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: June 18, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY June 18, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It was kind of warm yesterday (it’s past midnight here) and I think we’re supposed to warm up this weekend.

I am thinking… snarky thoughts at the moment about the person whose blog entry I am ripping apart and I am trying to remind myself to be charitable. I am unfortunately failing at this.

I am thankful… for a nice getaway on Saturday night and getting to go hang out with my parents this weekend.

In the kitchen… grilled chicken and turkey. I’m trying not to thinking about the box of Trader Joe’s Hold the Cone! Ice Cream Cones I just inhaled, 7/8 of it in one sitting.

I am wearing… holey navy maternity shirt and my super comfy light blue striped pj pants.

I am creating… a series of posts on why I am not homeschooling Daniel.

I am going… slowly crazy 1 2 3 4 5 6 switch! Crazy going slowly am I 6 5 4 3 2 1 switch!

I am wondering… if/when my stupid ulcers will go the duck away!!!

I am reading… Maphead by Ken Jennings and Agony of the Leaves by Laura Childs when my NOOK needs re-charging (meaning that I have to put Maphead on hold).

I am hoping… I can get all my writing done tonight and do so without being a snarky wench in the homeschooling entry.

I am looking forward to… the Promise Walk for Preeclampsia on Sunday. You *KNOW* you want to sponsor me.

Around the house… I am probably doing a mountain of laundry tomorrow and must re-appropriate the laundry basket from Daniel.

I am pondering… various moves on Words With Friends.

One of my favorite things… playing on the swings with Daniel. I can’t wait until he can sit on a regular swing and pump his legs so I can swing too!!!

A few plans for the rest of the week: height/weight/iron check at the clinic on Wednesday, WIC on Thursday (dreading this), massage on Friday, heading to San Jose on Friday, and coffee with mi amiga Rebecca on Saturday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: Fundraising, Baseball, and Eating Issues

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Kym’s Hysterical (not) Hysterectomy. My friend Kym DuPont was diagnosed with stage 1 uterine cancer a few months ago. They tried hormone therapy which ultimately didn’t work. The only cure at this point is a hysterectomy which she has to pay for out of pocket because she is uninsured. (Obamacare doesn’t kick in for people like her until 2014.) Surgery + anesthesia + everything else will be ~$60000 so she has a YouCaring.Com page up for it. If you can spare a few bucks head over there.

— 2 —

Promise Walk. Is this a good enough reason to sponsor me in the Promise Walk?

Baptizing Daniel at 4 days old.

That’s Jon and I at Daniel’s baptism when he was 4 days old. My little hand is on the bottom and Jon’s hand is on top. For those who don’t know the backstory, I developed HELLP Syndrome and they had to do a really quick ambulance transfer from my tiny town in Montana to the hospital in Great Falls that had a NICU and where my perinatologist was based. I was in surgery within 45 minutes to 1 hour after arriving and they delivered Daniel by emergency c-section at 29.5 weeks gestation. He was 14 1/4 inches long and weighed 1 lb 15 oz. at birth. Additionally, I had a 30% placental abruption that they discovered upon opening me up and was bleeding severely. (I just barely missed ICU admission because the HELLP Syndrome started resolving itself with the delivery of Daniel.) As a way of dealing with what I went through, I got involved with the Promise Walk in 2011. Preeclampsia is a condition that affects 1 in 8 pregnancies and we still don’t know the cause so I want to ask that you please consider supporting me (even $5) in this effort.

— 3 —

Orphans. Do you see these three adorable kidlets?

First row: Brett and Iris.
Second row: Kaia.

BrettIrisKaia

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her. Kaia has a family committed to her who will be traveling to her country at the end of July to meet her and spend some time with her as well as complete paperwork. Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 4 —

Progress on the Whole Change of Diet. It’s been a hard week. Daniel is on summer break from preschool and is in “destructive toddler” mode. This makes it really hard to make food because I can’t leave him alone and he currently isn’t allowed in the kitchen. I’m trying to avoid processed foods as much as possible but it’s pretty hard because those are the convenient foods when you have little ones like Daniel. I’m also now finding out how many calories I was usually eating — a packet of gummy worms is 110 calories per serving… and a serving is 5-7 gummy worms, making the entire package around 770-800 calories! My head has become a calorie computer and it’s to the point where I could get really OCD about this whole thing. I don’t own a scale for a reason — I’d be completely obsessive about my weight and could easily cross over into eating disorder mode.

— 5 —

Baseball! *sighs* The Giants dropped two of their three games against the Pirates. Their effort yesterday was pretty good considering they were without Angel Pagan, the Panda, Marco Scutaro, one of their pitchers, and Bruce Bochy — 12-8 was not the worst they could have done. They shut the Pirates out today which helped. I believe they’re on their way to Atlanta now.

— 6 —

Entry in the works. I’ve been pondering a blog post on why I don’t homeschool Daniel in response to the annoying twits I occasionally encounter in the blogosphere who act like public schools are going to turn children into Communists and godless heathen or who can’t *BEAR* to be away from their children and not share in all their learning adventures. (Gag me with a freaking spoon.) I’m being judicious about it because I know so many moms who homeschool their kids and are lovely, well-rounded people like priest’s wife, Sara, Cari, Dwija, and Kelly. I’m also trying not to write it only because I’ve been stuck in a house with a four year old who has been having communication tantrums for 4 days and I’m counting down the minutes until summer school starts. (Autism is a freaking joy on occasion.)

— 7 —

Mani-pedi time. My pedicurist talked me into getting a mani-pedi tomorrow instead of just a pedicure so I’ll be doing that tomorrow morning. I have my hands in so much stuff that’s either gross or corrosive so I usually wouldn’t do it but I figured it’s worth a shot. After the week I’ve had, I’m looking forward to it.

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

Five Favorites: Miscellanea (VI)

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Five Favorites

Salah

Kym. Kym and I met via Livejournal more than 10 years ago. We comiserate about faith things, cat herding, life, and just… everything. She baked muffins and cookies for the NICU staff at Daniel’s hospital, sent me baby clothes and baby cookbooks when he was born, and has kept me as sane as she can in the midst of everything. She was recently diagnosed with stage 1 uterine cancer and it’s looking more and more like a hysterectomy is going to be necessary to wipe out the cancer. She’s self-employed and without insurance so she needs to raise $60,000 for the surgery, anethetists, hospital stay, etc. If you can help at all, hop on over to Kym’s Hysterical (Not) Hysterectomy and toss a few bucks her way. If you happen to know of any grant program that can help her out, please also let us know.

Dua

Trader Joe’s Coffee Latté and Cream Bars. These are beyond awesome. Granted, they’re tiny (about 1/2 the size of a popsicle) but they’re low-calorie (90 calories per bar) and low-carb (9g of carb per bar) so they’re a good indulgence, especially when I’ve had to give up my iced vanilla lattés. I’d post a picture but Trader Joe’s doesn’t have one on their site.

Tiga

These two memories. When we lived in Minnesota, I had two wonderful women who were supportive of me. There were two times when we had visitors in the congregation and one or the other of them introduced me by saying, “This is Jen. She’s our pastor’s wife but she’s also a wonderful person in her own right. She’s also a talented musician and knows her Bible!” I’m bringing them up not to toot my own horn but because I really liked being told that I had worthwhile gifts that were separate from my husband. I’m still in contact with one of them and she is a serious source of encouragement for me.

Empat

Postcrossing. I’ve been postcrossing for 3 years now and have Beth Anne addicted now. It’s fun to receive the postcards from all over the world and find out what other people find important. Tonight, I got one from Russia from a man who has a set of vintage Russian alphabet ones and he has a project going to send them all over the world. I got “A” for “Angel” (although the word “angel” is written in the Cyrillic alphabet).

Lima

My body. I’ve had body images all my life because I’ve always been the fat kid or the short kid for whom major retailers don’t make clothes. This meant no Gap khakis in high school and having to roll up the legs of my jeans. Lands’ End used to be really good for this because they would hem pants to my inseam for free. (Their selection now is craptastic at best — thankfully, my postpartum fat jeans are still going strong 4 years later.) I’m also built stocky with no chest (thanks PCOS!) so shopping is a pain and since having Daniel (and gaining 40ish pounds since gallbladder surgery despite eating well and exercising), I feel like a whale. Doing the whole charting what I eat is helping because it’s keeping the bad stuff out of my diet (or mostly out) and it’s showing me where my weak spots are. Jon is also really reiterating how much he thinks I’m beautiful as is and how much all the flaws I see on me are invisible to him. For the first time in years, I’m actually starting to be OK with myself.

Go love up Hallie and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: June 11, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY June 11, 2013

Outside my window… dark. Yesterday, it was back down to decent temperatures (70’s) after a high of 110F on Saturday.

I am thinking… that I wish I’d discovered Call the Midwife sooner. I just started watching the first season on Netflix and I’m hoping Season 2 gets added soon!

I am thankful… for the quality time Jon and I have been getting after Daniel goes to bed.

In the kitchen… teryaki chicken on my George Foreman grill.

I am wearing… my Run for Courage shirt and my fleece pajama bottoms.

I am creating… threads for my NaNoWriMo piece in November.

I am going… to hope I can get my father-in-law’s present mailed tomorrow.

I am wondering… how to gently tell someone to cut the apron strings already for their kid. Once they pass a certain age, they need their freedom and they’ve already proved themselves capable of living on their own.

I am reading… Maphead by Ken Jennings (still) and a few other things.

I am hoping… I can get all of Call the Midwife before the season 2 episodes expire on PBS.

I am looking forward to… Respite Night on Saturday night for Daniel.

Around the house… *closes my eyes and sticks my fingers in my ears in the hope that the mess will GO AWAY!!!!*

A favorite quote for today… “Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati” — Red Green

One of my favorite things… Coffee Latté and Cream Bars from Trader Joe’s.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Home with Daniel, mani-pedi on Friday, and Date Night/Respite Night on Saturday.

A peek into my day… My parents’ cat Jethro looking quite irritated at being swaddled so I could clean out a wound and prevent an abscess from developing during one of my visits last month.

Just wait until I'm unwrapped!

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook