Monthly Archives: October 2008

Happy Halloween!




Angels in the hospital

Originally uploaded by CadyLy

Cute lunch story:

I’m in the cafeteria picking out my soup, and notice that they have cute little Halloween names, which is awesome. A man next to me looks over and says, “Oh, you shouldn’t have that. Day like today, you should be having the ‘Chili con Carnage’.”

I give him a big smile and gesture to my soup, “But this is the ‘Good Choice Chicken and Rice’.”

He looks at me again and says, “Mmm. Yes. I see your halo. Okay.” 🙂

Prayer Works!

Haha!  That was one of the last things said at the talk this evening.  🙂  It’s true, too!

Some of you might know the anxiety I was fighting with over today’s meeting.  I was trying really hard to just give over and trust in God, and in pockets, this did fairly well.  I wasn’t nearly as anxious as I usually would be.  I prayed all day (well, most of the week, but especially last night and today) to our Lord, God the Father and our Lady, I think maybe St. Michael, too, because he was mentioned last night.

I prayed about 50 psalms, too.  [I’m reading my way through the psalms at the moment.  I had to take a break from Leviticus, because it became apparent that I was in need of a bullock….  🙂  Not quite sure what Fr. will do when I bring in the mooing creature and ask that he butcher the poor thing for me (because I’m too squeamish and would feel way too bad for hurting this thing because of my sins) and then decorate the altar with its blood and burn the fat and stuff.  So….  Until I find a willing bullock….  Then again, maybe I should just stay away from the temple, because it’s also apparent that I should be presenting myself to Fr. for him to examine me for leprosy….  It’s just eczema!  Seriously!  No!  I do not need to be quarantined for 7 days!]

Back to the original train of thought.  My meeting came.  It went as I had hoped, and not as I had [uselessly] feared.  Thank you, God.  Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you, Mary.  Thank you, all who prayed for me.

On to the gratuitous extras.  🙂  After work, I went to the Catholicism for Cradle Catholics Continuing Catholicism for Adults (like how I renamed that?  I, not being a “cradle Catholic,” was feeling excluded, and “Catholicism for Cradle Catholics + Jenn” was a little long and cumbersome, and besides, I might not be the only “non-cradle Catholic” there…)  Anyways, so I go to the talk and soak it all up, as I do.  All too soon, it’s over.  😦 

NOW, really, for the gratuitous bit.  I know that I don’t have enough gas to get home.  But, I’m not at the pushing stage quite yet.  So, I decide to go into town and grab a hot chocolate from Starbucks (Oh, yum!) before grabbing some gas and heading home.  Last time that I had almost run out of gas in Plymouth, I made it to the gas station, and as I recall it was a Speedway, which is a good thing, because I have been budgeting and bought $200 in gas cards to Speedway, since there’s one by my house in Troy and one right by work in Ann Arbor, so I was safe at either end.  And the one in Plymouth.  When I got to Starbucks, the barista told me that my prepaid card didn’t quite have enough money on it for my drink, which was okay since I had a couple of bucks on me.  But as I was digging for it, he told me nevermind, my card somehow gave me a discount, which put me under by about 20 cents.  Bonus!

Okay, okay, on the the REAL gratuitousness.  I head down Sheldon (?) Rd. to the gas station.  I don’t have any money in my bank account, only the gas cards.  But that’s okay, because it’s a Speedway, right?  WRONG!!  Uh-oh.  Now, I’m at the intersection, looking at the gas station that I had been planning on going to, and sitting there in dismay because it’s a Mobil.  And my gas card won’t work there.  And I don’t have enough gas to get to the next closest Speedway that I know of.  Rats!  Just when I was beginning to become concerned, but before I actually do, God has me look over to my right.  And what do you know?

A Speedway!!!!!  Thank You!!!!!

And now, to ask God about Saturday, because those who know what’s going on, know that I’m loathe to go on Saturday.  I’m aching to run away and hide.  I’m scared and terrified for reasons I don’t really know why.  I’m scared to go and I’m scared to not go.  And I just may be stuck in my indecision.  So while I am hiding under my desk chewing my hair, I’m also praying that I will do the healthy thing (it’s really bizarre when you are praying against yourself like that).

Thanks for listening!  God Bless!

Priesthood Sunday!!!!!

This is one of my favorite days!  🙂

Lord,
Please bless my amazing priests. May they always faithfully proclaim the Gospel, help people to grow in charity and love, defend Truth, and seek You. May they always find encouragement, strength and love when they are in need. Please allow them to know and feel Your love of them and know of the love, admiration, respect and support that their sheep have for them.
Amen.

Since my blog, I don’t think, supports embedding video — I will post a link here to a wonderful clip of a trio of priests singing Ave Maria. I want a copy of the CD/DVD! If any of you find out there’s one out there, let me know!  Special thanks to AmP for sharing!  If AmP isn’t already on your favorites list, he should be! 

Extraordinary Minister For a Day

Today, I got to attend the Women’s Conference.  There’s tons of stuff I could blog about from that conference, but for right now, I’ll just blog about the Eucharist.  🙂  At the end of Mass, Kasia came up to me and asked me if I would help consume the extra hosts, so Lindsay and I went into the “Clergy and Staff” room with her and a few others and began consuming the hosts.  We weren’t really sure how to go about doing this properly, and as more people came in after Mass (so that there were now about 15 or so people to consume the 2.5 ciboriums/ciborii/however you call the plural), a few began questioning that we were “taking” the hosts, when we should be “receiving” the Eucharist.  So, 3 people took up the ciborii (gold cylindrical bowl-thingys, are you happy?!?) and began going around to the rest of us as EMs, “Body of Christ.”

I have to say, I have never, ever received Jesus so many times as I did today.  🙂  After a little while, I saw that Jill kept handing out Eucharist, and wasn’t getting any for herself, so as she passed me by again, I asked her if she wanted me to take the ciborium, so that she could receive. 

So, now you have *me* giving communion.  Good thing for me I temporarily forgot Fr. John’s scary lecture about dropping the Eucharist, or I would have been too scared to do it.  But today, the issue was not dropping Jesus.  Quite the opposite.

See, as I was passing out the Eucharist, He didn’t want to leave my fingers and go into their hands.  And I wasn’t about to toss Him into their hands or anything like that.  So, while most Extraordinary Ministers that I’ve had serve me tend to look at me while they are saying “Body of Christ” and then wait until I say “Amen,” I was the one who was more focused on the Eucharist:  staring at Him, placing Him in their hand and then kind of petting Him into place, so He would stay there with them.

So, I’m not sure.  Do I get negative bonus points for excessive fondling of the Eucharist??

Some Days When You Wake Up…

… you look in the mirror and say, “Yes! I am DED SECKSI! Who wouldn’t want this?!?” as you look over your nighttime attire:

a red and cream colored striped long sleeve shirt
tangerine shorts with yellow and pink butterflies on them
bright cerulean and lime colored ladybug socks

Move over Paris! The fashion capital of the world is relocating!! 🙂

What Kind of Woman Am I??

H/T to Kasia:

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz…

You Are a Katharine!

You are a Katharine — “I am happy and open to new things”

Katharines are energetic, lively, and optimistic. They want to contribute to the world.

How to Get Along with Me

  • * Give me companionship, affection, and freedom.
  • * Engage with me in stimulating conversation and laughter.
  • * Appreciate my grand visions and listen to my stories.
  • * Don’t try to change my style. Accept me the way I am.
  • * Be responsible for youself. I dislike clingy or needy people.
  • * Don’t tell me what to do.

What I Like About Being a Katharine

  • * being optimistic and not letting life’s troubles get me down
  • * being spontaneous and free-spirited
  • * being outspoken and outrageous. It’s part of the fun.
  • * being generous and trying to make the world a better place
  • * having the guts to take risks and to try exciting adventures
  • * having such varied interests and abilities

What’s Hard About Being a Katharine

  • * not having enough time to do all the things I want
  • * not completing things I start
  • * not being able to profit from the benefits that come from specializing; not making a commitment to a career
  • * having a tendency to be ungrounded; getting lost in plans or fantasies
  • * feeling confined when I’m in a one-to-one relationship

Katharines as Children Often

  • * are action oriented and adventuresome
  • * drum up excitement
  • * prefer being with other children to being alone
  • * finesse their way around adults
  • * dream of the freedom they’ll have when they grow up

Katharines as Parents

  • * are often enthusiastic and generous
  • * want their children to be exposed to many adventures in life
  • * may be too busy with their own activities to be attentive

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

A String of Recent Unrelated Thoughts from the Mind of Jaibee (Also Known as “Catching Up”)

Yeah, yeah, long title. Deal. 🙂 I just didn’t want to have a billion blog postings, so I am going to squish a bunch in here. 🙂

While I loathe the coming of the coldness, I like watching the leaves turn colors. So, I will get a couple of photos of the leaves every year, but not too many, since my poor Floridian blood just can’t take it to be outside for too long. 🙂 For your viewing pleasure in the warmth and comfort of your ?desk, I bring you:
Fall Colors -- DSCN4980 and DSCN4979

Last week (see how behind I am?), I took a few photos of our church, as they have recently redone an area in front between the main church entrance and the entrance to the pastoral center. I think technically, they are two “reflection gardens,” one for Mary and the other for the unborn/victims of abortion. Very pretty. I like how this turned out:
DSCN4984

And since I have a tendency of airing out my dirty laundry anyway, you might as well take a peek at the task I had before me last weekend. Just don’t get too excited, while I *did* do all 5 loads, I haven’t yet managed to put them away quite yet, but I *did* manage to fold them yesterday, and they are currently sitting in my bedroom in neat little stacks.
DSCN4989

Now, I am not a fan of bugs in general. They usually creep me out. But, when I came home late on Friday, I saw this guy at my back door, and decided to leave him there, since — obviously — he was praying for me. And I can use all the prayers that I can get right now. He graced me with his presence until the following day, when I could photograph him. Shortly after I took his picture, I came outside again and he was gone — just like that.
DSCN4994

Final topic: here’s a picture of my bed (now, don’t get all excited, I’m not inviting you in):
DSCN4997
We got this comforter as a wedding present, so now that it has outlasted the marriage, it is showing signs of wear:
DSCN4999
So, I finally broke down and bought myself a new comforter, because I didn’t think that the old one would stand up to another go in the washing machine:
DSCN5000
See how amazingly, uncharacteristically girly it is? But, it makes me smile in it’s optimistic, girly way.

Dear Diary,

So, I totally ripped off this idea from Sarah’s blog.  If you haven’t checked her out yet, please do! She’s full of awesomeness.

Every so often, she will write an excerpt from a diary.  So, I happened to run across my childhood diary, and here you go!:

Sunday, Dec. 17, 1989
Today is my birthday, 12 years today. I got 2 board games. Sweet Valley High and Life, an outfit from Marilyn spandex cotton pants and a cotton shirt that comes to my knees. [Oh boy, yes, I was always a wardrobe malfunction.] I got the board games from Mom, Dad and Clint [my brother].  This diary set from Jim and Carol, a pair of gloves from Grandma, a set of Sweet Valley Twins books, a set of Sweet Valley High books from Grandaddy. [Not that we see a theme here, or anything!]  A Christmas ornament and ring, also from Jim and Carol.

As we can tell, I am all about the listing of things.  Must.  Document.  Everything.  🙂  Well, so that hasn’t really changed.  Now, I just also do it photographically.  🙂

Monday, Dec. 18, 1989
Today was pretty normal, in 2nd hour Kory Kettlehut’s sister Cameron talked to us about drugs, and in 7th hour, Jeremy Epple was chasing Aaron Starr around it was funny.  [Did I ever have the crush on Aaron Starr!]

Tuesday, Dec. 19, 1989
Today, Mr. Koehn [advanced math teacher] gave us a test afterwards he threw some rubber bands around, soon every one was doing that and paper + eraser also. Tommorrow we’re going to get him back and I’m going to be the rubber band supplier. [Oh the trouble I was!]

Friday, Dec. 22, 1989
Today me and Clint were playing and I went into his room. He got all mad and kicked and punched me. We then got mad and I went to tell dad. But I didn’t because we had company and Clint was hanging on to me trying to be my best buddy.
[Ah, siblings.]

 Sunday, Dec. 24, 1989 [Picture of a sun, here]
Today’s Christmas Eve and these are the things I got… [Priorities, you know… :)]
Jim + Carol – a big unicorn box-trunk [still got it, it’s in the garage full of pictures]
Grandma + Granpa – a yellow turtleneck shirt [not a fan of turtlenecks, but I did wear this quite a bit in the winter, paired with jean shorts, because I was cool like that (note that I live in *Michigan*)]
Marilyn + Matt – red spandex pants + a top + a New Kids on the Block pin
Mikey – a teddy bear calander
[sic, for all of it, I’m leaving things as accurate as I can]
Diane, + family – a sweater black
Craig Cameron – a wooden horse

Dec. 25, 1989
Christmas Day!
I got
Santa – N.K.O.T.B., T-shirt a pink/melon robe, socks, scientific calculator for the Sats
[SATs].
Mom + Dad – calculator [another one??], nightie
Stocking – Necklace, Nail Polish, Bracelet, Hair Spray, Chess game, Candy, Combos, Almond Joy,
Clint – 10 color pen
Grandaddy – 4 C batteries, NKOTB Hanging tough tape, SVH Deadly Summer, Mancy Drew, Babysitter Club #6 + #22, Spell of sorcerer’s skull
[Reading and music – still some of my favorite things to do!]
Aunt Vivian – Earrings

Saturday, Dec. 30, 1989
Today we went to a birthday party for Marilyn
[her 40th]. We rented a hall at Freedom Hill with a DJ. It was fun, started at 7 pm ate at 8 pm ended around 12 am.

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures in the life of Jaibee. 🙂