— 1 —

I’ve joined a site called Blogging for Books. They send you books for free.  In return, you review and publicize them.  🙂  I ordered a book about Pope St. John Paul II for my first review.

— 2 —

PopSugar Reading Challenge. This challenge isn’t so much about reading a specific number of books, but rather to read all different kinds of books.  I’m looking forward to broadening my horizons in 2016!

— 3 —

Full Disclosure…Up to this point, these Quick Takes were written on December 1, 2015, and then left, neglected, in my Drafts until now.

— 4 —

Redemptive Suffering. If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you know that I have a mitochondrial myopathy.  It’s a rare neuromuscular disorder that most people have never heard of.  For the past 3 weeks or more, I have had horrible knotting of my muscles in my right arm.  It really hurts and makes me cry sometimes in front of other people.  It’s made worse when I use my arm, so writing and typing are difficult and painful.  I’m trying to use this pain constructively, but I really hope that relief is around the corner somewhere.

— 5 —

I started knitting (again).  I saw a picture on FB yesterday of someone considering making a temperature blanket (basically, knitting one row per day in the color of the high temperature of the day).

It looked really pretty and I was considering making one. The only problem is… I don’t knit. I *did* try knitting once and got a few rows done, but since then, my yarn and needles have been sitting on top of a bookcase collecting dust. So, today on the way out the door to work, I picked them up and stuffed them in my purse. I had watched a tutorial from New Stitch a Day yesterday, and picked up where I left off this morning. I even multitasked, watching training videos for work as I knit. This is (more or less) what it looked like a little earlier this morning.

— 6 —

If you read my last blog post,  you know that I have created a plan for this new year which includes 12 different focus areas.  I still have to make detailed plans for exactly how I’m going to progress in these areas, but I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to make progress in each area, even though I know that I will not make every goal and that things will not go perfectly.  Such is life, right?  🙂  What are your New Year’s Resolutions?

— 7 —

Happy New Year! I wish you all the best and hope to be more prolific in my blog posting this coming year!  Please comment or write me!  I love hearing from people.

God Bless!

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t the Lyceum!

— 1 —

Thing have been CRAZY around here! You would think that a girl with as many planner as I have would be able to stay sane…  Well, yes and no.  I have been working a lot of overtime, which is my preference, but between that, grad school, and extracurriculars, I don’t have a lot of down time for myself and it’s starting to take its toll.  I don’t have a good diet at the moment.  Nor any sort of exercise routine to speak of.  I desperately need to clean the house (although a friend helped quite a bit recently).  This week, I think I’m going to take a hard look at my time commitments and make a plan for fitting some of these things in.  Please keep me in your prayers and keep cheering me on! 🙂

— 2 —

Speaking of my Mitochondrial Myopathy… This week is Mitochondrial Awareness week. My particular disease is a neuromuscular disorder, most consistent with MELAS. It is progressive and terminal. But this doesn’t stop me from trying to do everything that I love, sometimes to the dismay of my friends. However, I recently came across a quote that I just love:

Will I someday be standing with scars to give account before Him that I wasn’t about my own comfort but Christ’s call, that I didn’t make my life about safe living but about dangerous dying, that I didn’t escape into a neat, saved American dream but into a messy, mission-driven God-sized demand, H/T

I think this sums me up pretty nicely.

— 3 —

Papa! My favorite family made the front page of the Free Press! Not only that, but they are currently in Philadelphia trying to cozy up to Pope Francis! What an awesome adventure! I am praying for their trip and for God to bless them with His grace. Love you guys!

I guess I only have 3 Quick Takes this week…

God Bless!

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t the Lyceum!

— 1 —

The Miracle Marathon started this week! This is where we run, walk, crawl, bike, etc. one mile every day for 27 days to support the Children’s Miracle Network. I have been following Andi’s blog for a while and her daughter is doing this marathon and is serving as a team captain. I joined her team and have been participating as best I can. For those of you who may not know me well, I have a mitochondrial myopathy, so doing anything physical is difficult and I get tired easily, have lots of pain and develop cardiac and breathing issues almost right away. I am doing this for charity, so any support you would be willing to give, whether financial or by praying for me, would be greatly appreciated! You can find my donation page here. Thanks! And keep cheering me on! 🙂

— 2 —

Speaking of my Mitochondrial Myopathy… This week is Mitochondrial Awareness week. My particular disease is a neuromuscular disorder, most consistent with MELAS. It is progressive and terminal. But this doesn’t stop me from trying to do everything that I love, sometimes to the dismay of my friends. However, I recently came across a quote that I just love:

Will I someday be standing with scars to give account before Him that I wasn’t about my own comfort but Christ’s call, that I didn’t make my life about safe living but about dangerous dying, that I didn’t escape into a neat, saved American dream but into a messy, mission-driven God-sized demand, H/T

I think this sums me up pretty nicely.

— 3 —

Glow Golf! It has been just over a month since April and Jack-Jack wed and we are all excited about getting together with her tonight for some post-honeymoon Girl Time fun! 🙂 The celebration begins with glow-in-the-dark mini-golf and continues from there! Partying starts TONIGHT! I’m excited already!

— 4 —

I have gone low tech! I know, the last thing you would have expected from me, right? Well, due to a bunch of different factors, I am trying out a paper planner in an effort to stay organized and not miss events. I picked the Erin Condren Life Planner, because… well, because it seemed to be the cutest, and if I like looking at it, I might actually pick it up more and use it. You can choose from a plethora of covers and customize the colors on them, or do as I did and upload a bunch of your favorite pictures to make your cover. Covers this year are interchangeable, so you can buy several, if you like, but I think I will stick with mine, as it’s covered with the people I love.

— 5 —

I visited a friend who is inpatient at Beaumont Grosse Pointe on Wednesday. As I was walking in from the parking lot, I saw this statue. I’m not sure if it’s fun, or odd and creepy. And why a fish?

— 6 —

Office supplies make me happy. I know, it’s kind of an odd thing to like, but I do. I heard of someone getting an amazing deal on a treasure chest full of Post-its and ordered some for myself. All of these Post-Its normally sell for $220 through Staples. Office Depot was having a sale, so due to that and the magic of Staples 110% price match policy, I got these for $33! A total steal! There’s about 10,000 Post-Its here, so I don’t imagine that I will be running out any time soon. 🙂

— 7 —

And I will leave you with… A gratuitous picture of one of my priests in a tree in my front yard, cutting it down. 🙂

God Bless!

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

— 1 —

Why “Linky Takes”? For a couple of reasons…  First, since I’m finding it motivating to blog my progress through Lent, I thought it might be helpful for some of you out there as well.  And maybe you’re already doing it.  So, I am going to try this “linking up” thing so that we can help keep each other accountable, see what creative and inspiring things other people are doing, and enjoy this season as the body of Christ!  If you are interested, please link up by clicking on the Mister Linky icon at the bottom of the post.  Second, I am going to be posting this on Jen’s 7 Quick Takes Linky list.  I am not quite sure if the universe will implode or something, having a Linky list on a Linky list, so I apologize in advance if that does occur.  🙂

— 2 —

40 Posts in 40 Days!  This is my challenge to me this Lent.  It’s not *all* that I’m doing, but I figure that it’s a good thing for me to do.  It will serve as motivation, accountability, and my journal — which my spiritual director has been after me about.  I am horrible about journaling. 🙂  As you can tell by my journal page for today:

— 3 —

And since this is the Linky post… I might as well share some of the links that have been growing dust in my to-do list…
Like this one for playing old Nintendo games on your computer. We came up with this one at work. A co-worker even got Playstation controllers to work with his Macbook and we played Mario. I remembered that I suck at Mario.

— 4 —

I have been doing a TON of reading lately. I challenged myself to read 150 books this year, and I think I have read about 50 so far — way ahead of the game. And, unlike last year, very few of them are small children’s books!
In keeping with the book theme, I give you Word on Fire’s Favorite Books of 2013!

— 5 —

In other work-related matters… The same co-worker of Mario fame above is interested in making something out of a tiny $35 computer known as a Raspberry Pi. Here’s a link to a list of suggested projects. We’re not sure what we are going to do, but rest assured that we will do *something*. And perhaps work will even pay for it!?!

— 6 —

Lifehacks. Some of these are common sense, some are wacky, some are ingenious. Here’s only one of a whole genre of posts on the subject. What are some of your personal favorites? Either amusing ideas that you’ve seen on the internet or ones that you actually use?

— 7 —

Link Up Fun! As promised, below is a Mister Linky image (I know, mine isn’t as cool as others’, I can only do as much as my blog host will allow…). For anyone who would like to join me in blogging through their Lent for support and encouragement, please join me! I’d love to walk with you through this journey! 🙂

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

On the way in to work today, I was inspired to write my quick takes in 7 x 7 style. 7 topics with 7 entries each. 🙂 Hopefully, I have enough to complete my quick takes! 🙂 Here goes!

— 1 —

Seven Things I Did Before Work:

Prayed Morning Prayer and the Office of the Readings
Prayed before the Lord exposed on the altar
Got a delicious Venti iced no-ice Caramel Macchiato
Got a delicious Spinach and Artichoke souffle
Walked leisurely around downtown Plymouth, enjoying the beautiful morning
Took and Instagrammed pictures of some flowers (taken downtown)
Brought “Moloka’i” to work; reading it for a book club

— 2 —

Seven Photos I Took This Morning:

— 3 —

Seven Priests I Pray For:

Fr. John Riccardo – Click here for his podcasts
Fr. JJ Mech – St. Anastasia Parish Website
Fr. Eric Fedewa – St. Anastasia Parish Website
Fr. Steve Mateja – Click here for his podcasts
Fr. Clement Suhy – Click here for his podcasts
Fr. Stanley Obloj – St. Mark Parish Website
Fr. Lee Acervo – Fr. Acervo’s Corner (blog)

Not the complete list of priests I pray for… In case you are one of my priests and you feel left out… Don’t worry!

— 4 —

Seven Books I Need to Read Before 8/10, When They are Due Back at the Library:

A Tale of Two Pretties
Ancient Writers: Greece and Rome
Brideshead Revisited
Kill Me Softly
Moloka’i
The Monk Downstairs
Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker

— 5 —

Seven Devotions that can be Prayed Using Beads:

Dominican Rosary
Brigittine beads
Dolour beads
Immaculate Conception beads
Crown of Our Saviour
Chaplet of the Five Wounds
Crosier beads

Trivia: Did you know that, historically, the word “bead” or “bede” meant “prayer”?

— 6 —

Seven Things That I Need to Do Around My House, That Will Be Ignored for Yet Another Week:

Putting away the laundry
Washing all the dishes
Scrubbing the tub
Cleaning the computer room
Taking old furniture to some charity
Cleaning the garage
Decluttering

— 7 —

Seven Rides I Plan on Going On Tomorrow!

Gatekeeper
Raptor
Magnum
Maverick
Maxair
Windseeker
Thunder Canyon

Obviously… I’M GOING TO CEDAR POINT!!! 🙂

God Bless!

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

I have a habit for finding trouble. And for being impulsive. Which sometimes gets me into trouble. I have yet to master that “prudence” virtue…

Here is my latest tale:

— 1 —

How It Began: I had noticed the signs advertising a blood draw in our office building when I came in yesterday morning. I didn’t really think too much of it. But when I was headed outside to enjoy the sun during my lunch, I decided to peek my head in there. Of course, they weren’t busy and one of the nurses saw me and invited me in. The next thing I know, I’m signing in to donate.

— 2 —

Of Not Being Prepared: Of course, I didn’t have my ID on me, so when I went back upstairs to grab my wallet, I let my boss know that I was giving blood. I think I said, “There are vampires downstairs. I’m going to give them all of my blood!”

I returned and had gone through all of their preliminary material to prescreen the people who should NOT donate. It was mostly concerned with things like Hepatitis and HIV. There was nothing which applied to me. I answered only the questions that they asked. I did not volunteer any additional information. I mean, if you tell people that you have a terminal illness, they tend to get a little apprehensive about doing random, unnecessary, invasive medical procedures on you. Especially if there are other, healthy individuals to be had.

— 3 —

Why Do I Do These Things? I can’t really tell you why I was so determined to give blood. I’m not really sure myself. I remember growing up that my mom used to give blood all the time, and I thought that was a great thing to do. You could help out a bunch of people. Working in General Surgery, I know that blood tends to be more in demand in the summer months and that insufficient quantities of blood products in the blood bank can delay surgeries from being performed. So, it’s not something to be taken for granted.

And, I just like to help others.

— 4 —

During the Procedure: There are some things I know.
1. I have 3 genetic hypercoagulabilities. So I tend to bleed slowly and clot the needle. This means that the poor nurse attending to me had to constantly re-position the needle and press on my arm to ensure that the blood flowed well. It kinda hurt to have her press like that the whole time and keep playing with the needle. She was nice and made comments about how I was going to have her fingerprints embossed on my flesh. I told her she could autograph them.

2. I don’t deal well with losing blood. I’m not afraid of the sight of blood or anything like that; I just don’t react well. I get nauseated and light-headed and have been known to pass out. I prayed that this wouldn’t happen.

3. This means that I kept up a string of Hail Marys for the duration of the procedure. And since I was hurting (see #4 for additional reasons), it was hard for me to focus on the actual words of the Hail Mary. This happens a lot. So, I have developed a habit of praying “Half Marys” — just “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners NOW and at the hour of our death. Amen.” It’s all I can manage at times.

4. HOWEVER… Even during the procedure, I could feel myself getting nauseated, colder, and the fingers on the arm that had the big needle in it were going numb, even though I was rolling the little paper cylinder that they give you.

5. I think the other nurse actually called me “slow” to my face. The nurse who was playing with my needle the whole time said I was “very patient”. I like her better.

— 5 —

After the Giving: They directed me over to the corner of the room to grab my juice and cookies. I am still a little bitter that they don’t have sandwiches and T-shirts, too, like the Central Florida Blood Bank does. That’s one classy operation, right there. 🙂 Anywhoo, I was already late getting back to work, so I asked the guy if I could just grab my juice and go. He was a little hesitant, as donors are *supposed* to wait there 10-15 minutes to make sure that they are okay.

I couldn’t wait, so he loaded me up with 2 juices and a package of cookies and hoped audibly that I wouldn’t be found lying in the hallway on the way back to the office.

Pfft! Of course not! I wouldn’t do that!

— 6 —

Catastrophe: I would wait until after I was back at my desk before passing out! Good thing for me that I typically have a lot of presyncope symptoms and can tell when this is happening. So, I had time to get out of my chair and lay down on the floor (and text people, LOL!) first. While I was laying there, I could hear people asking each other, “Is she okay? She’s laying on the floor.” Um. Way to wonder about me instead of coming over to *see* if I’m okay???

Well, this passed soon enough. And my boss got to comment on how white I was. “You are like white-white-white. Whiter than you normally are.” Which is basically transparent. 🙂

I drank both my juices and ate my cookies and eventually I was able to get off the floor and go back to work.

— 7 —

Am I in Trouble? Close to the end of the day, I got an e-mail from a manager in the Public Relations department, asking if I had given blood at the NCAC (my office) that day. Um…. yes? Was I in trouble? For leaving the blood donation site early? For having problems when I got back to my desk?

As it turns out… NO! 🙂 I had won a prize! Apparently, in an effort to get more employees to give blood, they entered everyone in a drawing. So, I won a duffle bag full of U of M swag: an umbrella, a USB fan, a T-shirt, a Frisbee and a travel cold-cup (for my Starbucks, of course). 🙂

Now, that almost makes it all worth it right there!

(If, of course, it wasn’t ALREADY worth it due to the helping save other people’s lives and stuff….)

My life… is always exciting! 🙂 I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Aftermath:
It turns out that I ended up getting nerve damage and had a T-Rex arm (unable to fully straighten it without a lightning bolt of pain from elbow to wrist). Fun times.

God Bless!

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

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Since I live alone, I have a couple “spare” bedrooms. One is the “office” and the other I use as a exercise/prayer room. Back when I was reading through the Theology of the Body for the first time, I had a bunch of questions or things that I was trying to keep in mind so as to better understand the text. It was frustrating having to keep looking up things that I had looked up before, so I bought a whiteboard and stuck it on the back of the door. On it, I could write definitions or whatnot and then I could just look over every time I got to another sticky passage. Quite helpful.

Over the years, I’ve changed the contents of this whiteboard several times. Sometimes I’ll have lists of prayer intentions, sometimes I’ll have inspiring quotes, and when I was reading through the Bible, I admit to listing the remaining books I had left to read (out of order) and gleefully crossed them off when I had finished. Way to check the box, eh? 🙂

Anyways, I figure that since this is Friday and I have 7 Quick Takes to write, and since, coincidentally, there happens to be 7 entries on my whiteboard, that I will share this amazing amazingness with you. 🙂

So, in no particular order, I bring you:

— 1 —

If it’s not okay to have a vasectomy or tubal ligation because it is self-mutilation and disabling a perfectly functioning body system which God designed, would Bariatric surgery be licit, since you are disabling a system which is working correctly, due to a lack of control? [The lack of control could be said for sex as well as eating, to make a level playing field for the comparison.]

— 2 —

“Nuptial meaning of the body” refers to the understanding that Adam and Eve had from their experiences of their own masculinity and femininity. “Meaning” = they were to be a self-gift.

— 3 —

Prov 23:12 – Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.

— 4 —

Prayer is the foundation of a moral life.

— 5 —

Baruch 4:28 – As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God, turn now ten times the more to seek Him.

— 6 —

Spousal love – the love expressed in and through a human body.

— 7 —

“We seldom succeed in overcoming as much as a single fault; and we are not wholly on fire with the desire to make daily spiritual progress. The result is that we remain negligent and tepid.”

A joyous Memorial Day weekend to all!

God Bless!

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!