Category Archives: Paroxysm of Giggles

National Siblings Day

Paroxysm of Giggles, Siblings

So, I found out late about National Siblings Day. And then, I was either busy at work and when I came home I didn’t spend any time on the computer, so nothing got uploaded or written.

But, finally, here we are:

Muddy Clint

This is my brother, Clint, from EONS ago. 🙂 It remains one of my favorite pictures.

As young as we were, I remember when this picture was taken. It had rained and there were puddles everywhere. This was before my parents had paved the driveway, so it was just packed dirt. My brother and Timmy, our neighbor on the north side of our house, were playing in the mud puddles. My dad had taken his camera out and was taking pictures of my brother. I remember asking him to take pictures of me, but he said something like, “No. We have lots of pictures of you. I’m taking pictures of your brother right now.” I was disappointed at the time, but I am so glad they were taken now. 🙂

I had this one printed out as a 4×6 and displayed in my living room, but unfortunately, back when I had cats, they knocked it down and the glass broke. I hadn’t gotten around to replacing it yet. I think that I’ll just reprint it in a larger size and put it back on display.

Here is another picture from the same day:

Timmy and Clint Playing in the Mud

I love you!

— Hatchling

Stolen Questions!

Blogging and Blog Friends, Paroxysm of Giggles

Kendra from Catholic All Year got a Liebster Award. I have no idea what that is, but apparently it involves tagging other bloggers and giving them questions to answer, and providing a place where your readers can link to these blogs and see how they answered your questions.

Well, Kendra broke the rules for us, and allowed anyone she didn’t tag to steal her questions and run with them. So I totally did! 🙂

MY QUESTIONS FOR YOU:

1. Where do you live? And why do you live there?

I live in Troy. I happen to live in the house that I grew up in. I left home at 17 and joined the Navy, traveling a bit, then I went to college at the University of Michigan. Eventually, I decided that buying a home was better than renting and my parents happened to be selling the house at the same time. I like my community and have lots of friends in the area, although when the weather is bad, I do wish that I didn’t have a 100-mile-per-day commute to work.

2. What are you currently watching and/or reading?

Well, according to Goodreads, I’m currently reading 52 books. I have “Command Authority” by Tom Clancy on Audible, playing in my car during my commute; I am reading “Two to the Fifth”, which is the 32nd book in the Xanth series by Piers Anthony (which I started sometime in high school); Also, “Will Grayson, Will Grayson” by John Green (who is an awesome YA novelist — if you haven’t read “The Fault in Our Stars” yet… totally do); the Bible (again, but a different version because I heard that the average Catholic home has 6.8 Bibles and I don’t want to be sub-normal); and my Anatomy and Physiology textbook — for funzies.

3. What kind of Catholic are you: cradle, or convert? (Or considering?)

I think most people consider me to be a convert. I was Atheist… Really I was nothing. So, I’m a Catholic ‘ex nihilo’ which I think should be it’s own category. 🙂

4. Can you point to one moment or experience that made you a practicing Catholic? (Or want to be?)

Haha, yes! I woke up one Saturday and said (out-loud, to myself), “I’m going to be Catholic,” and promptly Googled “Catholic church Troy.” I chose one and went to the first Mass they offered on Sunday, and went up to the usher and asked “How do I join?” If you’d like, you can read my “conversion story” as it were.

5. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Including the ones I can’t wear anymore or should have thrown away a long time ago or that belong to someone else? Ummm… I have my running shoes that I wear daily. A sad pair of Doc Martens that I had slated to throw away years ago, but never did and now occasionally wear when I have somewhere to go to which I cannot wear my running shoes. A pair of five-inch-heel sandals that I’ve worn twice (once to my best friend’s wedding and once to the same friend’s baby shower). A pair of boots. Ice skates. Two pairs of Rollerblades. Two dressier shoes without their mate. I think that’s it. Oh, and my mom’s knock-off Crocs. She might not be getting those back. She shouldn’t have had a daughter with the same size feet as her.

6. Are you a good dancer?

If you mean my usual Norte Americano Booty Music style of dancing, then… I usually think so. Especially when I’m by myself at home. At the very least it’s enthusiastic. Although, as my disease progresses, I’m no longer able to dance the way that I’d like.

7. Who usually drives, you or your husband?

I’m single, so me. Alas, my car refuses to drive itself.

8. What’s your favorite holiday and how do you celebrate it?

Holy Thursday. I love Chrism Mass, and the annual Pub Crawl of the Altars of Repose.

9. Which is correct? Left or right?

[Images of toilet paper: Left = overhand; right = underhand]

Left. All the time.

10. Do you have any scars?

Yep! There’s a ton on my knees from being a fairly tomboyish kid, but the biggest one is from my brother. We were riding bikes and he cut me off, so I ran into (and flipped over) a mailbox. I have a long, vertical scar on my left thigh from a muscle biopsy about 3 years ago when I was diagnosed with my mitochondrial myopathy. I have 4 scars from last summer’s meningitis (I developed large blisters from the adhesive used to hold my IV down). I think that’s it?

11. What’s the most famous thing you’ve ever done?

I was asked to edit a paragraph for the English translation of a homily given by Father Cantalamessa, the preacher to the Papal Household. I was asked this because I used to be a Reactor Operator in the Navy and it concerned the behavior of neutrons and Father wanted to make sure the science was right. As it happens, Father’s books are translated into English by the wife of one of my professors in Seminary, where I’m getting my Master’s in Theology, so… My paragraph was published nearly verbatim the way I had written it, and I got an e-mail from my professor saying, “Thanks, Jenn. I thank you. My wife thanks you. Fr. Cantalamessa thanks you. The Holy Father thanks you!,” which was pretty awesome.

This is my paragraph:

We all know about the nuclear energy that is released by the fission of the atom. An atom of uranium absorbs a high energy neutron and splits in two, creating two new elements from the original; energy and more neutrons are released though this process. This begins a chain reaction. The two new elements in turn can themselves absorb neutrons and break into four new atoms, and so on to the point where the energy released in the end is enormous. It is not necessarily destructive energy because nuclear energy can be used for peaceful purposes on behalf of the human race.

You can read it in context, too. It’s on Zenit’s website: Fr. Cantalamessa’s 4th Advent Sermon from 2011.

And I’ll leave you with a gratuitous photo from last Sunday’s Mass. It was a random church that I found courtesy of Masstimes.org when I realized that I was running late:
Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of Sorrows

Now, for my questions and people to tag…

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY:

1. What is the best characteristic of your spouse/best friend?

2. What is your least favorite routine task and why?

3. What part of your faith life do you think is particularly strong?

4. What is your favorite way of giving back to the community/taking care of your neighbor?

5. What was your favorite place to visit on a vacation/trip/pilgrimage and what should I not miss if I go there?

6. If you are sad, how do you cheer yourself up?

7. What book(s) do you think everyone needs to read?

8. If the Church were to canonize you, what would we remember you for?

9. What do you most look forward to in the next 5 years?

10. What do you like best about your job/daily work?

11. What questions do you have for me?

I’m tagging:

Stacy from Attached at the Heart

Shauna from Dream with Your Eyes Open

Nikita from The Unpaved Path

Jen from Far Beyond Pearls

Amy from Blessed by God

Andi from Bringing the Sunshine

Lydia from Small Town Simplicity

I don’t know if any of them read my blog, or have a pingback to know that I’ve linked them…. I guess I’ll find out! 🙂 And, of course, I’m happy to read from any of the rest of you! Link your blog post or answers in the Comment box. 🙂

A Blessed Day

Exciting Adventures of the Everyday, Paroxysm of Giggles, Sacred Heart Major Seminary

Today was a good day. It also happens to be the 9th anniversary of my child’s birth (stillbirth). I managed to only cry twice today and prayed in a special way for my baby.

I started my day by going to see Divergent at the movie theater at 10:50 am. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a movie on the big screen. No one was able to go with me that early in the morning (and I didn’t want to pay more $$$ for a later time). They changed it a little from the book, but it was still a very good movie and I still identified strongly with the character of Tris. Formation is pretty powerful stuff, and her training for Dauntless reminded me quite a bit of my formation in Navy boot camp.

After the movie, I made a quick lunch and called a friend I hadn’t spoken to in a while. We said we’d try to get together tomorrow.

Next up, late lunch/early dinner in Mexicantown! I picked up April, her sister Mary, and her friend Michelle, and we met up with Joe and Katie at Xochimilco. Food was delicious and we had a great time learning about each other’s professions, wedding details, and current events.

Katie and Joe at Xochimilco
Katie and Joe

Mary, April and Michelle at Xochimilco
Mary, April, Michelle

In the only picture of me, I had my eyes closed, so I’ll leave that one out. 🙂

With full tummies, we headed to Sacred Heart Major Seminary to see a play — 1776 — put on by the seminarians, including Gabby’s godfather, Jim.

1776 Play
Jim played Caesar Rodney (Delaware)

We arrived early — so as to get good seats — and spent our pre-play time taking a tour of SHMS. Highlights were definitely the chapel and the tabernacle. We stopped and prayed for a bit. It was lovely. So calm and peaceful, praying before Jesus.

SHMS Tabernacle
The beautiful tabernacle at Sacred Heart

SHMS Chapel from the Choir Loft
The chapel, as seen from the choir loft

I got to see a lot of my friends, both seminarians and others attending the play. It was nice to see everyone, albeit quickly and get some hugs in.

We ended our lovely day with a trip to Sonic for ice cream! Perfect ending! 🙂

Around the Internet…

Links, Paroxysm of Giggles, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Every so often, I have to make a post like this, where I share some of the cool things that I have found while surfing the internet. Usually, there isn’t much to say about them, so they don’t get their own post, and half of the time, they are in a post just so I have a reference (and to get them off my to-do list!).

Activities

One day, I’d like to take part in the Adult Learn-to-Row program at the Detroit Yacht Club.

Books/Reading

Brandon Vogt shows us how to build a Catholic e-book library.

Scribd is a site that allows you to read as many books as you want for a small fee per month, kinda like Netflix for books.

Oyster – another site like Scribd; however, it appears to be available only

It’s a great year for the book-to-movie genre. Here is a list of 16 that are coming up!

Computers/Electronics

Adafruit – they have projects/supplies for a bunch of different things, including Raspberry Pi and Arduino

Looking to make your own circuit boards? 123D Circuits offers a place online to design and test them, and will even print out boards for you with the necessary connections. 🙂

Food

U of M’s MHealthy Program offers lots of healthy recipes online.

Budget Bytes has delicious recipes that won’t break the bank! Food is getting so expensive!

Crockpot Freezer Meals — one day, I will either do this, or do a freezer meal workshop with Wildtree products by my friend, Stacy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie – somebody make this for my birthday. Please.

Products/Shopping

My Social Book offers a yearbook-style product that accumulates your Facebook posts, comments and photos. It’s pretty cool. I had a small one made. I like looking at the things I was interested in and the conversations that I had years ago. It’s probably a better replacement than a yearbook for high-school kids, at this point. 🙂 (There are also Instagram books, Twitter books, etc. out there.)

My wallet officially died today. Meaning, it’s been dead for a while, but today I finally tossed it in the trash. I demonstrated my need to a co-worker and expressed my dissatisfaction with many of the options out there, and he pulled out his wallet from Big Skinny. I spent much of the morning on their site, and think I have found a suitable replacement.

Religion/Spirituality

Meg gives us 50 ways to talk to God.

Saints in the Making University has a Lenten program that I subscribed to. Every day, they send me a different set of challenges that work to help me grow closer to Christ.

Travel

The Delicious Day gives us 16 reasons to visit Detroit. Nothing like a staycation!

Need WiFi? U of M is now part of a program that allows traveling students, faculty and staff access to WiFi at other academic institutions.

A Special Trip

Art, Paroxysm of Giggles

I heard that Kylie had painted a watercolor that was chosen to be displayed at the local library and decided that I’d make a special trip out to see it. It’s a great honor to be chosen, and I’m very proud of her.

I got a chance to drive out after work. The workers at the main desk did not know that children’s artwork was being displayed, but pointed me to one of the circulation desks in the youth section of the library. Art from the elementary and middle schools were displayed just beyond this desk.

20140318_194018
This shot couldn’t fit all of the art. I love how colorful it is.

Here is Kylie’s watercolor:
20140318_193957
Very beautiful. I hope her Mom or Dad frames it.

Congrats, Ky! You did a great job! I love you!

O God Beyond All Praising

Music, Paroxysm of Giggles

I had a hymn running through my head for over 12 hours. And, sadly, it wasn’t one that I particularly enjoyed. So I texted Fr. Anonymous and asked him to recommend a better song, STAT! 🙂 This was the one that he suggested:

20140307_201303

O God beyond all praising,
we worship you today
and sing the love amazing
that songs cannot repay;
for we can only wonder
at every gift you send,
at blessings without number
and mercies without end:
we lift our hearts before you
and wait upon your word,
we honor and adore you,
our great and mighty Lord.

The flower of earthly splendor
in time must surely die,
its fragile bloom surrender
to you, the Lord most high;
but hidden from all nature
th’eternal seed is sown–
though small in mortal stature,
to heaven’s garden grown:
for Christ the man from heaven
from death has set us free,
and we through him are given
the final victory!

Then hear, O gracious Savior,
accept the love we bring,
that we who know your favor
may serve you as our king;
and whether our tomorrows
be filled with good or ill,
we’II triumph through our sorrows
and rise to bless you still:
to marvel at your beauty
and glory in your ways,
and make a joyful duty
our sacrifice of praise.

I found an acceptable rendition on YouTube, and downloaded a better version from Amazon Music.

What’s even better is that I think this hymn is one that is commonly sung at Chrism Mass! One of my favorite Masses! So, points and double-points for Fr. Anonymous, as this is perfect! 🙂

[On a side note, a co-worker IM’ed me to say that the people one the phone were driving him crazy. I replied with the YouTube link and said, “This will help.”]

In Christ, We Suffered Temptation

Neat Things I Didn't Author, Paroxysm of Giggles

This has been sitting in my e-mail inbox for a few days, sent to me by one of my Dads. I finally read it today, and find it a great passage to reflect upon. Trial and suffering are integral aspects to a truly Christian life. Thanks be to God that He gives us the grace to endure and to image Him in our afflictions.

In Christ we suffered temptation, and in him we overcame the Devil
Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer. Who is speaking? An individual, it seems. See if it is an individual: I cried out to you from the ends of the earth while my heart was in anguish. Now it is no longer one person; rather, it is one in the sense that Christ is one, and we are all his members. What single individual can cry from the ends of the earth? The one who cries from the ends of the earth is none other than the Son’s inheritance. It was said to him: Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession. This possession of Christ, this inheritance of Christ, this body of Christ, this one Church of Christ, this unity that we are, cries from the ends of the earth. What does it cry? What I said before: Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer; I cried out to you from the ends of the earth.’ That is, I made this cry to you from the ends of the earth; that is, on all sides.

Why did I make this cry? While my heart was in anguish. The speaker shows that he is present among all the nations of the earth in a condition, not of exalted glory but of severe trial.

Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from trial. We progress by means of trial. No one knows himself except through trial, or receives a crown except after victory, or strives except against an enemy or temptations.

The one who cries from the ends of the earth is in anguish, but is not left on his own. Christ chose to foreshadow us, who are his body, by means of his body, in which he has died, risen and ascended into heaven, so that the members of his body may hope to follow where their head has gone before.

He made us one with him when he chose to be tempted by Satan. We have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Certainly Christ was tempted by the devil. In Christ you were tempted, for Christ received his flesh from your nature, but by his own power gained salvation for you; he suffered death in your nature, but by his own power gained glory for you; therefore, he suffered temptation in your nature, but by his own power gained victory for you.

If in Christ we have been tempted, in him we overcome the devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of his victory? See yourself as tempted in him, and see yourself as victorious in him. He could have kept the devil from himself; but if he were not tempted he could not teach you how to triumph over temptation. — St. Augustine

Linky Takes

7 Quick Takes Friday, Paroxysm of Giggles

— 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:

Unedited

— 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!

Test Post

Blogging and Blog Friends, Paroxysm of Giggles

Ok, so I’m going to be trying out this “linking up” thing. This blog platform doesn’t give me a ton of flexibility — I can only pick from 9 themes and can’t do any javascript stuff and I can’t imbed videos… So, I’m testing out this version of a Mr. Linky.

If you have a blog, please hop over for a second and test it out for me. Please and thank you! 🙂

“Auto” version does not work. The one above appears to work, although if you want to see the links and connect to those blogs, you have to click the icon to go to the page that lists them. 🙂

We’ll call this endeavor a success. 🙂

New Look

Blogging and Blog Friends, Paroxysm of Giggles

After I don’t even know how many years, Critical Mass has a new look.  It wasn’t really my intention to change things, but something funky was going on in my old theme where the font appeared bolded all the time, and that was driving me nuts more than changing the theme… So there you have it!

Lent is a time of change, and all the spiritual greats tell us not to be too attached to things of this world, so this is as appropriate a time as any.  I hope you enjoy the new look.  Please pardon the dust as I settle in.  I’m sure I still have some unpacked boxes lying around from the last move.  🙂