Category Archives: Paroxysm of Giggles

Mid-Week Day Off!

July 18, 2012Exciting Adventures of the Everyday, Guests & Visitors, Meeting New People, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Since I have to work on Saturday this week, I took today off. It always feels odd, to have a day off work like this in the middle of the week, but I like it! 🙂

(Of course, this means that my plans for Saturday… will have to be canceled. I forgot about that part….)

I took the opportunity to plan a day with my friend, Amy, whom I met on Facebook. We had met briefly in person at the first HHS rally, but this was to be our first chance to actually get together. I make friends with people so quickly, I had to keep reminding myself that I was still pretty much a stranger. LOL! 🙂 It was such a lovely afternoon! And passed by all too quickly!

Can you believe that I spent an entire day off and didn’t take a single picture?! I even brought both cameras with me!

And, I never did find out what jobs she had waiting for me…. 🙂 Perhaps next time….

I wake up throughout the night, usually. Since today was a day off, I got to sleep in until about 7 am. I had originally intended to go to the 9:30 am Mass here in Troy, but knew that I had some things to do before I left the house and that it probably wouldn’t be practical for me to get them done and fit Mass in also. Plus, I wanted to make sure that I felt well enough to visit this afternoon. So, I ended up laying around in bed reading a book until 9 am or so. It was a really good book, which added to my lounging. 🙂

Finally, I dragged myself out of bed and went to tackle the laundry situation. See, I only have one pair of shorts. And I had worn them to the picnic last week where there was the possibility of them (and me) having come in contact with some poison ivy.

I hate poison ivy with a vile, vile passion.

So, they had remained in a little heap by the laundry room, waiting for me to “decontaminate” them. Which I had put off. Until today.

But I couldn’t just do this pile of clothes. That would be too easy. I had let laundry pile up. I hadn’t laundered those clothes because I had a load of towels in the washer, needing to be dried. And I hadn’t put the wet towels in the dryer because there was a dry load in there waiting to be removed, folded and put away. And I hadn’t done *that* because every time I thought of it, I was exhausted and couldn’t possibly bring myself to take them out of the dryer, carry them to the bedroom and put them away.

Because taking clothes out of the dryer and carrying them to my bedroom makes me short of breath. And I’d have to make at least two trips to get all of the clothes out.

This disease really makes my life complicated sometimes.

So in order to get ready for this afternoon, I had to empty the dryer, run the load of towels again (since they were starting to get that mildew smell and had to be washed again with some detergent and vinegar — remind me to sing the praises of vinegar for you one day…), toss *those* into the dryer, run the load of picnic clothes, dry *them* and then get dressed.

I don’t have the world’s fastest dryer. I asked for “cheapest” when I went to buy it. It has three dry cycles. I use two of them. “Automatic high” for everything, and “Timer” for warming up clothes in the winter or getting the wrinkles out of dirty laundry that I’m going to wear again (yep, I’m a bachelor). It has three cycles because apparently they don’t make a dryer that only has one. Truly, I only need “on” and “off”. The salesman looked at me oddly when I asked if there were such a thing.

Needless to say, I was running late. 🙂 I stopped at a Biggby coffee to get drinks for Amy, me and the kids. For the kids, I ordered 100 oz. of frozen hot chocolate. 🙂 For Amy and I, I picked up some iced drinks and for once ordered them *with ice* like a normal person. However, I managed to slop part of one of the iced drinks on me when trying to get into the car. Luckily, I had a towel inside and could wipe off. And, thankfully, I had a dark shirt on, so could arrive without a glaringly obvious coffee stain. 🙂

It was a lovely visit, and not only did I get to spend time with Amy and her family, but I also got to meet her friend, Lydia! 🙂 And, I had some of Amy’s pot pie for dinner! Yum!

Too soon, it was time to head home. I listed to another episode of Catholic Answers Live (which I had heard previously) on the way back, because I am *certain*, or at least 87% certain, that I heard one of the guests say on the program that Pope John Paul II wrote something where he made a distinction between human life and human personhood. I had asked Fr. John what this writing might be, as I wanted to read it, and he said that this didn’t sound right — that JPII wouldn’t have said something like that. So here I am, listening to all the episodes from the past week, trying to find it….

I got home and was surprised at how tired I am. Just hanging out here on the couch, playing online a bit. Today’s a fasting day, but I can’t fast from food, so I decided today to fast from TV, since I’d been creating a habit of vegging out and watching DVR’ed episodes of House Hunters until late in the evenings. Amazing how that can get to be a routine, even though I’d gone without watching any TV for about 8 months or so until recently.

For the rest of the night, I think I’ll be online for a little bit, read for a little bit and spend some real quality time in prayer. 🙂

Have a good night!

Movie Review: Magic Mike

July 6, 2012Paroxysm of Giggles, Pop CultureCadyLy

I have to admit, I didn’t really have any interest in seeing Magic Mike to begin with. My first contact with the movie was seeing a print ad for it in a magazine where all of the lead actors were half-naked. This didn’t especially appeal to me, and seeing some friends remarking about the “hotness” of this actor over that one just reinforced my non-interest. Why would I want to give my money to something that led women into the near or actual occasion of sin?

Why indeed.

Well, I ended up getting involved in a conversation on Facebook where someone was commenting on the trailer for the movie. In order that I might actually speak intelligently on the subject, I watched the trailer. This led me to think that maybe it was a bit more than just soft porn out there to make a buck. I wanted to be able to come back to my online friends with something substantial, so when I saw that the movie was playing locally in half an hour… I went.

Okay, first you all should know just how much I love you, because it’s no easy thing to walk into that movie theater and buy a ticket to Magic Mike alone. Even the clerk asked me, “Just one?” I was the only person in line.

When I stepped into the theater, I was the only person in the room. Great. Well, at least it wasn’t crowded? Eventually a few more people showed up, but there probably wasn’t more than 20 of us. Perhaps this is because it was 10:30 pm on the night before Independence Day.

The movie ended up being both better and worse than I expected.

Worse, in that there was a LOT of outright nudity and … “suggestive” acts isn’t quite the right phrase. There wasn’t much suggestion about it. It was more like outright “telling” witlhout actually “doing.” But that’s pretty true to life. Strippers are meant to shock and thrill, right? There was also bad language, objectification of both sexes and portrayals of drug use. So, I can’t recommend that anyone actually see the movie. Especially not those who are easily influenced or where watching these mostly naked men will cause them to lust.

Thankfully, I wasn’t “turned on” by this film. I did, however, appreciate their athleticism and dancing skills. Mostly, I found it to be a little comical as well as being a little sad. Watching the dollar bills being thrown at the men or shoved at them was a little like watching their dignity being taken from them, one bill at a time. I remember sitting in the theater, looking at an image on the screen of all these dollars scattered across the stage and likening them to teardrops. In one notable scene, “Magic” Mike was trying to straighten out these bills. He would run them against the edge of the table, much as we do when we are trying to get all the wrinkles out for the vending machine. Then, he set a heavy book on a stack of them. In another scene, he is trying to get a loan from a bank so that he can start up his own business making custom furniture — a profession he ultimately desires. But he is declined, even though he has a stack of cash as an initial investment.

All this leads me to perhaps the best part of the film: it does not glamorize this lifestyle.

In fact, as the movie progresses, it moves from Mike’s initial mindset — that being a stripper is a good source of money and girls — to realizing the emptiness of this lifestyle and ultimately rejecting it. This realization comes to him after he takes a young man under his wing and trains him as his protege, and sees how this adversely affects his life. He also realizes the emptiness in his romantic life. He goes from sleeping with multiple partners, to being confronted with the selfishness of this behavior when he tries to have more than just a superficial relationship with a regular bed-partner, to the end of the film, where it is suggested that he might have a shot at an authentic romantic relationship based on more than mere physical gratification.

Drugs are shown as dangerous, addicting and hollow. Money is shown as not being the most important thing in life. In fact, Mike gives most of the money he had been saving towards his dream, in order that his protege might escape the wrath of some drug dealers. And he doesn’t expect to get it back. We see how stripping is not a fulfilling career for the men, and how their worth deteriorates over time as they grow older and their acts are no longer “fresh.”

Once we are thoroughly disillusioned with the lifestyle and things look bleakest for the characters, a ray of hope enters when Mike rejects the lifestyle and simply walks away. There is a brief suggestion that maybe the guy will get the girl and then the movie abruptly ends, leaving you wanting more. Or at least I did. Not more mostly naked guys, but some indication that he was going to be okay. That he built a good life for himself. That his protege was able to straighten his life out as well.

We didn’t get that kind of reassurance. But we got hope. And sometimes, that’s all you need.

Independence Day Fireworks!

July 5, 2012Holidays, Paroxysm of Giggles, PhotographyCadyLy

This post is going to be rather picture-heavy. 🙂

Yesterday was quite warm, so I spent most of the day inside in the air conditioning. My 4th of July tradition is to go up to Clawson to watch their fireworks display. For a small city, they put on quite the show!

Since I live only about a mile away, Lindsay and Erwin met up with me at my house and we walked up to the park (expecting a gridlock of traffic post-fireworks and wanting to avoid that). We met up with Brian, whose grandparents have a house in Clawson. By this time, it had started to rain. When we made it to the schoolyard across from the park field where the fireworks were to be fired from, we were soaked.

Luckily, the rain stopped in time for us to lay down our sheets and blankets and get ready for the show! The ground had been so dry that it soaked up all the rain and wasn’t soggy, although we remained damp for the rest of the night. We did get to enjoy some ice cream, while we waited for it to get fully dark. 🙂

Here is a small sample of what we got to see. The full set of pictures can be found here.

We decided to have dinner at Friday’s to conclude our evening. Food, fireworks and friends: who could ask for a better Independence Day? 🙂

Dream Vacation!

June 29, 2012Meeting New People, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Today is the last day of Jenna’s Commenting Challenge! 🙂

It’s been fun to meet new people and I’ve gotten so many ideas from you all! 🙂

Today’s Topic: Tell us about your dream vacation! Where would you go? Have you been there before? Who would go with you? What about it draws you in?

As fun and interesting as some of the places I’ve been are, I think my dream vacation will always be some destination that I’ve not yet been. I’ve been collecting places I want to go for a LONG time. At the top of my list are:

The Holy Land

Rome

Machu Picchu

Galapagos Islands

Paris

Moscow

Thailand

China

New Zealand

The South Pole (How many people can say they’ve been THERE?!?!) 🙂

As much fun as I have traveling, it’s always better to be traveling with friends. So, if you are up for it, let me know! I tend to pop off at a moment’s notice! In fact, I keep my passport on me most days. 🙂

What I Love To Do!

June 28, 2012Meeting New People, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Today is Day 4 of Jenna’s Commenting Challenge! 🙂

Today’s Topic: Tell us about your hobbies! What do you do in your free time? What are your favorite books, movies, music etc?

I love photography! I take a camera (or two, or three if you count my phone) with me wherever I go! 🙂 This usually means that I end up with hundreds of pictures of things I’ve photographed a billion times over, but I don’t mind. 🙂 What I shoot mostly are probably flowers, but I would love to take portraits and travel pics. Which leads me to another favorite hobby:

I love traveling! I will go anywhere! I love beaches and things like this, but if it’s interesting, I will seriously go anywhere. Some of my favorite places have been:

Jamaica

Hawaii

Australia

I also love to read and will read whatever’s put in front of me. My favorite reading of late has been Catholic non-fiction. Theology and spiritual reading. I guess it’s a good thing that I am working on my Master’s degree in Theology, or else I’d just look like a big nerd… 🙂 Which I totally am.

Lately, I’m very restricted in the physical activities which I can do, but I love to rollerblade and have a trampoline in my back yard. I also like playing volleyball when I can get a group of friends together. Tennis and golf are fun, too. Oh! But SWIMMING! I love swimming! It’s hard to pull me away from the water! I’ve been known to take naps in the pool.

I like going to the movies, too! I have a wide range of things that I will see: comedies, dramas, action, thriller, etc. I am, however, getting out of the horror flick genre. I used to watch this all the time as a kid. Not quite sure why. But I just don’t have the interest in it that I used to. And popcorn is usually a must. Except if you happen to be watching “For Greater Glory.” Then, don’t buy popcorn. In fact, it’s probably best if you don’t eat right before or right after the movie. Amazing movie, though.

I love to dance, I love hanging out with my friends, I love going to Mass, I love amusement parks (Rollercoasters!), I love…

I love a lot!

How about you?

Socially Speaking…

June 27, 2012Meeting New People, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Day 3 of Jenna’s Commenting Challenge has arrived! 🙂

I would say that so far the challenge has done for me what it’s intended to do… So far, I’ve read 52 people’s blogs and left comments for them. I’m pretty sure my comments seem a little generic (I was responding to the introductions), but I quite enjoyed meeting everyone. I know we are only “supposed” to read/comment on 10 per day, but my goal is to read something of each person on the list.

Today’s blog topic: Tell us about your social media! Where can we find you? Link to your twitter, pinterest, Facebook, instagram, or google +. If you don’t use these sites, then tell us why not!

Also, what are your favorite websites? Are there any that you check daily? What do you like about them?

Looks like I am all on up on my social media! LOL!
Twitter? Check.
Pinterest? Check.
Facebook? Check.
Instagram? Check. [I’ve only ever used this on my phone. Can you see it on a web page? I can’t get a link…]
Google+? Check.
St. Blog’s Blog? Check.
WordPress Blog? Check.
Blogspot Blog? Check.
Livejournal Blog? Check.
Tumblr Blog? Check.
Foursquare? Check.
YouTube? Check.
Vimeo? Check.
Qik? Check.
Flickr? Check.
Evernote? Check.
StudyBlue? Check.
Goodreads? Check.

I’m sure there’s more out there, but this is what I can recall off the top of my head. 🙂
I suppose I’m a pretty social person. I took a temperament test. It said that I was a sanguine-choleric. So maybe that explains something about me.

Basically, if you type my “name” (CadyLy) into Google… At least the first 10 pages, excluding maybe the foreign language ones, are me. 🙂

As far as what web pages I read… I have some of my favorite blogs loaded onto my Google Reader, but to be honest, I don’t read it every day. The nice thing is that Google will collect them for me there, so I don’t miss anything when I do pop on.

Facebook is probably my most used social media site. I look at it as the CNN of what matters most — the people I know and love. 🙂

Wherefore Art Thou, Blog?

June 26, 2012Meeting New People, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Welcome to Day 2 of Jenna’s Commenting Challenge!

Today’s blog topic: Tell us about your blog. What do you blog about? Why do you blog? How did you start blogging? What kinds of things do you/are you willing to share with the world? Where do you find your topic inspiration? (Hint: Don’t share about your social media just yet!)

I actually have quite a few blogs going. Unfortunately, I tend to keep myself busy, so I don’t update them nearly as often as I’d like! 🙂 This particular blog is my “number two” blog. I created it not too long ago as a place to document all of my adventures.

I have a real passion for life and adventure. My mom said that from when I was a little girl, I would be willing to go anywhere with anyone. I would ask people their names, so they wouldn’t be “strangers” and I’d be able to talk to them without getting in trouble. Without really knowing what I was getting into, I joined the Navy. I have packed a lot of experiences into my life, and I like to think that I’m still fairly young. The world with all it’s beauty and delights beckons to me and I long to see and take in it all.

But.

About two years ago, I started noticing my capacity for running diminishing. I was getting short of breath very quickly. It was so bad that I could only run for maybe 2 house-lengths. I started having chest pain. I went to the doctor. Over the next several months, I became a frequent visitor to the ER. I was admitted one night and they kept me for a few days doing all sorts of cardiac and pulmonary tests. I had all kinds of scary diagnoses thrown in my direction as the doctors tried to figure out what was going on. Congestive heart failure. Pulmonary hypertension. What was it?

After ruling these out, my doctors began to suspect a mitochondrial process. At the time, I was working as a secretary for three surgeons at U of M. So, although the muscle biopsy which would confirm the diagnosis is normally performed by a neurosurgeon, I asked one of my surgeons to perform the operation. He’s always looking for something new and interesting, right? Just after Christmas, I went under the knife. Or, well, the scalpel. 🙂

I had the results read by two neurologists, one a U of M doctor and the other outside of the U of M community. Both came back with the same diagnosis: I have a neuromuscular disorder, a mitochondrial myopathy. There are different kinds of mitochondrial myopathies. Mine seems to be most closely identified with the one called MELAS. This disease looks differently in each patient, so there wasn’t too much specific information that could be offered me.

Except that this is progressive. And terminal. And there is no cure or treatment.

So, while I always enjoyed life, now I have more reason to document it. That, and I like people and I love sharing! 🙂 I hope you stay and poke around and see what trouble I get into next! 🙂

Oh. Wait. There’s more questions up there, isn’t there? Okay. Um. There’s not much that I *wouldn’t* share with the world. I mean, we are all going to be united in the Divine Life in Heaven, right? If we’re all going to be friends there, why not start now? Seriously. Why not?

Inspiration. Hmm. I guess I don’t really worry about this. Usually, I am either (a) busy or (b) sick, so I am back-logged on the things that I want to blog about. This has gotten so bad that I’ve even taken to writing what I intend to blog about on my to-do list on my calendar. 🙂

Commenting Challenge Commences!

June 25, 2012Meeting New People, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

My friend Stacy is participating in a Commenting Challenge to help her get to know some of the other bloggers out there. I’m always up for participation in fun things, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

What about me? You can call me Jenn or Jennie. I’m not a fan of my full name and only use it in an official or legal capacity. I am currently single. I have been civilly married and divorced, but the Church found my marriage to have been null. It feels like a lifetime ago, and in a way, it was. I live by myself in a house in the suburbs. I’m not sure how much or how little to say in this little introduction. If I had to describe myself, I suppose I would say that I’m a truly happy person. And that I love deeply. I giggle a lot and tend to spontaneity.

And… that’s the short, short version!

I’m looking forward to meeting you all! 🙂

Quick Takes Friday: Super Early Morning Edition!

June 15, 20127 Quick Takes Friday, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

— 1 —

Yesterday, I got about 3.5 hours of sleep. This means that I was super tired on the drive home after work. So, I went right to bed. At 4 pm. Of course, I woke up just before midnight. After “a full night’s sleep.” There’s no fighting this, so I’m just going to stay up. It will make for a long day today, but with Starbucks God anything is possible, right? 🙂

— 2 —

This section was deleted. By my computer. I don’t know if I accidentally brush the touchpad in the wrong way, but this stupid laptop likes to randomly select text. So, if I’m writing something, it will have inserted text where it doesn’t belong, or randomly have highlighted something so that I’m typing over (and deleting) what I previously worked on. Jerk computer.

— 3 —

I am going to have so many pictures for you to look at! This past weekend, I went on retreat at Marysville Retreat Center, near Holly, MI. That is a gorgeous location. The rooms are huge, too! I could seriously live here. Except maybe for the goose poop everywhere. You really had to watch your step with that. But they had Sandhill cranes that came to visit in the morning! This was probably the best retreat I’ve been on yet!

— 4 —

This week at work was Go Live! Meaning that our implementation was put into production. All of our hard work at preparing must have paid off, because the past couple days have been QUIET. Freaky quiet. I kind of miss the frenzied pace of the last Go Live. It was pretty fun, actually, and our days flew by. Wednesday, the first day of Go Live, we were supposed to be working a 12 hour day. We got to leave 2 hours early and then set up staggered shifts for the rest of the week. So, instead of working 6 am to 6 pm today, I will be working 6 am to 2:30 pm. I must say, I’m liking these hours! It makes my commute AWESOME to not have to deal with rush hour traffic.

— 5 —

Our team is going to be making breakfast today! We will have eggs with cheddar cheese, pancakes with syrup, turkey bacon and regular bacon. I can’t wait! Since I got up so early, it’s like lunch time for me. But we have to wait until Nick gets here at 9:30 am. The only sad point is that Justin and Carolyn aren’t here to share our meal. The impetus for this breakfast is the discovery of a rangetop in the Board Room here at NCAC… 🙂

— 6 —

This past weekend I got to see the movie October Baby. It’s a really good movie about a girl discovering not only that she’s adopted, but that she’s the survivor of a failed abortion attempt. The main theme of the movie is forgiveness, which is such a great message, especially for today’s society.

— 7 —

Tomorrow! = My Best Friend’s Wedding! Please join me in praying for Erwin and Lindsay as they prepare for this sacrament! 🙂 The day has finally (almost) arrived! Tonight is the wedding rehearsal at church and the rehearsal dinner at Kim’s.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Happy Birthday, Justin!

June 13, 2012Adventures in Cooking, Celebrations, Fun at Work, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Today is my friend and co-worker Justin’s birthday. It’s also Go Live day at work, with the implementation of ASAP (for the ED) and EpicCare Ambulatory in a few areas. So, we have been trying to plan on doing something for him, as he has to work a very long day today.

I had asked him last week what flavor cake he wanted and he had said that he would prefer either vanilla or funfetti. So, of course, I had to get the funfetti! 🙂 When I was picking out a frosting, my initial idea was to just get a vanilla; however, they had a new thing at the grocery where you pick up a container of vanilla (or “white”) frosting and can add a flavor pack of your choice. They had a blue one (BOY COLOR!) with a cotton candy flavor, so I picked that one. I also got multi-colored non-pareils and some birthday candles.

Here are some pictures of how the baking process went:

Funfetti mix:

I chose to use only egg whites, instead of the whole egg, so that the funfetti colors might “pop” more. I thought that if I used the yolks, the cake might be more of a yellow color. I don’t bake, but this was my thought. 🙂

Frosting, just after adding the cotton candy flavoring: