Category Archives: Paroxysm of Giggles

RCIA Volleyball 2012

April 20, 2012Exercise & Fitness, Paroxysm of Giggles, Sporting EventsCadyLy

After receiving the Easter sacraments, the RCIA group felt sufficiently full of grace to attempt a group sporting event. So, we booked the parish gym and set up for a game of volleyball. After all, nothing says “Catholic!” like a rousing bit of competition, right? 🙂

I loved it! I really miss playing sports. So, even though I got rather tachycardic, broke a blood vessel on the anterior base of my finger, and bruised my thumb, I had a blast!

Here’s Fr. Eric bouncing off the wall:

I didn’t want the playing to end! But, alas, we had set an end time and arranged to have pizza afterward. Instead of meeting at The Gathering Place, we went over a fellow parishioner’s house and partied there until midnight or so. 🙂

We had wine, beer, pizza, cookies, cheese & crackers — all kinds of goodies! We watched the game, talked, played pool and Scattergories. Here’s one of the teams — note Fr. Eric’s game face:

Another team, trying to scare us off!

And two of my besties. Oh yes, they are ready for marriage!

Lindsay’s Bridal Shower

April 15, 2012Celebrations, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Even though we are already at the Bridal Shower part of this engagement, I still can’t believe that it’s almost time for the wedding!!! 🙂

So expect a little (more) craziness from me when the date looms ever closer and I realize all that I have not yet done to get ready…

Oddly, I didn’t take very many photos at the shower. I blame it on the fact that I wasn’t sitting by the presents, I was facing the wrong way, I had another table of people between me and the engaged couple, I had had a really disturbing run-in with a neighbor on the way to the shower, Pam had gotten a brand-new camera and was taking tons of shots, and …

I’m not sure. I must have been sick, right?

Here’s Pammy and part of my table:

This is the pretty cake that Pam made:

It was yummy, too!

The cake table had various artifacts on it:
Little Mermaid and Prince Erwin [Eric]

Green Lantern and Really-Pissed-Off Dietitian:

As well as a collection of Little Lindsay statues, which were so cute!

And, since this *is* Lindsay’s shower, we had to have something on fire!

It was a lovely shower. A really lovely shower. But…

I can’t wait until the wedding!!! 🙂

On a Friday Afternoon…

April 13, 2012Exciting Adventures of the Everyday, Paroxysm of Giggles, Photographybluebells, candles, flowers, Garden of Gethsemane, OLGC, rollerblading, socks, statuesCadyLy

It was a nice, sunny, warm Friday after work, and I decided that I didn’t feel like getting stuck in stop-and-go traffic on the way home, so I tarried at Our Lady of Good Counsel for a bit.

My boss had given me her old pair of Rollerblades, and I’ve been keeping them in my trunk — you never know when you are going to have the opportunity to use them.

I parked the car in an unoccupied corner of the parking lot which looked relatively flat and popped open the trunk. I donned my new-to-me ‘blades and started skating around. I could only do 2-3 largish figure 8s around the car before I had to sit on the bumper and rest a bit, but it was a lot of fun!

As you can see, I haven’t yet gotten around to matching my socks and just grabbed the two which came closest to hand this morning:

At least this is the current fashion for the school kids and I can just pretend that I did it intentionally to be trendy. 🙂

After skating as long as I could, I still wasn’t quite ready to leave and walked around with my camera taking pictures of various things.

There were these cute little blue flowers.

I saw pictures of them on Google saying that these are bluebells, but I’m not sure… They’re very cute, whatever they are.

There were also these little berry things. I didn’t try to eat them. 🙂

And a small flowering tree in the “wooded area” between the parking lot and the Garden of Gethsemane.

Peter was still sleeping, so I didn’t try to wake him.

Instead, I looked around and found a cool little stripey rock:

I walked over by our Lord, and someone had placed roses by Him. Unfortunately, this put thorns right by His face.

I wasn’t too crazy about that. 😦

I prayed and lit a candle for my intentions:

I admired the oddly peeling bark of one of the trees:

I then visited the other side, where we have the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto. There was a bunch of new candles anxiously awaiting prayers:

Our Lady had flowering trees, too:

The Living Stones of OLGC:

I’m sure that I wouldn’t be able to pick out which one was my stone if it was held up in front of me. But… didn’t I take a photo of it before I put it in the pile? Hmm…

There’s a little nook by the front entrance with a bench. It’s a little odd, seeing as there are floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides of you, so everyone inside the church can see you sitting out there, but no one was around on a Friday afternoon, so I sat for a little while. See? I even saved you a seat! 🙂

While I was sitting there, I got to look at this statue. I think this is supposed to be Baby Jesus.

As you can see, I’m quite talented at amusing myself. 🙂 As soon as some joggers started down the driveway, I decided that I had stalled for long enough and headed home. It was a pleasant diversion from the daily drive. 🙂 I love Church!

Men’s Conference

April 2, 2012Paroxysm of Giggles, Presentations/TalksCadyLy

For all men, I am so jealous that you have something like this to go to! So, go! Go and be my spies! Go, and then tell me all about it!

God bless! 🙂

7 Unrelated Issues of the Fryeday…

March 30, 20127 Quick Takes Friday, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

— 1 —

Exhaustion. As I write this, this is foremost on my mind. I am exhausted. I got more than enough sleep; that’s not the issue. But I could totally sleep through the whole day. Unfortunately, it’s only lunch time, and I have lots of things to do, even after work.

— 2 —

This probably should have been #1, but tonight I get to go to the Called and Gifted Workshop! I’m so excited to discern what my gifts and charisms may be. My friend, John, lent me a binder outlining some of the things that we will be going over tonight and tomorrow. Tempted as I was, I did not take the assessment in the binder, and decided to wait for the workshop. It was tough, though! 🙂 I am really excited for this weekend!

— 3 —

Wii at Work! One of my coworkers brought in his Wii today. This is awesome! 🙂 I love my team! We have been playing Tecmo Bowl and F-Zero. Boy, it has been a long time since I’ve played F-Zero. I now suck at it! LOL! More practice is necessary. I suppose that means that I should look into getting a retro controller for my Wii and downloading the game.

— 4 —

Holy Week is coming up! I love this week! I’m so happy that I get to take Holy Thursday and Good Friday off! Palm Sunday is fun, too. I would have to say that I look forward to the Chrism Mass on Thursday morning, perhaps even more than Easter Mass. Why is this? For me, it seems to be more … personal … in a way. There is something about seeing hundreds of priests renewing their promises to the Archbishop, the diocese and to their particular parishes that catches my breath. It is truly beautiful. I hope to be able to escape the Washing of the Feet at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday evening. The last event of Thursday is what I affectionately refer to as the Pub Crawl of the Altars of Repose. Every year, some friends and I have piled into a car (usually with snacks for the journey) and made our pilgrimage to 7 different churches to pray with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. I can’t wait!

— 5 —

Exhaustion … and nausea. I hate the nausea. But that means that I have redemptive suffering to offer! Today’s suffering will be for Wanda. Please join me in praying for healing for her and peace and comfort for her family.

— 6 —

This week, I have been spending a lot of time on Ancestry working on my family tree. It’s rather fun to do, and since both my mom and my dad’s ancestors were in colonists, there is a lot of documentation on the families. While this is fun, it certainly is also a LOT of work, not only in the massive amounts of data entry, but in sifting through some of the information available online to determine if the suggestions are plausible. Do any of you have any experience with geneology? Any suggestions? I have gotten to the point where some of the ancestors from my mom’s line are marrying into ancestors from my dad’s line (Incest?!? 😉 ) and on the online version of the software, there’s not a good way to reconcile people, so I think that I will have to buy the actual software program — just for that feature. 1,600 people and counting! 🙂

— 7 —

Irony of the Day. Yesterday, my co-worker had gotten 3 voicemails and an e-mail from the Red Cross, letting him know there was a crisis shortage of blood and that they needed to come in. So, of course this was on my mind when I arrived at church for Bible study and saw the Red Cross set up in the Davidson Center for donations. Even though I was already late, I figured that perhaps God wanted me to give blood today. After all, what are the chances that I’d have had this be a topic of conversation earlier in the day AND have had dinner just prior (so that *maybe* I wouldn’t pass out this time)?! I walk in and ask the girl where I start. She lets me know that they’ve stopped taking people for the day (even though there were still people filling out the initial questionnaire). They stopped taking people at 7 pm. It was seriously 7:02 pm. Guess it wasn’t *that* much of a crisis. 🙂 LOL! Either that or God thought that my time was better spent at the Bible study. And I can’t argue with that. 🙂

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Oh the Things You Find…

March 24, 2012Exciting Adventures of the Everyday, Men, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

I was in my garage looking for my A&P textbook this morning. I didn’t find it, but I *did* find “Principles of Gene Manipulation.” I took it inside the house and was flipping through it when I found a scrap of paper that I had apparently used as a bookmark.

Someone’s address on the USS Hancock. I have no idea how, where or when I met Jonathan. Now, I’m curious… So I pop onto Facebook and search for his name. No luck. I search Google — I know, it’s a long shot, but his last name doesn’t seem common so there’s a chance.

Well, I *did* find something. Apparently, he was married and his wife died while he was stationed in Iraq. 😦 How horrible! I can’t imagine that pain.

He has a profile up on one of the Veterans sites, stating that not only was he on the Hancock, but he was an Electrician’s Mate from NNPTC Orlando. So, he was a Nuke, like me. Did I know him in Nuke school? Did I meet him in Jacksonville? In Norfolk? Puerto Rico? Hawaii?

I’m still curious. I’d like to run into him again and catch up on things. 🙂 Fr. JJ always says there’s no such thing as a coincidence…. I wonder what this means…. 🙂

7 Tiny Thought Bubbles Friday

March 23, 20127 Quick Takes Friday, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

— 1 —

CDM. This stands for Celebrity Deathmatch, that claymation show from MTV where different celebrities are pitted against each other in a boxing ring, usually to the death. Even though I didn’t really watch the show, I like to use the concept when talking about things I want to pit against each other. Like my various medical issues.

Currently, one aspect of my mitochondrial myopathy, while making me very sick, is helping out with some of my PCOS issues. So, I’m definitely all for Medical Condition CDM in this case, and I’m rooting for the myopathy. At least for a while. 🙂

— 2 —

This probably should have been #1, but today is the Stop HHS Rally! It’s taking place, to my knowledge, throughout the country at 12 pm today. I will be attending in Ann Arbor, and will hopefully have some pictures to post later in the day. First amendment rights, Freedom OF Religion (**Not freedom FROM religion**), and the ability to follow your conscience are definitely things that I think are important to stand up for. If you would like more information or would like to sign the petition, please visit the Stop HHS website.

— 3 —

Rollerblading at work! One of my coworkers brought in rollerblades today. This is awesome! 🙂 I love my team!

— 4 —

Is anyone else in shock and disbelief that Holy Week is coming up so soon? This happens *every* Lent. Do not get me wrong, I love Easter, but I think I need a little bit more Lent before I am really “ready.” That said, I am so excited! for the activities of Holy Week. Chrism Mass in particular. This is one of my favorite liturgies of the entire year!

— 5 —

With Easter just around the corner, I’m hoping that I will be able to spend a little bit more time in prayer and planning prior to the big event(s). Usually, I’m so busy trying to wrap up Lent that Easter hits me over the head by surprise. So, I *might* not be online quite as much as I am used to being online. If you do not see me, it is likely that I’m still on the planet, just not readily accessible…. 🙂

— 6 —

Does anyone else have a problem with returning library books on time? I seem to have some sort of pathological condition which precludes me from being able to make a library book deadline. No matter what, I’ve very rarely been able to check out a book without incurring a fine. Which I rationalize as my way of supporting the library financially. However, with the parish library, this can get out of hand. For example, I have one book that I checked out of the parish library about 3-4 years ago…. They only let you check it out for 3 weeks at a time. I’m only halfway through reading it. They did send me a note once, asking for it back. This was about a year and a half ago. Well, now I have checked out two books from my other parish library. And they are due on Monday. What do you suppose the likelihood is of my returning them on time?

— 7 —

Related to this Late Library Book Syndrome, I can’t seem to leave a library without checking out a book… or four! Doesn’t matter how many books I am currently reading. I blame the consumeristic society. 🙂 And the flimsy nature of my will. I have a whole bookshelf in my home dedicated to Books That Belong to Someone Else. I just love books — I can’t help it! I have over 1,000 books on my Amazon Wishlist and over 1,500 on my To-Read list on Goodreads. I wonder if I will get through them in my lifetime. And, if not, if God will give me access to a library in Heaven and not charge me fines…. 🙂

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7 Random Trains of Thought

March 16, 20127 Quick Takes Friday, Blogging and Blog Friends, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

— 1 —

Okay, here’s my first attempt at doing a 7 Quick Takes Friday. It’s always been an interesting concept, but I’ve never had/taken the time to actually do it. What I do instead (when I’m actually more-0rganized-than-not) is make a task on my Google calendar with blog post ideas. Then, promptly forget to write them when I do have time. Great plan, eh? 🙂

— 2 —

This week, I’ve been working a lot on my family tree. It’s an interesting project, yet sometimes tedious in all the details. Especially when you have to sift through several different lists of children, with similar names, different dates of birth, sometimes attached to the wrong parents…. But with some online software, I’ve managed to trace my family history back quite a ways. Oddly enough, both parents’ ancestry begins in France. Not what I had expected! And apparently, we are related to King Henry III of England, although we are so distant, I made sure to tell my brother that there was NO WAY he would EVER get the throne. 🙂

— 3 —

Lent. This happens every year, it seems. I start off Lent with great ideas and plans and wait with eager anticipation the closeness that I will gain with the Lord. And then… The Dry Season. That part of Lent where you think that you’ve wasted the graces given out during this time Yet Again. Who knew that spiritual progress could be so much work! 😉

— 4 —

I’m excited to say that MiChart has decided to extend our contracts until September! This means that I will get to continue working on the new software implementation at the hospital with a team which seems much more like family than coworkers. Although we have had hints here and there, my expectation was that I was going to be returning to my regular department on Monday. Yesterday, our Principle Trainer, Carolyn, came by Michigan House and spoke with us one-on-one to see if we would be willing to stay on the project. To a man, we are all remaining (minus the members of our team who had to return to their clinics early)! 🙂 RAGE!

— 5 —

Jeans Day has evolved to Shorts Day at the office. This is awesome. 🙂

— 6 —

Tonight, I have the dilemma of going to the Young Adult Brew & View or attending the Fellowship of St. Paul meeting. I’d like to be at both, although that won’t happen unless I learn how to bi-locate quickly! I think the movie this evening is “The Prestige.”

— 7 —

This weekend, I’ll get to spend some time with cute little girl Evie while her parents get some stuff done around the house. Then, I will go to St. Anastasia’s annual Irish Night! Since we acquired an authentic Irish pastor, we have had these annual celebrations. They are so much fun! I get to wear all my green and Irish dollar store accessories, dance all night, have traditional Irish fare like corned beef and cabbage, and sometimes help the kids with various games and projects like icing Shamrock sugar cookies! 🙂 Much fun will be had by all, and I’m sure I’ll have tons of photos for you to view shortly!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Where Do I Write?

March 10, 2012Blogging and Blog Friends, Paroxysm of Giggles, PhotographyCadyLy

Okay, so Jennifer Fulwiler (who is like another me, only with a bigger fan base, more dedication to blogging regularly, a husband and kids, many inches in height, and the whole scorpion thing… other than that — identical!) commented in a recent post that she wanted to see the spaces in which we write. Oh, boy. My house is a mess, but here you go! 🙂

This is my Laptop by the Futon. It’s here “temporarily” because my desktop has decided not to be able to turn on. I think I might need to replace the battery in the motherboard, but I’ve not yet bought the battery. So, I instead set the laptop on a snack tray and contort myself uncomfortably in the futon to be able to write. It’s kind of sad, but I’ve found it useful to always have a computer on hand. You never know when you might need to look something up, add something to your Amazon wishlist (how I window-shop), or post something to your blog or FB page. 🙂

Where I *really* like to write is at my desk in my office:

I affectionately call it the Desk of Doom, because it’s so large. You can’t even see all of it in this photo! However, since the desktop is “sleeping,” (Wake up, Fishie! Why you sleeping?) I find it more annoying when I’m in the middle of studying to run to the other room if I want to go online.

So, the point of the story is….
Please send over someone who can fix my desktop! With a battery! 🙂

Thanks! Love you and God Bless!

The Rollercoaster of Life

March 4, 2012Amusement Parks & Carnivals, Exciting Adventures of the Everyday, Paroxysm of Giggles, PhotographyCadyLy

What a rollercoaster life is, eh? From the bumps, highs, lows, scary parts, exciting parts, times where you are waiting and waiting just to get in the car, disappointments, aggravations, thrill, dread and anticipation, that feeling — once you’ve committed yourself and are strapped in, climbing the big hill, listening to the loud clanking of the chain pulling you away from the safe and familiar — wondering, “What was I thinking? Will I survive this?” And the joy and sense of being alive, spurring you on to the next experience.

It’s nowhere near as much fun going on the ride alone — you need to experience it with your friends. The problem is, when you are on the ride, everything is a blur. It’s not until you get off that you have time to compare notes about what you just experienced.

Life is kind of like that, too. I am so grateful for my friends who are accompanying me on this ride. At the same time, we are busy, busy, busy and there’s never enough time to spare with any of them. We just catch glances, as it were.

Heaven, then, will be the time where — after the ride — we can spend time together, talking about the experience and how grateful we are that our friends were on the ride with us.