Just a simple blog of a Secular Franciscan trying to live with a Franciscan focus. (And one of these days I'll fix the template and add a Search feature. :-P)
It's all adorableness until he makes those constipated sounds
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My beloved old Winnie the Pooh travel mug (don't judge me) -- which had faithfully conducted Tasty Caffeinated Beverages to my innards for years -- went on the lam last month. Which wasn't as tragic as it sounds, considering it was making Ominous Mystery Swishing Sounds when empty, suggesting some sort of hole in the insulation and therefore tossage was imminent, anyway.
But still. No Tasty Caffinated Beverage Delivery Mechanism (especially during meetings!) = Sad Lisa. And lots of urgent Starbucks trips. Enter a fruitless search for a replacement. No good Pooh mugs to be found ... unless I wanted a sippy cup, which would've at least livened up said meetings.
Perhaps something Catholicy? Offerings were either painfully schlocky (written by Jack Handey and designed by Clippy using Microsoft WordArt mashups) or good designs only available on standard mugs.
After continually comin' up goose eggs (hah!), I finally gave up and crafted my own goosey design and produced it via CafePress. The sucker arrived today, and I'm pleased. Nice, solid feel, with bright, crisp colors. And hopefully, there'll be no Ominous Swish Of Death with this'un down the road.
For your viewing enjoyment, here's our Resident Starlet, The Bloop (The B's =^..^= kid sister), modeling the mug (click for larger image):
The rules: Those tagged will share 5 things they "love" about Jesus, or why they love Jesus. Those tagged will tag 5 other bloggers. Those tagged will provide a link in the comments section here with their name so that others can read them.
(Yeah, let's see what kinds of search results that title will show up in!)
It's been ages since I've last posted here thanks to work insanity, but the craziness has finally settled down, and we finished the project on time!
So, that means I have time to post here again ... y'know, when my brain cells bounce back. :-P And I figured rather than go the Lengthy And Weighty Route, I'd get back into the swing o' things with a totally superfluous post packed with Silly Quiz Stuff!
You have a great love of history and liturgy. You’re attached to the traditions of the ancients, yet you recognize that the old world — great as it was — is passing away. You are loyal to the customs of your family, though you do not hesitate to call family members to account for their sins.
If you're looking for an entertaining bit of Star Trek fan fiction, check out this spiffy "radio" drama, Star Trek: Eras, that some pals of ours put together. :-) The series as a whole has good scripts and music, resulting in a solid overall production, and the current episode, "Yours, Mines and Ours", isn't ruined too badly (I hope) by my Lame-Arse voicing of Dr. Navid Daystrom.
Yeah, Husband Mike and I are both in this episode, and frankly, my performance is Sucktacular. (Which is a bummer, 'cause I didn't think I did that horribly during the recording session, just Moderately Lousy.) Oh, in case you're confused when looking at the performer credits, Husband Mike and I are going by the stage names of "Anne and Johnathen Michaels". (Which reminds me; I really should get off my butt and write up a blurb for my bio.)
They're loading up the episode in chunks, so only Act 1 of YMO is currently available, and I think Husband Mike's character, Lt. Commander Serat (a Vulcan), won't show up until Act 3 (memory is foggy). Another fun bit: Our characters are married, too, so that made acting together even more enjoyable.
Anyhoo, iffin' you'd like some Trekish goodness, take a listen.
BTW: I noticed in the "Special Features" section, they listed "Outtakes" as coming soon. That should be interesting; we're wrackin' our noggins trying to figure out just what sorts of incriminating and/or embarrassing stuff we said that they could use against us. Oh, the humanity! :-P
Well, what a dandy-fine surprise! Barb, sfo of SFO Mom tagged me, so of course I have to play along! An' awaaay we go!
"Wish You Were Here" Meme
Who are the five Catholic (or Christian) bloggers whom you would most like to meet in person, but have not (yet)?
:::putting on thinking cap and stroking imaginary beard:::
Lesse ... soooooooo many splendiferous faithful Catholic bloggers out there! OK, I'll see if I can mash 'em down into 5 ...
Barb, sfo of SFO Mom (Hey, Barb, if we both attend a Quinquennial, we could actually meet in person! Not sure if I can go to the one this summer -- you goin'?)
And I'm again shamelessly borrowing Barb's tagging method -- if you're named above, consider yourself "tagged"! Tho', it's not like I expect any of the above-mentioned folks (excluding Barb an' Maria) to actually read my lil' B-list blog. :-P
Updated: Well, I couldn't just do 5; I snuck in another one. :-P
I'm so behind on readin' my fave blogs, it's pathetic. So, I figgered I'd try to start the New Year off by catching up on everything, and while reading Barb's posts, I figured I'd play along with her participation in "The Catholic Devotions Meme". She had a general tag for it, so here are my bits:
Do you wear a scapular or medal?
Yup, under my clothes I wear the Brown Scapular, which came with two medals pre-attached: St. Benedict and Miraculous. To that I added a Joseph medal. And because I'm a Secular Franciscan, as part of my regular dress, I always wear my habit, a Tau pendant.
Do you have holy water in your home?
Yeppers, in a font by our front door. I also have a bitty bottle of Lourdes water that my dad-in-law gave me years ago; he'd picked it up when he and my mom-in-law were there on a pilgrimage.
Do you 'offer up' your sufferings?
Yes, though I don't always remember to do so.
Do you observe First Fridays and First Saturdays?
Goshdarnitall, I've been meaning to do at least the First Saturdays; keep forgetting to make time for this. :::scribbles note to self:::
Do you go to Eucharistic Adoration?
Yes, but not on a regularly-scheduled basis. I do try to hit the nearby 24-hour Eucharistic adoration chapel on a somewhat-monthly basis. :::scribbles another note to self:::
Are you a Saturday evening Mass person or Sunday morning Mass person?
Sunday mornin'.
Do you say prayers at mealtime?
Yes, the regular "Bless Us, O, Lord ..." one. When I'm out dining with other folks (besides my Franciscan brothers 'n' sisters), I say it silently and as unobtrusively as possible. (Mwaha -- stealth prayin'!)
Favorite Saint(s)? Joseph and Mary, St. Francis, St. Clare
Can you recite the Apostle's Creed by heart?
Yes, thanks to it being at the start of the Rosary.
Do you usually say short prayers (aspirations) during the course of the day?
Yes, silently. My faves:
- "Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I love you, save souls"
- "I claim the protection of the blood of the Lamb" (when faced with temptation -- a great repellent!)
- "Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner"
- "Lord, make me who You want me to be, and keep me outta the way while You're at it"
- "Joseph, lead me to your Son"
- "Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death"
Bonus Question: When you pass by a automobile accident or other serious mishap, do you say a quick prayer for the folks involved?
Yes; also whenever I see an ambulance, police car, or firetruck rushing somewhere.
I like Barb's idea of a general tag, so consider yourself tagged if you'd like to join in. :-)
I remembered to bring the camera on 12 September, which means I was able to play along for this month's 12 of 12. (What's 12 of 12?)
So, awaaaay we go:
8:00 a.m.
It's breakfast time! Wake up, Mom! I'm hungry! Mom, you up yet? Helloooo? I'mhungryI'mhungryI'mhungry!
8:30 a.m.
Lookin' out through my car's windshield. The day's off to an overcast, drizzly start.
10:00 a.m.
Couldn't think of anything interesting to take a picture of (yeah, like all my other pics were interesting), so here's a snap of an acorn I've placed by my computer monitor at work. I picked it up this past weekend while walking around the grounds of a retreat center. (Was there with my Franciscan brothers and sisters; I'll blog later 'bout the retreat and the acorn.)
11:45 a.m.
Getting ready to mail a letter that Husband Mike and I are sending to the Jefferson (Louisiana) Parish District Attorney's office to encourage prosecution of an animal abuse case. (Case details here.)
12:00 p.m.
Coffeetime! Our old machine started billowing smoke -- never a good sign -- so we got this brand-spankin' new one! And it's way cool, too -- it even makes mochas! Mmmm ... mochas ...
12:08 p.m.
Sheesh, is it time to go home yet? :::sigh:::
3:00 p.m.
Installing the latest software build to see what wild and crazy things the developers threw in this time 'round. I so love the constant rebooting required.
5:30 p.m.
Woo-hoo! Packing up my oh-so-swanky laptop bag/backpack to head on home.
5:40 p.m.
While walking to my car, I saw this lovely snowy egret in the distance. Was too lazy to get closer, so I used the zoom feature. Eh, ya get the idea.
7:00 p.m.
The replacement battery for my work laptop finally arrived. (My laptop was affected by the recent Dell battery recall hoo-ha; joy.) It's hard to see it here, but the list of cautions that came along includes the following: "Danger of explosion if battery is incorrectly replaced". =8-O If that don't put da fear o' God in ya, I dunno what will.
7:15 p.m.
Getting ready to replace the battery after carefully reading through all the scary warnings and cautions.
10:00 p.m.
My batch of Rosary crucifixes arrived the other day (w00t!), so I'm checking the jump rings to make sure they're 1) actually there (sometimes one or two are missing), and 2) properly attached, using pliers to get 'em into shape when needed.
And there you go. My lovely, mundane 12th of September. :-)
Husband Mike an' I were grinnin' like goofballs while watchin' it, especially near the end where you can hear Fenno, the kitty, "peeping" and yawning. :::swooning:::
Goshdarnitall! I was looking forward to this month's 12 of 12 (on the 12th of each month, you take 12 pictures documenting your day), but wasn't able to play along. I started off the day decently enough, but then we went to a wedding reception and I forgot to bring the camera! :::sob::: So, I only had about 4-5 pictures; not enough for postin'.
Ah, well, at least there's next month. In the meantime, go check out Maria's August 12 of 12 -- fun stuff!
Just heard about a spiffy-sounding children's PC game, Gospel Champions, which "reinforces Gospel and Catholic learning by recreating the same Gospel stories that children hear in Mass into fun action/adventure video games."
Of course, I had to look at the screen snaps t'see how they portrayed Joseph, Holy Husband of Our Lady and Virginal Father of Jesus ;-) , but alas, nothing's loaded up yet for the two Christmastime ones. Overall, the artwork's done in a cartoony style, which I guess will appeal to the kiddies, but I found it a mite too cutesy.
Still, the premise of the game is excellent, and gosh knows we need all the help we can get to form properly-catechized children nowadays!
Behold, the mundane minutiae of my day! Yep, it's time for July's 12 of 12.
9:45 a.m.
My morning was pretty much the same as last month's 12 of 12, so this is a shot of a cabinet in my cube at work. Ooooh, aaaah.
12:00 p.m.
For lunch, my coworkers and I went to a Japanese restaurant that features a spiffy sushi bar. We contemplate what we'll eat as the little sushi-laden boats float by.
12:10 p.m.
A coworker points out the plate I grabbed. They call it a McHenry roll, but that doesn't sound too Japanese to me. Nonetheless, it's darn tasty.
2:00 p.m.
Preparing a handout to remind folks about the point of document review meetings, which is to ensure that our user docs are technically accurate, complete, and ready for release. They're not for things like philosophical discussions on punctuation usage. At the last one, folks got sidetracked into a Serious And Involved Discussion on (I kid you not) the proper way to refer to "email."
6:30 p.m.
Driving home from work and in a Grumpy Mood following the aforementioned review meeting. This time, we had some last-minute waffling about the way stuff was supposed to work in the software. Two days before our completion date. Must ... have ... ice cream ...
6:45 p.m.
At the grocery store, trying to decide which flavor of ice cream to buy. No time to eat it when I get home, though, because ...
7:50 p.m.
... I'm attending an outdoor concert in which Husband Mike (he's a musician) is performing. This group is one of the many bands he's in, and this is their summer concert-in-the-park series. After playing "The Star-Spangled Banner", the program started with a medley of Superman stuff. I especially liked the Pirates of the Caribbean arrangement near the end.
8:15 p.m.
Knotting Rosaries while listening to the concert.
9:45 p.m.
Finally, I can dig into that ice cream! Husband Mike shows off the flavor I picked, "In A Crunch". I liked it, he thought it was lame. Picky, picky.
10:45 p.m.
Playing with The B in the hopes it'll tire him out before we go to sleep. (Didn't work.)
First up, Fr. Johansen's pictorial essay on his and Mark Shea's recent clay-pigeon-shooting fun is a hoot. (Set aside any food 'n' beverages before lookin'.) Especially liked the last picture of Father, titled "Fr. Rob Ready To Defend The Faith".
* * *
On a completely different note, reality shows are goin' to the ... cats. Yep, a new show's following 10 kitties in search of homes as they "spend the next 10 days in a New York store window, their every move caught on camera for a reality TV show on which they will compete for best sleeper and mouse-catcher. ... Kitties who get the boot will be adopted into permanent homes." (Reuters). The winner will, too, of course, but he or she will also get a job as "Feline Vice President of Research and Development" for Meow Mix. My fave so far is Sam ("who meows with a drawl"), but it's prolly 'cause he looks so much like our The B.
Totally whimsical and oh-so-cute: Urban Fairies! I love the idea of huntin' around to find lil' fairy doors in unexpected places. Hee! (Thanks to my pal Missie for sharin' this.)
I just got tagged by Maria to play along with a Lenten meme.
