Stuff of Daily Life, Books

1) I start my NEW JOB on Monday. Why am I not excited? It's a temp job and directly relates to my college degree. It's the type of work I've been wanting to return to. I should be excited.

2) This week I took four shopping bags of stuff to the Salvation Army thrift shop to benefit SA's programs. Yesterday I took two garbage bags of papers to Office Depot for shredding. Why do I still have stuff scattered around?

3) I'm highlighting various headings and subheadings in my Catechism in different colors. Hopefully it'll make it easier to reference topics in the future. There's a subject index in the back. I'm thinking of ordering the YOUCAT.

4) I feel like I don't fit in because I'm not a mother.

5) As a courtesy to the public around me, I always cover up my belly even in the HOT weather. There are very few people who should be showing their bellies and that goes for a lot of people at the swimming pool. You know, I don't want to see anyone's bare belly.

6) I saw a torn lawn chair for sale at the Salvation Army store for $17.00. I didn't want to pay $17 for a lawn chair that is ripped in the seat. I went next door to the Ace Hardware store and bought a new lawn chair for $14.00.

7) U.S. Olympic uniforms should have been made in America.

8) Attended my godson's graduation party over the weekend. I nearly got teary-eyed when signing his card. All grown-up. What happened? He grew like a weed these past four years.

9) I hate when I go to Bible Study and the ladies talk about their social outings and don't invite me along. Should I invite myself? That's awkward. I figure if they wanted me around, they would invite me. I'm right there.

10) Friend's husband got fired from his teaching job at a Catholic school. Two years ago he got fired from another Catholic school. So he and his wife attended a meeting with some education guy in the vicariate to complain. The wife called up the head personnel guy at the archdiocese to complain about the firings. It's one thing to be a supportive wife, but it doesn't make him look manly in my opinion.

11) Read the book Angel in the Rubble.  The first two-thirds of the book was interesting, but the last third was preachy. No need to be preachy when you experience an angelic encounter. Let your experience speak for itself. Plus here's the other thing that aggravated me. The writer was raised Catholic and rec'd the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist, and Confirmation. Then she lives a life of partying and breaking the rules and doesn't bother with God or the Church. Then when one of the World Trade Center towers falls on top of her and she's trapped under concrete and steel, an angel comforts here. A dog sniffs her out. Men dig her out, and basically she goes on to have a wonderful life. She also decides to lead a life of righteousness and get good with God. So she does NOT return the the Catholic church, and that aggravated me. The woman instead goes to some made-up Christian church and gets baptized! She was ALREADY BAPTIZED in the Catholic church. According to the Catechism (paragraph #1272), Baptism cannot be repeated.

The reason she isn't a practicing Catholic was because her parents weren't married. Huh? Her parents were devoted Catholics, raised 10 children, yet were not married to each other. Therefore, the writer said she didn't respect the faith. Again, I ask, "huh?"

12) Now I have a cold or a really bad allergies and am having trouble sleeping. Aggravated because I want to be well rested and fresh for Monday morning. I better pray.

13) Also read Children's Blizzard. A blizzard swept through the Great Plains in January 1888 as children were walking home from school. Many children died in the blizzard. Heartbreaking, utterly heartbreaking. I should be inspired by hardy pioneers. Sometimes, in the olden days, swarms of locusts came through and ate all the crops. I should be inspired. I need to toughen up. I highly recommend this non-fiction book.

My Pregnancy Test

cost $104.00.

See, I am just like you married ladies. I too can talk about my pregnancy test and how it came out negative. Well, some of you have had pregnancy tests that came out positive. I'm trying to relate to my married readers: pregnancy test, pregnancy test, pregnancy test.

Last year I had outpatient surgery and the hospital said I had to have a pregnancy test. I didn't want one. I knew I was NOT pregnant, and I told them WHY I knew I was not pregnant. Too bad, I had to have one. Today I FINALLY got the itemized statement I requested and the urine pregnancy test is listed at $104.00.

Okay, I am really not like my married friends. When women have babies, it's like they advance in life and go to Mother Land, while I'm at the bottom rung of the ladder in Chutes and Ladders. Sometimes I really feel left out and abnormal and not a real woman or a real adult. Yet, I don't think of other childless women that way. I should be kinder towards myself.

Why do I have a uterus if it's not being used? I hated, HATED, it for a very long time because of the agonizing cramps once a month or every six weeks or eight weeks or whatever crazy schedule that wasn't really a schedule. Then as I grew older, I got regular and less crampy. Then I read a very large book on NFP because I was curious. By reading that book, I came to APPRECIATE the clock (hormones) inside my body and how it all works.  Now I am like a train schedule and much less crampy. Go figure.

I can't believe I'm writing something this personal and am putting it on the internet.