For months I've been beating myself up over why I ever let He Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned* into my life. He first messaged me in November, 2008, and I kept him at arm's length for a couple of months as we talked. Something about the way he was talking and acting didn't feel right to me, but because I didn't have any logical, concrete reasons ( Read more... )

Fat Hatred Kills.During her last year of life, my mom had given up most of the healthy physical activities she had enjoyed, because her “asthma” was so bad. I’m sure some of those attacks were indeed asthma, but other times she’d wind up out-of-breath from doing hardly anything at all, and I know it mystified all of us ( Read more... )

I was doing some browsing around the Interwebz and came across this article (note: photos of tasteless tchotchkes behind the cut) by some roundabout way, which spawned a reply in the form of this post. The comment at the end of it reminded me of a conversation I had just a few days ago with a friend:R: i keep hoping that somebody will attack the ( Read more... )

Wish I'd had this to link to in my last post: Who wakes up and says, "I wish I could be oppressed too"?As far as this idea of "politically correct" (scare quotes intended) as code for "uptight" or "restrictive," I don't see why it is so important to some people to be allowed to use words that create an othering effect of specific groups. One thing ( Read more... )

A few days ago, I was on a social networking site (not Facecrack), doing my usual cursory glance over the "news feed," and I happened to notice a friend commenting on their friend's journal entry with regard to a caption someone else had put on one of their images. I wish I could find that image again so that I could quote from thread word-for-word ( Read more... )

I've realized that it wasn't a coincidence that the drama in my life dropped to zero once I started enforcing my boundaries.

I made this pumpkin bread using freshly made pumpkin purée because I'm crazy like that, but canned pumpkin purée will do just as well if you don't want to go to the trouble. It turned out amazingly moist, flavourful and perfectly spiced (for my tastes, anyhow ( Read more... )

I'm going to receive a ridiculous number of vanilla beans (a pound of extract-grade Madagascar, a half-pound of Grade A Madagascar, and a half-pound of Grade A Tahitian) in the next couple of weeks, and I intend to make good use of them for Xmas/Solstice/birthday/other holiday gifts as well as for my own personal use, since I hope to make things ( Read more... )

A couple of things happened this weekend that I took in stride at the time, but now, looking back at them, I'm realizing just how important they are in that they are distinct milestones related to my self-confidence. Allow me to share -- if only to brag. ( I kid, I kid. )

( Read more... )