Game Shows & Society

How screwed up is society that someone who simply answers truthfully to
a series of questions could win half a million dollars? "Moment of
Truth" is the gameshow on Fox. Have we as a socity completely removed
ourselves from honesty and openness that this would actually be hard to
do? It just seems so sad.

Please Help Me...I'm Falling

When I'm super tired, I often do that *pzzsap* electrical jerk when I'm
just about to doze off to fairy dust land. You know the one that you
hope no one noticed...or was seriously injured by? Yeah. That one.
Whenever my body does that, my brain decides it's one of two things--
either falling down stairs or slipping and falling on ice. These are
two things that I've done with great gusto and really don't care to
relive when I'm so close to my happy place. Do you think there's a way
to train my brain into thinking of sliding down a water slide into a
really big pool, or even better...the point-of-no-return prior to an
orgasm? They're all out of my control to a certain extent, and would be
much more fun to relive.

The Jams Are Coming! The Jams are Coming

Just a pre-announcement about my little Etsy.com shop which will, shortly, feature some of my jam creations. I started taking photos this weekend and will be putting up the jams, butters and conserves this week. If you're a jam lover, here's the flavors I will be offering: Apple Butter; Apricot; Apricot Butter; Apricot-Jalapeno; Apricot-Pineapple; Blueberry; Blueberry-Apricot; Green Grape; Peach; Peach-Grape; Plum; Plum Conserve; Quince; Raspberry-Blueberry; Raspberry-Chocolate spread; Raspberry-Jalapeno; Raspberry-Lime; Raspberry-Peach; Raspberry-Pineapple; Spiced Apricot Butter; Strawberry; Strawberry-Apricot.

*phew* It was a busy jamming year in 2007. The majority of the fruit is grown in our orchards in an organic way...no pesticides or herbicides. This is just a heads up. I'll post a "c'mon down" to my etsy shop: http://catay.etsy.com/ when it's open for business.

Beautiful Igigi

Igigi does it again. (http://www.igigi.com/) I lurrrve this outfit. It's got a sweet French flair, and it's got a simple palette based in black.

By the way, have I ever mentioned why I love wearing black so much? I'm sure that a lot of people believe it's because black is *ahem* slimming. That's somewhat true, but let's be frank...at 400lbs+, you won't look slim no matter what you wear. The truth hurts doesn't it. ;-) The reason is this: When I was growing up I wasn't allowed to wear black. I could go as dark as navy and that's it. My mum thought that black was too adult of a color. Oh, fine. When I started making my own clothes in high school, I opted for black pants quite often...'cuz my mom couldn't stop me! Bwwaaahahah! So, even though I'm a little bit *ahem* past twenty *ahem*, I still love wearing black 'cuz I like to feel like a kid playing an adult from time to time.

By the way, does it drive you as batty as it does me when blacks don't match if you're trying to wear them together? There's reddish black, blue black, true black and the dreaded i've-been-washed-too-many-times faded black. I can't wear two different shades of black together. No way, no how. I just can't!

Abduction Lamp

What a fun lamp idea, especially with all of the recent ~sightings~ of UFOs. VERY clever. It's only in concept form, but c'mon, don't you wish you thought of it first?! The title above is a link to the site for more info. Cat's House of Fun, indeed, if'n I had this on a table! :-)

Kotex "Classic"

I loooove this SNL video spoofing a new/old product -- Kotex "Classic". It takes me back to the first time I had my period. I told my mom and she immediately went out to buy me a belt and a huge (and it was huge) box of old school Kotex pads. I was a bit puzzled, but gave it a whirl. "Maybe this is what everyone has to use the first time?" I thought. So, I tried on the belt. I was easily 250lbs when I was ten, and the belt was tiiighhhht. Kind of like a rubberband on a beachball, I think. I tried to hook up the pads to the garters and when I'd wear it, they'd pop off. After messing around with it for a day or so, I asked my mom why I couldn't use the kind my sister used...good old stick-to-the-underwear StayFree. They were just as huge as the old school ones, but at least I didn't have to wear the belt which would have been super obvious through my clothes...a horror that no pre-teen wanted to face! I remember the look my mom gave me. It was something like, "Huh, do you think they'll work for you, dear fat child?" without saying a word. My average-size mom was always supportive of me, but when it came to my fat being and how my pre-teen tubby body worked with the rest of the world, I think she had no clue. Suffice it to say, that from that day forward, I was belt free.

Size Acceptance in the Media

I looove this quote about the treatement of fat people from Miss Conduct's Blog at Boston.com(link)

"People really, truly believe that it is not only acceptable, but right to treat fat people with disdain. I'm sad to say that I've been inculcated with enough societal garbage that I occasionally hate my own body--but as a thin (white, able-bodied, etc.) person I cannot fathom what it must be like to have others take it upon themselves to hate my body for me. As I've said before, if you think fat people have no self-discipline, consider the fact that they haven't killed you yet. "

Thanks to Kate Harding at Shapely Prose(link) for posting this earlier today.

I (heart) Dexter

I never thought I'd admit that I (heart) a serial killer, but here it is. My friend, Peter, gave me the first season on DVD for Christmas. In one weekend, Ivan, his daughter and I were all compelled to watch all 13 episodes. We couldn't stop....well except we had to sleep for a few hours here and there. This series is amazingly well written, acted and...as I mentioned, compelling to watch. It's a bit gruesome from time to time, but it's also sweet, funny and smart. We were so sad to see it come to an end...but then there is another season...

Season two! Now I really, really, really want to watch season two! I heard that it's already run through on Showtime, but I also noticed that it's available "on demand" via cable...but of course one needs to be a member of Showtime to get it. I've been contemplating ordering Showtime for a weekend just to do another marathon viewing. Hold my calls and cancel my appointments. I may just have a date with a good-guy serial killer! I hope Ivan won't mind...well of course he won't because he'll be watching us! ;-)

By the way, I just heard that CBS will be carrying the first season coming in February. Sometimes a writers strike is good for broadcast television, it seems! I'm sure there will be some things cut out, but it really won't be too much you won't see.

Silence

I love the silence that heavy snow can bring. The five lane highway which is just outside my front door is muffled to the point where almost all I hear is the sound of my computer whirring. On most days, I hear every muffler's gutteral burp and every tire's gripping roll. Once the plows drive through, the silence will be over and I'll hear the cars slogging through the mucky moisture.

Repost for Martin Luther King, Jr Day

I set this (linky!) little Flash presentation up up seven years ago to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.
I get chills every time I hear the snippet used in this piece. Still as valid today as it was in 1968. While we're a smidge closer to equality now, there's a looooong road stil left to travel. Racism still exists in our country and what makes it even more disturbing to me is that it's hidden. You never *really* know where it is anymore until you witness it. Maybe it's in a side comment about how, "You know how *they* are." Or you get a smile when you're getting service at the oil change place, and the man behind you doesn't get nary a curved lip. Nothing is overt. It's there, but ya have to be acutely aware to see it. Yeah, well, don't get me started on the whole "hidden hatred" that is so pervasive in our society. Today is meant to celebrate and reflect upon the positive changes from the dream...
Repost from January 2006, 'cept I changed the first sentence.

The Beauty of Roomba

Sure, you may think of the Roomba as just a lazy gal's toy...that it is to be sure...but it's also GREAT at cleaning out under beds. Just today I was cleaning out the guest room with Roomba. I started it up, and closed the door (I didn't want my little robot helper to escape!). I came back a half-hour later and my little Roomba found a flip-flop and a lipstick from under the queen size bed and pushed them both out within easy reach. Beautiful, just beautiful! Not only that, but it collected all of the dirt and dust that accumulated under said bed. The guest room is rather small and the bed is squished up against two walls, so cleaning under the bed to get all of the dust bunnies is quite a trick. Well, not anymore!

My sister generously gave me the Roomba for Christmas, and since then I've had it be-boppin' around my living rooms with great regularity. It doesn't get everything, but it does do great, as I mentioned, underneath furniture. In the living room...that means the under-couch areas are actually getting cleaned out more than once every few months...err...once a year under some pieces! (Did I just admit that?!). I think I can breath easier just knowing that. :-)

My only complaint is that I do need to either block off or lift up cables/wires and any small hazaards that may inhibit Roomba from performing it's dusting duties. Oh, and that he tends to get lost in rooms with too many chair legs -- so, dining rooms are a problem for dear Roomba. Other than those wee complaints it's a fun little robot addition to the household.

Next...I'm thinking Scooba for the kitchen floor! (See this site for more information on Roomba or Scooba or who knows what else they'll come up with for robot lovers! http://www.irobot.com/)

Spring is coming!

Despite the ultra chilly air outside, there are sure signs of Spring showing.

A couple of days ago -- robins. Five of them in the yard on a rather cold day. We don't typically see them until late February or March.

Secondly...new lambs being born in the back 40. Sure, they always seem to show up at this time of year, but the renewal of life grants a little bit of hope for the warmth of Spring, doesn't it? These little desert painted sheep twins were born yesterday. They're still covered with ewwwygewwygoo, but they look pretty spry despite the 10 degree weather.

Job Performance

Does it strike anyone else odd that the government is scrutinizing
professional athletes' use of performance enhancing drugs, yet they
don't look into Wall Street execs or doctors or any number of
professions using speed to enhance their performance. The list of
potential drug offenders using substances to enhance their particular
skills is staggering. Hell, I don't think I could do my job without
caffeine. Granted, that's not illegal, but it is a drug in a very real
sense. So, really...baseball ...why is that being targeted? Something
seems quite fishy.

Have You Seen Her?

We're inundated with the missing's faces so often these days. They're peppered throughout the 2008 tax forms, for instance. So many people gone...vanished into thin air. I look at the faces and they never seem familiar. Well, until today. I opened up the StarTribune website (http://www.startribune.com/) tonight and came face to face with a girl I knew many, many years ago on the front page. Sue Swedell. We went to school together and rode the "late bus" back through Lake Elmo together. She wasn't a remarkable girl in a lot of respects. She was somewhat mousy, but always pretty sweet. I remember a look of longing in her eyes as she attempted to connect with people 'cuz she never quite "fit in". We'd chatter from time to time, about what, I don't recall at all. I do remember she had the cutest impish laugh.

So, there she was, on the website. (http://www.startribune.com/local/east/13842956.html) Missing for 20 years now. I vaguely remember hearing on the news about her disappearance probably a year after she actually disappeared. I thought it was pretty odd, but always believed that maybe she had run away to find herself. I'm really hoping that's what has happened to her all these years. I hope that she's fitting in with her crowd now and is still laughing an impish laugh.

In any event, take a peek at the photo and let her family know that you know something about her whereabouts. Not knowing all these years must be torture for them.

Foul Fat Chick Fashion!

  You'll need to kill me to get me to wear these hideous offerings from Catherine's. (http://www.catherines.com) I know that Catherine's is supposed to be the fat chick's friend for women over 35, but c'mon, even the over 35 set has taste.

The pink stripy thing with the "nautical" yet "valentine" anchor really makes me see...ahem...sea sick. Let's admit it...the "nautical" look that comes out every stinking spring has really got to set sail to its long overdue death at sea. Secondly, STOP the ugly APPLIQUE insanity! There. I feel better now.

The second top with that hideous "Christmas package applique sweater" look is also supposed to be "nautically inspired". The only thing nautical about it is the feeling that I'd rather walk the plank than wear this.

This week's photo of the week...

...has been posted. I didn't mention last week's either, so you may have some catching up to do. Click here to view.

 

Have I mentioned how much I love Picasa? Yeah, so easy to do fun things. No copying and pasting layers upon layers to make this. Just click, click wait a few minutes 'cuz you've chosen too many photos and VOILA! Insty "art". Again, I use the term "art" loosely, but you get the idea.

More Crippy Craft and a HOW TO for the Layered Cut Paper Illustration!

I haven't shipped all of my Crippy Craft gifties yet, but the ones above have already been given away. I'm on a roll, but it's an incomplete roll, unfortunately. I've got three left to do! I did want to get these on here with the "HOW TO" before I get any more complete.

As a little background, I was looking in mid-December for some sort of homemade Crippy Craft that I could as gifts. I came across A Little Hut (click here to visit A Little Hut), and was instantly inspired. She does beautiful work! A couple of my pieces above are a directly inspired by her pieces. Little Red Riding hood, the leaves, and somewhat the deer pieces are directly inspired. (I hope she doesn't mind!) The rest have been just things that popped in my head when I thought about the recipient or just thought would make a beautiful illustration.

If you're interested in doing some "art-pieces" or "Crippy Craft" like those above, click here for full HOW-TO instructions.

Bodies the Exhibition - Part 2

Way back in November of 2005, I was writing about this exhibit in my blog (see this link). I was dreaming of possibly being able to see it. Well, I actually got to see it a few weeks ago. Yay!

I don't think it has come to Utah yet, but luckily for me, a quick weekend trip to Vegas in mid-December paid off big. No, I didn't win any money, but as I mentioned, I got to have a little gross-out fascination tour at the Tropicana.

When you first see the full bodied display, there's a "ewwww" factor, but for me, it quickly turned into pure fascination. Bodies are really quite the groovy machine. A vessel that carries us for quite a long time all the while growing, changing and moving with great precision. Seeing the innerworkings in all their glory was -- to use my overused term -- awesome.

I did wonder, too, about whether or not it was ethical to use prisoners for this, and whether or not anyone really granted permission, but when I thought about it, what a great way to leave this world. Sure, your bits are on display, you've been cut to shreds, but how fortunate to be able to give to humanity in this way. We all should be so lucky.

Bottom line, GO if you get a chance to see the show in your neck of the woods.