They do WHAT?

On Faux News, Dr. Terri Orbuch noted that:

"We also need to be affectionate—and you can see that with Barack and Michelle, as well. They do a lot of touching, kissing, even fisting with one another."

Come on now! You promote yourself as The Love Doctor propose to be a relationship/sex expert and you call this fisting?
I'll show you fisting!


Actually, no, I won't but I could....

I could.

But I won't.

Victory!

I haven't had a crafty post in quite a while so, here is the latest news.

It's 80 degrees F and gorgeous in L.A. with no reports of a cool down. Must be time to start planting!!!

Despite my backyard being a total disaster (my fault entirely), I am, as part of this weekend's MLK National Weekend of Service, going to do my part in making this a healthier earth by planting my very own victory garden!

I have Mel Bartholomew's All New Square Foot Gardening
for a guide. He's quite a "character", that Mel. I think in the south, they'd call him touched. I'd call him a total nutbag, but he has some great tips for raised bed gardening.

This weekend involves building the beds. I won't be following Mel's advice exactly because my existing beds will make excellent bases. Then next weekend, I will be adding Mel's extra special fancy recipe for soil. Over the year I plan to plant:

• Blackberries
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
• Peppers
• Potatoes
  
• Pumpkins
• Strawberries
• Tomatoes
• Zucchini and whatever else seems fun at the moment.

In addition, I will be replanting some citrus trees that I have sadly neglected and thereby horribly murdered.

On February 1st, due to budgeting constraints this month, I will be purchasing this composter and making my own compost and compost tea!

Gardening appeals to me on a number of levels. I am crafty, but the crafts that appeal to me most are where something useful is created. Hence, my great love of knitting, crocheting and sewing hats, as all my Stitch n' Bitchers know.

I consider making fruits and vegetables grow out of the ground as supremely crafty. Not to mention, turning egg shells and coffee grounds into rich compost. That is some serious craft right there.

So, while I am still knitting, crocheting and sewing (btw - my serger is actually at the repair shop getting a spa mani/pedi and lube job!)

In addition to all of the love of having actual food growing in my back yard, the hard work of making it grow is something I have discovered in my two years in our new home. I really enjoy getting out into the dirt and the sun. I love getting into the shower afterward and watching rivers of dirt stream off me. Hard work on my land for such a great benefit is really quite fun and later in the spring I can have my niece and all of my other little faux nieces and nephews come over and help me pick the produce.

Forward, ho.

So, looking forward, what am I doing with 2009?


Getting my health in order, 'cause right now, frankly, it's not. I've been ignoring a bunch of stuff that, were I my child or my wife, it would be unacceptable.


Getting my money in order. A number of years ago, I went debt-free, which is a wonderful feeling. Ever since then, I've been using my AmEx, so essentially, I live one month behind. I pay my AmEx at the end of every month. So I am always paying for January with February's paycheck. In this year, I'd like to start going backward a little more by trying to live a cash life. That will certainly involve at least 2 or 3 months of very strict budgeting but I know it is worth it. Despite being in pretty good shape fiscally, I still have anxiety about money. And really, who doesn't right now?




I need some intellectual challenge. It ain't coming from the Sunday crosswords and it's not happening at work. It's time to come up with a plan, and right now, that plan probably entails going back to school for a master's degree. I might have even found a program. And no GRE!* I'll keep y'all posted.






Those are the big ones for 2009. Of course I'd like to have all holiday presents hand made by November 15th and have the perfect desk by then as well but...we'll take one thing at a time.

Happy new year y'all.


(*The last time I took the GRE, I felt like my brain had been drained of all fluids afterward. It was unpleasant. I could barely remember how to drive a car. I'm not doing it again. I like an intellectual challenge but that was just plain stupid.)

Doin' it, elephant style

Here is your laugh of the day.

"We have to do it in the Facebook, with the Twittering, the different technology that young people are using today."—Republican National Committee incumbent chairman Mike Duncan, on how the GOP can appeal to younger generations.

Now I will fully admit to my age running right up against the onslaught of Twitter. I'm not entirely sure why anyone needs to Twitter unless they're in an ongoing situation of journalistic interest, but that's just me. Nope. Scratch that. I totally don't understand the attraction of Twitter. If anyone can explain it to me so that I might actually understand that attraction, I will send them a prize. I'm serious.

Nevertheless, researchers at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior are working on assessing the brain activity of older adults who are less exposed to new technologies and have found that our brains are "sensitive and can continue to learn as we get older."

Apparently this is not as true for actual leading members of the Grand Old Party. And they wonder why they are losing young people...

Read the whole article here.

via Shakesville.

The "So Queer" Year in Review

I'm not a big fan of resolutions. I believe that if I want to change something, I should do it NOW. Now, now, now. On the other hand, I think the end of a year, the passing of a milestone is a good time to look back and look forward. Today, we look back.

Back:

I rented a sod cutter and utterly failed motorcycle class. No seriously, I was actually asked to leave the class. Why, yes, it was humiliating! I also presented a couple of papers which fed my academic ego.

I did some amazing design and party planning work including the Oedipus Coronation, the Oedipus 50th anniversary and I spent the second half of the year designing a friend's mid-century modern condo in Palm Springs. It was an awesome experience and if, when growing up I hadn't decided that I needed to be all smart and academic and shit, I might have given myself an opportunity to do design....wev.

(BTW - please don't send that into Cake Wrecks, ok? That is our patch, it's a 16 in. round cake in two layers and it was a lot of work! and it tasted like a pound of Valrhona in cake form.)

Sometime in the summer the ban on queer marriage was overturned and in November, I had the great honor to perform Frank and his partner's wedding which was utterly fabulous! and then we had to get out the vote. While Obama did, unfortunately Prop 8 did too.

2008 was my 10th year in my book group. Unfreakinbelievable. We've read some good books, some great books and some books that if I couldn't get my money back for them, I'd have shredded them so no one else would have to suffer.

This was a year of some family health issues. Hasn't been a great year in that respect and the health problems, as they are wont to do, colored a lot of the year a fine shade of charcoal gray.

I interviewed but didn't get one really amazing job. It did, however, make me realize that there are jobs out there that use my skills without necessarily doing the same exact thing I'm doing now.

Also, in November, I became a full and voting member of Oedipus Motorcycle Club. I am the first female voting member in the 50 year history of the club and I was voted in unanimously. I am so proud to be a member and I look forward to all of the rides this year!

So that was 2008. To be followed, of course, by a look forward!