Happy Coffee & Tea Carnival Blogging! Just three entries in this first installment but I’m hoping future editions bring more great coffee and tea blog entries. Consider sending in your entry for the next carnival, please. This should be fun!
Technorati Tags: coffee, tea, carnival, blogcarnival, coffeeandteafestival
Daily Dose of Carnival! Coffee & Tea Read More »
TW bought me candy on Saturday. This would not be notable if the candy was circus peanuts or caramel cremes or smarties (not the weird Canadian kind) or even jelly bellies. It was notable because this was a candy bar. I don’t really do candy bars. She was excited to tell me this. Excited to say “I bought you a LIMITED EDITION candy bar!” Now that is weird. Usually we buy those weird Limited Edition candy bars for HER, not for me. But this, she said, was definitely not a Limited Edition candy bar that she would ever try. Hmmm.
On Sunday as I was packing up some stuff for our trip to St Augustine, I got a peek at this special Limited Edition candy bar. Ha! Limited Edition Orange Creme Kit Kat Definitely not something she would eat, EVER. She hates push-up ice cream. She hates orange dreamcicles. I sort of like both, in the way that I sort of like some foods – which is not much but sort of.
Tonight at dinner I mentioned this Limited Edition candy bar to the small kids and they were all interested. When we got home, I pulled out the package and broke off a strip for each child (nice of Hershey’s to give us four strips per Kit Kat, isn’t it?!).
E said “Hey! It’s Orange” oh yes indeedy it was VERY orange. I wasn’t expecting that. I was expecting a normal looking Kit Kat on the outside with orange inside. Weird.
It felt weird in my hand too, not like chocolate but like some weird umm orange coating. Or some fake white chocolate coating maybe.
We all took bites. E really liked it. She was very excited about it. She would definitely buy this again and again and again. Prince J said it was ok but not great, but when I handed him the other half of my strip, he immediately popped it into his mouth. I asked why he was eating more if it was just ok. He laughed and said he just felt like eating it but not because it was great. RJ said it was good and she would occasionally buy it but it was not going to become one of her favorite candy bars because there are so many different kinds of candy bars to choose from and so many that are way better than that one. But once in awhile it would be a nice choice.
E insisted again that this was GOOD and she’d love to have more. She did balk at that when I described at as tasting like a push up ice cream with cornflakes inside. (Which is what it tasted like to me)
If you want to try a pretty good Limited Edition Kit Kat, try the mint instead.
Technorati Tags: candybar, kitkat, orangecreme, limitededitionkitkat,
Daily Dose of Candy – Limited Edition Read More »
Diet! Diet! Exercise! Diet! DIET! I can’t tell you how often I hear those words or say those words everyday. Well I could but then you’d want to kill me. We spend an awful lot of time thinking about diets, going on diets, going off diets, complaining about exercise and worrying about what our diets are (or aren’t) doing for our bodies.
Do you think it might be time to stop worrying so much about diet, diet, diet and worry more about overall health? Do you think it might be time to give our bodies a break and start appreciating them for what they DO look like rather than what society has convinced us they SHOULD look like?
Alas, a Blog launched the first Big Fat Carnival last week (the next one isn’t scheduled til April, darn it). There are some terrific size acceptance links in the Carnival. Go read! Ponder the message! Consider your own body, your feelings about other bodies. Does size matter?
After you’ve surfed the carnival – stop by Fat Chicks Rule and be sure to consider Lara’s entry from February 13, Soon they’ll be saying a little anorexia is ok:
Moderately heavy models may actually lower women’s self-esteem
The most annoying part was near the end with the claim “These results shed light on why magazines featuring only plus-sized models don’t have the success of the magazine that feature slim models: “…campaigns featuring moderately heavy ‘real women’ might not be as inspirational (or effective) as expected,” conclude Smeesters and Mandel.”
Interesting, eh? Women often scream for advertising that includes “real women” but is that really what we want? Does size matter?
**Cross Posted @ Blogher**
Technorati Tags: diet, weightloss, sizeacceptance, fat, bigfatcarnival, blogher
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From the title of this post you might think I’m going to talk about all of the blog fluttering about Willie Nelson and his gay cowboys. I’m not. I don’t DO Willie Nelson. I don’t like Willie Nelson. I only tolerate discussions about Willie Nelson for the awesome Nuthinfancy and the amazing catnmousie. So no, this is not about that MAN. And I’m not sorry, either.
When I first heard about the movie Brokeback Mountain and all of it’s "awesome" gay cowboyness my first thought was Y’all and their song My Man, Our Horses, and Me from the OUT LOUD cd. I tried very hard to push that image from my mind. I saw the movie and while it wasn’t anything like the "classic" gay cowboy song that the Flamingo House Family has often giggled over, I couldn’t get that song out of my head. It’s just that kind of song. You say gay cowboys, I think "side saddle". You say gay cowboys again and I think "her name is windy".
Go listen – and if you’re so inclined, listen to some of our "family favorites" from the cd while you’re there… The only Indigo Girls song I like, "This Train"… "Weddings are Icky", because they ARE! … Chris and his friends loved "Shave Your Head", one of the kids really loved "Kiss My Sticky" (guess which one!) and of course Melissa Ferrick is awesome with a song she never sings in her live performances, "Taking a Liking".
Out Loud folks, with gay cowboys. And no Willie Nelson in sight!
Technorati Tags: gaycowboys, music, mymanourhorsesandme, y’all, outloud, GLBT,
Daily Dose of Music – Gay Cowboys Read More »
Sarah Gim at Slashfood wants to know how much we would pay for water – well that’s easy, whatever it costs! The bigger question is what would you DO for water? That answer is much more complicated.
Click that link to Slashfood for a second. See the picture? Well in that picture are two types of water that TW and I have spent a lot of money on (a lot being a relative term considering we seriously spend a lot on coffee) and searched the world over to find. See the bottle that’s all funky shaped? Jewel shaped is what TW calls it? That’s “her” water – or it was til all sorts of people started drinking it. See the tall, silver topped bottle of Voss water? That’s my water.
Let’s start with that jewel shaped bottle – (I have a confession to make, I don’t actually know what it is called even though I searched and searched and searched for it and did, in fact, buy it. I also can’t find an empty bottle here anywhere to figure out what it might be called.) – TW was at work and we were talking via AIM one day before Christmas. She starts talking about a water bottle that N or E or someone who I’ve obviously forgotten had. How it was a pretty jewel shape and how she really wanted that bottle. Apparently it could be found at Uppercrust. Well geez, that’s easy, Uppercrust is a block away. We can get that. Of course we didn’t get it. We promptly forgot all about it or went into sloth mode or tucked ourselves away in the bedroom to avoid the stress of Christmas shoppers and Upper Crust and Dorns type people so no jewel bottle shaped thing appeared in TW’s hand.
Then Mommy and Me Day arrived. Michelle took the day off from school and I took the day off from work and we spent the day together. Shopping – I hate shopping, she loves shopping. We compromised and shopped in places I like (except Walmart, which I hate but had to go there anyway). We hit Wild Iris and small shops downtown. And we went to Uppercrust and we began our search for TW’s jeweled water bottle. The problem is – I thought she meant water bottle, not bottle of water. So I thought I was looking for a sports bottle, refillable travel mug sort of thing. We searched and searched. We asked for help. Nothing. Never heard of it. As we were about to leave, I glanced into the cold cases and there it was. A jeweled looking BOTTLE OF WATER at which point I began to laugh and couldn’t stop laughing. One bottle of water purchased. Santa brought it in her stocking for Christmas. A whopping $2 or something like that – so Slashfood, that’s how much I’d pay. But the trouble I’d go to, that’s something else entirely.
Now let’s talk VOSS Water aka SEX water aka FRIENDS water. Depending upon who we are talking to. Though we may now have to refer to it as HURRICANE water because E is sure mommy is expecting a hurricane anytime now ’cause of all of the bottled water.
When I lived in SC our favorite restaurant was a little place called Friends in beatiful downtown Anderson, SC. Great restaurant, fun waitresses (remind me to tell you about Kate) and dyke owners (which is incredibly rare in Anderson, SC let me tell you). Lots of vegetarian choices and Voss Water. So, we’d go out for dinner, we’d buy a bottle of water (or three) and we’d go home to the attic and I’ll leave you with a copy of the Whole Lesbian Sex book to imagine what came next.
Well folks, Voss water is not easy to find outside of Anderson, SC and Dean & DeLuca – the only two places I think we’ve ever seen it “in the wild” – though TW will probably read this and correct me – regardless, it’s hard to find. And we’ve tried. **edited to add TW says that RJ told her “They sell that water at Dragonfly!” right after it arrived. Dragonfly is not a restaurant we visit. For multiple reasons. Figures, eh?**
TW surprised me a few months ago with two cases of Voss Water! TWO CASES! One case of each – 800ml and 350ml – sparkling only, please. So Slashfood – I’m guessing $75 for two cases, including shipping is how much we’d pay for Voss Water. It’s well worth it.
Technorati Tags: water, bottledwater, vosswater, shopping
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TW and E roasted coffee beans this morning in the "old fashioned popcorn popper" that E and Michelle got for Christmas a couple of years ago. This coffee bean roasting fun was my Valentine’s Day present! Weird and fun, typical of TW in its awesomeness.
E was not really sure this was a good idea. What if it hurt her popcorn popper? The beans are prettier green than brown! Are you sure this is how you are suppose to do this? hehehe. I don’t blame her for asking, the whole thing made me a little nervous too. But, oddly enough, it seems to work.
We’re going to have peaberry (a favorite of mine) and the beans smell pretty terrific. I’ll let you know how it tastes in a couple of days. Apparently after roasting, the beans have to sit. HMPH! Oh we’ve got some other kind, besides peaberry and those are prettier – or maybe they just roasted them longer so they are darker?
**Update** We’ve had three pots of the TW and Kids Popcorn Popper Roasted Coffee (TWKPPRC is how we’ll refer to it from now on, folks) and it’s awesome! The lighter roasted beans (the first batch) had a really smooth taste. The really really dark roasted beans was soooo strong, I loved it too! The medium roasted beans were not my favorite of the three but the 1/2 child raved about it on the way to work this morning. You can really TASTE the flavor or some such thing was said over and over again. The word FRESH was also used. I finally told him to shush up and let me drive in peace and save is rave reviews for TW after work. So there you have it – another marshmallowy TW present idea carried out to perfection. I’m a lucky woman!
Technorati Tags: coffee, coffeeroasting, popcornmethod, peaberry
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Last night’s performance of the Vagina Monologues was pretty ok. Not the best I’ve seen but not bad at all. There were some pretty good moments and some not so good moments which is as it should be, right?
Not so good moment #1, it was freezing. Never attend a small performance in a very large and what appeared to be unheated bar in winter, even if it is in Florida. Especially if the seats are those flip fold metal chairs. We literally froze our butts off. I should have let TW go to the car to get the travel blanket, silly me I thought it would warm up. It didn’t.
Not so good moment #2, the tshirts were less than spectacular according to Michelle. White is really not her "color" and the plain green or plain grey colored tshirts weren’t much better for her. I thought they were fine but do agree they could have used a bit more "something".
Not so good moment #3, we had to control laughter during My Vagina was My Village. That has never happened before and I hope to (insert deity here) it never happens again. That little monologue should not ever incite laughter, not even in TW and NEVER in me. But last night, it did. I thought having two women perform it was a fine idea but it didn’t work because those two women either didn’t quite grasp the idea (which I doubt) or couldn’t carry it off so they went for something else entirely. That something else didn’t work. At all.
Not so good moment #4, Reclaiming Cunt didn’t work for me.
Not so good moment #5, Little Coochi Snorcher also didn’t work for me. Which is my fault. I’ve seen the show too many times. I’ve seen this monologue done so well that I just have really high expectations. It’s a hard monologue for anyone and last night a woman who is not a professional actress performed. A woman who is in the shelter system. I give this woman props for doing this monologue (oh along with a TG woman – splitting it up for two people was also a problem for me) but from a performance standpoint, it didn’t work.
Not so good moment #6 was really a pretty good moment, it was disconcerting that the woman who did The Flood (one of my personal favorite monologues – and no I don’t have dreams about Burt Reynolds, well not anymore) reminded me of the small children’s kindergarten teacher.
Now onto the good parts…
Pretty good #1, Disconcerting or not, Mrs S she did a fine job on The Flood. She didn’t push the NY/Jersey accent thing, which was good because that’s not an easy accent to do. She just did it, as an older woman, and it worked very well. She also did a pretty decent job on I Was There in the Room. I’ve got no complaints with that one either.
Pretty good #2, very nice job on The Vagina Workshop. Accent and all. I’m picky about accents and generally prefer people NOT do them if they aren’t really good at them. I like this monologue a lot but not when done with a bad accent. This one – good accent, good performer, good monologue.
Pretty good #3, choosing the right woman to represent the Angry Vagina is very very important. Even if the woman chosen giggles her way through it, (you can giggle and express anger at the same time folks), it can work with the right performer. Last night, right performer was chosen. Nicely done.
Pretty good #4, we’ve never seen the Trans monologue (They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy…) in person. The three TG women who performed it did a nice job with it, I think. Three very different women, together, it worked for me. (Charles said this was his favorite monologue which made me and TW laugh but I suppose I can see why that would be the case)
Pretty good #5, Michelle’s new favorite monologue is My Short Skirt. The young woman who performed it troubled me because she’s either a really good actress (which could be) or she’s got a history. She was weepy during a couple of the monologues she was not performing and when she did hers, it felt pretty real to me. (Which reminds me – Not So Happy Vagina Fact of the night – Gainesville has twice the number of rapes as the national average. Twice. The. Number.)
Pretty good #6, Bob. I like Bob, non-descript as he may be. I often dislike the performances given of Bob, aka, Because He Liked to Look. Some woman just don’t get it. Maybe they’ve not yet found someone who liked to look? Last night’s performance went well. Interestingly, Michelle hates this monologue. Not because she is uncomfortable with the idea that someone might like to look – she dislikes it because sending the message that women need someone else to appreciate their vaginas before they can appreciate them is wrong.
Pretty good #7, Hair. This is another one that I either love or hate, generally. Last night, I didn’t love or hate it. Love the performer. Wish she’d slowed down a little. Let it sink in a little. The timing seemed just a little too off for me to love it. But I didn’t hate it either, which is good.
Pretty good #8, Moans. Again, choosing the right woman to perform is very important. That happened last night. Young girl, shaved head, a lot of enthusiasm for her subject. She wandered the stage, she improvised (sometimes badly but her enthusiasm and excitement made it ok), and she had fun. I liked it a lot, not because it was smoothly orchestrated like the professional performances and not because it was unusual in its presentation but because this young woman obviously enjoyed making her cast moan. She obviously enjoyed the topic. She obviously enjoyed herself. Very important for vaginas and moaning.
Technorati Tags: gainesville, vaginamonologues, vday, vday2006, vaginas
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What do you think? – Johari Window. (Thanks gipsy!)
OK I posted this late yesterday shortly after listening to Nancy’s Northern Voice session so of course thoughts about identity and us/them and community were rumbling around in my head. I had this really long half-written post about Nancy and community, then I spotted this little toy on Amber’s blog. And poof, there went my post. I can’t finish it because this is better. And more interesting than my proposing marriage and pledging to love chocolate forever if she’ll have me.
This little Johari Window toy is really really interesting to play with. If you can find someone you know in "real life" to join you in it, it’s interesting. If you can find someone whose blog you’ve read for a long time to join you, it’s also interesting. And if you can find someone whose blog you’ve only just started reading to join you, it’s interesting too. See, interesting!
How do people see you? People who know you well, in real life – people who know you well, online only – people who don’t know you at all? This little box, with a handful of words says an awful lot.
The first one I participated in was Gipsy’s – I’ve only just started reading her blog, (since January, when she first posted on Blogher). So I don’t know her well at all. I created one and two people who know me pretty well have responded and two more people who used names I don’t recognize have responded. Then I joined Chalice Chick’s Johari Window and found the responses for her interesting, too. (I’ve been reading CC’s blog for more than six months but I don’t know her in person.)
How do people see me – and how do I see other people? What sort of identity am I presenting here? In other online areas? In offline areas? What do I see when I read gipsy’s blog? When I read CC’s? Why do I think these things? Feel these things?
Tons of questions. No answers. Or too many answers? That’s what identity is, to me. Tons of questions, tons of answers. Sometimes the two intersect, sometimes they don’t. Identity is like that.
Technorati Tags: personality, identity, meme, johari, johariwindow
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