Hmmmmm

What on earth has been happening with me lately?

Not much.

Today has been a sweet, slow day. Spent with my honey having fun, grocery shopping, and laughing.

We went to a friend's house last night for a little cookout and then went to a nearby park to watch the big fireworks display put on each year (but rarely if ever on the 4th of July). I had fun watching fireworks for the first time in years. I'm a bit tetchy, if truth be told, and all of those big booms usually scare the heck out of me. But last night, perhaps eased by the many bottles of delicious New Glarus lager I was drinking, I just marveled at the beauty of the fireworks, and the fun of being surrounded by other people watching them.

Now I'm sitting at my boyfriend's place, listening to the sounds of him cooking dinner (I get to make the brandy flan later) and enjoying a bit of quiet time.

There is so much going on in the world, I don't even know where to start, if I wanted to talk about things. But you know what? I don't want to talk about what's going on in the world. I want to be in my corner of it and just be. Which is exactly what I'm going to do.

ZOMG, Delicious!

The Boy and I just finished up a marvelous (if I do say so myself) breakfast of veggie omelet and roasted red and sweet potatoes.

The two best things about it?

1) The Veggies and Taters were leftovers, so no chopping was involved.
2) It was the boy's first proper omelet experience, and he really liked it!

Fat Rant 3: Joy Nash outdoes herself

Another great "rant" from Joy Nash. It is so thoughtful and well done!

I realized after watching it that I am somewhat apologetic about liking how I look at any given moment, but I ought not be.

What a Beautiful Day

Although it started out with my very-annoying-to-some-people two-hour nap, the day has been a good one. The weather, after so many days of humidity and rain, is perfect: sunny, breezy, warm but dry. Our (the boy and I) spirits are high and we had a great picnic on the lawn of the State Capitol, then we went inside and looked around for awhile.

After we'd had our fill (the Wisconsin Supreme Court Room [gallery, chamber?] is awesome, but tiny), we moved on to the Veteran's Museum. Seeing as I am pretty much a pacifist and not a history/strategy buff, I know I didn't appreciate the museum as much as the bf would have, but I was fascinated by what was shown, and by the detail of the descriptions for items and battles. It's a place made for someone with a longer attention span than either I or the boy had with us today. But a good place to finally check out.

We hung out downtown for another hour or so and got Italian sodas and walked until I tuckered him out.

It's still a beautiful day and I just finished loading the dishwasher after the two of us cleaned up the living room and I mopped. The boy's room is a disaster, and we need to get in there and really clean it, but that's for another day.

Today we are just recovering from our fine day out and preparing for a nice evening together. Yay us! We are surviving the first week of summer break. Not just surviving, but doing rather well for ourselves.

I will write about our bowling adventures later on!

The 7 Deadly Glasses

Since my birthday on Sunday, I've been forced to abstain from alcohol. I hadn't realized how much I'd been enjoying sweet, sweet liquor until I was separated from it!

Saw these amazing glasses today and thought I needed to share. They are the work of an British artist and represent the seven deadly sins.

Definitely worth a click.

Oh, that's much better

Had an incredibly rough weekend this past, despite lots of love and gifts from fam and the bf (and plenty of tasty drinks at my favourite watering hole on my birthday).

The sun has come out today (although storms threaten for this afternoon and evening), and I've just spent an hour sitting in the warm, wonderful weather.

Lovely!

Stuff Mixed People Like!!

Finally, a site for me!

(although I'm actually not a fan of #2, in particular, it's okay, but doesn't *get* me)

I've got nothing to say but it's okay

Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning-uh!

Me and my boys

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Still Fat, but relatively fit

Hooray for me! I had my annual exam yesterday and my weight is nice and steady, but higher than it was, say, a year ago. I'm fine with it, or making peace with it at the least. It's just a number (much like age).

Anyhow, there was a tiny problem with one of my tests, so my clinician called me and gave me a few numbers over the phone, one of them being my blood sugar (80) and the other that my thyroid was just right. She didn't check my cholesterol because my numbers from last year were excellent (both kinds), and my blood pressure is the lowest it's ever been in my adult life.

Seriously, I'm in good shape, as far as blood work and blood pressure. I love having numbers like these to keep me grounded - because everywhere you turn people are telling you that you cannot have both body fat and good numbers. My BMI might be over 25, but there is no indication that my weight is adversely effecting my health.

One part of my weight gain is a new medication I'm taking to help stabilize my mood. I've not gained a lot, but some, and I feel like it's a trade off that is totally worth making (A great blog post on this very subject is here). Some psychiatric drugs really adversely effect people causing massive weight gain and blood sugar problems in a short amount of time. Because of the problems with these drugs (which really should be either taken off the market or heavily restricted), I went for an older less trendy drug, and it seems to be doing a great job without too many side effects.

I'm happy with that.

Wednesday Links

Many interesting articles on teh internets today. I'm in no shape to comment on any of them, but I want to share.

First, three posts relating to three speeches from last evening:

Baratunde Thurston's Analysis of McCain, Clinton and Obama speeches.

The Talent Show on Clinton's speech.

From the Jon Swift blog, a great look at McCain's speech.

Next, some opinion pieces about other aspects of the presidential race:


Juan Cole with different take on Barack Obama's role as a "first" president.

From Hyphen Magazine, an article about Geraldine Ferraro's continuing remarks on sex and race (and how she's really working some odd angles).

Tami on the treatment of Michelle Obama in the media, via Racialicious.

Blogging for LGBT Families Day

I found out about Blogging for LGBT Families Day via Pam's House Blend, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to mark the day.

My personal experience with LGBT families is pretty varied. One of my best friend's during middle school lived with her mom and her mom's female partner, and while it was different, it was never more an issue than any other family circumstance. I love that I grew up that way, and I hope I am raising/have raised my sons to be aware of the differences in families, and simply see them as such.

Currently, my youngest's best friend has two moms, and just yesterday we stopped by the PFLAG table and the Farmer's Market and picked up rainbow flag pins. He had the choice of a sticker or something else, but he wanted to wear the pin. I asked him if he knew what it meant, and he didn't, so we talked about it, and he thought it was a great idea, showing our solidarity with our gay friends.

Because of how I grew up, I am sometimes hesitant to make big overtures of solidarity. I remember feeling uncomfortable when people made them toward me as a POC, but I get that this is different. I'm not falling all over myself to prove a point, I'm just signaling that I am an ally.

Anyhow, I have to say that I am really most disappointed that the referendum to "ban gay marriage" (which was not what it was called but what it effectively does) passed in Wisconsin. It was very sad and frustrating. And that disappointment has to do with two things: bigotry and a lack of fairness.

I hate that people are so quick to work to stop other people from sharing in the benefits of marriage. It also angers me that my friends have to have multiple legal documents to be secure (in case of medical emergency, etc.) and are forced to "legitimize" their family in a way that I have never had to do.

I think there should be equity in rights afforded to people through marriage, whether or not that means disabling the currently held rights of the already married (WILL NEVER HAPPEN) or abling those not currently eligible to marry to also have those rights (much more positive and hopefully a likely step).

I'm not very eloquent on this subject, it is difficult to talk about without resorting to just asking what the hell is wrong with society.