Best from around the web this past week….

• The Wizard of Oz,Steampunk Style Fabulous illustration by Jennifer L. Meyer. [via Nymeth on Twitter]
• recipe: Cream of Winter Squash & Tomato Soup . Yum.
• Add to my Must Read List: The Good Soldiers by David Finkel
• Help Make Puerto Rico Prosecute the Murder of 19-Year Old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercadoas a Hate Crime -Angering,horrifying,chilling. [via @The Undomestic]
• Tom Cruise’s Audition for New Moon
• Offset your Infidelity with Cheat Neutral Do you have difficulty being faithful? Fear not: CheatNeutral allows you to offset your infidelity by paying another couple not to cheat. Um,say what? Oh,I see. Carbon Offsets for those who haven’t figured out polyamory yet
• Vaccine Ingredient Calculator Nice to know exactly what’s in that stuff [via @NaturalPapa]
• Ten Webcomics You Should Read LGBT or Feminist friendly
• Crock Pot Recipe: Sweet Potato Stuffing Definitely making for THAT day – you know, some call it Turkey Day.Others call it Native American Genocide Day.Toe-may-toe,toe-mah-toe.
• Siblings who like each other and cooperate? oh,I understand – you must homeschool. Great article about the values homeschool teaches in regards to cooperation vs competitiveness. [via @Homeschool_Mom]
• Recipe: Pasta with Butternut Parmesan Sauce .Yes, I have squash I need to figure out what to do with.
• Must Have Children’ s Book: We’re Having a Homebirth! Looks like it tells it like it is. Always good, in my opinion.
• Four Good Reading Challenges for 2010 Oh,you book bloggers. Why do you do this to me?
• Top 100 Sex Bloggers of 2009 Quite a few of my regular reads made this list. Definitely going to make a point to check out the ones I’ve not read before
• An Open Letter To My Daughter Totally ditto to this.  Not just as it applies to that stupid vampire crap but in the real world with real relationships.Also, isn’t anyone else alarmed that Edward is a little creepily obsessed with stalking Bella? As one of my daughters yelled at Bella while watching Twilight,”“Some guy tells you he could kill you & you say that’s OK??? Are you a freakin’ moron!?”.
• Even more to add to the reading list: 15 Books Written by Women in 2009
• 

I realized this morning, we’ve been a car-free family for 7 years now. I should be one skinny bitch with all that walking & biking done in 7 years. Something doesn’t quite add up there.

This morning  I walked the littlest one to school, as I do almost every morning,with the exception of days when the Daddy-Man is available to do so & lets me lounge at home.. It is exactly 1/2 mile from our house to the school. It shouldn’t be a long walk in terms of time but I usually have some pokey little boy with me, milking the walk for all it’s worth. He must stop frequently to give Mr Acorn back his lost “hat”, jump from tree stump to tree stump (over the imaginary boiling hot lava below) , make fences from pine cones and have lengthy conversations with Raven, a dog who lives on our route.Among other things.

Also on our usual route to school, we often witness another family’s morning routine. This is what triggered my 7-yr-car-free-realization/reflection this morning. As the school came into sight, we had to pause for this obscene behemoth of a SUV to back out of it’s driveway. It eased out onto the street and crawled slowly the 100 yards or so to the school parking lot. We ambled along,nearly keeping pace with it, as it couldn’t drive faster than school zone speed & also had to be observant of  walking children & cars dropping children off. It pulls into the parking lot and one small child springs from the back seat and (quite capably) runs for the door. She carries her backpack with ease, since she hasn’t yet reached the jr high my twins attend (those poor girls need a crane to lift the backpacks they carry to & from school ).

Walking behind us this morning was a family that lives miles out of town. On most morning, the dad drives into town, parks by the coffee shop & walks the mile to school with his offspring. “Beautiful morning !” ,he says to me. I agree and we walk into the school to commence the drop-off.

On some mornings, if the child-to-school transfer goes quickly (like this morning), I’m lucky enough to see the SUV Mom climb back into her vehicle and drive the 100 or so yards back home.  Priceless.

I thought back to the time before we were car-free. Were we so frivolous  with our drives? I don’t recall that we were. Before I met my husband, I hadn’t actually ever owned a car so  it was already my habit to think of walking or biking first, driving if that wasn’t an option .Driving the distance of a football field to get somewhere? I don’t think that would have happened.   Before our move into town where we live now, we lived 2 miles outside of town. This was when we first became car-free. It wasn’t even difficult then. 2 miles is nothing to bicycle and if you need or want something in town bad enough,it isn’t a far walk either.

The transition from our rural life to town life was difficult, even if it did move us closer (as in,right ON) the bus route and within short walking distance to everything. We came from a house surrounded by acres of fields & woods to a 4,000 sq ft house with a tiny commercial space in part of the downstairs,  smack dab in the center of Main St.  ,with a backyard the size of a postage stamp. It overlooks the creek that flows through town & has a scant wooded area in back and for that, we were thankful. The evening sounds of crickets & frogs in the pond were replaced with drunk patrons from the neighboring bar &  traffic. We craved our natural green spaces intensely.

Soon after we moved in, we found ourselves in the center of a turf war. Our driveway. Tenants from neighboring apartment building, employees & patrons from neighboring businesses – all seemed to think our driveway was fair game to park in. I spent the first few months that we lived here chasing cars from our driveway & trying to find creative ways to keep them out. One day, some man said,”Well, you don’t even have a car!” and that was all it took to make me get serious about claiming car-free territory.

The family bikes , our own pedal-powered motorcade, became a very visible presence in the driveway. Flower pots blocked the end off ,as a barrier (and at first, one lost it’s poor life to someone who tried in vain to pull into the driveway). In the shady corner, a table & chairs with marigolds growing in mugs I rescued from a curb-side free pile. In every other available space,an array of containers & flower pots holding everything from vegetables,herbs & flowers – even sunflowers- made an appearance.

I tried to make the message as clear as possible : This is not a driveway. This is our green space among nothing but hard,gray pavement. This is our paved garden, a less upscale Grey Gardens without the cats & crazy ladies. People got the message.

We intended for this building set in the center of a place that has never felt natural to me to be temporary housing but we’ve been discussing the possibility of owning it. The current landlord is pretty receptive to this idea, understandably. The building is over 120 years old and is showing it’s age, especially with a family of 7 ( soon to be 8 ) taking up residence in it. And as much work that needs to be done on the inside, the thing I want to do most of all is tear up the stupid,ugly pavement and reclaim the soil beneath.

[blog title from: "Grey Gardens", Rufus Wainwright ]

Day 17…wait.18? of November.That November Blogging Month thing went well for me,eh?

In my defense, I had kids with flu (most likely H1N1) and I had that first trimester thing going on.

Also in my defense, I just didn’t feel like writing every day.

I can never follow or stick to these online memes. That doesn’t stop me from joining them,though. Intention counts for something.

One thing I continually decide I want to committ to and never can is reading challenges. Being the Book Whore that I am, I follow a lot of great book blogs & see all these fantastic challenges and am immediately overcome with the desire to raise my hand and hop up & down in my seat, yelling,”Oh! MEMEME!!”

As it turns out, my reading habits are far too capricious to stick to a set list that needs to be read in a set time frame. Oh, I will eventually read all those books I chose for whatever challenge it was but definitely not by the time the challenge is over.I also inevitably end up with a ton more books added to my own To Read List after following the blogs of all the participants in the challenge. I participate vicariously through their commitment to the challenges.

One GREAT challenge going on right now is Women Unbound ,a challenge that focuses on books relating to women studies. I follow the blogs of quite a few women who are participating in this challenge and love seeing the book lists of what they’re choosing to read. Can’t wait to see the reviews as they delve into this challenge.

On a related note, Guerilla Girls posted a list of Best Books of 2009 by Women.  Looks like I have more books to add to my To Read List.

I loaded the wet clothes into two dryers ,side by side, at the laundromat. I pushed the coins into the slots, pushed start and walked to the dollar-changer for more coins. Walking back to the dryers, I noticed the one on the left happily spinning, twirling pinks,blues & purples past in a whir. The one at the right sat motionless, the clothes inside damp,dead & lifeless.

I pushed the start button emphatically again & again, waiting for it to be set in motion.Nothing. Then I noticed the dryer to the left of the one not having any issues doing what it was supposed to do, tumbling empty w/ nothing but it’s own silver metal inside. It took several seconds for it to register : I put money in the empty dryer.

Anyone who refutes the idea that Pregnancy Brain is a non-existent condition hasn’t spent enough time with me in the state of gravida.

I shifted the wet laundry to the one I accidentally fed with coins. The laundromat attendant noticed. “Is there a problem with that one?”

“Nope, I’m just an idiot.”, I answered.

He didn’t argue.

I left the laundry and went to run errands & stop at the store. In the checkout, I realized I hadn’t brought a bag with me. The cashier was surprised when I asked for  a bag.”You? A Bag? Plastic better be ok because that’s all we got”.  They know there – I ALWAYS bring my own bags.

I walked out of the store, carrying the plastic bag by the handles. The farther I walked down the street,the more glaring paranoia set in. People were clearly (clearly!) focusing in on me & my plastic bag,walking down the street. “Isn’t that the lady who tried to say we needed to BAN all plastic bags?”, they snickered. The little old Korean man who lives in my neighborhood,shuffled in front of me, a bright orange in his left hand and a stack of mail in his right. I slid the handles of the plastic off my hand and made an effort to conceal the entire bag inside my jacket.

I walked home,set the offensive bag on the kitchen counter. There was a nagging feeling that I was forgetting something. An hour later, as I gathered dirty clothes off the bathroom floor, it dawned on me what it was I had forgotten.

Pregnancy has turned me into a plastic-bag-toting laundry-abandoner . Ah,the shame.

November is Journaling Month. I shall attempt to blog daily this month. Considering I started this post yesterday AND it’s just a lame survey basically, my expectations are not high for a daily posting of quality

Current book:

What is the What by Dave Eggars

Copied & pasted synopsis:

What is the What is an astonishing, eye-opening, and heartbreaking book that defies classification. Once you’ve read it, the story of Valentino Achak Deng refuses to leave your mind. Even if you’re not familiar with the Lost Boys and their struggles to escape from war-torn Sudan, you’ll be drawn into this pseudo-autobiography. What is the What tells a devastating story but never plays for sympathy. Instead, the hope, complexity, and tragedy of the situation take center stage.

Stories of The Lost Boys & other victims of the atrocities through out Africa, not just Sudan, have always been ones that get me right in the heart. this one makes my heart hurt.

Also,fluffy sidenote: I have a helluva Brain Crush on Dave Eggars

Current video:

Current shame-inducing guilty pleasure:

Stealing the kids’ Halloween candy.
Current food:

Still in 1st Trimester of pregnancy (wait..did I even mention that here on the blog? Oh,yeah…I’m pregnant again) , there’s 2 categories of food in my life: Food I Can Eat Without Retching and Food I Can’t Even Look At Without Retching.  On the first list is baked potatoes w/ sour cream, tofu,sweet potatoes, avocados, quesadillas & cottage cheese. Those would be my current foods
Current drink:

Fucking Caffeine Lite coffee.

The first thing that happens when I’m pregnant is The Man revokes my caffeine privileges AND he forces horse-pill sized prenatal vitamins down my throat. I’ve  always cheated and had at least 1 cup anyway and never took the prenatals  but in the spirit of our open & honest  relationship, I confessed all. He struck a bargain – I willingly take the prenatals & he’ll  “allow” (oh, the patriarchal overtones are killing me!) me to have my morning coffee BUT it has to be Caffeine Lite.

Current link:

10 Reasons Abortion Should Be Covered By Healthcare

Current outfit:

A purple corduroy skirt (the top button won’t button but I’m wearing it anyway) , a purple & green layered tee with argyle cut-out & overlay design on the front (I can’t explain it any better than that. It’s a DIY T-shirt surgery thing)

Current fetish:

I think my current fetish is people who have the pregnant sex fetish. That’s all I need right now.
Current fragrance:

My kitchen smells like pumpkins
Current celebrity crush:

Alison Mosshart

Current film:

I had plans for some Halloween-inspired movie marathon but sleep won me over. Last movie I watched (without falling asleep) was Il Postino – absolutely beautiful movie.
Current mood:

snarky
Currently playing on my iPod:

oh,i don’t have one of those new fangled things. But playing at this very moment? “Magnet” by Bikini Kill is playing
Current colors:

Fall leaf colors

Current wish-list:

sun,temps in the 80’s,endless summer

Current needs:

health insurance would be nice
Current triumph:

I recently spent an entire morning & lunch with my mother and didn’t snap. HUGE triumph.

Current bane of my existence:

oh,the usual – laundry.

Current indulgence:

Creme filled mint chocolate Pirouettes, dipped in my coffee. I should add these to the list of foods I can eat.

Current #1 blessing:

My fambly,as crazy as they are.

This week’s Tuesday Tunes : What is the creepiest music video you’ve ever watched?

The very first video that popped into my head is probably not the typical definition of creepy but seriously, I’ve never been more skeeved out watching a music video. This one by Trace Adkins:

That man makes my tummy feel funny and not in a good way. I refuse to believe that those girls didn’t pick up on the creepy factor ,too. Damn good actresses, all of ‘em!

More traditionally “creepy”? Maybe I’m only thinking of it because I was reminded of it by this “How to Make A Meat Hand” tutorial but Queens of the Stone Age’s  “Sick Sick Sick”  is kind of delightfully creepy. Although it’s a little sad seeing your favorite band being eaten by some very hungry woman.

There are definitely some more disturbing & creepy videos out there. I just don’t feel like thinking about them right now.

[Win]

I don’t see how this could possibly be seen as a FAIL

[Also Not A Fail]

from here

Conversation my uber-geek hubby & I had over this photo:

Him: Why? Why would a storm trooper be singing in the rain?

Me: If you had a storm trooper costume, you’d do all sorts of goofy things with it,too

Him: Would not.

Me: Would so.

Him: Well…. not THAT I wouldn’t.

(I think he would)

[Library Loot]

This was my Book Club Book for next months meeting, chosen for it’s macabre & creepy storyline to accompany the month of October.

Set in Medieval times,  the story features a female doctor who “the dead speak to”. Meaning, she’s a sort of a Temperance Brennan or Sara Sidle during a time when women were most definitely not supposed to be doctors,let alone speak to dead bodies. .Educated & raised in Salerno, Adelia is ordered by the King to travel to England  to investigate the gruesome & brutal  murders of 4 children in Cambridge that the Jews are being blamed & persecuted  for. Under the guise of  acting as assistant to her manservant, she avoids the inevitable questioning and accusal of witchcraft.

The mystery of the novel is a gripping plot on it’s own but it’s the character of Adelia ,with her early “feminist” views  and examination of anti-semitism,anti-woman, superstition and plain churchy stuff in Medieval England that give the story depth & interest.

[blog title: "Singing in the Rain", of course]

More than frost on the pumpkin

somebody enjoyed his walk to preschool this a.m. (note to self: leave 10 minutes early on snowy days to allow for dawdling)

Snow covered playground at school.Of course,I didn't think to send him to school w/ snowpants

one of my fave local churches (architecturally & spiritually).It always seems prettier surrounded by snow

Just a little shout out to our local punk band The Berettas.

[blog title from "First Snowfall" by The Carpenters ]

I’m really just echoing Thank You Thursday here today:

In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her co-workers while she was working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad. Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR “if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.” Check out his speech from the Senate floor yesterday:

The good news is that the amendment passed ,68-30.

The 30 is baffling. Do Republican women feel ok being represented by this? I don’t see how.

I love Jon Stewart for representing a voice of compassion & common sense during the times that puzzle me. He’s on the Top 10 of my list of Brain Crushes,for sure.

more about “Daily Show: Rape Nuts “, posted with vodpod

I would like to add a huge “Fuck you” to the idiots who are blaming the victim here,with their reasoning that she shouldn’t have signed the contract in the first place if she didn’t want to be raped.  The idea of making a woman consent to rape…and that this is ok? What are you people thinking?

[blog title quote from Jamie Leigh Jones, in response to the amendment passing]

[Twitter Digest,Aug 28-29]

Actual tweets bolded.Expanded commentary not bolded

Part of me wants to say “kudos” but mostly I just want to get the baby out of that plastic bucket ( http://bit.ly/Q0VTk )

Huge Pet Peeve: Babies stuck in plastic buckets with a handle on them. Get a sling,people! #babywearing

Ok,so it’s awesome that someone was clever enough to write a code to babysit for them.Yes,kudos.  Personally,though? No real kudos. Babies don’t belong in plastic  buckets,unless they’re in the car.

Laughing at: “The Snuggie Sutra” ( http://bit.ly/upEwT )

You have a Snuggie.You have sex.This was inevitable. Actually I don’t have a Snuggie, but I guess if I did, I would put it to some good use besides the obvious.

If considering Gardasil vax,please read,including comments RT: @thecatenelson: Research speaks out against Gardasil. http://bit.ly/14PL5x

Seriously, if you’re a young woman within the vax range for Gardasil or are the parent of young girls, read this article and every other one you can get your hands on about the product. I have 3 daughters. Not a single one of them will be getting this vaccine.

Listening to: “When Children Are Wanted « This I Believe” ( http://bit.ly/OA4pZ )

This was a nice edition of “This I Believe‘, featuring Margaret Sanger’s words on not just working for herself, but for a greater good in the world.

I believe that Margaret Sanger is one of the the  most influential people on our society as we know it today. Without her dedication & commitment to ensuring women the right to take their reproduction into their own hands, women might still be slaves to their own biology.

“Trouble the Water” – 1st person account/amateur footage documentary about Katrina.It was good… ( http://bit.ly/CGpHk )

Anniversary of Katrina needed to be marked somehow. This was a different kind of docu, in that a lot of the footage was firsthand citizen documentation from someone who  stayed in NO thru the hurricane and then chronicles the weeks after

” When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts” is still (IMO) the best film about Katrina I’ve seen ( http://bit.ly/USGsf )

It’s a beautiful film,truly.

This is awesome:Atheists who will take care of Christian pets after The Rapture comes ( http://bit.ly/17OGt2 )

I guess this is assuming that not all dogs & kitties go on to wherever it is,too.

Oh,my. I lack words,too. RT: @geekgirls: I….I dont even know what to say http://peopleofwalmart.com/ (via @pcweenies)

Since I don’t shop at Wal-Marx, it’s nice to see what I’m (not) missing. I have mixed feelings about blogs like this,though. I don’t judge a book by it’s cover. I mean, these people..sure they shop at the most evil store on earth but they might be awesome people. They might look like outcasts, fashion violators or just clinically insane but  hey…who the fuck cares?  Of course I’m laughing my ass off over some of the examples but I do it with some ounces of shame, knowing that I’m laughing at superficial quirks. As someone with plenty of superficial (and internal) quirks , I’m typically against judgment of external features that don’t conform to some odd standard society has made up.

One site like this that particularly pisses me off: Why the fuck do you have kids? Most people get their panties in a twist about the bad parenting shown but if I wore panties,they’d be more in a wad over the stereotyping of teenage and young parents.

Honestly, if I were to post any picture from my first child’s baby & toddlerhood with myself in it, I’m sure the people at Why the fuck do you have kids? would use it for fodder.  They’re no different from any fucktard I encountered in the dawn of my Mommyhood.  See, you can’t tell from a picture based on the age of the parent how inept or capable they are at parenting. Have you seen pics of Joan Crawford?  Sparkly,pretty,over 25 doesn’t always equal balanced , Mother of the Year.

[blog title: quote from Mommie Dearest....but it works in reference to Margaret Sanger's work,too. ]