TAGGED!

I got tagged by Spiritwitch

Here are the rules:
Link to the person or persons who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write 6 random things about yourself.
Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

OK, here goes...
1. I am frightened of dolls. Please keep them away.
2. I was born with a single gray hair amongst all my black hair and have always had some gray.
3. I was named after my mother's best friend who committed suicide-yikes!
4. I wish I had a llama and some goats.
5. I do not like brussel sprouts or lima beans.
6. I like to take pictures of mushrooms in forests!

Ok, so I don't have many readers of this blog, so ANYONE who comes and reads this HAS TO RE-POST AND ANSWER THIS!! Take THAT!

I can't wait to vote tomorrow! I plan to get up early to make sure I can do so as I work a dreaded 8AM-close shift, meaning I probably won't be leaving work til well past the polls are closed (yeah, it's at least a 12 hour shift, usually more like 13). This will be the first time I wasn't going after work to the polls. I will miss the excitement of getting to the polls last minute, voting, then feeling like bam, my vote changed some last minute stats for the state I was voting in. Even if it really didn't. Going in the morning makes me feel like I don't get to hide my trump card, I'm laying it all out there way too early.

I have voted in three states--Colorado, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

I seem to have trouble when voting and invariably have to get to a different polling place last minute and worry I may not get to vote. This has happed in both Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

In Colorado, I volunteered for a group called Political Voice for Animals. They would publish a very nice chart regarding all the national and local candidates and how they voted when it came to animal rights. I would saunter up to the voting machine with my checklist and make sure those bastards who cared less about animals didn't get a vote from me! On that note, I still love you, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, for all the good you did for animals!

A child brought a door hanger to us this evening from one of the presidential candidates. A CHILD??!!??

I hope to be hunkering down tomorrow night on El Coucho, watching all the television coverage with crossed fingers and great hope.

Whatever your belief or cause of slant, I have only one thing to say :
Happy voting to all you fellow Americans out there!

DAMNIT!!!

Why did I not look at THESE sooner!!!?????!!!??

"Wing it Vegan is doing an entire month of Halloween foods so I don’t even know where to begin. I guess with her latest post: Halloweegan Meatloaf Scramble With Mashed Potato Ghosts. But honestly, that is just the tip of the iceberg of mindblowing cuteness and startling innovation, so take the day off from work and read all of her Halloween posts. Heck, take the week off. Tell ‘em I said so.

Musings from the Fishbowl offers us some scaradorable skeleton cookies. Hewwo wittle skewwy poo. Pwease haunt me.

EatnVegn shares a few Halloween posts from years past. I thought this was particularly cool - spiderweb creme for your soup! Also, note the dedication. She hasn’t missed a day of blogging since MoFo began!"

These were all stolen from the Post Punk Kitchen Blog. Might have to keep Samhain going for a while in my house...

Happy Dias De Los Muertos!

I received my package yesterday from my Raverly Vegan for All Seasons pal, Emily:
We have two beautiful skeins of what looks to be cotton hand-dyed yarn, as well as two skeins of a soy/bamboo blend. A soy candle (almond scent), two bars of handcrafted soap (they smell wonderful), a beautiful autumn acorn card, a box of seeds and some yummy mandarin orange lip balm were also in the box. Last but not least, some maple sugar candies from Marquard's Tree Farm. This girl was spoiled indeed--thanks Emily, your a great swap bud! Even the scents of the soaps are the kinds I would pick out for myself.

So the Week of Creative Pursuits has sadly not yielded as much as expected. With Samhain and trick or treat mayhem and my working what should total about 51 hours this week, my time at home has been spent lying on the couch napping. I did clean the estate before going in to work on Thursday (worked 3pm-8pm that day) so that yesterday was truly a "day off." What did I do, you ask?

Made THESE:

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting from:

This was so I did not feel left out with all the non-vegan Halloween offerings hanging around for goblins. I do say, they taste just like the most divine non-vegan cupcakes I've ever eaten and I don't miss the crappy animal-product infused candy that everyone seems to love so much one little bit.

We gave out tons of that candy by the way--it only cost a small fortune, I don't know where all these kids come from! I leave you with my favorite quotes:

ME: Ooh, nice wand, can you work some magick for me with it?

LITTLE GIRL WITH WAND: No silly--it's not real!

LITTLE BOY (as he pulls something out of his pillowcase): Hey, is this dental floss?

NATURE BOY: I don't know... Happy Halloween (as he shoves two candy bars at Little Boy).

Here's a link about Dias de los Muertos.

Here's one for Samhain.

Over the Weather

As I am no longer "under the weather" I have climbed out of my coccoon on the couch, the one made of Afghanistan and a tumble of used tissues and cats. I am feeling better and it's time to get on with things.

I have been very very bad about knitting this past week. Last week, I busted out a side project (true, it was a very small scale project) and finished Sock #1 of the esteemed Pair O'Sox. Then I lie dormant whilst not working, watching TV of the likes that would destroy brain cell after brain cell. Enough!

I proclaim this week as follows:

Great Week of Creative Pursuits

That's right, here in Knitsburgh there will be a cultural revolution of sorts, a junction and grand fusion of artistic efforst so stupendous, it will earn it's own place in Knitsburgh History. Hold on to your hats!

Speaking of hats, I did buy not one, but two hats, this weekend. The first is my Irish hat, purchased with a gift certificate left from a return following Yule of last year. The second is my 100% green organic cotton cap found on sale at Anthropologie, in cranberry. How very exciting indeed, I don't think I have ever purchased two caps in the span of two days in my entire life. They are seen posing with the Trick or Treat ammo: that's 2 bags of 75-count Reese's PB cups and Kitkats, 2 bags totaling 7 lbs. of Tootsie Roll/Dots/Tootsie Pop assortmant and 3 bags of fun size 100 Grand bars. Last year we ran out and had to turn off the porch light. Nature Boy has already started the rationing: we start with the cheap candy and give one piece per goblin, no more! Seems he blames me for giving out too many candy bars at the start of the game last year. If you saw the stairs the goblins must climb up to even get a little something, you'd feel bad too!

Finally, I will leave you with my lastest creative pursuits from last week. Here are pics of a bath cloth and some geranium mint soap I made, as well as some bookmarks as part of the Vegan for All Seasons swap I participated in. The enitre package is featured last, with some yummy yarn.

It was really a lot of fun getting everything together and shopping for yarn. It's also nice to kinda get to know someone from a different corner of the country too. Well, I'm off to get all creative and stuff....'night!

On Cleavage

Ms. Knitsburgh steps upon proverbial soap box, clears her throat, and begins.

So today while on Ravelry, I read one of my favorite weekly columns, Ask Auntie BubboPants. For those of you who sadly are not on Ravelry it's an advice column, like Dear Abby, but much funnier. Maybe akin to Ask Mr. Fish.

One of the questions was from a woman who wrote, among other things, this:
"The real problem is how she dresses. She has a long torso too, and I understand that finding shirts is difficult. But it honestly took a lot, lot longer for me to ignore the fact that most of the time I’m looking at least half of her breasts, if not more, than it did to stop being jealous. I can ignore the clothing thing and talk to her face these days, and so can my husband (it probably took him longer), but it’s incredibly awkward having her meet my friends and family or going out in public together. I don’t really like drawing attention to myself anyhow and it’s not like I’m looking for guys, but it can be embarrassing and sometimes a little threatening when guys make comments. Furthermore, her clothing would be inappropriate no matter what her bra size is – I’d never go out with my chest exposed that way."

This is what I have to say on it. My mother has been battling breast cancer for years. When I was a freshman in college she was first diagnosed and started her treatments (chemo, then a radical mastectomy, then radiation). She was in remission for 12 years and then discovered it has come back, this time in her bones and lungs. She is very careful and self-conscious about the way she has to dress to hide the fact that she wears a prosthetic breast on one side. She doesn't wear dipping necklines or armholes that are loose for fear of someone seeing a scar.

I wear clothing that shows off my cleavage. If you don't like it, I don't give a fuck. Look away and/or don't pretend to be my friend if you can't handle it. I'm going to show them off while I still have them and feel good about them. I am a woman and enjoy being a woman and there is nothing wrong with my womanly body or your womanly body or anyone else's womanly body. So girls, show it off while you can, if you want to. If you don't want to then don't but don't judge those who do. Now go get a mammogram and donate some money to the cure instead of being mean and jealous towards other chicas. Peace out!

Salvation!

So last night as Nature Boy and I were on the couch, anticipating some fine TV entertainment for the evening, we heard footfalls upon our porch, then a knock on the door. I was all slumped down under Afghanistan so Nature Boy went to the door and was greeted by...

Well, not really Jesus himself but some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They kindly handed Nature Boy this card with Jesus and urged him to order the free DVD it advertised.


Now I'm going to rant here and if it's about to offend you, then by all means quit reading and go away. So I don't get why, even if I were in my home contemplating my life and feeling I was missing something spiritually, this church would think coming to my door to convert me would win me over. Personally and in my humble oppinion, it feels cult-like. I personally would not want to belong to a faith that randomly approached people to "save" in this way. I think most Americans have various churches, synagogues, temples and what-have-you in the name of religion all over their respective neighborhoods and if one were inclined to believe in the Christian faith, they could seek out a church on their own and go there. I think it's rude to assume someone needs saving by your own beliefs. Lead your life your way and I'll believe what I believe and we will both be happy and get what we need in the end. Your conversion will work better if people who actually want this come to you.


Ok, so the rant is over now. Also in the photo you will note Sock 1 from Pair O'Sox in all its finished glory. Between coughing, sneezing and blowing my nose I managed to finish it today as I sat on my couch. You see I called in sick to work today, for the first time in I-Can't-Remember-When. I'm done with dragging myself in to work to help out people who don't seem to appreciate the things I do anyway. Ok, back to the sock:

That's about it for now. I'm gonna jump in the tub to relax with a nice, hot bath and then watch The Office. If I can pull myself out of the bath that is...