Sunday, August 28, 2011
I Am Posting This On My Wall RIGHT NOW
This is the funniest thing I have ever seen and every time I even think about it I start busting up laughing. I need to post it right on the bathroom mirror so on days like today when I'm pretty sure my kids are the only reason I'm not downing a bottle of whiskey and slitting my wrists, I can drag myself out of bed into the bathroom to pee, look up at this, grow a spine and face the day like a crazed baby chick, unhinged and taking no prisoners.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Anyone Know How To Fix This Bike?
This happened while my daughter was riding her bike. Now she can't ride it anymore and she is sad. Do any of you in Bike Land know what happened here and how we fix it, preferably without high expense?
Sunday, August 21, 2011
So, What Say You?
Yes, the posts are easier to read in one collection of things I focused on this week, or no, please spread these suckers out into different posts?
The Alisa Post, Episode 1: Get Yer Freak On
Let's start off our first post with the greatest piece of art ever created.
See the original on Deviant Art by Clicking Here.
Seasons and Festivals
Women's Equality Day: August 26
"The observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality. Workplaces, libraries, organizations, and public facilities now participate with Women’s Equality Day programs, displays, video showings, or other activities." - National Women's History Project
Crafts and Needlework
I am not interested in learning Filet Crochet.
Until now.
Meanwhile, my friend Dana sold me a $260 weaving loom for $50, graciously given to me by my sugar mama, Laura, in advance for some promised crocheted items. Thank goodness it includes an instruction book because for the most part the intertubes are devoid of tutorials for working on this kind of loom. As you can see in this picture of my kids in front of it, it is designed for a classroom so that several children can work simultaneously. Most of the looms and patterns I find online are for an entirely different kind of loom.
The kids are fascinated and I've already started cutting up scrap fabrics and old clothes. It will be a nice stash buster.
There's three rugs going on this loom - mine is on the far left, and then I started two for the kids.
A few things I've learned already about this Friendly Loom - It's generally for bulky yarns or fabric scraps. I'm not going to get finer woven fabrics from this. I also see the advantage of having a wide toothed comb for pushing the strips down as I work rather than using my fingers - hopefully I can find something at the thrift store this week.
I found THIS SET OF VIDEOS useful in learning how to use the Friendly Loom and frame looms in general.
We also followed THIS TUTORIAL to make Waldorf Education-style star lanterns. The kids painted the watercolor paintings and I did the cutting and folding.
I got this book from our library. I LOVE IT. It is has lots of photographs and detailed descriptions about the things you can do to children's spaces that are enriching, magical and tactile/sensorial.
The following are some pictures I am using as inspiration for our playroom. The pictures link back to the source. I've been working on this playroom for over a year - but in my defense, I got knocked up, had a crappy pregnancy, and then had a baby. This summer we've been de-cluttering left and right. I even sold their play kitchen that I saved all year for because they never used it except for a Lego table and super hero fortress. We have a wooden doll house for that, kids!
I just cannot keep up with the housekeeping and organizing while also being an involved parent and enriched crafter. We just have so much STUFF. It's time to simplify and get rid of the STUFF. But, it is also time to make the STUFF do its job and help us be more satisfied at home. We need beauty and color to uplift us. We need things to gaze on and touch. Less toys, less clothes, less gadgets. More art, more plants, more room for the baby to practice her wobbly walking and the kids to spread out their materials for imagination and exploration.
This room looks busy, and as renters, we can't paint the ceilings or walls. I like it because it has COLOR and TEXTURE. So many baby rooms and kids rooms are decorated to their parent's taste - blue and yellow, pink and white, gray and black - they certainly look clean, balanced, even elegant. Give a baby a choice, though, and they always go for the thing with the most colors. I asked my kids what colors they want in their playroom and my 3 year old wisely answered, "All of them."
I am making something similar to these crocheted circles out of shades of blue and green for their window.
This is my original inspiration room. I like the color combination. There is a general theme of green and blue, which is my favorite, but also other colors thrown in to make it fun.
A rainbow rice sensory table is a fantastic idea. However, could I keep the five year old from going nuts in it and throwing it everywhere? Hmmmm.....
Alternative Parenting
Attachment Parenting practices linked to reduction in SIDS rates
Some Of Us Breastfeed While Having Sex
Interested in proving that I'm not a pervert with no boundaries, I posted an unscientific poll on my Facebook page - how many of us have breastfed an infant back down to sleep while in the middle of having sex? 18 people answered the poll, two people emailed me privately because they didn't want their answers to be public, and a handful more came up with a new answer I hadn't included - those ones stopped sex to breastfeed, then came back to finish what they started.
11 of us admitted to breastfeeding during sex.
2 of us admitted to also breastfeeding a toddler during sex.
3 of us tried it but it was too awkward.
22 of us answered "Never Have and Never Will." (One of those was a guy friend skewing my poll results)
Apparently the majority of people on the internet think this is creepy, wrong, sick, perverse, and bordering on child abuse. Yet one in three of us answered yes, we do this, and several of them are quite conservative. I think a lot more of us do this than are admitting it. If you finally get a moment with your lover, and the baby wakes up, so much easier to nurse that baby back down in a few minutes then stop everything, in my opinion.It has nothing to do with no self-control, having a funky fetish, or disrespecting my child or my husband. It was just a beautiful thing we didn't feel like stopping when the babies woke up, since we knew it would not take much to get that baby back to sleep. But child abuse? Really? I'm pretty sure none of my babies remember or care.
Spirituality
One of my Mormon friends recently had the pleasure of teaching a Sunday school lesson to preschoolers about how we have bodies like Heavenly Father. Because she rocks, she altered the visual aid so that the girls got ones that said "I Have a Body Like Heavenly Mother's." And that's one of many reasons why I love her. (The other reason is that she has the songs to Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog memorized. But that's it. ;-)
Here is a link to her blog, With Your Mutual Approbation: Likening the scriptures to include our Mother in Heaven.
Homeschooling and Alternative Schooling
Schoolchildren Can Also Learn Complex Subject Matters On Their Own, Researchers Find
I Freakin' Love Food
Coconutty Paleo Fudge
"I know paleo fudge is kind of a oxymoron. But while most fudge is made with tons of powdered sugar this one is sweetened with only honey. It's super delicious!" Full Story
Herbal Remedies, Nutrition and Alternative Health
C is almost 6 years old and has been peeing his pants a lot this summer. We've been assuming it's because he's been playing for hours at a time outside with the neighborhood kids and he just doesn't want to come inside. Sometimes, though, he just pees, and then pees 20 minutes later, and then another 20 minutes later. Like right now as I'm writing this - 4 times in the last hour and he still peed his pants.
A friend suggested it might be gut issues, and I looked up various websites and discovered that quite a few places, including the National Kidney & Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, list food sensitivities and artificial preservatives/colors and causes of urinary incontinence in children. Upon questioning Connor this evening, he revealed that some of the girls shared koolaid with everyone today. Light Bulb Moment!
THIS LINK has suggestions and stories about families who were able to address not only bed wetting and pants wetting but also general behavior issues by discovering and eliminating irritating ingredients from childrens diets.
Injustices and Eye-rolling
Only One Woman on the "Super Committee"? Ouch!
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner
"Co-founder and Executive Director of Moms Rising
Here's the math: Women are 50.7% of our population, only 17% of Congress, and an appallingly low 8% of the Super Committee.
This lack of representation on the debt ceiling Super Committee which is charged with cutting $1.5 trillion from the federal budget is pathetic, particularly given that critical programs -- like Medicaid, Medicare, child care, education, food assistance, and Social Security -- which have the biggest impacts on women and families are at stake.
The solutions that come out of the Super Committee need to reflect the needs of Main Street, and not just greedy Wall Street corporations.
Why is it an 'ouch' that there's only one woman on the Super Committee?
Because, as news outlets report, "When women aren't at the table, programs that disproportionately benefit and employ women -- like child care, education, food assistance, and Medicare -- are often the first to go.""
Full Story
Podcasts
Relaxation Meditation Podcast: Lita has one of the most amazing voices I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. Even just listening yo her making her announcements is soothing. You can also find her on YouTube under Massageclips, but her podcasts are longer. I try to listen to her every night before going to bed.
Humor
Parenting. Illustrated With Crappy Pictures is the blog I was thinking about doing until this mom beat me to it. Bryan and I love it. Subscribe and laugh your head off.
News, Activism and "Hmmmmm" Articles
When porn meets real motherhood
An adult star photographed breast-feeding is accused of exposing her baby to pedophiles
By Tracy Clark-Flory
What we have here is a tempest in a porn star's breast pump -- and it reveals just how discomfiting some find the overlap between sex and motherhood.
Just weeks after adult actress Madison Young gave birth, she launched an art exhibit titled "Becoming MILF." The idea was that she would explore how she now embodies a contradiction, the dichotomy to end all dichotomies -- that of the Madonna and the whore. At the show's opening, she served up self-made breast milkshakes and displayed a baby quilt made of burp cloths and "porn star panties."
.....It isn't just porn stars who are chastised when their breasts suddenly become utilitarian, though. We Americans love us some boobs, until they're desexualized -- then they seem obscene. Just think of all the moms who have been kicked out of restaurants for flashing a wee bit of cleavage while trying to feed their fussy newborn. That isn't to mention the disgust directed at women who dare talk about the physical pleasures of breast-feeding. We don't like to think of moms as sexual beings -- except for in the taboo-busting world of porn (paging Dr. Freud). It's fitting for a porn star mama, the rare industry "MILF" who is actually a mom, to remind folks that, generally speaking, one has to have sex in order to become a mom.
Maybe the other lesson here is that sexual objectification is the worst when you don't choose it. As Young tweeted to her critic, "[T]he only one sexualizing this image of me breastfeeding is you. Which makes me feel truly disgusted and violated." -FULL STORY
Can GMOs Help End World Hunger?
John Robbins
Posted: 8/1/11 02:14 PM ET
Seen Around The Intertubes:
(click on the image for associated link, unless I stole it from someone's facebook wall, in which case, ta da!)
As Always, We Finish With a Cute:
See the original on Deviant Art by Clicking Here.
Seasons and Festivals
This day marks the passage of the 19th Constitutional Amendment in 1920, which granted women the right to vote.
"The observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality. Workplaces, libraries, organizations, and public facilities now participate with Women’s Equality Day programs, displays, video showings, or other activities." - National Women's History Project
Crafts and Needlework
I am not interested in learning Filet Crochet.
Until now.
Meanwhile, my friend Dana sold me a $260 weaving loom for $50, graciously given to me by my sugar mama, Laura, in advance for some promised crocheted items. Thank goodness it includes an instruction book because for the most part the intertubes are devoid of tutorials for working on this kind of loom. As you can see in this picture of my kids in front of it, it is designed for a classroom so that several children can work simultaneously. Most of the looms and patterns I find online are for an entirely different kind of loom.
The kids are fascinated and I've already started cutting up scrap fabrics and old clothes. It will be a nice stash buster.
A few things I've learned already about this Friendly Loom - It's generally for bulky yarns or fabric scraps. I'm not going to get finer woven fabrics from this. I also see the advantage of having a wide toothed comb for pushing the strips down as I work rather than using my fingers - hopefully I can find something at the thrift store this week.
I found THIS SET OF VIDEOS useful in learning how to use the Friendly Loom and frame looms in general.
We also followed THIS TUTORIAL to make Waldorf Education-style star lanterns. The kids painted the watercolor paintings and I did the cutting and folding.
Homemaking and Decor
The following are some pictures I am using as inspiration for our playroom. The pictures link back to the source. I've been working on this playroom for over a year - but in my defense, I got knocked up, had a crappy pregnancy, and then had a baby. This summer we've been de-cluttering left and right. I even sold their play kitchen that I saved all year for because they never used it except for a Lego table and super hero fortress. We have a wooden doll house for that, kids!
I just cannot keep up with the housekeeping and organizing while also being an involved parent and enriched crafter. We just have so much STUFF. It's time to simplify and get rid of the STUFF. But, it is also time to make the STUFF do its job and help us be more satisfied at home. We need beauty and color to uplift us. We need things to gaze on and touch. Less toys, less clothes, less gadgets. More art, more plants, more room for the baby to practice her wobbly walking and the kids to spread out their materials for imagination and exploration.
Alternative Parenting
By Alicia Bayer, Mankato Attachment Parenting Examiner
"A new study released this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association links low serotonin levels with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and helps explain why co-sleeping and other Attachment Parenting practices are linked with lower SIDS rates...
Another practice linked to lower SIDS rates is co-sleeping, which has also been shown to cut SIDS rates in half for infants between three and six months of age.
One reason for the link between co-sleeping and lower SIDS rates could be because it supports practices that raise serotonin levels in babies, such as skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding on demand." Full StorySome Of Us Breastfeed While Having Sex
Interested in proving that I'm not a pervert with no boundaries, I posted an unscientific poll on my Facebook page - how many of us have breastfed an infant back down to sleep while in the middle of having sex? 18 people answered the poll, two people emailed me privately because they didn't want their answers to be public, and a handful more came up with a new answer I hadn't included - those ones stopped sex to breastfeed, then came back to finish what they started.
11 of us admitted to breastfeeding during sex.
2 of us admitted to also breastfeeding a toddler during sex.
3 of us tried it but it was too awkward.
22 of us answered "Never Have and Never Will." (One of those was a guy friend skewing my poll results)
Apparently the majority of people on the internet think this is creepy, wrong, sick, perverse, and bordering on child abuse. Yet one in three of us answered yes, we do this, and several of them are quite conservative. I think a lot more of us do this than are admitting it. If you finally get a moment with your lover, and the baby wakes up, so much easier to nurse that baby back down in a few minutes then stop everything, in my opinion.It has nothing to do with no self-control, having a funky fetish, or disrespecting my child or my husband. It was just a beautiful thing we didn't feel like stopping when the babies woke up, since we knew it would not take much to get that baby back to sleep. But child abuse? Really? I'm pretty sure none of my babies remember or care.
Spirituality
One of my Mormon friends recently had the pleasure of teaching a Sunday school lesson to preschoolers about how we have bodies like Heavenly Father. Because she rocks, she altered the visual aid so that the girls got ones that said "I Have a Body Like Heavenly Mother's." And that's one of many reasons why I love her. (The other reason is that she has the songs to Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog memorized. But that's it. ;-)
Here is a link to her blog, With Your Mutual Approbation: Likening the scriptures to include our Mother in Heaven.
Homeschooling and Alternative Schooling
Schoolchildren Can Also Learn Complex Subject Matters On Their Own, Researchers Find
ScienceDaily (Aug. 14, 2011) — Self-directed learning has long been heralded as the key to successful education. Yet until now, there has been little research into this theory. Educational researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now shown that schoolchildren can independently develop strategies for solving complex mathematical tasks, with weaker students proving just as capable as their stronger class mates. Full Story
I Freakin' Love Food
Coconutty Paleo Fudge
"I know paleo fudge is kind of a oxymoron. But while most fudge is made with tons of powdered sugar this one is sweetened with only honey. It's super delicious!" Full Story
Herbal Remedies, Nutrition and Alternative Health
C is almost 6 years old and has been peeing his pants a lot this summer. We've been assuming it's because he's been playing for hours at a time outside with the neighborhood kids and he just doesn't want to come inside. Sometimes, though, he just pees, and then pees 20 minutes later, and then another 20 minutes later. Like right now as I'm writing this - 4 times in the last hour and he still peed his pants.
A friend suggested it might be gut issues, and I looked up various websites and discovered that quite a few places, including the National Kidney & Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, list food sensitivities and artificial preservatives/colors and causes of urinary incontinence in children. Upon questioning Connor this evening, he revealed that some of the girls shared koolaid with everyone today. Light Bulb Moment!
THIS LINK has suggestions and stories about families who were able to address not only bed wetting and pants wetting but also general behavior issues by discovering and eliminating irritating ingredients from childrens diets.
Injustices and Eye-rolling
Only One Woman on the "Super Committee"? Ouch!
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner
"Co-founder and Executive Director of Moms Rising
Here's the math: Women are 50.7% of our population, only 17% of Congress, and an appallingly low 8% of the Super Committee.
This lack of representation on the debt ceiling Super Committee which is charged with cutting $1.5 trillion from the federal budget is pathetic, particularly given that critical programs -- like Medicaid, Medicare, child care, education, food assistance, and Social Security -- which have the biggest impacts on women and families are at stake.
The solutions that come out of the Super Committee need to reflect the needs of Main Street, and not just greedy Wall Street corporations.
Why is it an 'ouch' that there's only one woman on the Super Committee?
Because, as news outlets report, "When women aren't at the table, programs that disproportionately benefit and employ women -- like child care, education, food assistance, and Medicare -- are often the first to go.""
Full Story
Podcasts
Relaxation Meditation Podcast: Lita has one of the most amazing voices I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. Even just listening yo her making her announcements is soothing. You can also find her on YouTube under Massageclips, but her podcasts are longer. I try to listen to her every night before going to bed.
Humor
Parenting. Illustrated With Crappy Pictures is the blog I was thinking about doing until this mom beat me to it. Bryan and I love it. Subscribe and laugh your head off.
News, Activism and "Hmmmmm" Articles
When porn meets real motherhood
An adult star photographed breast-feeding is accused of exposing her baby to pedophiles
By Tracy Clark-Flory
Malia Schlaefer
Just weeks after adult actress Madison Young gave birth, she launched an art exhibit titled "Becoming MILF." The idea was that she would explore how she now embodies a contradiction, the dichotomy to end all dichotomies -- that of the Madonna and the whore. At the show's opening, she served up self-made breast milkshakes and displayed a baby quilt made of burp cloths and "porn star panties."
.....It isn't just porn stars who are chastised when their breasts suddenly become utilitarian, though. We Americans love us some boobs, until they're desexualized -- then they seem obscene. Just think of all the moms who have been kicked out of restaurants for flashing a wee bit of cleavage while trying to feed their fussy newborn. That isn't to mention the disgust directed at women who dare talk about the physical pleasures of breast-feeding. We don't like to think of moms as sexual beings -- except for in the taboo-busting world of porn (paging Dr. Freud). It's fitting for a porn star mama, the rare industry "MILF" who is actually a mom, to remind folks that, generally speaking, one has to have sex in order to become a mom.
Maybe the other lesson here is that sexual objectification is the worst when you don't choose it. As Young tweeted to her critic, "[T]he only one sexualizing this image of me breastfeeding is you. Which makes me feel truly disgusted and violated." -FULL STORY
Can GMOs Help End World Hunger?
John Robbins
Posted: 8/1/11 02:14 PM ET
"...The hope that GMO foods might bring solutions to malnutrition and world hunger was never more dramatically illustrated than when Time magazine ran a cover story titled "Grains of Hope." The article joyfully announced the development of a genetically engineered "golden rice." This new strain of GM rice has genes from viruses and daffodils spliced into its genetic instructions. The result is a form of rice that is a golden-yellow color (much like daffodil flowers), and that produces beta-carotene, which the human body normally converts into Vitamin A.
Nearly a million children die every year because they are weakened by Vitamin A deficiencies and an additional 350,000 go blind. Golden rice, said Time, will be a godsend for the half of humanity that depends on rice for its major staple. Merely eating this rice could prevent blindness and death...
...In the years since Time proclaimed the promises of golden rice, however, we've learned a few things.
For one thing, we've learned that golden rice will not grow in the kinds of soil that it must to be of value to the world's hungry. To grow properly, it requires heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides -- expensive inputs unaffordable to the very people that the variety is supposed to help. And we've also learned that golden rice requires large amounts of water -- water that might not be available in precisely those areas where Vitamin A deficiency is a problem, and where farmers cannot afford costly irrigation projects.
And one more thing -- it turns out that golden rice doesn't work, even in theory. Malnourished people are not able to absorb Vitamin A in this form. And even if they could, they'd have to eat an awful lot of the stuff. An 11-year-old boy would have to eat 27 bowls of golden rice a day in order to satisfy his minimum requirement for the vitamin...
Poverty is at the root of the problem of hunger. As Peter Rosset, director of Food First, reminds us, "People do not have Vitamin A deficiency because rice contains too little Vitamin A, but because their diet has been reduced to rice and almost nothing else." FULL STORY
Smallholder Organic Farming not GMOS - the Solution to World Hunger
GMOs Feed the World?The data from FAO shows that the number of hungry people was decreasing slowly until 1995-97 and then started to increase every year. It was at the exact point in time when world hunger began to increase that the widespread increase in the planting of GMOs started. The increase in the number of hungry people and the increase in the number of hectares planted to GMOs mirror each other.
Number of undernourished people in the world Source: FAO
Global Planting of GMOs Source: http://www.gmocompass.org/
This is not a coincidence. It is because the major GMO crops of corn, soy and cotton are traded as commodities.
One of the critical issues that the data shows is that the number of hungry people is not related to the level of food production as the world produces more than enough food. It is due to the way that the global economy distributes food as a commodity. According to the FAO: 'Global cereal harvests have been strong for the past several years - even as the number of undernourished people was rising - but the overall improvement in food security in 2010 reflects improved access to food through the expected resumption of economic growth … but food prices in most low-income food-deficit countries remain above the pre-crisis level of early 2008, negatively affecting access to food by vulnerable populations.' (FAO 2010)
Nearly a million children die every year because they are weakened by Vitamin A deficiencies and an additional 350,000 go blind. Golden rice, said Time, will be a godsend for the half of humanity that depends on rice for its major staple. Merely eating this rice could prevent blindness and death...
...In the years since Time proclaimed the promises of golden rice, however, we've learned a few things.
For one thing, we've learned that golden rice will not grow in the kinds of soil that it must to be of value to the world's hungry. To grow properly, it requires heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides -- expensive inputs unaffordable to the very people that the variety is supposed to help. And we've also learned that golden rice requires large amounts of water -- water that might not be available in precisely those areas where Vitamin A deficiency is a problem, and where farmers cannot afford costly irrigation projects.
And one more thing -- it turns out that golden rice doesn't work, even in theory. Malnourished people are not able to absorb Vitamin A in this form. And even if they could, they'd have to eat an awful lot of the stuff. An 11-year-old boy would have to eat 27 bowls of golden rice a day in order to satisfy his minimum requirement for the vitamin...
Poverty is at the root of the problem of hunger. As Peter Rosset, director of Food First, reminds us, "People do not have Vitamin A deficiency because rice contains too little Vitamin A, but because their diet has been reduced to rice and almost nothing else." FULL STORY
Smallholder Organic Farming not GMOS - the Solution to World Hunger
GMOs Feed the World?The data from FAO shows that the number of hungry people was decreasing slowly until 1995-97 and then started to increase every year. It was at the exact point in time when world hunger began to increase that the widespread increase in the planting of GMOs started. The increase in the number of hungry people and the increase in the number of hectares planted to GMOs mirror each other.
Number of undernourished people in the world Source: FAO
Global Planting of GMOs Source: http://www.gmocompass.org/
This is not a coincidence. It is because the major GMO crops of corn, soy and cotton are traded as commodities.
One of the critical issues that the data shows is that the number of hungry people is not related to the level of food production as the world produces more than enough food. It is due to the way that the global economy distributes food as a commodity. According to the FAO: 'Global cereal harvests have been strong for the past several years - even as the number of undernourished people was rising - but the overall improvement in food security in 2010 reflects improved access to food through the expected resumption of economic growth … but food prices in most low-income food-deficit countries remain above the pre-crisis level of early 2008, negatively affecting access to food by vulnerable populations.' (FAO 2010)
Seen Around The Intertubes:
(click on the image for associated link, unless I stole it from someone's facebook wall, in which case, ta da!)
As Always, We Finish With a Cute:
"A kick ass post about kick ass women who make kick ass stuff while kicking ass" - Bryan
(I posted this on my craft blog last night)
To my 33 loyal fans - YOU cannot crochet and be a tough girl at the same time. Apparently. Saith random stranger Peg Aloi on the Huffington Post.
"Maybe "having it all" was a silly fantasy that ultimately made women feel exhausted and inferior. Maybe we just wanted to sit on our asses and knit and eat cupcakes in our Hello Kitty jammies.
And now that so many women have seemingly retreated from our reign of awesomeness to immerse themselves in the feminine past-times of yesteryear, it does indeed appear that we've lost sight of what it means to be a badass, strong, tough woman...
...This weird retro world of cooking, heirloom tomatoes and Jane Austen is starting to feel a bit smug and smothering. Where's the fun?"
Peg goes on to extol the virtues of such shining examples of feminist bad-assery as Courtney Love, a drug addict who lost custody of her daughter because she couldn't grow up and take responsibility, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, a non-existent television hero who battles imaginary creatures. Dude, seriously?
"There are tough times ahead, and we need to be tough bitches to face them. Growing vegetables is useful; but so is learning how to shoot a gun, hot-wire a car, and manipulate our way into a bomb shelter."
(rolling my eyes at you. this is a kindness)
So, ladies, behold your "girly" and "complacent" inability to be "tough," "intelligent," and "no-nonsense."
Hmm. Creative and creepy, but since it involves sewing, it's domestic and therefore girly. Keep trying.
Physics cupcakes from quaint_idea. VERY intelligent, but Peg specifically said, "Women are girly. Again. Don't believe me? The proof is in the blogosphere: Women who blog about cupcakes." You made cupcakes and then posted them on the internet. You can't possibly rock.
Pattern and kit from Subversive Cross Stitch. Incidentally, Peg mentions Xena: Warrior Princess, and in "The Black Wolf" episode, it comes out that Xena does embroidery.
Never mind that 2 days after this tutorial and recipe were posted, the INVENTOR of the Rubik's Cube emailed her about how he liked the cake. It's a CAKE, honey. Made in a KITCHEN. Possibly while BAREFOOT AND PREGNANT.
A collection of knitting patterns from a Roller Derby team? What the hell???
Artist Shauna Richardson crocheted this mofo. CROCHETED. What a waste of skill and "tough gal" spirit.
Dude, you can't put "Sew" and "Subversive" in the same book title unless that title is "How Sewing Automatically Excludes You From Being Subversive."
Don't even get me started on GARDENING. How can a woman who runs her own farm and magazine and food business and delights in sewing APRONS be badass?
"She's an organic farmer who grew up canning garden-fresh food and wearing hand-sewn clothes. After stints as a single mother, carpenter, and wilderness ranger, MaryJane purchased a five-acre homestead in Idaho, sight unseen. Since then, she's been farming this land — and then 100 more adjacent acres, after she married a neighbor farmer — in high style." (source link)
Harumph. That's not so tough. Anyone can run a farm. Your overweight mom can run a farm. It doesn't take a genius to cut wood and build things with it. Aprons are are wimps. Wimps who COOK. In that previously mentioned KITCHEN.
It's a knitting tattoo. A KNITTING TATTOO. Only girly girls get tattoos, especially big ones in a prominent place.
This badass quilt is brought to you by the wimpy craft of quilting.
You can't actually CALL your cupcake business Kickass Cupcakes, Sara Ross! That's CHEATING!
Not only did artist Therea Honeywell knit over a perfectly serviceable and badass motorcycle, she knit it PINK. Only a woman made to feel "exhausted and inferior" would stoop to such levels.
Oh, for crying out loud! Is that a knitting cake??? Edible dessert that looks eerily like a real basket full of yarn?? The women at The Artisan Bake Shop are wasting their feminist heritage!! You can't just up and own your own business by utilizing your talents to BAKE!
Mmmmm ... sexy werewolf cross stitch ... I mean (ahem) GIRLY cross stitch. As in, many of the girls I know would appreciate this cross stitch chart.
As you can see, the world of crafting and baking is flooded with women who would rather sit on their couches playing with yarn than become an alcoholic or ignorant Huffington Post freelance writer. "Feminine pastimes" are mere distractions from wearing leather and committing grand theft auto.
"“Dear Peg Aloi,
I was an officer in the Army Reserves for 11 years and an ROTC cadet in a male dominated organizati
To my 33 loyal fans - YOU cannot crochet and be a tough girl at the same time. Apparently. Saith random stranger Peg Aloi on the Huffington Post.
"Maybe "having it all" was a silly fantasy that ultimately made women feel exhausted and inferior. Maybe we just wanted to sit on our asses and knit and eat cupcakes in our Hello Kitty jammies.
And now that so many women have seemingly retreated from our reign of awesomeness to immerse themselves in the feminine past-times of yesteryear, it does indeed appear that we've lost sight of what it means to be a badass, strong, tough woman...
...This weird retro world of cooking, heirloom tomatoes and Jane Austen is starting to feel a bit smug and smothering. Where's the fun?"
Peg goes on to extol the virtues of such shining examples of feminist bad-assery as Courtney Love, a drug addict who lost custody of her daughter because she couldn't grow up and take responsibility, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, a non-existent television hero who battles imaginary creatures. Dude, seriously?
"There are tough times ahead, and we need to be tough bitches to face them. Growing vegetables is useful; but so is learning how to shoot a gun, hot-wire a car, and manipulate our way into a bomb shelter."
(rolling my eyes at you. this is a kindness)
So, ladies, behold your "girly" and "complacent" inability to be "tough," "intelligent," and "no-nonsense."
- Diomedes: You embroider.
- Xena: I have many skills.
"She's an organic farmer who grew up canning garden-fresh food and wearing hand-sewn clothes. After stints as a single mother, carpenter, and wilderness ranger, MaryJane purchased a five-acre homestead in Idaho, sight unseen. Since then, she's been farming this land — and then 100 more adjacent acres, after she married a neighbor farmer — in high style." (source link)
Harumph. That's not so tough. Anyone can run a farm. Your overweight mom can run a farm. It doesn't take a genius to cut wood and build things with it. Aprons are are wimps. Wimps who COOK. In that previously mentioned KITCHEN.
As you can see, the world of crafting and baking is flooded with women who would rather sit on their couches playing with yarn than become an alcoholic or ignorant Huffington Post freelance writer. "Feminine pastimes" are mere distractions from wearing leather and committing grand theft auto.
"“Dear Peg Aloi,
I was an officer in the Army Reserves for 11 years and an ROTC cadet in a male dominated organizati
Saturday, August 20, 2011
An Apology to Chris Brown
"In particular I’d like to thank the female members of Team Breezy, who have taught me that as long as you can sing, you can beat the living hell out of a woman and other women will still love you."
Saturday, August 13, 2011
If I had my own magazine, what would it look like?
People who know me know I love magazines. LOVE magazines. LOVE THEM. Our library has free magazine bins and twice a week I go down and grab up stacks to bring home and scour over like a frat boy looking at porn. Yoga Journal? I'm taking them all. Threads magazine? Score. 20 old issues of Sassy Magazine from the 80s? Cha-ching!
This got me thinking about what my ideal magazine would be like. Mothering Magazine used to be very close, but they changed over the years and not in a good way. I wish I had a homeschool magazine I liked that wasn't anal about parent partnership programs and charter schools. I love Living Crafts but there's lots of knitting and not enough crochet. Mary Jane's Farm rocks but for the price I want it to read itself and then throw itself in the recycle bin. I read The Huffington Post every day but it's not in print and I don't care about sports and celebrity weddings.
What if I had my own magazine that talked about the things I'm interested in? Can't be too against commercialization because I lean toward laissez-faire with that one and let my kids watch lots of TV and own Disney toys. Can't be too laissez-faire because I make my kids eat dinner before dessert. Can't be 100% liberal because I tend to lean toward libertarianism when it comes to vouchers, homeschool, vaccine exemptions and homebirth. Can't be too libertarian because I believe in business regulations and taxes. Can't be too religious because I have Pagan and Atheist friends. Can't be godless because I believe in God.
What magazine would embrace all the complexities which interest me and concern me as a mother, a woman and a citizen?
I shall call it....The Alisa Post! And it shall come out every weekend, here on my blog, because I don't have the money to make a magazine or host a massive website. It shall be my own mini-ezine addressing the following issues and linking to the many resources I encounter during the week as I search for answers and kindred spirits.
News and activism
Gentle Discipline
Homemaking
Crafts and Needlework
Spirituality
Seasons and festival
Homeschooling and alternative schooling
Cooking
Art and Decor
Herbal remedies
Organic gardening
Eco-consciousness
Injustices and eye-rolling
Podcasts
Humor
And if it gets overwhelming, I shall do it every two weeks, and if that gets overwhelming, it shall be once a month, and if that gets overwhelming, I will rethink my daily activities.
ps - We all know I should really call it "I judge you and the way you live your life magazine" because that's what happens when I have an opinion. If you spank your children, smoke around them, put your babies on feeding schedules or make them cry it out, then I probably am judging you. Also if you murdered your kid, partied for a month, and then were declared innocent by a grand jury over it, you can safely assume I hate you. Otherwise, don't assume I think you're a bad person if you don't see things the way I do. I don't. But this blog is about to get a LOT MORE PREACHY. Please make a note of it.
Also, cute capybaras.
This got me thinking about what my ideal magazine would be like. Mothering Magazine used to be very close, but they changed over the years and not in a good way. I wish I had a homeschool magazine I liked that wasn't anal about parent partnership programs and charter schools. I love Living Crafts but there's lots of knitting and not enough crochet. Mary Jane's Farm rocks but for the price I want it to read itself and then throw itself in the recycle bin. I read The Huffington Post every day but it's not in print and I don't care about sports and celebrity weddings.
What if I had my own magazine that talked about the things I'm interested in? Can't be too against commercialization because I lean toward laissez-faire with that one and let my kids watch lots of TV and own Disney toys. Can't be too laissez-faire because I make my kids eat dinner before dessert. Can't be 100% liberal because I tend to lean toward libertarianism when it comes to vouchers, homeschool, vaccine exemptions and homebirth. Can't be too libertarian because I believe in business regulations and taxes. Can't be too religious because I have Pagan and Atheist friends. Can't be godless because I believe in God.
What magazine would embrace all the complexities which interest me and concern me as a mother, a woman and a citizen?
I shall call it....The Alisa Post! And it shall come out every weekend, here on my blog, because I don't have the money to make a magazine or host a massive website. It shall be my own mini-ezine addressing the following issues and linking to the many resources I encounter during the week as I search for answers and kindred spirits.
News and activism
Gentle Discipline
Homemaking
Crafts and Needlework
Spirituality
Seasons and festival
Homeschooling and alternative schooling
Cooking
Art and Decor
Herbal remedies
Organic gardening
Eco-consciousness
Injustices and eye-rolling
Podcasts
Humor
And if it gets overwhelming, I shall do it every two weeks, and if that gets overwhelming, it shall be once a month, and if that gets overwhelming, I will rethink my daily activities.
ps - We all know I should really call it "I judge you and the way you live your life magazine" because that's what happens when I have an opinion. If you spank your children, smoke around them, put your babies on feeding schedules or make them cry it out, then I probably am judging you. Also if you murdered your kid, partied for a month, and then were declared innocent by a grand jury over it, you can safely assume I hate you. Otherwise, don't assume I think you're a bad person if you don't see things the way I do. I don't. But this blog is about to get a LOT MORE PREACHY. Please make a note of it.
Also, cute capybaras.
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The last I checked, being feminist meant making I made my own decisions and did what I wanted to do without having to live up to other people's bull-crap artificial standards.
So bite me, fan girl. I am a feminist.”" - (commenter on Peg Aloi's article)