Blurring the lines,
graying the area,
cross dressing.
Tipping the scales
…letting them waver.
Getting out of the box and
obscuring, to acknowledge
subjectivity.
Realizing
it was never that simple.
And you’re so,
so very glad
it wasn’t.
Raw Meat is Ga-ROSS!
Last weekend, I cooked turkey for the first time in a long time.
I was making a soup for some friends who just had a baby, and as the mother is breastfeeding, I wanted to throw in enough protein and heartiness to give them a real, sustaining meal. That, and with Thanksgiving so close, I thought it would be seasonally appropriate.
All I had to do was brown some ground turkey, and it really wasn’t so bad until I looked down at the mash of pinkish slop that was in my pan. The look and smell of it, while striking a somewhat primal chord, was pretty much repulsive.
Filed under Health
Nabootsen!
Oh, the wonderful things one can learn from Google Translate!
Nabootsen: Dutch for “mimic”
Iris is quickly becoming a little copycat. Mimicking noises and “words” is an essential part of learning to speak, and it’s an absolutely adorable advancement.
Our wee one is currently performing squeals, lip smacking, smiles and the somewhat complex sounds like “baba” and “papa” (though she has no idea she’s referring to her father, and is often met with “mamamamama” from myself).
My favorite thing of late is the beginnings of clapping. She tends to slap her right fist with her left palm, and is thrilled when we cheer and clap back at her.
She also appears to be imitating our habits of standing unassisted, as we’ve found her using the rails of her crib to achieve a fully vertical position.
Filed under Of Family and Children
Bones, Explosions and a Happy Halloween!
Hello! And a Happy Halloween and Samhain to you!
Those are our jack-o-lanterns up there… I always seem to make mine with very vacant eyes. Going to try something a bit less, um, dull next year. The hubs wanted to carve a pacifier into Iris’ wee pumpkin, but that’s a lot to tackle at 2am. His, on the other hand, are always adorable.
As it is sciencey/practical Wednesday, I peeked at Reddit’s headlines to bring you the following links:
Vertebrates and the Evolution of Air Breathing
An Explosion of Humans – with the Funk of 40,000 Years (a little something extra for you)
I hope you have a wonderful, spooky and safe Halloween!
Freelancer for Hire
Every so often, I look at job postings. Sometimes it’s out of curiosity. Usually it’s because I need money.
This week, I took more than a few glances at the local want ads. I only found one thing in which I had any genuine interest, but I figure it can’t hurt to know what’s out there.
For the most part, it seems to be medical positions, sales gigs and receptionist jobs. Not so much my areas of expertise.
It’s odd, but Craigslist has turned out to be the place that holds truly enticing job posts (currently waiting to hear on a recent interview obtained through there, actually). Of course, it also has a wealth of obscure listings and ads that read like there were written by a seventh grader.
Such is the plight of the stubborn freelancer.
Have a fantastic weekend! We’re going to the orchard:)
Filed under I'm a Professional
Backward Health Care: Mental Health
I don’t like to gripe, and I certainly don’t want to be perceived as a whiny, entitled hypochondriac.
However, I think there is a lot wrong with the health systems in this country, and people like myself are getting a bum deal.
Stop! Don’t go – this is not a political post. Promise.
Let me say at the outset that I am not a medical, psychiatric or economic expert. All I have is my experience and reason. It just so happens that, in this case, I feel they are enough to warrant a strong opinion.
I know times are tough, and that resources are limited. I also know that a car accident, heart attack or stroke are far more acute than a panic attack or mental meltdown in the context of medical emergency.
But, when someone is at the height of anxiety, or the lowest point of depression, he or she should not have to wait a month to get real treatment. At the moment, that kind of delay is a fact of our mental health care system. And it is a burden on the workforce and on families.
Case in point: In early 2011, I was dealing with a variety of life changes that involved everything from loss of a family member to nutritional deficiencies. The resulting anxiety and depression set me into a downward spiral of improper diet, stress, weight loss, digestive symptoms, hormonal imbalance, emotional instability and perceived infertility.
Filed under Health
The Parting Glass
Veering from the script today to remember one of my favorite people.
Seamus was born in Derry, Ireland in 1940. I don’t know when he came to Michigan, but I believe it was close to 40 years ago.
I’m not certain, but I seem to remember him saying he’d not been back since. His twin sister still lives there to this day, and his children made their own pilgrimage as young adults.
He has a wife, two living children, four grandchildren, and one son who passed away several years back.
I first saw Seamus when he spoke to my college Irish history class about growing up during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Not too much later I saw him manning the door at the local Irish pub, and decided to introduce myself.
Filed under Death etc..
Halloween Cometh…
Franken MickiMonkey and Count SaraMonkey are here to remind you that Halloween is just over three weeks away.
Do you have your costumes? We obtained the majority of what we need for ours this weekend. Most years we end up scrambling at the last minute, and while the costumes are always great, it’s incredibly hectic to be throwing them together in the hours before a party.
Filed under Seasonal
Pause for Nature
According to this article, half of the Great Barrier Reef has disappeared. That’s very sad.
While I completely understand the naivete of wanting to save all the beautiful land, animals and air that make our blue dot so rich, I do think it’s important to periodically stop and appreciate nature’s delicacy and magnitude. It can be incredibly calming, and serve to remind us just how recently humans became a part of the ecosystem.
Filed under Science
Fire Trees, Black Bean Chili and Sweaters
This weekend was one of those “I’m slowly accepting that summer is over” kind of weekends.
Really, I do love fall. It’s got a ton of awesome things – Halloween, chili, pretty colors, pumpkin stuff, lessened concern about body hair… It’s what comes after that I have trouble with.
You see, I take some issue with winter and its holidays. Add to this my addiction to Michigan summers, and fall is basically the come down before withdrawal.
Still, I try to enjoy it. I appreciate our sunny days when the temps are only in the mid 60s and leaves reflecting the warm side of the color wheel drift around the lawn. I happily stir a pot of black bean chili. I spend two days straight in a soft brown cardigan.
I listen to Ben Folds 5, Counting Crows and Tori Amos (my ‘fall music’ since the late 90s, when the gloomy seasons were all the rage for goth kids and alternateens).
Filed under Seasonal