she who blogs

Woohoo Tinkerbell

Tara at Grits in the City is flying through the air with the greatest of ease. You can hear her friends in the background "woohooing" Orange Country wives style and someone definitely called her Tinkerbell - and why wouldn't they?  

This has got to be an excellent way to keep in shape. Or, maybe you have to be in excellent shape to do it? Either wya, you can obviously see that you would have to have great upper body strength to be able to pull off those stunts, as well as some serious core muscles - they would have to be in fabulous shape, too.

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Wii-Tard!!

 

Okay. I have repeatedly admitted that I am very slow on the uptake when it comes to technology. I did not need to touch a computer until my early thirties; this should explain a lot.

So, for my birthday I received the Wii. I have attempted to play before with my niece who probably burned more calories laughing her ass off watching me fail miserably. What are Aunts for? Right Lil Wicked?

I am happy to announce that hooking up the contraption was very easy. I conquered making a Mii, I even named her Wicked H. All this with no help, I've come a long way baby!

I inserted the sports game disc, managed to bowl with no problems. Tennis, not so much. I tried and tried, the best I could do was serve. As for returning the ball either it bounced twice and the crowd booed or I hit the spectators square in the head. I think I should earn a quarter point for at least that, seriously. Can you all do that?

I just got off the phone with Lil Wicked. She may have a stitch in her side from the uproarious laughter. Apparently one needs no button while playing tennis. The fine folks at Wii do not mention this. Why is that?

In any case, I am off to conquer tennis with my condom encased Wii remote. Something Lil Wicked's does not have.

Ha!

 

Visit Wicked H

Sight Unseen – Hiking Blind in the Colorado Rockies

 

Hey, it’s another beautiful day in Colorado. Going to be a little hot, I guess–around 100–but still, a great day to get out. How about hiking Deer Creek Canyon? If we hit the trail early, we can avoid the worst of the heat…

 

I met Steve Rarey, a rangy, friendly guy with an infectious grin, who is the founder and Director of Blind Outdoor Adventures (BOA), and Bruce Stoddard, an avid hiker at the trail head.

 

We started up the trail, Steve in the lead. Bruce used his cane and Steve’s vocal cues to navigate. The ascent was gradual at first, and fairly wide–the technical term Bruce and Steve used to describe it was a ‘2-butt trail’–but soon we started to climb. As the trail curved up into the hills, the hike became more challenging. The trail was narrower and more rocky, and sometimes there was a significant drop-off on one side. Steve’s cues were graphic: banana right, left shoreline. Occasionally Bruce stumbled. Occasionally I stumbled, too. Bruce fell a couple of times, but it didn’t stop him. The two guys joked constantly. They were clearly having a great time, in spite, or maybe because of, the sweat and dust.

 

Bruce is working on using hiking poles, so at one point, he gave his cane to Steve, who closed his eyes and hiked blind. Since Bruce isn’t really comfortable with poles yet, they were pretty evenly matched. I concentrated on trying to give some meaningful directions and keeping up.

 

Bruce plans on scaling a ‘14er’ this year. In case you aren’t familiar with the term, a 14er is a peak that is 14,000 feet above sea level. Some folks out here collect 14ers the way people in other areas of the country collect sightings of rare birds. Climbing to 14,000 feet is something that very few people do, even here in Colorado, the fittest state in the nation, but Bruce plans to be one of them. He’ll get there just like any other athlete – by training hard. The fact that he is blind might slow him down a bit, but not very much. On the last leg of the trail we passed a family with a couple of teenage kids. We beat them down. Bruce and Steve were doing fine. I was breathing hard.

Note: Blind Outdoor Adventures, <www. blindoutdoors.org>, based in Littleton, CO, is a recently established non-profit that provides opportunities for people who are visually impaired to hike and camp. After years of guiding blind skiers, Steve decided that he wanted to share more of what he loves about Colorado. Since its inception a few months ago, BOA has guided just under 200 miles of trail.

 

Visit Mama at Two Bits

A Birthday Present for Mom.

Me and Mom celebrating another, long ago birthday

April 17^th is my Mom’s birthday and I really want to do something special this year.

Let me tell you a little about my mom.

She was born Esterina Cerone in a small mountain town in central Italy in 1950. She immigrated to Canada at the age of 10 and in the spirit of integration, promptly changed her name to Esther.

She got her degree at night school – after having 3 kids and without a high school diploma. She rose to the top of her field in a multinational company, winning the respect and confidence of all her superiors and colleagues. She made our Halloween costumes, baked for bake sales, ran the PTA, was President of the Ladies Auxiliary for the local K of C council and threw kick ass parties – she was the original Supermom.

When Mom was 45 she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, but in true Esther style she attacked that disease like a Four Star General.

This first thing she did was to go to the hairdresser and got her hair cut really, really short. And when the chemo started to cause hair loss, she shaved it off herself. When treatment was over she decided that she needed  to keep fighting, so she threw herself into fund raising for Breast Cancer Research. For 9 years she raised funds for the CIBC Run for the Cure. She had been invited to speak at the run in October 2007 for her 10^th anniversary as a survivor but Mom never made that appointment. In May 2006 test results showed that the cancer had come back. Mom fought as hard as she could but she lost her battle on June 9^th 2007. Today she would have been 58. And as a tribute to her memory I would like to invite you to help an under privileged woman get a mammogram.  All you have to do is go to http://www.thebreastcancersite.com and Click on the pink button that says: Click here to give – it’s Free.

And if you like, you can go to the Link to Us section and add a button to your blog so that your readers can do the same anytime they come to visit you. 

Happy Birthday Mom.

Joanne Natale
http://fruttodellapassione.wordpress.com

 

 

From Teena (It's All About Me)

CN Tower Climb ... 1776 steps!"

On April 19, I'm doing something I always wanted to do ... I'm climbing the CN Tower here in Toronto!

It is in support of WWW-Canada.

If you didn't know, that's 1776 steps ... just over 1100 feet up! According to Wikipedia, it's the tallest metal staircase on Earth!

The stairs are intended for emergency use only and are not open to the public, except for three times per year for charity stair-climb events. The average climber takes approximately 30 minutes to climb. The fastest climb on record is 7 minutes and 52 seconds in 1989 by Brendan Keenoy, an Ontario Provincial Police Officer. The fastest record for a woman belongs to Chrissy Redden, who climbed the stairs in 2000 in 11 minutes and 52 seconds.

I won't be breaking any records!

I go to the gym but I've started including the stairmaster into my workout to get me used to climbing stairs. Everyday I add another minute so by the time the CN Tower Climb gets here, I should be close to 30 minutes.

If you would like to sponsore me, click here to donate!

Check out my blog on April 19 to see how I did!

Teena

It's all about me!

From Maria (Boobalicious)

Fini

January 25, 2008. My last day of vitamin H. My last day of treatment. I am done. I am finished. I am happy. I am a bit scared. Flying without a net. I don't think I will really realize it until a couple of months have gone by and I didn't have to arrange child care and get my self to the hospital only to get a couple of hours of rest while I get juiced up.
And now I get to heal. For the first time in almost 18 months I will not be pumping any poison into my body. Hopefully all the swelling and weight gain and creaky joints will slowly dissipate and I can be my self again...what ever that is.
It has been such a busy time around our house. I have let my blogging go by the way side. I feel like all the holidays and birthdays are over and we can get back to a routine of some sort. There is comfort in routine.

Peace Out

Visit Maria

From Shanel (Shanel Murray's Blog)

The other day, as I began my usual morning routine of waking up at the last minute and nearly killing myself attempting to complete at least 5 tasks at once, I heard the rush of water running. In the background, behind the news blaring on the TV (trying to get a campaign update), and the local radio blaring in the background (trying to avoid traffic on the way to work), I realized that at least two faucets in my apartment were running at the same time.

I had a Tanzanian flashback.  One of those “once upon a time, when water was hard to come by…” moments.  Getting enough water was a recurrent theme - a major focus of each and every day. This included making plans in case one would have to “do without”, especially hard for a western woman who was used to turning on the tap, and having water on demand. On average, we had running water all day, every other day. Usually it would come back on within a couple of hours, but we could never be sure. Once, I when I hadn’t set aside extra water for one of those “just in case” times, we didn’t have water for almost a day and a half. There was no creek or pond so we couldn’t even haul it back to the house. On so many occasions, mother would hope, and I would pray that the pump wasn’t broken!

To those who have never experienced lack of water, it’s a helluva thing! It means having toilets that don’t flush (stinky, stank!!!), being unable brush teeth (daammn!!), wash hair, clean off the afternoon sweat and dust, have evening chai, and on, and on, and on…Actually, for women, it also means not being able to relieve yourself freely when you need to. For me, the worst thing about not having water, was not being able to have chai, in addition to being sweaty and covered in dust from head to foot.

The other day, I had a conversation with a friend of mine from Europe who was also living in Tanzania. She was expressing her frustrations because she didn’t have hot running water for a shower every morning, and the mere thought of boiling water every morning and bathing out of a bucket was too much trouble. I clenched my teeth and smiled sweetly. I didn’t want to make her feel bad, but I wanted to tell her be glad she had running water at all. Mother and I were constantly boiling water and bathing out of a bucket, sometimes twice a day, soo happy that we had water. Don’t even ask me how she survived for almost 2 years.

According to the U.S. Department of State:
“Today, more than 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water; 2.6 billion people – almost half the total population in developing countries - lack access to proper sanitation.

On any given day, approximately 50% of the world’s hospital beds are filled with patients suffering from water and sanitation related diseases. Each year 1.8 million children in developing countries die from diarrhea disease - the second leading cause of death after pneumonia. Globally, diarrhea kills at least as many people as tuberculosis or malaria, and five times more children than HIV/AIDS.

Beyond their direct public health consequences, inadequate water supply and sanitation are especially important issues for women and girls. Women and girls who lack access to sanitation facilities must often wait until dark to relieve themselves or do so in public and risk harassment and/or abuse. Young girls are less likely to attend classes if the school does not have suitable hygiene facilities. This is particularly true after puberty and in areas where girls have access to adequate sanitation at home. One United Nations study estimates that half the girls in Sub-Saharan Africa who drop out of primary school do so because of poor water and sanitation facilities.

The United States supports the two internationally agreed targets related to water and sanitation. These goals are commonly referred to as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on water and sanitation”.

I know I shouldn’t waste water, but for some reason, I left the tap running for a few more minutes, just to make sure it wasn’t a dream.

Visit Shanel

From Andrena (Getting A Grip On Grace...)

Hope everyone's New Year was good to them. Finally, the intensity of the holiday season is over (from a pastor's viewpoint). The services were good. I tried to have every service available trying to meet folks where they are, so to speak:

For those who are depressed during the season, we had a "Longest Night Service/Blue Christmas", we had a traditional Christmas Eve Service - for those used to the beauty of singing by candlelight, and also a large crowd (where are these folks the rest of the year?). The sermon I preached was wonderful. As I began to prepare that sermon, I looked at our bulletin and saw that "O Holy Night" was not listed, and so I decided to preach and sing about that night. And so, as I preached, every couple of verses I sang a verse of O Holy Night. I was so surprised when at the last verse "...fall on your knees..." the whole congregation joined in singing it...I wasn't expecting that...and that was what made it so much more meaningful.

The next morning, I had a Christmas morning service. St. Michael's has never had one, but I wanted to start it...perhaps there were others out there that wanted to come to church on Christmas morning. It began at 9 and was attended by 7 others. Which was great, because as my daughter tells it: those 7 will tell 7 others, and next year we will have 14 if not more.

a few days to breathe...and then another service...Watch Night.

I must admit, that when the idea was presented to me at a late date (really wasn't planning on having one, much less even knowing about it), I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of yet another service. Another holiday of not being able to spend it with my family. But I persevered anyway. Meet the people where they are. And so, I welcomed the idea. But... I was determined that I was not going to preach another service. So, I called on a friend - Baba Abiodun. A professional StoryTeller, and he showed up. An elderly fellow-dressed in overalls, and armed with a cotton branch:

and he told us the story of Freedom's Eve, when the slaves were waiting for news of Lincoln's proclamation of freedom. He passed it around for us to feel the stickly plant, and to imagine how it must've felt to our fingers to have to pick a hundred pounds of it. He spoke for a good 15 minutes and had us all enthralled with the story. Then we gave personal testimonies of how the year was for us...things we were thankful for, things that we were freed from. There was also dancing and singing and scripture reading. I also had private prayer with laying on of hands and blessing with oil.

The hilarious part of the evening came when it was time for Holy Communion. Everything went fine until I couldn't get the darned ciborium open! This is a ciborium (inside are the wafers):

I couldn't get the darn thing open to get to the wafers! And so, someone from the congregation came up to try and get it open...they couldn't. Then another person came up to try and get it open...and they couldn't. Four folks came up from the congregation to try and get the thing open and couldn't! It was pure hilarity. Finally, one woman came up and got it open, and we laughed our way through communion. It was so funny! But it was such a glorious way to end the evening.

We thanked God for the freedom to laugh.....

Visit Andrena

From Andrena (Getting A Grip On Grace...)

November 24, 2007
World AIDS Day 2007
St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, Germantown
Pastor Andrena Ingram

World AIDS Day 2007
Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 121; Romans 13:11-14;
Matthew 24:36-44

This is the first Sunday in Advent: We are at the beginning of the church’s calendar … and it is in this beginning season that we gather together to wait and to watch expectantly for the coming of the light into the world. The light, which is Christ Jesus.

And yet…

There are others who watch and wait also. We have been waiting and watching for the last 25 years…that is, those of us living with or affected by the HIV/AIDS virus. We watch and wait for a cure, we wait and watch for a new medicine to come along to boost the ones we have become resistant to, and unfortunately, some of us watch and wait as our loved ones die.

Yesterday was World AIDS Day…a day in which we raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. “No war on the face on the earth is more destructive as this disease” – says Colin Powell. And as one who has been living with this disease for over 15 years, I believe he is right. This disease is destructive on so many levels, that people who are infected are hard pressed to look up and out of their places of shame, rejection, and fear. People who are affected (child has it, husband or wife has it, mother or father has it) they are hard pressed to look up and out of their places of shame, rejection and fear also. So destructive in third world countries where they are hard pressed to look up and out of their situation because to do so might cause being ostracized from their families or tribes – This disease is destructive on so many levels: aside from the physical, emotional and spiritual manifestations that occur within oneself, there is the emotional and spiritual manifestations that shows up in people who stigmatize and discriminate against those living with the HIV and or AIDS virus. This disease is so destructive that it attacks everyone in its path.

It’s time to take the lead.

It is time for us to take the lead. To take the lead in pushing government officials to ensure that health care is affordable for all…that medicine is available for everyone. And just as important, if not more is food. Poverty becomes an issue, because you can’t take medicine on an empty stomach. It is time for us to take the lead – we can no longer afford to look the other way, because it does not affect me – or that is them over there, because we are all God’s children. And if someone over in Bangladesh or China or Africa, or next door is suffering – we all suffer because we are the body of Christ, we are children of the most high God…

It is time to take the lead.

In 2004, our presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, asked that religious leaders take the lead, by getting tested and revealing their results. Well, that wasn’t asking too much of me…because I already knew my results. And as I have never been secretive about it…I was okay with being recognized as a religious leader living with HIV. It made perfect sense. I mean…how can we talk about it from the pulpit, if we don’t put our money where our mouths are. And so, I say…I am living with the HIV virus. I have been living with it for the past 15 years or so…and that I am undetectable, and that life goes on. I am thankful that I have been surrounded by much support. Where there was none…I kept it moving. But not everyone is that lucky. Not everyone can attest to being supported and nourished and loved. I know too many who still are living in secrecy and in shame – and angry at the church: Because in some instances, the church has not been a welcoming place for people with the virus or AIDS, it brings up too many issues that other folks feel they need to deal with. In some instances, people have felt ostracized or treated just a little bit differently.

It is time to take the lead.

We hear Jesus describing how it will be when he comes again, for those of us who are unaware and not paying attention. He gives the example of people being taken and people being left. He describes what it will be like for us as we carry on in our daily lives, when he comes unexpectedly. He talks about the two in the field and the two grinding meal. As we give pause to acknowledge yet another year in this epidemic…many have been taken…many have been left. The two working in the field: be it in the streets, as sex workers, in the hospitals, as recipients of tainted blood transfusions, or in your classroom, as a youngster infected at birth – somewhere one is taken away, and one is left. Or take the two women grinding meal together in a place where they do not have the right to say NO to a husband who may bring some disease home…. one of those women are taken away…one of those women is left.

Are we like the owner of the house, who doesn’t take the necessary precautions to keep their home from being broken into? Are we still blind to the fact that “it can happen to us”? Or can happen to someone we know? Well, it can…and it does…. everyday…every minute – every second someone is contracting the HIV virus…even though they must by now know how to protect themselves. Someone is NOT paying attention. People are still letting this thief break into their house.

What can we do? As leaders, we can continue to teach, and to talk. Talk to your children, talk to your partners, talk to your parents. Talk until you are blue in the face. Keep it wrapped up or closed up. We do know that abstinence is the best…but for some, that is not an option. (People involved in abusive relationships) Until you can get out of the relationship - the best line of protection then, is to practice safe sex as best as you possibly can. Get tested…know your status. Know your partner’s status.

And if you are living in silence and in shame with HIV or AIDS - what can you do? You can take comfort in the words from our psalm today: I lift up my eyes to the hills! Where will my help come from? Your help comes from the creator who gives us health…

Lift your head from the ground, lift your head from the shame and from the hurt and from the pain, and lift your head from the virus…it is not the end…but very well may be the beginning of new life in Christ. Christ has taken our illnesses upon him…Taken them upon the cross…and it is by Christ’s wounds that we are healed.

Let us lift our heads….all of us…let us lift our heads as we wait and watch and hope.

…lift your head to the hills and know that your help comes from God..

Lift your head and look towards the light that is coming… lift your head and look upon Christ, whom God is sending to walk with us: the One who teaches us by example how to be leaders: lift your head and look upon the one who is able to feed the hungry, comfort the downtrodden, and raise up the lowly.

Lift your head and look ….the red ribbon is there…the cross is there…the pain is there…your problems are there…we are there…on the cross with Christ.

Our help comes from the creator who gives us health… Our help comes from Jesus who gives us life…through the waters of baptism, through his body and blood…through these words, which give us life…

Our help comes from each other…in this space…in this time…in this hour.

God has taken the lead: by sending God’s only son. God has made us a promise…a promise of life more abundantly through Jesus Christ.

Take the lead….come and be washed Take the lead….come and hear the word Take the lead….come and be fed

Take the lead…by following Christ

God will take care of the rest.

amen

From Model Behavior (Miss Model Behavior)

Sniff Sniff

Since I have a gender neutral name, my email Inbox is not only stuffed with breast enlargement ads and homeopathic menopausal treatments, but also with solicitations for penis enlargement, cheap Viagra, and marriage offers from sketchy Asian mail order brides. 99.9% of the time I roll my eyes and hit delete, until I saw this:

Remember how you felt when your dream girl shot you down? Well now you never have to feel that way again! Pheromones have been proven to work, and are guaranteed to increase your attractiveness to women of all ages. Just look at some of the testimonials we have received back from 100% satisfied repeat customers! :

"I've always had a problem approaching girls. They would just walk past me like I didn't exist. I sometimes felt like they purposely would not give me any attention just because they were snobby and stuck up. Now, when I use U l t r a Allure Pheromones, it's alot easier to approach girls because THEY are usually the ones that will smile at me first or make eye contact."
Robert K, Boise Idaho

"I saw you guys offered a money back guarantee, so I though I would give it a go(I had nothing to lose). Well how glad am I that I did! My first night out with a little U l t r a Allure on me I had 4 different girls ask me what I was wearing and what I was doing later (I met up with the hottest of the 4 ;) Now I don't even leave the house without throwing on a few dabs of U l t r a Allure- its my (not so) secret weapon! I can honestly say this product truly works, women are really drawn to you once they catch a little bit of the scent."
Brad M. Kentucky

We receive dozens of emails daily just like these ones! Don't be left out!

Pheromones have been studied extensively and profiled on such media outlets as CNN, Oprah Winfrey show, ABC, MSNBC, FOXNEWS, and magazines such as MAXIM, FHM and PLAYBOY!

Visit our website now to check out the huge discount sale going on right now! Hurry though as discount specials will be discontinued within the next few days!

First of all they spelled ‘guaranteed’ wrong in their promotional message (I corrected it.) Secondly, I remained impressed that a scam Internet company had got on the fake pheromone bandwagon, since from what I understand, pheromones are a pretty complex, scientific concept. I ended up reading the emailing and actually taking a quick look at their site because pheromones have always been of special interest to me. At age ten my mother gave me a lecture that troubled for the next decade:

“So much of why you might like someone is subconscious. When you meet a person, teeny tiny pheromones are determining if that person is a good match for you.”

As a child, this concept freaked me out and made me feel frighteningly out of control of my romantic destiny. My mother cheerfully ended the speech with:

“See. We’re more like animals than you’d ever think.”

I intensely remember this afternoon mother-daughter conversation, and I’ve been pretty much fascinated and paranoid about pheromones ever since.

Technically defined, pheromones are “a chemical secreted by an animal, especially an insect, that influences the behavior or development of others of the same species, often functioning as an attractant of the opposite sex.”

Come to find out, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Internet has monopolized on this concept. You can buy different pheromone blends from over a dozen sites. As the annoying assholes who sent me the above email describe on their web page:

Imagine this scenario. You're out clubbing with your friends. You notice a beautiful woman across the room. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't give you the time of day, but you know one thing she doesn't. You're wearing Ultra Allure pheromones. You walk up to her beaming with confidence. She senses someone approaching turns around and doesn't take her eyes off you until she leaves your place the next morning. Poor girl, she never had a chance.

Huh. My guess is the guy might have had a better chance if he was smart, charming, witty, made eye contact with me, and offered up some drinks. But hey, I guess just dosing yourself in expensive chemicals bought over the Internet is a game plan too.

Obviously, there’s no way that this stuff actually works. My limited understanding of how pheromones function is that it’s not a Love Potion #9 or sex scent like musk, but that men and women’s pheromones work to actually analyze one another’s immune systems to determine that if mating, they’d produce a healthy offspring. I think that kind of scientific compatibility is probably too complex to put in a jar. But hey – what do I know. According to this website, I’m just a “female who won’t know what hit her.”

Visit Miss Model Behavior