Friday, April 28, 2006

FIVE THINGS I’M GRATEFUL FOR THIS FRIDAY

1. Caffeine
2. Retractable Dog Leashes
3. Sticky Notes
4. The smell of a brand new book
5. Girls Night Out

WHAT DOES YOUR FRIDGE SAY ABOUT YOU?

As I was reaching in the fridge this morning for my daily Diet Dr. Pepper, it struck me that a person’s refrigerator says a lot about them. Not just the items they have inside, but also what they choose to stick to the outside of it. It’s a giant magnet—how cool is that?! Most of us can’t resist the urge to stick SOMETHING on it…

So here’s what’s INSIDE my fridge: (Keep in mind we go to the store on Saturday, so it’s getting pretty lean…)

• Mostly drinks: soy milk (I know it’s sort of nasty, but I’m so proud of hubby for drinking it, because it’s good for him—I will only use it on my cereal), iced tea (sweet), diet Dr. Pepper, Dasani, Godiva liqueur, margarita mix
• Condiments galore: pickles (bread and butter, dill, and sweet relish), 4 kinds of mustard, ketchup, salad dressings (Ranch, Italian, French, Thousand Island, and Raspberry Vinaigrette), variety of hot sauces (Picante sauce, Texas Pete’s, and taco sauce), tartar sauce, soy sauce, sweet and sour sauce, A-1, Worcestershire sauce and a variety of marinades, Hershey’s chocolate syrup in the squeezable bottle
• Bagels, cream cheese, butter, eggs, block of parmesan, pepperoni, a couple of Lunchable’s, apple slices, a tangerine, half an onion and some garlic cloves
• Freezer side: chocolate almond ice cream, tilapia, peas, broccoli, corn, and tequila

And here’s what’s on the OUTSIDE of my fridge:

• Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Fred & Daphne magnets from Scooby Doo
• Three different pizza place magnets (hubby loves pizza, can you tell?)
• A little red wine bottle magnet from Napa Valley
• Magnet from the vet
• Conversion and substitution chart for common kitchen ingredients
• Christmas pictures of my niece and nephew and all my friends’ kiddos (there’s about 15 of them and they take up the freezer side door)
• A little sheet my mom gave me that says “Things We Can Learn From Our Dogs”

Hmmm…that DOES say a lot about a person, doesn’t it?

Ok, now it’s your turn…!

- A.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

So here’s a question…

If I act like Dogbert and wave my paw at people who don’t think like me, can I really call myself a tolerant person? Here are I am, ranting about how intolerant our country has become… Yet I feel totally justified in calling those who I deem intolerant “ignorant fools.”

If a person is intolerant of intolerance, can they really call themselves tolerant? Or is it okay to be intolerant of intolerance? I’m having a hard time coming to terms with my own answer to that.

I believe in my heart that all human beings have the potential to help or harm, and that most of us do a little of both through out our lifetimes. We’re not one-dimensional beings that can be defined simply by a set of beliefs. We’re a composite of our experiences, memories, thoughts, words, actions and non-actions. Every day is a new day to help or harm.

Still, I struggle with my own intolerance. That old paw seems to wave all on its own! There are certain things I just can’t find it in my heart to be okay with. Guess I still have some evolving to do…

- A.

I've had this on my office bulletin board for years and years. Of course I'm MOSTLY joking, but it seems to fit so many situations, don't you think?



- A.

MillionForMarriage

MARRIAGE EQUALITY

Gay people deserve the same right to be miserable as the rest of us sad sorry married saps. I’m paraphrasing a line from Chris Rock, (and not very well, he is much funnier), but I believe in the sentiment 110%. Seriously, though, I may not always be thrilled with my own marriage. In fact, there are days I’m not even sure the institute of marriage is meant for me. But I believe that everybody should have the option of deciding that for themselves.

How people can think that they have the right to tell someone else who they can love totally floors me. Finding love is hard to do. Finding your soul mate, someone you want to spend your life with, is rare and wonderful. We should celebrate and congratulate anyone who finds that, not make laws to prevent it!

So let’s say you have some twisted sense of “morality” that causes you to believe that homosexual love is “wrong.” Hey, this is America. You have the right to be an ignorant fool and far be it from me to stop you. You have the right not to be in a homosexual relationship or associate with those that do. But you do NOT have the right to limit other people’s rights!!!

How would you feel if the person you loved for 50 years were in the hospital and you had no right to be involved in their treatment or even visit them?!!

How would you feel if the kids you raised were at risk of being put in foster care if something happened to your spouse because you suddenly had no “legal” rights to your own children?

How would you feel if the health insurance you’ve been paying for your family became invalid because some intolerant assholes decided to pass an amendment to the constitution legalizing discrimination?

I’m sorry, I’m getting a little emotional. I know that cursing and trying to shame people that don’t agree with me does nothing to strengthen my case here. But it just really pisses me off that the government I had so much faith in when I was young is actually trying to pass an amendment (called the Federal Marriage Amendment) that will discriminate against many of our citizens.

I’ll be honest. I never paid much attention to government and economics in school. I stopped watching the news years ago. I always found it overwhelming and depressing. I thought there was nothing I could do about it all anyway. Well, guess what? I’m paying attention now. And there ARE things I can do. Things YOU can do.

A friend told me about the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. You can go to their site and find out more about the Federal Marriage Amendment and what people are doing to fight it. With one click of a mouse, you can sign an online petition supporting equal marriage rights for everyone. I signed the petition and if you feel like I do, I hope that you will too.

ONLINE PETITION TO SUPPORT MARRIAGE EQUALITY FOR EVERYONE: www.MillionForMarriage.org
MillionForMarriage

HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FOUNDATION: www.hrc.org
HumanRightsCampaign

Here are some blurbs about the Federal Marriage Amendment from the Human Rights Campaign website:

“The Federal Marriage Amendment is discriminatory.
It is wrong to single out a group of Americans for second-class status.”

“The Federal Marriage Amendment undermines the Constitution.
The Constitution should expand freedoms for Americans, not limit them.”

“The Federal Marriage Amendment is not what Congress should be focusing on. Between the war in Iraq, rising health care costs and the continuing threat of terrorism, Congress has much more important things that it should be dealing with other than a constitutional amendment banning marriage between same-sex couples.”

So there’s my soap box for the week. If I’ve offended anyone it was unintentional. But if I’ve encouraged anyone to act, it was worth it.

- A.

(Warning: Adult Content Below)

Do you ever lie in bed at night and remember me?
Not the shouting and the tears,
But the way it was in the beginning…

The way we couldn’t keep our hands off each other,
How I trembled the first time you unbuttoned my blouse,
How shocked you were the first time my hand slipped inside your jeans.

How pretty you thought I was in the morning,
How I'd wiggle close to feel you stiffen against my back,
All those last minute quickies that made us late for work, or class, or parties…

How even near the end, when things were jaded and tense,
You’d still beg me to come back to bed
And spoon just for ten minutes more…

I loved you so much it physically hurt.
Did you ever really feel that way, too?
And why do I now, lifetimes later, still want to know…

Do you ever wake in the morning like I do?
Tasting the salty tears of memory dreams,
And reach over expecting to find me still there…

- A.