Arctic Tundra
Ellie likes to tease me about living in Minnesota…the frozen north, the Arctic tundra, etc. And it was totally funny. Until a couple of days ago when we got our first dusting of snow. Then it was still kinda of funny: “Ha! Ha! We got some snow! Look at us!” Then it got a lot less funny this morning when it snowed and snowed until just about 30 minutes ago. It just doesn’t seem appropriate to have snow before Halloween. The trees are still green, for goodness’ sake!
Sigh. What are you gonna do?
Answer: Curl up on the couch with the nearest furball, watch blank-blank-blank: Season blank on DVD (I opted for Lost: Season 2), and find something crafty to work on. I chose my ongoing series of Yoshitomo Nara cross stitch projects. Judging by Kiba’s expression today, I guess I have some more work to do:
Fatter Than a Speeding Bullet
New site design. New slogan. New ways to bring you even more fat.
Actually, no, it’s going to be a lot of the same fat as before, but I hope you’ll find it as charming as ever.
The hiatus stretched out a bit longer than I expected, but I can tell you that the time didn’t go to waste. I have been doing more in the way of recovery, and making myself the top priority was definitely the right move to make.
I joined a group at the Emily Program that is a discussion group based around the book, Eating in the Light of the Moon by Anita Johnston. Think the title sounds a bit hippy-dippy? Wait till you read the first chapter! It starts off a little on the She-Ra side with a heaping dollop of good ol’ fashioned 1970’s consciousness raising, but if you can look past that rhetoric, there is a lot of great stuff in this book. It really pushes the idea of recovery for women through the use of myth and metaphor - seeing yourself and your struggles in stories that are often hundred, even thousands, of years old. What really makes it work for me is having the discussion to go along with it, and there is a great group of women tackling this with me. I really look forward to this group each week.
PhD Smiley has returned from maternity leave, thank the stars! Had a great session today and am feeling pretty empowered.
The Canadian and I, after many a discussion, have decided to set our sights a bit closer to Vancouver in order to wait out the (achingly, ridiculous, murderously snail-paced) slow processing of his immigration application. We settled on Seattle as it would be a relatively short drive for him to pop up to Vancouver to visit his son. I can tell you that I am absolutely in love with the idea of being back on the west coast. Not to mention that I am getting a serious grad school itch. Master of Library Sciences…..here I come! I will be the bad-assiest librarian. Just you wait. And I’m curious to know if any of you FatGrrl frequenters happen to be Seattlites? I would love to get the low down on moving strategies, neighorhoods, tips and tricks, etc.
Related to that is the issue of money. Alas, we can’t move without it. I had a few heart to hearts with Ellie and we threw around the idea of working with an ad network. We agreed that the top priority for FatGrrl was to remain a fat-friendly and eating disorder recovery-oriented site, so the presence of diet ads is a total No-No. But I wanted to tap your brains and get your ideas and thoughts. If I have the means to produce interesting and compelling content, would you mind the presence of text ads on the site? Would you find that it ultimately detracts from the site, or do you think it could be handled in a way that complements the site without getting in the way? Let me know!
Clearly there was much to say, so I will end here for now. It’s good to be back, and thanks for hanging in there with me. And for those of you who have particularly missed the Hound, here she is hanging out on the couch with me one day:
Tiptoe Through the Tulips
Kiba’s gettin’ her summer on:
Praise & Adoration
FatGrrl: “Where’d you go? Bike ride?”
Canadian: “I had to leave the house immediately.”
F: “Huh?”
C: “That dog is disgusting.”
F: “I know you cannot possibly be referring to my Angel Hound.”
C: “THAT DOG got off the couch, stretched, stuck her butt in the air and farted for ten long seconds. Ten seconds at least!”
F: “I’m actually very sorry I missed that.”
C: “Brutal beast!”
F: “Awwww, settle down now. She loves you. Think of it as her singing you a song. With her butt.”
Filed under Canadia-Land, Kiba | Comments (6)Cat-walk Debut
Production has begun on coats for my upcoming appearance at GreyFest 2009 as a vendor. I have so much to do, and I’ve got a terrible case of Drag Ass. But in the midst of the lack of motivation I did put together one coat, just playing around with an applique idea. Alas, there was no dog in the house that the medium size coat would fit.
Ray Charles bravely “volunteered” for the task:
In which he realizes that he looks a bit ridiculous.
During which he silently begs the Canadian for assistance.
What do you think of our model? How about that snazzy star/button applique? This coat was made entirely from found fabrics and notions (aside from the thread).
Filed under Kiba, Schnibbles | Comments (5)Totally not a coincidence that Obama’s inauguration and Kiba’s birthday are the same day.
Happy 5th Birthday, Kiba-chan! Momma loves you!
Greyhounds. The truth revealed!
One of the most common reactions I get to Kiba goes along the lines of: “Wow! Do you have to take her out a lot to run off all that energy??”
Here’s your answer:
Zzzz......
ZZzzzz.....
Zzzz....*snort*..zzz...
Synchronized Napping a la Canada
Are you gonna sleep ALL day?
After nap time comes...dinner!
A shot of much-needed Cute Vitamins.
Friend G. was with me at the dog park a few days ago and took some lovely photos of my Kiba-chan. Of course, G. was rolling around laughing when she got a shot of Kiba sniffing some booty. I call that picture “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places.”
Reflections on my 27th Year.
All is quiet this morning around Chez FatGrrl. Kiba is curled up and snoozing on the couch. The Canadian is still in bed, his whippity frame stretching towards the space heater the way plants lean towards an obligingly sunny window. (Poor thing. He actually thinks we’re in winter now. This isn’t cold, I tell him. We’re a ways off from Minnesota cold yet.)
And just as quietly at 6:05am this morning I turned 28.
I’m not sure what prompted me to sit down this morning and turn my attention to this space. I could recap the year: found and fell in love with one of the best men I have ever known - then I married him; fought and fought and fought against an eating disorder that has been trying to ruin my life; collected two more tattoos; survived a Crazy Boss which meant getting berated, then demoted, then fired; worried and fretted and cried my way through many days. But I think what I would rather do is introduce you to someone that has been making my life hell.
Everyone, this is Gordon. Gordon, this is everyone.
Gordon is my Depression. He follows me around all of the time. He is deceptively cute and cuddly. He looks like something you might pick up and snuggle because sometimes you just want to have a good cry, and he’s got that look about him that say, It’s okay - you can cry with me. The problem is that Gordon is largely useless and what I’ve discovered is that he spends his days humping my leg so I, in turn, spend my days tripping over him and generally being unable to walk (or do much of anything else). I hate you, Gordon, you big jerk.
If you had asked me two days ago - when Gordon was vigorously going about his business on my leg - I would have told you that my 28th year will be as awful as my 27th. I would have told you that I’ll never get away from this eating disorder, so why bother with food logs and activity and therapy because I’ll always be ugly and miserable. The world has been too much to take recently, and I feel myself coming apart at the seams. Today the answer is a little different. Today I don’t feel entirely hopeless.
Filed under BEDhead, Canadia-Land, Fat(Riot)Grrl, Kiba, Schnibbles | Comments (8)Las Vegas-style Wedding (Sans Elvis)
With barely a whisper, the Canadian and I decided to take the leap. Yesterday we got married! Oddly, and without prior conversation, Jeff and I, both witnesses and guests, and the minister, showed up dressed all in black. Six people. All in black. (The Canadian remarked that this was because it was his funeral. *eye roll*) It made sense, then, that Kiba would be dressed in pink as the Ring Dog.
(I’ve been out of touch for a bit on this blog, but there will be more fat soon. =^_^=)
