Entries tagged with family

Entry tags:

activism,
family

The Cousin I Hoped Would Be Cool...

Whelp.

So, I have a cousin.
She's about a decade younger than me.
When I met her at the family reunion 2 summers ago, she pinged all the bi flags I can think of.
And the following doesn't mean I read her wrong. Gods know bi people can be pretty messed up in ways that my just-out-teen-self didn't really think about.

But my cousin posts stuff on facebook that is kind of upsetting. I mean, most of it basically gets filed under "whatever". I don't care that much that she's reposting stuff deriding people who think "Baby, It's Cold Outside" sounds rape-y as fuck in a contemporary context, or that she's posting pictures of kinky gingerbreads with "this is why I don't get asked to make stuff for the church bake sale anymore" captions without necessarily being kinky herself.

But sometimes she posts stuff that really bothers me.

So I started commenting on that stuff.
I started commenting on that stuff literally inside of the last hour. And I started out pretty... easy to ignore. I literally said "Good grief, [name]".
And I figure, if she responds to that, I can talk to her about it further, and if she doesn't, I'll just quietly keep doing that, and maybe upping things a bit here and there, so that it's not just zero-to-livid right away.

If anyone has some personal experience talking to relatives (that you want to maintain and develop relationships with) about Problematic Stuff, please feel free to pass along what has worked?

Thanks,
Amazon.

Entry tags:

My Heart is Everywhere, So I'm Going to Talk About Gardening.

So...

Motherwort to hold us.

I want motherwort in front garden. It's sometimes called Lion's Tail, I think. It's a wild mint-family plant with pinky-purple flower stalks and sharp-toothed leaves. It grows all over the place. It has anti-anxiety properties, is an anti-coagulant (so, if you're at risk for blood clots as well as panic attacks, this might be a good one for you), and is apparently good for fertility? Or maybe not? I'm not sure...
I'd also like to grow skullcap (like motherwort, it has anti-anxiety properties - it's also, iirc, shade-lfriendly AND it has pretty BLUE flowers, which I want more of!)

The big, spikey plant that's taken up residence in the front corner of my garden is, aparently, Viper's Bugloss and is a relative of borrage (so: Yay, food for bees!). You can make a red (ish?) dye from the (very, very deep) tap root. Associated with frost giants and other weather-people? Iiiiinteresting.

I need to go and do the laundry. It's just past 1:30. Need to strip the bed, sort the wash, figure out what gets washed vs what is going to have to wait. I think I have enough for three washes + an hour of dryer time, but I need to check that. Better, if I can fit things into two.

Power Exchange Stuff: Learning new things about stearing my Horse. More than two things on a to-do-list is overwhelming and she'll stall into inaction, dig her heels in, go and hide in her hobbies. We shall see if sticking to a Two Things rule will help on the Getting Shit Done front. <*fingers crossed*>

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Link of the Day.

Consummation. (By Little Light, via Snakey).
It made me cry. A lot.

Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Midnight Special - Van Morrison (on Paul's CD Player)

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The Singing of the Merry Lark, the Turning of the Year... :-D

So, last night (though late - for me), was pretty awesome. :-)

I read "The Night Before Christmas" to everyone (at quarter to midnight, so it was a speedy read) - no Cat on the Doverfell, alas, but oh well. :-)

We ate many, many cookies (as is our wont on xmas eve).

I snuck out at about 3:15am to stuff stockings.
Had to repair the tree ornaments I made (note: dental floss? Comes un-knotted far too easily).

The home-made presents went over very well. :-)

( The Loot )

So, all in all, a really excellent haul for all involved. :-D

I *am* rather disappointed that my brother didn't get anything for Paul, and that my sister made stuff for us to 'share' (even though Paul can't really eat the pie, or the pickles - the cookies are probably okay though). Still, hopefully they'll start remembering soon. :-)

In other news:
More co-opting of xian music:

( O Holy Night )

( BPAL Reviews Part IV )

Anyway. We're going to be going to Paul's family home (and then to some of his relatives' houses, after that) in the next half hour or so, so I should sort a few things out before we head off. :-)

- TTFN,
- Amazon. :-)

Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: I'm So Afraid -- Fleetwood Mac ("The Dance")

Entry tags:

BPAL Reviews Part III

Right Wrist: Skuld.

Ylang ylang, honey, Egyptian and Arabian musks and labdanum.

( Thoughts on Skuld )

Left wrist: Loviatar.

Black amber, red musk and dark myrrh.

( Thoughts on Loviatar )

In non-BPAL-related news: Tonight we go to my mom's place for Xmas-eve and Xmas morning.
To be followed by a very hectic Dec. 25th afternoon, with visits to my in-laws house, and visits to both sides of that extended family. Ye gods. :-)

I got all my stock-stuffer shopping done. (I went into the Crystal Dawn shop on Dalhousie, and went through every piece of malachite they had until I found one that gave me a really strong reaction when I thought of Paul. Here's hoping it feels good to him. It made me feel kind of dizzy, and like there was a huge weight on my solar-plexus. But, then again, most of the malachite was doing that. It may just be what malachite does to me. <*shrug*>).

Anyway, I'm quite happy about it all. :-)

I also raided the soon-to-be-closed Music World at Redeau. I picked up "Bat Out of Hell" (as performed live, with an orchestra) as well as a "Gothic Club Compilation" (just to say that I did. ;-) plus Cradle of Filth's new album (well, "new" - 2006) for Paul, as a stocking stuffer. :-) He's getting a lot of music this year. (Not that this is particularly unusual). :-)

Vice Versa, the bisexuality theory book, is going well. I quite enjoy it. :-)

We'll be leaving for my mom's place at around 7pm. Which means I should get those truffles made. :-)

- TTFN,
- Amazon. :-)

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Dead - MCR ("The Black Parade")

Entry tags:

family,
recipes

Following One's Bliss

I just talked to my sister on the phone. :-D

She's sounding a lot more sure of herself than she did in the e-mail she sent me a couple of days ago, so that's a good sign.

She's writing a TV pilot screen play right now (just starting), which sounds like it could be quite cool. :-) ("Greys Anatomy meets Road to Avonlea", to give you some idea of the premise).
Also: Good for the CanCon (Are you listening CBC? Hire My Sister!)

She's been getting work as an extra in movies and stuff, so that's good, too. :-)
Plus she has a job in a theatre box-office (which is handy, in part because it helps to pay the bills, but also because the various theatre companies that go through there might just get to know her a little bit, which is always good for the networking. :-)

Anyway. I am still mulling over the cook book idea. Do I want to do just desserts, or what? And, if yes, how many desserts would I actually have? Because, for the most part, I don't make a lot of dessert. I mean I can come up with umpteen dozen *variations* of a given recipe, but that doesn't mean I can come up with umpteen dozen different recipes. And I figure I'd need at least fifty, probably twice that, just to get a good crack at things.

Perhaps I should come up with a theme... :-)

Anyway. Something I'll have to mull over for a little bit. :-)

Paul just called, he'll be home in about an hour. Time to throw the laundry in the machine. :-)

- TTFN,
- Amazon. :-)

Current Mood: groggy
Current Music: Teenagers - My Chemical Romance ("The Black Parade")

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Have been bopping around the websites of The Trailing Edge, Future Shop and Staples.

Unexpectedly, at 17" flat-screen is cheaper at the stores near my house than at the one in Bell's Corners.
Cool. :-)

To do today:

- Dye Hair
- Work on Boot (or, potentially, boots) while watching Some Movie or Other. Note: I found another spool of black thread! :-D Yay! :-D
- Figure Out Dinner. Since Paul is going shopping w/ his Dad today (shoes, belt, new tank of gas for the BBQ), this will (I hope) involve barbecuing something. If it does, this is good. It means that Paul will do the cooking. :-)

I don't think I will be going to Art In Strathcona today. (Sorry Ami. Good luck, though! :-D)

Last Night was dinner w/ Paul's family. It was nice to see my brother-in-law (who was in town for the day, basically). I wore my pants, and everyone went "Hey! You're wearing pants!" and said they looked good, which was pretty awesome.
They were still not totally comfortable, but I'm sort of starting to figure them out.
Handily, I didn't feel like I was in drag today.
I *did* feel unusually butch. But that's me for you. In my head, pants = menswear.
I can see the appeal of them for running, though. :-)

Anyway. Due to the aforementioned family visit, I am feeling somewhat all-peopled-out (and, as such, am starting to toy with the idea of getting a driver's license... only toying. But its usefulness is slowly becoming apparent. ;-)

Spent last night copying "Live Truly, My Heart" over to GJ. I'll do the same thing to IJ eventually. (Sorry to the GJ people for filling your f-list with fic!spam, btw. :-)

Anywhoo. That's it for me. :-)

Off to write Part Eighteen. :-)

- TTFN,
- Amazon. :-)