Adventures in Hedonism

We’ve all read the recent studies on how getting a good night’s sleep prevents weight gain and I’m ready to put it to the test.

I could stand to lose about 50 pounds and I’m going to do a little experiment of my own over the month of December.  I am already taking Advil daily for arthritis in my hand, so instead of taking the regular kind, I’m going to try taking the Advil PM every night for the month of December.

I think that I am ideal for this kind of experiment because I have a lot of trouble falling asleep and usually wake up many times throughout the night.  I am interested to see how I feel in the mornings after getting a good night’s sleep…assuming the pills do their job.

Aside from feeling better during the day, I hope that I will also get the added benefit of a little weight loss.  I have a very active day job where I get lots of exercise and I’m not planning on changing my eating habits during the next month.  I will up date here on a weekly basis and we’ll see how it goes.

A worthy way of celebrating Thanksgiving this year is to donate your used cameras to the Skid Row Club project.

They are collecting cameras and handing them out to participants at Skid Row who are using them to create beautiful art.

Their first show was last Thursday and hundreds of people turned up for the show.  The photographs went for $100 per print unframed and $290 framed. Half the proceeds goes to buy more cameras and the other half goes to the artist.

If you would like to donate a camera, simply email eecue@eecue.com. The website even has a way that you can simply donate money to the project via paypal.  This is a great way to get your whole family involved in a wonderful project for the holidays.  I urge everyone to participate.

The Raging Rev has awarded me with the Rock Star Award! Thanks Raging Rev!

It’s true.  I AM a rock star.

Annnnyyywayyy…I’m supposed to list 8 things about myself and nominate a few other folks for this award.  Let’s see…

1. I was a youth minister at a southern baptist church for 5 years.
2. I was married to a music minister for 10 years.
3. I am now agnostic.
4. I am happier now than I have ever been in my entire life.
5. I am marrying fellow agnostic in April on the beach in Alabama.
6. I am addicted to my computer.
7. I am a massage therapist by day.
8. I used to be a high school teacher…and after that I was a nuclear lab tech.

Yep…believe it or not.

So, here are my nominations for this award:

Mike at Waxing Poetically

Cliterature

Leslie at PixiePine Palace

and

Katy over at Trapped in the Office …she’s had a rough week!

This video of Sarah Palin makes my Thanksgiving Day! I am unsure as to what happened here.  I know that with a little effort, the camera man could have shifted his position so that the disturbing, yet ironic image in the background was off-camera.  So….was there a discussion before hand where he was told to be sure and get the turkey slaughtering in the background?

If that’s the case, why?  Did Sarah Palin make this decision?  Was it to be funny (which is what I would have done)? I doubt it.  Was it to send some sort of message to the liberals who might be watching?  Maybe.  Was it to generate publicity such as this blog post?  Hm….is she that smart?

If she didn’t make the decision, was it just a sadistic camera guy who thought it might be good for a laugh? Or was it completely arbitraray? Something that no one in the situation gave a second thought to?

I think it might have been the producers from the local station that did the interview to drum up some publicity.  What do you think?

Aside from drinking my way toward alcohol poisoning this month at different events, I have had the opportunity to attend several potluck dinners with friends.

At a wine tasting recently, I tasted an awesome cheese snap concoction that my mouth fell in love with.  I found out that the recipe was from a fundraiser cookbook for our local NPR station, so I bought one.  Those damn things are awesome! Everyone I’ve tried them on so far has wanted the recipe.  Even my mother, southern cook extraordinarie called and wanted the recipe.

So, in the interest of the betterment of society, I’ll share the cheese snap recipe with my today.com readers.  Enjoy!

1. Cream 1 cup of butter.

2. Add in 2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and cayenne pepper.

3. Add 3/4 cup of chopped pecans.

4. Add 1/2 pound of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

5. Roll into teaspoon sized balls and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 350.

Let me know if you try them. They’re fantastic!

I know that I want more tattoos.  They are inevitably addictive!  I do have a few ideas, but none of them as clever as this young lady. (for a better look at this image, right click and hit view image) I stumbled across this photo on the internet and have no idea who she is, but this is one of the most unusual and fantastic tattoo designs I have ever seen.

As of right now, I have three tattoos and I want more.  I am fortunate to be in a profession that I can be a professional and still have visable tattoos.  The only really visible one that I have right now is on my right forearm…it’s a red insert disc to a 45 record and I love it.  I got it as a memorial when my friend shut down his indie punk rock record store in this dismal conservative town where we both live.  It was sad, but it was time to move on.  Any votes on what the next tattoo should be?  My awesome financee has a fantastic idea of getting an extremely old death tarot card tattoo on his back.  It’s gonna be beautiful!

I had an amazing trip to New Orleans last weekend for my birthday.  I am happy to say that I turned 36.  We ate good food, drank and sang in the Piano Bar at Pat O’Briens and, of course, went to the strip club.

The next morning was Cafe du Monde and the French Market.  I struck gold at the French Market this trip. I even found a cake topper for the wedding.  However, the best thing that I saw the whole weekend was this basket full of Obama pan flutes.  I don’t know why in the world I opted to take a photo of these instead of buying one.

I’ll chalk that one up to having a serious sort of hangover.  Oh well, if any of you are travelling down to NO any time soon, pick one of these up for me.

What’s this, you say?  Well, I tell you, it is a truck laden with fruits and vegetables.  My vegan friend Leslie will be appreciative and impressed.

I saw this photo on a website today called Funtasticus . This is from today’s post entitled Extreme Transportation.

In my humble opinion, this is what is missing from our society today.  Trucks that are weighted down with fruit and veggies that are travelling the highway looking for vendors.

I have to wonder how he can see to drive.  Although, someone with this amount of determination would find it easy to make it work.  I like that there’s a scale on top of the truck, too.

I wish we had local markets in our community.  There is almost nothing better than fresh fruits and veggies.  Here’s to not going to the local wal-mart to buy fruit today…

Cheers!

What an exciting night!  A historical election….Obama wins!  And then I found this on the internet….this is the best night ever!!!

That’s right. I said it.  Put the fucking x-box controller down and go vote.  Today is the day.

I am a procrastinator by nature, but even I understand that this is something that cannot be put off until tomorrow.  Even if you are not voting for “my candidate”, I still want you to vote.  It’s part of the process. 

Be a part of history.  I voted this morning on the way to work. Sarah Palin scares the shit out of me and I wanted to get in there and do my part.  Even my 17 year old son says that he wishes he was 18 so he could vote in this election.

I have seen excitement and hope for this election like I have never before seen in my life and I hope that the momentum continues. 

We’ll all be watching anxiously tonight for the results…See ya there!