tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15598502194245542392012-01-30T19:19:56.492-05:00This year my blog will reflect many changes as I look inward and examine my own personal capacity for happiness. Topics will still include self acceptance as a fat woman, health, hobbies and whatever else comes up along the way. Please read the comments policy before leaving comments.JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.comBlogger285125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-34754909552857690932012-01-25T08:49:00.000-05:002012-01-25T08:49:13.362-05:002012-01-25T08:49:13.362-05:00

I don't usually stray too far into controversial political issues other than FA, and I don't plan to make this blog a regular platform.  But there's a disturbing thing happening in Michigan, and it has to do with my reproductive rights.   The Michigan senate is considering a bill (SB600) that would allow drivers to purchase an official license plate with a "Choose Life" logo on it.  $25 from

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-87824719382773518522012-01-24T09:02:00.001-05:002012-01-24T09:02:49.228-05:002012-01-24T09:02:49.228-05:00

I have my dummy e-mail address (fatactivist @ gmail) and am going to try and post 2-3 comments per day on various articles with fat hate.  I find it helps to not read the other comments.  Today's theme was Paula Deen, and I left comments on 3 articles slamming the hypocrisy of Anthony Bourdain (who chain smokes and binge drinks on his TV show) criticising Paula Deen for cooking unhealthy food. 

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-73947872868059442232012-01-23T14:08:00.002-05:002012-01-23T14:08:34.177-05:002012-01-23T14:08:34.177-05:00

Until I make the reluctant leap to join the Hive Mind (aka Facebook), I'll continue to update comment cut-and-paste texts for Ninja Commenting here on my blog.  Here's the latest, which I'm using on general "why don't they just put down the donuts and take a walk" kind of fat hate threads, especially those targeted at "childhood obesity".  I think it covers the basics for someone not already in

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-24377270745576717362012-01-21T08:00:00.001-05:002012-01-21T08:00:07.024-05:002012-01-21T08:00:07.024-05:00

I'm finally posting JD's Gluten-Free Crepes!  This is something he adapted from another recipe to work with the GF flour mix we use (below).   We generally eat them for breakfast, ideally with mascarpone cheese and sliced fruit.   Mascarpone can be found in a lot of food stores that sell specialty cheeses.  It's a very sweet, light, Italian cream cheese that tastes like crème fraîche.  The brand

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-32070038652560670652012-01-20T08:00:00.000-05:002012-01-23T14:10:40.525-05:002012-01-23T14:10:40.525-05:00

Ragen at Dances With Fat posted a piece on how we can practice some activism at home and take back some fat hating comment streams through Ninja Commenting.  Please read the post, because it's excellent :-) I want to expand on her idea and use it myself.  The idea is to find mainstream news stories (not private threads or weight-loss sites; we're not trolls!) about weight.  These stories

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-8219253201831389922012-01-19T10:52:00.001-05:002012-01-19T10:52:26.660-05:002012-01-19T10:52:26.660-05:00

Scanning important documents, photos and souvenirs and tossing the originals is one of the frequent decluttering techniques I've seen posted on organizational blogs.  I've always really resisted it, and now I have a good reason.  I've just had a catastrophic computer snafu, and irretrievably lost all copies of every photo I've ever saved electronically.   Digital is convenient and compact, but

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-24088586804914555222012-01-13T08:47:00.000-05:002012-01-13T08:47:48.542-05:002012-01-13T08:47:48.542-05:00

Warning:  Sappy alert! Happiness on this very snowy morning is warm gluten-free crepes with lemon curd and mascarpone, a pre-warmed car with all the snow brushed off, good music, and a partner who gets up early to make it all happen even though he doesn't need to be anywhere for two more hours.  Happiness is being grateful every day that he's in my life.

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-72138287249936952152012-01-12T15:49:00.001-05:002012-01-12T15:52:43.782-05:002012-01-12T15:52:43.782-05:00

The state of Georgia is currently covered with billboards and videos telling people to "stop sugarcoating it" in regards to childhood obesity.  What's next, a campaign against bipolar disorder telling people to "just get over it already!"? Let's start with the cognitive disconnect over what constitutes "sugarcoating."  I'm routinely bombarded with the message from the news media, my doctors,

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-65471894352119575502012-01-10T09:24:00.000-05:002012-01-10T09:24:05.891-05:002012-01-10T09:24:05.891-05:00

Our office has begun the ubiquitous and poorly named "Biggest Loser" contest.  If you're lucky enough to be free of these where you work, the premise is that whoever loses the most weight in a certain time period wins a pot of cash, which the participants paid to enter.  Now I don't think that health should be competitive.  There's enough "good/bad fattie" stigma from the world inflicting guilt

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-40945751909313229542012-01-04T10:29:00.000-05:002012-01-04T10:29:25.951-05:002012-01-04T10:29:25.951-05:00

Have you registered yet?  It's a series of live interviews, accessible from anywhere with internet access, with many of the super-stars of size diversity.  Golda Poretsky will interview such well-known names as Peggy Howell, Marilyn Wann, Linda Bacon, Paul Campos, etc.  Many FA bloggers, activists, and other experts are on the list.  I'm really excited to have registered, and can't wait to listen

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-26414315110525534432011-12-27T10:57:00.000-05:002011-12-27T10:57:50.356-05:002011-12-27T10:57:50.356-05:00

The parents flew us down to Florida for a week, which was really hard to come back from.  We spent most of the time in their gated retirement community swimming, sleeping and sunning.  It was a very welcome break after the craziness of this past semester. About mid-week I noticed an absence of body consciousness on my part.  We were spending about two hours a day at the pool, and I was running

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-15013188247589753282011-12-01T16:21:00.001-05:002011-12-01T16:23:01.676-05:002011-12-01T16:23:01.676-05:00

I came across this great discussion on the NY Times Learning Network, asking students to share what they think about the effect of photoshopped celebrity images in the media.  The blog mentions the attempts by several countries to force advertisers to reveal when an image has been altered using a scale of 1-5 for the degree of alteration.  I read through the first page of comments (there are

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-25140004341788766422011-11-30T09:35:00.000-05:002011-11-30T09:35:30.597-05:002011-11-30T09:35:30.597-05:00

Pancakes are tricky in the gluten-free world.  There are a few mixes that make whole-grain flavored pancakes, heavy on the sorghum flour.  I really missed that perfect buttermilk pancake taste, and the gluten-free bisquick was expensive enough to make pancakes an occasional treat.  I'm very picky about "substitutes" actually having the same taste and texture as the thing they're substituting for.

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-91271108623758549362011-11-29T08:33:00.000-05:002011-11-28T09:33:54.434-05:002011-11-28T09:33:54.434-05:00

So this weekend I caught up on a lot of things, like cleaning and packing five whole boxes of clutter for a giant garage sale next spring.  I felt like I should reward myself by tackling one of the "unnecessary" creative projects I've had sitting in my inspiration box for nearly five years now: homemade pickles. Every single year when the world is inundated with so many cucumbers that people

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-29557721554297319612011-11-28T09:17:00.000-05:002011-11-28T09:17:39.585-05:002011-11-28T09:17:39.585-05:00

The great gluten-free post-Thanksgiving dinner was a mixed bag, but the good more than made up for the bad!   With a nine pound turkey breast and plenty of extras, we still have a week of leftovers and some good memories. I did the turkey in what I call the "Scarborough Fair" style (parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) with the herbs pureed and spread under the skin of the turkey breast to flavor

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-35480376727349307762011-11-23T10:56:00.001-05:002011-11-23T13:17:12.938-05:002011-11-23T13:17:12.938-05:00

The last-minute hunt is on for a Gluten-Free Thanksgiving dinner!  Our plans are still a little up in the air for Turkey Day itself, and if plans do happen then we'll have our meal on Sunday instead of tomorrow.  The problem is that Thanksgiving is a minefield of gluteny traditions. The first and least obvious hurdle is the turkey itself.  Of course turkeys don't normally contain gluten, but

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-83973820756980356042011-11-23T09:47:00.000-05:002011-11-23T09:47:03.286-05:002011-11-23T09:47:03.286-05:00

I know, right?  But while most people do just fine on caffeine, I found myself in a cycle of insomnia, leading to extra caffeine the next day, leading to worse insomnia.  I wasn't even that heavy of a caffeine drinker.  I would generally have one or two 16 oz cup of ice tea in the morning, then a 16 oz coffee.  After a sleepless night, I would sometimes add another 16 oz coffee or coffee drink

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-75159873196333685182011-08-21T17:52:00.003-04:002011-08-21T18:36:08.181-04:002011-08-21T18:36:08.181-04:00

I found a fantastic recipe for peach coffee cake with streusel topping over at the Gluten-Free Goddess.   I just wanted to give her full credit for the original recipe, to which I made several changes.  I adapted a few items to fit what I had in the cupboard, added additional spices to give it a more spice-cake flavor, and added buttermilk powder to really up the moistness of the cake.   Dry

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-14618597125376732342011-08-19T08:44:00.000-04:002011-08-19T08:44:22.575-04:002011-08-19T08:44:22.575-04:00

Normally I avoid specific candidate endorsement or tear-down on this blog, but I just saw this video: Al Franken Takes Down Anti-Gay Witness Over at Talking Points Memo.  I actually wanted to shout "SHAZAAM!!  TAKE THAT ASSHAT!" at the end :-)  Does this mean that despite all the insanity, some members of our government still actually think for themselves?  Now I'm tempted to move to Minnesota

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-43790580269789647942011-08-11T09:57:00.000-04:002011-08-11T09:57:28.675-04:002011-08-11T09:57:28.675-04:00

CNN Health reports that the average age for eating disorders is dropping, so that children as young as 7 are requiring treatment for anorexia and other disorders. I was very pleasantly surprised to see a lot of references in here about how our fat-hysteria is impacting children negatively.  A mainstream news organization very rarely wakes up to the idea that body judgement might be doing serious

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-15224164534535195212011-07-28T11:20:00.000-04:002011-07-28T11:20:24.082-04:002011-07-28T11:20:24.082-04:00

I'm adding this to my Sewing at Any Size series, even though there's not a whole lot of sewing necessary.  You can click on the "Sewing" link under Happiness Tools to your left for more projects like this one.  There was a great post with some also great comments over at The Rotund on the challenges of work attire for us "death fat" women. Especially on a limited budget (i.e. can't afford

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-26217930246546866772011-07-27T16:09:00.000-04:002011-07-27T16:09:36.553-04:002011-07-27T16:09:36.553-04:00

First the standard disclosure that I'm not receiving anything from these companies to review their products, not even free samples.  I'm just sharing my own personal impressions of some of the gluten-free products we're trying out since my partner's diagnosis with Celiac Disease.  It can be quite a complicated treasure hunt!  The Good: Kinnickinik brand KinniToos Chocolate Vanilla Sandwich

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-54967322132831199682011-07-25T11:11:00.000-04:002011-07-25T11:11:45.267-04:002011-07-25T11:11:45.267-04:00

The cinnamon gives people pause when talking about savory foods, at least those used to western cooking.  This was an off-the-cuff experiment of mine based on a pre-grocery shopping "what do we have in the house for dinner and how can I make it more interesting" day.  I can see this being a hit at a potluck, especially considering the short cook time and finger food appeal. You also know that

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-30057766876912461492011-07-22T14:07:00.001-04:002011-07-22T14:10:20.993-04:002011-07-22T14:10:20.993-04:00

I absolutely adore the Dresden Files book series.  I have them all and have been eagerly awaiting the new one coming out next week.  The characters are nicely complex, the dialogue witty, and there are plenty of crack-me-up moments that make the people in the office break room look at me oddly while I'm reading.  So far they've also been relatively free of overt fat-hate.  The medical examiner

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559850219424554239.post-41639703053921204142011-07-20T11:34:00.000-04:002011-07-20T11:34:58.678-04:002011-07-20T11:34:58.678-04:00

One of the most frequent criticisms of gluten-free foods is a texture thing.  Even home-baked GF recipes tend to be dry and grainy.  Mixes can be especially so.  Unfortunately, GF flours just don't break down like wheat flour, and the "chewy" texture is an effect of gluten. We've been playing with breakfast foods, using the Gluten Free Bisquick now on the market.  The GF Bisquick pancakes were/

JoGeekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16093660035883346402noreply@blogger.com1