My main problem with the Republican party has two parts: 1) Religion. Having run so far to the right, even if I WANTED to vote Republican I can’t because there’ s no guarantee that the extra-loud wingnuts will exert their influence more than already happens. Which leads me to my 2). Even if the liberal wingnuts exert influence, they consider me to be more than my parts. The religion in part 1 seems to mean that lawmakers feel they should legislate those beliefs, which include me not getting to make decisions about how I want to live my life. Their religion says I don’t have control of my body and that the government gets to make those decisions for me.

I’ve never been able to get a Republican to explain how that makes the government smaller and less intrusive, though I think that’s because my vagina has significantly less money than the multi-billion dollar companies that benefit from the so-called ‘small government’ policies the Republican parties embrace.

To be fair, I’ve never met a Republican that believes the entire platform whole-heartedly. But until someone tears up the planks and starts over, there’s no way that I see THEM as the best of any choices. In fact, it’s because the party is SO disingenuous that I’m frustrated. If you really believe that abortion is murder, then you have to prosecute the woman who had the abortion. She should be going to prison for life. If you’re not willing to talk about that – and nobody is, though they’re happy to put the doctor in jail – then shut the fuck up. The doctor can’t perform a procedure that the woman doesn’t show up for. If you’re not willing to talk about how the ramifications of your beliefs are going to play out, I don’t believe you actually endorse them. You’re picking a knee-jerk emotional topic to harp on because you can’t win on the logic front. That makes me sad for our process.

Taxes are a part of our society. It’s how we pave roads and pay for police and fire safety. It’s how we take care of our elderly and people who can’t take care of themselves. Are there people who game the system? Hell yes. In fact, we ELECTED a bunch of them. The same people who are bitching about government healthcare entitlements are currently beneficiaries of some of the best health care in the country – you’ll be shocked to know that it’s provided by the government.

So yeah, there are people who take advantage of food stamps and Medicaid but each of those individuals is still making a shit-ton less money than the people we’ve elected to Congress.

I don’t mind smaller government, but I want a government that sees me as an actual person who is contributing to our tax base rather than a uterus. Oddly, I think I’m more important than that.

Y’all, the internet is amazing – especially if (like me) you are makeup challenged. Not only did I find some fantastic suggestions for how to get similar (though not identical ) makeup looks, I found a great one that uses a product I’ve already got for a wicked easy, super-polished daytime look. I’ve got some cream shadows from Benefit and basically just put some Skinny Jeans on my lids and barely in the crease. Add mascara and done. So easy and looks fantastic.

I’ve also got a better idea now how to replicate the look from the dancehall and I’m stoked about trying it soon.

I successfully got all the new work laptops up to date and with all the software we need. I added drivers we didn’t previously use so I think we’ll increase productivity as well. Last but not least I also got a couple of pieces of long-ago purchased but as-yet unused equipment up and running so that yay- new and improved diagnostic tools!

I rocked Friday like a boss and didn’t do much with my weekend. I’m about to finish making some pants and maybe a couple of work shirts before I start the slightly-more-work but significantly-more-reward projects. I also found a cute purse picture at Target.com and I feel like I can probably make said purse out of an old pair of khaki pants. It’ll be my first upcycle project.

I’ve got some work to do for the end of the semester and we’re getting closer to our Lubbock trip. I’m a nerd because I’m actually kind of excited to go to Lubbock (which people keep telling me is the asshole of Texas). As I’ve never been to Texas, but moved here from the asshole of Michigan, I feel like it has to be at least okay. Also, they’ve got a college and two great Thai restaurants. How bad can it be?

Grimm is wrapping up its season and I have to say, it’s become my go-to Friday show. The Vampire Diaries is still managing to be incredibly awesome and I’ve got mad love for the new Shonda Rhimes series – Scandal. Other things which are sweet – I found a couple of super-cute bags for a steal.

I was mostly domestic today – laundry and dishes – before work so I’m kinda hyped about finishing my current sewing project. In all likelihood I’ll do so while re-watching last night’s Game of Thrones, thus cementing my epic nerdery. At least I’m not making something for cosplay. Yet.

Last but not least, the new Internet Explorer 9 had has generated zero interest in me for Internet Explorer 9. It did, however, prompt me to buy the Alex Clare album which is about six shades of excellent. I have even already dropboxed it to friends.

The Gotye album is great, if a bit schizophrenic, and I Feel Better is my new phone ringtone. As yet I am still not sick of Someone I Used to Know. I’m also reading the 7-12 Dresden books.

No lie, I am very excited about the tablet function (for MY job purposes). Also, the touchpad is demonstrably better than the previous model. There’s a strong likelihood that I may be making Chrome the office internet default. Because I can. HA HA HA.

That said, I was willing to suspend disbelief thanks to a blend of interesting characters in each book, solid action and Reacher being likeable despite his incredible amazingness. Probably because the author generally makes Reacher wrong before he makes him right.

Definitely a library read for me – I don’t know that I’d read them more than once – but a fun couple hours brain vacation. I powered through the first six books in most of a day. Comparatively, I thoroughly enjoy the Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher and have read them multiple times. The fact that Harry is relatively fucked up, aware of his fuck-up-ed-ness and copes with it in various scenarios makes him far more relateable than Reacher.

There’s enough room under each basket for an additional basket. Now I get to remodel the REST of the room…

The original has a soft spot in my heart because, when it came out on video, it was a movie I identified with. My parents had moved us to the suburbs the summer before 6th grade and we also started attending a Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church. It was a strict church and there was no secular music, no movies, no dancing. I’m not sure why video was okay, or if my parents just realized that it was inevitable, but I didn’t get to go to a proper movie in a theater (that didn’t have to do with god – there was some Prodigal Son movie that I got to skip school for) unless I was staying over with a friend and my parents didn’t know or I got my driver’s license. The stuff against the rules didn’t have to actually be the law, it was the law of the house where I lived and that was just as good.

When my mom found a cassette tape of Def Leppard’s Hysteria in my room, you would have thought it was wrapped in pentagrams and soaked in baby’s blood. My parents were nothing if not committed to what the church was doing. I fought for WEEKS to be allowed to go to the 7th grade Halloween Dance – it was the first dance of the school year. I was allowed to go, albeit not in costume, and while it was fun it was SO not worth the month of parental arguing that I’d done to get there.

So seeing a movie – even though my friends thought it was so improbable to be in a place where dancing WASN’T ALLOWED – that reflected part of my crazy life experience and captured my frustration was kind of awesome. Especially since it was part of my life that almost no one else COULD empathize with. In my public school, I didn’t know anyone who went to church regularly and it was pretty much the only social outlet I was allowed. It was outside of the town where I lived so there was zero overlap between school and church. There weren’t a huge number of kids who were in the youth group at my church and, I suspect, almost none who were experiencing MY frustration with the rules. Now let’s be clear, the kids in neither Footloose film are advocating for dancing in the name of the Lord. And Spouse will tell you that a hangnail was better than the first film, so yes it was admittedly not great. For me, it was the novel characterization of something similar to my own experience that I remember resonating strongly with for the first time.

The new film is a pretty loose remake – modernized a bit and some of the over-the-top asshole characters have been changed or improved. There are some funny music callbacks and overall I think they did a better job with the story and setting. Everyone was a bit more believable than in the original and folks even have a southern twang.

All of this is a long way of saying I really enjoyed the new film and would watch it again before the original.

I logged into Pinterest and saw a super cute printable recipe card. I had trouble opening the page in Chrome (it opened in an IE tab. whatev.) which led me to googling. I found a bunch that were printable but not so many that you could actually TYPE your own recipes into BEFORE printing. Which led me to a tutorial on creating a recipe template in Word.
Which led me to making this.  recipecards

On the cards I made, you’ll find a chili recipe of Spouse’s from college (it’s really good and you can do TONS of tinkering) and the recipe for General’s Chicken that I love from The Chew on ABC. If you want a copy of the template, comment here and I’ll make a separate post for it.

I found the clip art sort of randomly and it grew on me. I got some free fonts from 1001fonts.com.

I spent my morning making tables, columns and downloading fonts. If that’s not nerdery, I’m not sure what is.

There is a strong likelihood of a trip to the store in my future, so that I can print these on cardstock (they should be 4×6) and replace my current ‘customizable’ 3 ring recipe book that 1) I have never loved 2) is handwritten in varying states of care and legibility and 3) is chock full of recipes written on scraps and stuffed inside.

At work, I don’t have time to eat a proper lunch. This is a huge change from my job of the last two years, where we had structured breaks and I was doing enough (literal) heavy lifting that I had to  schedule caloric intake.

I think that this week I’ve finally found a way around it.

Step 1: Hummus. I really, really love hummus. So I’ve been bringing snacks that work with hummus – pita chips, cut vegetables and (occasionally) boneless buffalo wings from the grocery store (surprisingly tasty with hummus!). It turns out that a hummus break can pack great calories into a few bites and has enough flavor to make it feel worth my while. I buy a bag of baby carrots (ready to eat) at the beginning of the week, a chunk of celery to chop, and three green/red/yellow peppers. For 20 minutes of chopping and bagging, I don’t have to do it again for the rest of the week.

Step 2: Green Monster. I’m making this shake for breakfast. What I like about this – minimal prep on my part. I cut and freeze the bananas. I buy the triple-washed baby spinach buckets. I dig that it’s got protein and some serious nutrients, not to mention PEANUT BUTTER. I’m hoping this is going to give me enough jump to get through the first part of my day.

Those that know me know I DO NOT drink coffee. I’m also not big on breakfast unless it is accompanied by sleeping in. I’ve used about every liquid nutrition option  out there (Slim Fast, tofu smoothies, etc). The canned slim fast is effective and fast but not especially cost efficient. Tofu smoothies typically require a bit more prep.  I’m digging the ‘chop the banana and put it in the freezer’ plan.

Spouse has been using spinach in his shakes for years but I’ve always been skeptical. This is the first recipe that made me think I’m going to like it.

So that’s the plan I’m using to see if getting through the work week can be made a little easier.