Wednesday, January 19, 2000

Resolution for my Environment

1/19/10:  Purge and organize cosmetics
               Done 1/23/10!  Threw away 1/3 or so and sorted the rest into zones.  Summary Here.

1/26/10:  Clean out center drawers of kitchen hutch  (Fail!)

2/3/10:  Clean out center drawers of kitchen hutch

.

Saturday, January 1, 2000

Quotes on Problem Solving

“When faced with a problem you do not understand, do any part of it you do understand, then look at it again.” -  Robert Heinlein

"Achievement is not the same thing as happiness. "  -Andy Borowitz

Quotes Index

Quotes on Fat Acceptance

Problem-Solving

Literary Rules for Living

MISCELLANEOUS:

"You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do." ---Anne Lamott

"Do you really think ... that it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations that it requires strength, strength and courage, to yield to. To stake all one's life on a single moment, to risk everything on one throw, whether the stake be power or pleasure, I care not -- there is no weakness in that."
-OSCAR WILDE, An Ideal Husband

“The best way out is always through.”
-Robert Frost

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather.”
-Goethe

"It is a common mistake on the part of cooler, self-contained natures to assume that those who have a giving and ebullient character are what they are only because they cannot help it—that they are fed from a spring that will never stop rather than a reservoir that can be exhausted. Hence the feeling of stark disbelief or unpleasant shock on the part of others when the reservoir of effort and energy—for it turns out to be a reservoir—is almost gone….the principal reward for those who give lavishly rather than meagerly is the expectation that they remain true to form and continue to give."
- W. Jackson Bate

“Everything turns out to be valuable that one does for one’s self without thought of profit.”
-Marguerite Yourcenar

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."
- Guillaume Apollinaire

“We are never so much disposed to quarrel with others as when we are dissatisfied with ourselves.”
- William Hazlitt

"Jo: Are you trying to tell me I block the light?  JD: I'd rather say your beauty shines with a light all its own...which is nevertheless hard to read by."

"Hey I only scored moderate in neuroticism on the personality test.  That's a relief because I was really worried about it."  -Jo

Quotes on Fat Acceptance

“this country is suffering from a manifest destiny of the thin…” - AngryGrayRainbows



"For some men, the only thing more intolerable than the sight of a powerful woman is the sight of a powerful woman they don’t want to sleep with." - Paul Campos (on media criticism of Supreme Court nominees' physical appearance)


"I am not about getting rid of thin models, what I am about is diversifying our notion of beauty so that it is more inclusive because I feel at present there are so many people who suffer due to an unattainable beauty ideal." - Velvet D'amour


"Every age has its dominant caste. This is the age of the zealot...The overweening state, by dint of the efforts of the zealots, demands the right to determine the shape of its clients." -John Brignell (via JFS)


"Debunking the idea that some Ugly, automatically inferior group, even exists, is a difficult task..." -http://bigliberty.wordpress.com/


"Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked "female". " - Erin, http://www.dressaday.com


"It doesn’t take too much time spent lurking on the [fatosphere] blogs to see why they liken their struggles to a fight for civil rights. In fact, they are fighting for our civility." -Lucinda Breeding, Denton Record-Chronicle


“As I’ve said before, if you think fat people have no self-discipline, consider the fact that they haven’t killed you yet.” - Miss Conduct, Boston Globe


"So, would transubstantiated communion wafer be carb, or protein?" - Phledge (on Shapely Prose)


"...the 'deaths attributable to obesity' statistics classify all dead obese people as killed by their fat, even if they were murdered with a tuning fork by evil clowns from outer space." -Rio (She Dances on the Sand)


"To hell with tiny pants!" -Cacie (Livejournal, via SP)


"If you’re fat and claim you don’t sit on the couch eating baby-flavored donuts all day, you are a liar." - Kate Harding (Shapely Prose)


"...the terror of carbs or the horror of fats or the menace of corn syrup or the, I don’t know, delicate ennui of riboflavin." - Fillyjonk (Shapely Prose)

"“But about a month before my friend Pammy died, she said something that may have permanently changed me.  We had gone shopping for a dress for me to wear that night to a nightclub with the man I was seeing at the time. Pammy was in a wheelchair, wearing her Queen Mum wig, the Easy Rider look in her eyes. I tried on a lavender minidress, which is not my usual style. I tend to wear big, baggy clothes. People used to tell me I dressed like John Goodman. Anyway, the dress fit perfectly, and I came out to model it for her. I stood there feeling very shy and self-conscious and pleased. Then I said, 'Do you think it makes my hips look too big?' and she said to me slowly, 'Annie? I really don’t think you have that kind of time.'" --Anne Lamott (as quoted at http://www.happiness-project.com/)

"no woman’s health can be measured by whether or not Alex Rodriguez wants to fuck her." --Ragen, from Dances With Fat

Project Inspiration

This is a random inspiration board for projects I may tackle at one point or another.  Hopefully this will allow me to reference interesting projects later instead of needing to jump right in and do it NOW.  These are physical craft and construction projects, not self-improvement.

Litterbox Hideaway
http://unclutterer.com/2008/10/18/litter-box-hideaway/
http://unclutterer.com/2007/09/25/sleek-way-to-hide-kitty-litter-box/


Pebble Mat for Winter Shoes
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/organizing/10-ways-to-deal-with-slushy-shoes-103075

Re-cover Antique Chair (or sofa)
http://www.readymade.com/blogs/johnsons/2009/12/01/my-road-to-recover-y/

Growing Bamboo in Michigan
http://www.americanbamboo.org/GeneralInfoPages/GrowingBambooIndoors.html
http://www.lewisbamboo.com/tessinfo.html
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/02123.html

Links

This is a random collection of links I've visited or found with something interesting on them, or that I want to reference later.  I'll sort it if it gets too long, but until then it'll serve as a sort of word-art expression of my dilettente brain. 

Six Ways to Eat a Grapefruit
http://whenharrymetsalad.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/grapefruit-extravaganza/

LuLu (self-publishing)
http://www.lulu.com/

Custom-tailored jeans:
http://www.makeyourownjeans.com/

Open Learn: Autistic Spectrum
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3569&topic=all

This is Sand
http://thisissand.com/

Passive Aggressive Notes.com
http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Gnome_Liberationists
University of Pennsylvania Happiness questionnaires
http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx

To Read

This is where my "To Read" list will be maintained.  I've often come across a title that sounds fascinating, but rarely write it down or record it somehow to look up later.  Feel Free to leave recommendations in the comments!  I generally read literature (e.g. Austen, Dinesen, Wolfe, Bronte, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Kafka, Gogol, Conrad) with some classic science fiction (e.g.  Heinlein, Asimov, Sturgeon) and the occasional very well written modern novel (e.g. Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman).

TO READ:

Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood
Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love.
Elias Canetti, Crowds and Power
Elias Canetti, Auto-da-Fe
Georges Bataille, The Accursed Share: Consumption
Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class
St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul
Robert Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
Virginia Woolf, The Waves
Alexander et al., A Pattern Language
Randall Jarrell, The Animal Family
George J. Thompson, Jerry B. Jenkins, Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Dr. Betty Edwards
Chronicles, by Bob Dylan
The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself, by Susan Bell

Resolutions for Finances

2/3/10:  Eat breakfast at home and pack/bring a lunch to work every day (no takeout, no deli, no purchasing food during the day).

2/3/10:  Restrict groceries to $80/week

Literary Rules for Life

“when faced with a problem you do not understand, do any part of it you do understand, then look at it again.” - Robert Heinlein

"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. "
-CS Lewis


"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
-Robert A. Heinlein

"'Begin at the beginning,' the King said, very gravely, 'and go on till you come to the end: then stop.'"

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

"Don't Panic."  -Douglas Adams

Sewing Index

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General Sewing


SAAS (Sewing At Any Size) Series

SKIRTS

Variations on the Gored Skirt (insets, wrap skirts, lined/reversible skirts)
Pleated Skirt (and pleated curtains)

TOPS
Variations on the Camisole Top (Scoopneck, Lace, Gathered Neck, Tee-Shirt Conversion)

LINGERIE/SWIMWEAR

TROUBLESHOOTING and HACKS
Part 1  (Button Gap, Dying, Fit Alterations)
Shorten your Jeans (without looking like you have)

COSTUMES



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Recipe Index

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Appetizers and Sides: 
Crabmeat Rangoons
Lemon Sauteed Asparagus (Gluten-Free)
Hot Spinach-Artichoke Dip (Gluten Free)
Spicy Dandelion Greens (Gluten-Free)
Garlic Mustard - Invasive Species Recipe Link (Gluten-Free)
Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, Chilequiles (Gluten-Free)
Leftover Tortillas: Chilequiles, Corn Chips, Tortilla Soup
Homemade Plum Sauce with Sweet Cherries (Gluten-Free)


Main Dishes: 
Quick and Easy Beef Stew Pot Pie
Sweet Baked Ham with Red-Eye Gravy (Gluten-Free)
Jo's Perfect Pot Roast (Gluten-Free)
Authentic Mexican Tacos
Spicy Cinnamon Swiss Chicken Nachos (Gluten-Free)
Rosemary Balsamic Roast (Gluten-Free) 
Pecan-Crusted Chicken Strips (Gluten-Free)
Gluten-Free Lasagna with Summer Vegetables


Soups: 
Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup
Easy Spicy Winter Soup (Gluten-Free)
Leftover Tortillas: Chilequiles, Corn Chips, Tortilla Soup


Salads:
 Avacado Pecan Bleu Salad with Blackened Chicken (Gluten-Free)


Breads:
 
Banana Bread (and Banana Bread French Toast)
Gluten-Free Apple Spice Coffee Cake (Gluten-Free)
Gluten-Free Buttermilk Pancake Mix (Gluten-Free)


Desserts: 
Blueberry Tarts with Pecan Streusel
Strawberry-Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake
Candied Rose Cookies
Rice Pudding (Gluten-Free)
Tiramisu
Caramelized Pear Custard Tart
Gluten-Free Crepes (Gluten-Free)

.....

Resolutions - Health

1/15/10:  Eat a grapefruit every day prepared in a different way.
               Done!  Best with salt instead of sugar, or prepared in savory dishes. The exception was the
               Grapefruit-squirt sorbet.

1/26/10:   Try at least three recipes with capers in them.