Please don’t divorce…

Now that the majority have trampled over the rights of the minority…once again.  They want to force gays and lesbians who were married to get divorced.  Do people not have anything better to do?  How does two loving people who are married affect someone else?  And please spare me the analogies to two siblings marrying, people marrying animals and polygamy.  Comparing homosexuals to any of these is an insult and shows the level of intellect of the person making the accusation.  But I digress, we sit  arounnd and let women get beat by their husbands.  We encourage women to go back, we insist it can get better and that he can change.  Yet, every other day this woman is beaten to a pulp.  We force people into marriages because families don’t want to be embarrassed by unwed mothers and children born out of wedlock.  We push our daughters to marry the man with the bigger bank account instead of the one with the bigger heart.  We prefer a man on the DL instead of one who doesn’t hide who he really is.  But when people actually love and care about each other, they can’t be married simply because they are both the same sex?

As the fight for the freedom to marry marches on, there are folks out there who want to rip families apart because of what theythink should or shouldn’t be.  And spare me the religious argument. Yes, I am a Christian (see other posts about this).  I can not stomach folks who say being gay is a sin, it’s wrong, etc… and are ready to go to war about it yet, do nothing about the appalling divorce rate.  Being that 10% of the population identifies themselves as gay or lesbian and 50% of the people (straight people) who get married, get divorced I am not sure how going to all out war against gay marriage is an effective use of resources. 

But I saw this photo project on the Courage Campaign website and I just had to share.  It’s easy to make judgements and decisions about nameless, faceless people.  But when you are forced to look into the eyes of a person before you start to belittle them, strip away their rights and otherwise call them 2nd class citizens, people tend to have a change of heart.

Check out the photo show here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/couragecampaign/sets/72157611501972510/show/

To learn more about what’s going on visit:
http://www.couragecampaign.org

The Martha Stewart Bug

A few times a year I get bit by the bug, I like to call it the Martha Stewart Bug. I get all artsy and craftsy and start cooking and being a real domestic diva.

The bug is in full swing today and my baby loves it (cause she will be eating well)! For dinner I am making her (well, us actually) Old Bay Hot Crab Dip (for starters) and for the main course I am whipping up some Warm Chicken Sandwiches with Mushrooms, Spinach and Cheese. Thinking about a what type of side salad or veggies to add to that. Either I will pick up a bottle of white wine or open a bottle we have here (probably the latter). The kids will be eating hot dogs and french fries. They rarely like anything that isn’t shaped like a chicken nugget, so we have learned what they will eat and what they won’t through trial and error.

I found the sandwich recipe on epicurious.com and will be tweaking it (taking the advice of some of the reviews) to suit our tastes.

Today I finally resurrected my very neglected blog The Thrifty Lesbian, I just posted about our Christmas meals and how my goal is to feed our entire family for less than 75 bucks. Can it be done? I don’t know, but I will be posting my progress. If you are into personal finance, saving money and just being all around cheap frugal, like me, check out the site. www.thethriftylesbian.wordpress.com.

I think the kids and I will be making my famous hot chocolate treats next week. It is so cute and makes a great gift. I put hot chocolate in a small (preferably Christmas themed plastic bag), top it with marshmallows and finally chocolate chips and tie the bag with a colorful tie. I usually hand them out around this time of the year, but I am getting a late start so I think we will just make some just for us. Ironically one thing I don’t do is Gingerbread houses…my patience runs thin on them. T said she would do it with the kids and I know they will have a blast.

I am about to hit my favorite grocery store Wegmans in a few and then Toys R Us (last minute xmas shopping). Have a wonderful Saturday!

10 True Things I Think of to Keep Myself Amused…

1. I sometimes put ice cream in the microwave so that it is melted just enough so I can drink it.  But I don’t like milkshakes.

2. My son will say there is no Santa Claus and will mock anyone who thinks there is one.  Yet, he will not stop bugging me about putting his letter to Santa in the mail.

3.  My gf ordered a local newspaper in order to get a free $25 Wal Mart gift card.  Then forgets all about it and car seat she has to show for it.  For months the newspaper is coming to the house…she has no clue about it.  I finally call the newspaper folks to find out why it keeps coming to the house.  I find out that not only did she order the paper, she is paying for it.  Okay, I can see you forgot you ordered it…but how do you forget you are paying for it?  Does she not notice the debit from her bank account?

4. My gf’s daughter believes that the more letters she writers to Santa, the more presents she will get.  Seriously, she writers letters…not a list of things she wants, but heartfelt letters…

5.  When my son turned 3 (or was it 4?), we had a little party at his grandma’s house.  His dad took the cake box and put it in the trash.  My poor baby was in tears saying “daddy threw my birthday away”.

6. When my nephew was young, he really wanted a little brother.  One day my mom said to him, well what if grandma had a baby?  My nephew said,  “grandma, I don’t want an old baby!”

7.  I have a secret crush on Orlando Bloom as Legolas in the Lord of the Rings.  No, I don’t have a crush on Orlando, just him as the elf in the movie (don’t ask).

8. My son can’t remember what he did with something he had in his hand 5 seconds ago, but can tell you about every gift and toy he has ever gotten, who he got it from and the day he got it.

9. My mom (may she R.I.P) decided that she was getting hip and wanted an email account.  When I said ok, I would set her up with a hotmail account, she quickly replied “oh no, not that type of account…”

10.  My grandma and her nosey ass got her face caught in the train doors in Queens many years back.   All I can remember is a butt wiggling and hands waving.  Now, this wouldn’t be funny if she was one of those sweet, fragile grandmas…but my grandma could probably whoop my behind.  And that is what she gets for always being so damn nosey ALL the time!

There are other things, but this will do for now.

A Lesbian Thanksgiving

This is the first Thanksgiving sweetie pie and I are spending together and I am so excited! Our Thanksgiving menu consists of some traditional favorites such as mac and cheese and yams but we decided not to do the turkey. Why? For several reasons:

1. They are huge. No one is in the mood for turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey a-la-king or any turkey left overs
2. We have a side by side fridge and space can be tight. We really didn’t want to use up our valuable fridge real estate, since:
3. None of us really like turkey in the first place. I mean yeah, we will eat it, but when faced with other alternatives the idea of buying it, clean it (yuck) and go crazy cooking it (making sure its at the perfect temp, etc…) it just isn’t worth it.
4. Neither of us have ever actually cooked a turkey or really have a clue as to how.So, no turkey for us this Thanksgiving.

So what is exactly on the menu? Here is what we will be dining on tomorrow:

1. Potato Salad (I’m cooking)
2. Yams (she’s cooking)
3. Green Bean Casserole (she’s cooking)
4. Collard Greens (she’s cooking)
5. Ham (I’m cooking)
6. Cornish Hens (she’s cooking)
7. Sweet Potato pie (I’m cooking)
8. Cornbread (I’m cooking)

We have also ordered a pan of mac and cheese and cornbread dressing from the Dixie Bones nearby. Yes, yes, we have already been talked about by her family about this. But hey, it’s our Thanksgiving and we do what we want!

You know each year, I say I am going to give back, do something for the community, help the less fortunate and each year I do nothing. I am thinking I want to get the kids together and have them create care packages for someone, somewhere who needs it.

On another note, I had orginally titled this post “What Lesbians Eat for Thanksgiving” and then it dawned on me that some people might be inclined to think this post was about something other than food. SO, I opted to change the name.

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, whatever you do, relax and enjoy the day off!!!

I’m Such A Hypocrite

So, since the dawn of the holiday season, my sweetie and I have been talking about how crazy Black Friday is.  I mean people who probably have forgotten why we even celebrate Christmas or people who don’t believe in Christ at all or worse, people who do believe in Jesus but have no problems stepping on people or throwing an elbow where needed just to get the Hannah Montana doll on sale show up faithfully to Black Friday sales all around the country. 

We laughed and laughed at my one and only Black Friday experience at Circuit City.  My sweetie laughed when I told her how people brought stollers with baby dolls in hopes that people would show sympathy to the lady with the baby.  We laughed at how I got up at 3am to get a laptop on “Super Sale” at Circuit City, how I lined up with the rest of the fools folks in the freezing cold and how despite being one of the first 50 people in the store (don’t ask how I got to the front, it’s ugly) the laptop I so coveted, was already sold out.  Surprise, surprise…who knew that “limited quantity” mean’t 4?  She explained how her experience was online hunting for “Tickle Me Elmo”, consuming her life…looking online at work, looking at home.  Finally landing the doll…only having her daughter play with it one time…i repeat, just one time.  Where is the doll now?  She has no idea.

We just said how it doesn’t make any sense to get  up so early to rush to give someone else our hard earned money.  Black Friday?  Not for us. We would shop normal hours at the normal prices like decent folks we resolved.

This resolve lasted until the Wal-Mart Black Friday Sale paper arrived in the mail on Monday.

How quickly things change.

After flipping through the paper, I yell “hey, babe, come check this out”.  She flipped through the paper, then I flipped through it again making comments and noting the incredible deals, our conversation went a little like this..

Her: “yeah, so…I will be up at 3am on Friday”.
Me: “okay, I will make you a some coffee or hot chocolate to take with you to stay warm”
Her: “okay”
Her: “i need to take a trip to walmart to see where the things are located in the store”
Me: “yeah, we need to case the place”
Her: “yessir”

You see how quickly we change once you see the Xbox 360 on sale for just $199 complete with a game and Guitar Hero, when the portable name brand dvd player is a mere $40 and the lifesize Barbie is just pennies on the dollar. 

A cup of joe to keep warm = $2
Gas to Wal-Mart = .50cents
Smile on kids faces on Xmas day for toys they will soon forget about = Priceless

Yeah, I’m a hypocrite! But at least I will admit it. Black Friday sales…here we come!