Don't mess with a hungry chubby person

So today 4/18 starts a new diet. Well, we’re not really calling it a diet but moreso a change in the way we’re living. If you’ve known me for a while you know that my weight has always yo-yo’d. For my whole life, my weight has long been my biggest frustration. I will gain weight, lose it, feel better about myself and gain it right back. I know I’m not alone in feeling like this, but with weightloss, it always feels like it’s harder for you ‘than’ it is for the rest of the world. SO, we went foodshopping this weekend buying lots of chicken, fish, and other good meats and lots of veggies and brown rice. We’ve gotten into the horrible habit if eating out 3-4 times / week and that is certainly not helping things. I know this isn’t the most interesting thing for me to blog about, but if I put it on here, I’m more likely to stick with it….. We had a really nice weekend. We were on on Friday with the intention of taking a ride down to the boardwalk but since it felt like it was about 30 degrees out, we stuck around our neck of the woods. We hit up the Amish Market and Columbus Mart and had dinner with great friends. Saturday evening we went to a bachelorette party at the nightclub Sisters. We had a great time. We had some drinks… and danced a whole lot. Then on Sunday Ron cleaned and cooked us some healthy meals for the week and I worked in the yard for what seemed like days… Two things of interest right now. Facebook recently removed a picture of a gay couple kissing and sent a message to the owner citing that the picture was found to be objectionable and therefore was removed. Is facebook drawing a line in the sand with regards to social issues? Hmmm… I’m curious to see where that story goes. Also, I read an article this morning on cnn.com about gay families and how in most metropolitan areas how most people were less surprised or concerned about a gay family living next door to them than ever before. As always, I love to read the comments. Most of the comments were along the lines of “We’re tired of reading about gay people, why is so much attention given to such a small segment of the population”…. That makes me chuckle because for one… they read the article. They want to complain about having ‘gay related stories’ thrust at them but they continue to read them. (this is not unlike people who like to judge my blog but still read it every time I post… but I digress). The reason us gays are so loud, have such big mouths and in general make a stink about things are because the people on the other side of the fence have most of the power and have oppressed and abused us. Now we have a voice… One that grows louder every day. And to those small minded, bible thumping, knuckle draggers, I say… be afraid…. Very afraid… because times are changing… whether you like it or not. Peace.

Soapboxy Goodness

So we’ve been himing and hawing about taking a roadtrip in May. We need to clear the dust off the tires and get away from Jersey and our day to day responsibilities for a couple days. We were originally going to go to Dollywood. The place looks really fun and campy which ofcourse is right up our alley. After talking about it publicly a few times and getting a few reactions like “oh God, those mountain people will kill ya”… We’re deciding to put Dollywood on the back burner for now and instead going to DC for a couple days. We’ve been wanting to get down to the museums forever and do the touristy thing. We’re really looking forward to it. I’ve been reading a lot about the Kobe Bryant gay slur thing. I really find the whole story fascinating. What’s most interesting to me is when you read this story on any news website, the comments from readers are just horrible. Most of the wanna-be tough guys on there spout off their hateful rhetoric and crying out in support for this man who did nothing except use a gay slur in a moment of anger, teaching millions of kids and young adults watching that this is acceptable behavior. I call them “wanna-be” tough guys because most of them would never speak up like that publicly. Kobe Bryant makes millions of dollars and whether he wants to be or not, is infact a role model for youth. He has a responsibility to behave like a role model should. Aside from all that… an athlete on the court is at WORK… Imagine a teacher using a slur like this is a classroom… or a waitress in the middle of a restaurant. You are working and need to be held accountable for your actions. For that full story click here: http://www.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/04/13/bryant.nba.fine/index.html Another story that has interested me recently is the J Crew ad in which a mother is painting her sons nails pink. Now if you haven’t heard about this, the little boy begged his mom to paint his nails and it was photographed as kindof a “it’s ok to be yourself” commentary. The photo was then used as J Crew ad which is where the mother works. The conservative and Christian communities were immediately outraged calling this child abuse and judging this poor boy and his mom for their decision. It kills me to think that something so trivial is such a big deal to so many people in this world. #1, don’t you have more important things to worry about in your life? And #2 we (most of us) try to teach kids to accept other peoples’ differences and to respect them and here we have a situation of a little boy wanting to express himself and “adults” are attacking him. I call them bullies. And when young people all over this world kill themselves for feeling different and persecuted for being different (in any way) it’s because of people like them. Why is it acceptable in our society for girls to display ‘masculinity’ (supposed masculinity) but if a boy shows the slightest bit of femininity, he is persecuted. It’s crazy. For a blurb on that read: http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/13/shocking-pink-mom-paints-boys-toenails-in-j-crew-ad/?iref=allsearch Anyway… Off my soapbox for now. Later gators.

My love turns 31

Is it Monday already? This weekend just flew by. Friday night we went to the Tortilla Press, made a quick stop at the store and then went to the movies. While checking out at the store, we were behind a mother and her children. She was about my age and has 4 kids under the age of 8 and another on the way. She was so nasty to her kids, it was so sad. She was one of those people obviously took no joy in being a mother. She spoke to them like she hated them. She was really going off on her one daughter who was apparently named ‘Dijon’… So on top of being a crappy mother, she names her kids after condiments… Go figure… After that ordeal we went to the movies. All week Ron talked about wanting to see Insidious. I can get into horror movies, but I don’t like the super suspenseful type where you’re on the edge of your seat the whole time waiting for something to jump out at you… So, I punked out and we saw separate movies. Which, by the way to husbands out there… no matter how many times your spouse says they are ok with that… they’re not. Trust me! Anywho, while Ron saw Insidious, I saw Source Code. It was just ok. Saturday morning we had a yardsale. We were relieved that the weather cleared up and aside form it being a little chilly in the morning, it was a nice day. All went well with the yardsale except for a middle-eastern woman (who actually lives a few blocks down the street) who tried to shoplift from us. Does that take balls or what? Saturday night we had Ron’s family over to celebrate his birthday. Sunday afternoon we wanted to go to the movies. We went to the Moorestown Mall. Before the movies, we popped into the store Spencer’s. We felt so old going into that store. Not only is it full of merchandise with catch phrases that we didn’t understand, but most of the merchandise was so raunchy. Don’t get me wrong, we are no prudes… but I prefer that kindof stuff a little more subtle… Everything in there just hit you over the head. It was gross. We went and saw Hanna, which I have been dieing to see. It was good… not great, but good. Then we went to my moms at night for some burgers and dogs and bday cake. Tonight we’ll be going to The Pub on 130. I have never been there but everyone says it’s great. Today is Ron’s actual birthday. I want to wish a happy birthday to the silliest, sassiest, most loving and supportive person I have ever met. Without whom, my life was gray and silent, and because of whom, my life is now full of color, laughter and intense love.

Friday Night Lights

I usually blog early in the morning before my workday starts but I've had a lot on my mind today so felt like writing. Next week I have an important Doctors appt (nothing life threatening) as well as our homestudy update for the adoption. We're going on 17 months of waiting and I (the impatient one with the control issues) have now made a Facebook page to help promote our adoption. We even have a low budget ad running to help promote the page. It can't hurt and it keeps me busy. That page is not connected in any way to my personal facebook page, nor will it be since if we were to meet a birthmom through Facebook, we wouldn't want our Last name known. That's a no-no in the adoption world. Also in the realm of trying to keep busy with positive things I've decided that I want to / I want us to volunteer more. I love volunteerism and it's something that forever ago, I was really into. Ron did quite a bit of volunteering too in years past. There is an organization called Dining Out for Life that Ron has worked with in the past. You can sign up with them to basically host an evening at a Restaraunt, invite friends and family to dine there and then the establishment donates a portions of their proceeds from the event to help fund Aids service organizations. We'll be hosting on Thursday 4/28 at The Pop Shop in Collingswood. Check out http://www.diningoutforlife.com/ I've also been all about compiling a list of goals. Call it a bucket list if you will but I'm just not getting any younger and there are things that I want to do that I always talk about doing someday... but never do. Lord knows I am a list-maker and once it's on a list.. it must get done. This includes anything from cooking classes to learning another language, reading atleast a book a month and continuing my education in one way or another. Anywho... That's all for now. Waking up early in the am for errands and some yardwork. Have a great weekend!