Tag: funerals and birthdays

The weekly roundup – funerals and cupcakes edition

On By BekkiIn The Weekly ReviewLeave a comment

I’m making an effort to start these up again, to get myself writing more often. And I’m using the Magic of the Internet to post this one in the past, due to a slight hiccup with my hosting provider.

1. My uncle died last week, and so I spent a good portion of this week in transit so that I could make the funeral. My brothers both made it out as well, which meant that the three of us got to squish into the backseat of the rental Kia. You can guess who got the middle seat. I remember going to a cousin’s funeral, back when I was still married, and thinking about what a beautiful community my cousin had built and comparing that to my own life and social circles, which was limited almost entirely to my husband. This time, as I looked around at the community who came for my uncle’s funeral, I thought about all the various connections I’ve made in the past few years, all the community building and volunteering I’ve done, and had a moment of profound gratitude for all the people I’ve made part of my life.

2. Speaking of community, I finally managed to get to the Sex Positive Womxn’s Sangha yesterday. I love that I’ve created something that doesn’t need me present to happen – and I love even more when I am able to show up.

3. Interested in hanging out with me? I’ve been running a social experiment the last few months with an Activity Buddies Google Form, as a way to increase the amount of friend dates in my calendar. It’s definitely producing interesting results.

4. Z made red velvet cupcakes this week, almost entirely solo. I’m equal parts proud of them and concerned that I no longer have an office to take baked goods into. If you’re local and willing to take extra goodies off my hands, let me know!

5. I ordered a Little Free Library kit a few months ago, and it’s sat in the corner of the dining room waiting for me to have time to tackle it. I’m hopeful that my dad and Z will be able to get it assembled, painted, and installed while my dad’s in town the next few weeks, but it’s entirely possible that it will spend the next few years half assembled in the basement.

Links and things

You should have asked: French webcomic artist Emma has a great explanation of the mental load and how this invisible aspect of household labor is borne almost entirely by women.

I’ve been loving Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American, which takes the political events happening today and situates them in an historical context. It never ceases to amaze me just how often history repeats.

I was recently given this recipe for the world’s moistest chocolate cupcakes, and if you can get past the inordinate amount of times the word moist is used, the recipe is pretty spectacular.

Monday Roundup

On By BekkiIn The Weekly ReviewLeave a comment

1. I spent Tuesday to Thursday on the East coast last week.  The funeral was very well done, and it was nice to be with my friends and colleagues as we said goodbye.  In some ways it helped to make it more real, but in others this is just the first step in getting back to some semblance of normal.

2.  Elite flyer status is awesome.  This trip was the first time I flew with any kind of status, and I have to admit it was pretty nice.  Free upgrades to economy plus (more legroom!  free booze!  all the things you used to get with a ticket!), early boarding, TSA pre-check.  Of course, it all goes away in January.

3. Apparently I have issues with birthday parties and open flame. The year Z was born, I lit my hair on fire trying to blow out the candles on my cake. This year, I put the Tupperware holding her birthday cupcakes on the stove to keep them out of the way… only to realize when flames started shooting up that the burner had been on. Luckily, in both instances A was around to put out the fire and otherwise save me from my own ineptitude.

4. At some point in your life, someone has probably told you to clean the hell out of a fridge before you unplug it. This is excellent advice and you should take it.

5. Je suis Paris. A and I got engaged here, at the end of a day that involved failing to go up the Eiffel tower and getting dead people rained on us in the Catacombs. I have to believe that love is still stronger than fear.

Closing Tabs

The controversy over crowd-funding continues. After seeing a Go Fund Me come across my feed this week – and donating – I think we all need to chill out about this. Nobody’s forcing you to fund your college roommate’s second cousin’s journey to the Falklands to find himself. Where somebody is in need, this is a great way for their village, which is often scattered across cities or counties or continents, to pitch in and help.

I’m really exited to try this homemade hot chocolate mix.  It looks super easy and quick to put together, and nothing says “there is no way I’m going out into the cold and wet today” like a steaming mug of hot cocoa.

Apparently, having two opposing football teams in red and green uniforms is a bad idea. Who’d have thunk?

The state of Massachusetts has been ordered to give Pastafarians – those who believe that the existence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is just as probable as the existence of the Judeo-Christian god – the same rights as they give all other religions.  I seriously doubt this would fly south of the Mason-Dixon line.

In the wake of Paris, the Atlantic has an article about ISIS.  It is absolutely terrifying, both in scope of what it claims drives ISIS and in the seeming inability of our political leaders to grasp this.  Of course, nobody ever sold magazines by claiming that everything was peachy keen and our leaders were great, so I take the second point with a grain of salt.

Finally, the Times did a really excellent article illustrating why state by state gun control doesn’t work.  I’m not going to get political here – those of you who know me probably have a good idea what my personal view on this is – but I think this gets to the heart of why we need a federal government.  State by state regulation for things like legalizing marijuana and gay marriage can be a way for the country to sort out its views.  Eventually, you get enough states on one side of the question or the other that there’s a consensus view, at which point resistance is futile.  A product that is small and easily transportable, however, is a terrible candidate for this kind of “laboratory of democracy.”

That’s it from me.  What were the highlights of your week?