An Omnibus Post: Concerning Weight Loss/Gain, Animal Companions, and the Impending Holiday Season

*Not necessarily in that order. ^_~

Welcome, Spookies!
I hope you all enjoyed your Turkey Day/Black Friday festivities. Mine was fine, if not a little odd. My mom and brother (who I live with when I'm at home), were both (and still are) celebrating their holiday in Boston with a family friend. Luckies. That left me to my dad's side of the family, which is EXCEPTIONALLY normal, and take quite a bit of pride in that. They do listen to what I have to say, though, and find me "cute", which is certainly not an issue. The second half of the day was spent with my Beau and his family, who were gracious enough to invite me to their family table AND purchase for me a Tofurkey, which I had never had before. It was delicious, and I highly recommend it, and not just for us Veggies. ^_^

There has also been a new addition to my family- take a look!

May I introduce to you: Miss Ophelia Jane Floppilopicus (Phe-Phe for short)! Isn't she adorable? Yes, that is my face obscured by her wiggly little nosey. She's such a litte princess. I love to spoil her. She's grown twice her size since I got her just after Halloween. But I gush! I have to take her to the vet soon, because she's showing signs of snuffles, which is sort of like a cold, but instead of being annoying, it can kill her. Wish me luck in finding her the medicine she needs!

I have a confession to make, dear readers. I am not a fan of the Christmas season. It is one event where I don't particularly take joy in the pageantry. I do, however, enjoy a few holiday traditions. The first being volunteer work, the second one being pie. Helping the less fortunate by donating your time, talent and money is a great way to give back to your local community. And to reiterate the value I will harp upon until the day I die: it is especially important for members of the alternative communities to be charitable. People will think twice about judging you harshly when you're smiling and donating some warm clothes to the shelter up the street. And I know volunteering is not the most glamorous thing to do, but think about what you really enjoy- do you like animals? Children? Knitting? There are a million different charities out there and they all require different kinds of help.

My love for pie is much simpler. Pumpkin and pecan pies, especially. Whatever to you fruit pie-supremicists out there. I'm also going to go out on a limb and go ahead and lay my vote down for cheesecake being an undercover pie. I love cheesecake, but I'm not the world's biggest fan of cake. Pie will always come first.

Which leads me to my final topic for the evening. Weight, and America's obsession with it. I've always been on the bigger side, and I don't necessarily mind being a larger-framed person. It does make me feel a bit less.... delicate, but curves, they're awesome. It's hard to pull off a corset when you don't have the shape. That being said, though, I could stand to lose a bit of weight. Thirty pounds or so would put me at my ideal weight. I hate being concerned about weight, because it seems like such a superficial concern, but it's become a matter of comfort to me. And I love my skinny clothes!

I just got through listening to a creepy podcast about thinness, while on the topic, which commented in a roundabout way about the western culture's obsession with being thin. It was kind of an old-tyme-radio show setup called "In the Gloaming", and was really well done, though the English accents were a bit difficult to decipher at moments. I'm really looking forward to the podcast's next edition.

And now, I present to thee: WEBSITES OF RELEVANCY! Enjoy, my lovelies.

Tofurkey website (full of links and information about going veg!):
http://tofurkey.com/index.html

My favorite charitable organization at the moment, which connects crafters to people in need:
http://www.projectlinus.org/

The Real Pie Club, another relatively new blog that focuses on just pies:
http://therealpieclub.blogspot.com/

New old-tyme radio style horror-inspired podcast called "In the Gloaming":
http://inthegloaming.podbean.com/


Have a terriffic shopping season, everyone, and don't forget to buy a little something for yourself, dearies!
Love,
Miss Manic