A rather grotesque headstone from Edinburgh's Greyfriars Cemetary that I liked:




A statue found in a crypt at St Mary's Chuch in Warwick, England:

... but whips and chains excite me?


My friend, Celia, makes driving whips for a living. She keeps them all in the kitchen area. I was staying with her the other week and, one day, I stood admiring one in particular.

"It's Victorian," she said. "What do you think it's made of?"

It was a creamy colour and a little like bone, only more flexible. I had no idea what it was made of so I listed every material I could think of and then gave up.

"I'll give you a clue," said Celia. "Men would present these whips to their betrothed on their engagement."

I pushed images of Victorian S&M as far out of my mind as possible.

The whip turned out to be made out of a bull's penis.

The little joke/coded message there is obvious: "I'm hung like a bull!" says our Victorian gentleman. Good for him. Men never change, do they?

I can't help wondering, though, what the lucky recipient of the bull's-cock-turned-driving-whip would have felt. Amused? Embarrassed? Erotic excitement? Supposing she was a virgin, would it not have been a little terrifying, to be presented with this thing, three feet long, with the unspoken assurance that your intended plans to rip you in half? It's hardly romantic, really.

Hey guys! I'm in the market for some new bedding. I would love something organic and funky looking. I'm not sure if I want to buy a quilt or duvet cover so any suggestions would be awesome! Oh and I've got a twin bed (woo dorms haha)
Thank you!

OK, so I took the test again, and this time I'm low for everything.
Which is OK because I know I have multiple personalities, and THIS personality is perfectly normal. But when I went to paste the results, the first line of the html code says cellpadding="2". I think that explains it. Sometime in the night, my cellpadding went up, which always helps me feel more normal the next day.

Have a great day!

So I have a friend who has a friend who has an alpaca ranch. My friend had told me about this a long time ago, and I had been telling him he needed to get me wool, but it never actually happened. But now I'm making a scarf for him and he decided it would be cool to have wool from his friend's alpaca ranch, since he's actually met the alpacas. So finally he got me in touch with his friend.

The wool from the first cut had already been spun into skeins, but there was fleece from the second cut, which was lower quality. He wasn't sure whether or not it was spinable because neither he nor his mom (whose ranch it actually is) spin; they send it out to be spun.

So he said he's send me 3 "rovings" (we were unsure how much a "roving" as a unit of measure was) and if I could spin it, he'd sell it to me, otherwise I could "use it to make a wig for [my] cat."

It came today. In big piles of awesome. I tried spinning it on my drop spindle, and it works! Big fluffy alpaca wool!!!

( see the shinyness below )

Also, I have some "dyeable roving" I got in June that I wanted to share a picture of. I was in a yarn store outside of Philadelphia, and it was run by this little old lady. I wanted to know what kind of wool it was (since it was big and only $10 and really soft) and the following exchange happened.

Me: What kind of wool is this?
Her: You can't knit with that!
Me: I know. I spin. I have a wheel. But I want to know what kind of wool it is.
Her: I'll look it up...I think it's called "roving."
Me:*facepalm*

I guess I should have said "what animal does this roving come from?" but by then I just decided I would buy it anyways. It feels like alpaca. I think it is alpaca. Too bad they don't say what it is on the label.

( You can't knit with that! )

...and counting! The Catch the Reading Bug summer reading program at the Allentown Libary is winding down. For the Read to Me program, I had to read at least 40 books by the end of August. We hit that in our third week of the program...and we just kept going.

To save your friend's list I'm putting the title and authors under a cut. The bold titles are those we particularly liked. Where applicable, we've added a few notes.

( Lots of books!! )

http://morbidanatomy.blogspot.com/2008/08/dances-of-death-through-various-stages.html

( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TwistedBacteria/~3/358498703/gene-transfer-in-bacterial-arm-races.html

( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

( May permanently scar some viewers. )

I just got a call from my husbands command. They need me there at 11am to do an emergency pre-deployment brief. I am so not ready. I've only been with this command for a few months and have yet to be briefed on the upcoming deployment. 


 I have nothing to wear as briefs are normally business attire and all ofmy suits are a size 20W and I now wear a juniors 14. 

So it is a pair of black walking shorts and the nicest t-shirt I can find. I need to go blowdry my hair and throw on some make-up while the kids are watching cartoons. V will be home in 30 minutes so I can leave.

Oh did I mention that it is such a big breif that it is held in the base movie theater? A freaking movie theater!!!!!

Gotta go puke and get dressed.

Friday: 7:30 PM...Eagles vs. Steelers pre-season kickoff

Friday: 7:30 PM...Olympics opening ceremony.

Damn it.

I'd tape the Eagles game but I never missed a pre-season game and I have to offer the football gods their sacrifice at kick-off!

I guess I'll be taping the Opening Ceremony.

Oh, and DAMN IT! I was supposed to go see The Dark Night with Greg Friday night.

Guess Heath is waiting another few days.

( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

This past week I returned to New Hampshire's White Mountains for another long weekend of camping.  When I was there two weeks ago, the weather was hot and dry.  This trip was much different; it was still quite warm, but a series of thunderstorms paraded through the area throughout the entire three days.  Some of the storms were intense, with incredibly heavy douwnpours. I have to say, I LOVE my tent.  It never gets any water.  And, I had hung a tarp over one area of the campsite, so I was able to stay dry and comfortable.  More than once, a loud and powerful shout of "Éala Thunor!" or "Éala Sceadu!" errupted from deep within me.  The connection with Thunor is, I suppose, obvious.  Some may think it a bit odd to be hailing Sceadu in high summer, relating to her mostly in winter.  But I always feel her presence (sometimes quite strongly) in these wild and high places regardless of the season.

I had been wondering this for a while, but thanks to a post from someone recently, I finally decided I needed to ask it. I don't buy clothes for fashion's sake, I just buy jeans and t-shirts, and wear them until they are unwearable and thus become dust rags. But I figure, it would be better for me to purchase used shirts and jeans (if they fit my odd figure), like from a thrift store, wouldn't it?

However, my mother has scarred me with the fear that if I get clothes from someone whom I don't know (unlike how sometimes we'll hand down still wearable stuff to family), I might get some crazy infection. She told me that soap would get rid of most bacteria, but that she saw some report-thing about how not all of them are removed, and can infect the new wearer. Also fungi, if I remember her correctly.

I'm not sure just how risky it would be to wear such clothes (after all, if it were a big problem, there'd be more information out there, right?). But how can I clean and sanitize used clothing so that I no longer feel scared to wear them? And to get rid of that odd smell on them... it's a mix of a 'people' smell, and detergent, but it doesn't agree with me.

I would appreciate not only cleaning advice, but maybe also information that may deny my mom's claims, or at this point, info that might agree with them, so at least I could full-heartedly go to organic clothing at least, if I do have to keep buying new clothes.

And sadly, though I know a lot of people do clothes swaps with friends, my two friends are both completely different sizes from me, and the one who is closer wears things I never would, and vice versa :[ Because with them, I know I wouldn't mentally freak myself out.

I hope this post doesn't sound arrogant or snobbish, I'm just a very scared person when it comes to unknown diseases and such. I'm in a nursing program, but that doesn't bother me since I know I'll have gloves and such at work :)

This is my very latest alteration.

For once in my life, I actually have enough money that I can buy fabric without feeling guilty!
And since I am in Montreal until the end of August, I want to take advantage of some of the sweet fabric stores here - because normally I live in Ottawa.

My problem is, I like to have an idea of what I am going to make so I can buy fabric in the appropriate amounts, colours, and textures. I've been perusing the fall catalogues of all the usual pattern vendors - McCall's, Simplicity, you know - and have come to a sad conclusion.
There is nothing I like.
The vast majority of patterns are loose, billowy numbers, which look great on the stick-thin and plus-sized models, and are probably great if you are trying to hide something, but I want tailored clothes! I want shape! I want darts! I want the opportunity to show off an hourglass figure!

So, where do you ladies look for patterns that flatter a nice figure, and don't look like reprints of the '80s or '90s catalogues? (Sorry, McCall's, but I have not seen anyone wear an ankle-length jumper since the pictures of my mother's pregnancy.) I am not terribly advanced, but I am certainly not new to sewing, and I can handle something that requires more than a few straight seams and some gathering. I am 20 years old and looking for either supertrendy or classic-style blouses, vests, and dresses/skirts (specifically, though if you have suggestions for sweet jackets or bags or pants I will certainly check them out). If you know of any secret amazing websites or other stashes for patterns, please share!!

its august! that means that i made it three months without buying any clothes-- which, if you knew me... would speak volumes! in attempt to be more green and use the the first part of the three Rs (reduce), i made a pact with myself to not buy any clothes until august. i got really creative and had a lot of fun picking new outfits from my "old" wardrobe, and honestly... didn't miss out on anything "to die for" in the stores, anyway.

this past weekend i paraded along with many others enjoying the tax-free shopping weekend (to reward myself). let me just say; from the looks of the hoards of shoppers in potomac mills mall last saturday afternoon, this economy is not in trouble. what a hot mess of people and clothes. i felt like i was fighting the current like a salmon headed north for mating season (its a mess of an excuse for a mall).

unfortunately, nothing i bought was organic (although banana republic and bitten by sjp both had organic cotton tees -- i just wasn't personally impressed. i'm really not a tee shirt/jeans kind of girl. when i do buy something, i try to go for a timeless appeal).