Words on a page

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89827485194731087952012-02-16T06:17:04.350-08:00Words on a pageI blog when I am inspired to by something - in other words, pretty much like a lot of other bloggers. I don't blog often, but when I do, I try to make it count.Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.comBlogger351100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-79163616374331619662011-12-08T11:44:00.001-08:002011-12-08T12:28:04.924-08:00Holidazed and Confused

I'm prepping to do something this weekend that I haven't done in years! I'm actually inviting people into my home! To put it in the simplest terms, my house is so embarrassingly messy and cluttered that it's prevented me from inviting friends over to just hang out, eat, play games, watch movies, or whatever. One reason it's this way is because things have spun out of control in terms of my

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-22671252524839178482011-12-08T11:36:00.000-08:002011-12-08T12:29:25.251-08:00Missing toddler Sky Metalwala

As we approach the weekend, I find myself pondering the case of Sky Metalwala, who was reported missing on the morning of November 6. This coming Sunday will mark six weeks since little Sky was reported as missing by his mother, Julia Biryukova. Her story rapidly fell apart, yet there have been no new leads for weeks now. Mommy and her family still refuse to cooperate with the police. Julia

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-9460414358058562182011-11-17T15:39:00.000-08:002011-11-17T15:39:35.916-08:00When "cutting spending" results in tragedy

As many of you know, I've been a long-time advocate of mental health issues. My ex-husband is on permanent disability due to his bipolar disorder (which was well-treated until insurances changed and he had to switch to a doctor who I personally believe is responsible for making my ex-husband into a man who can no longer work). My daughter was diagnosed with Early Onset Bipolar Disorder (NOS - Not

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-83880450249590213902011-11-11T11:28:00.000-08:002011-11-11T12:09:35.822-08:00Doing what’s RIGHT, not just what’s “legally required”

There are some things I’ll never understand. Trigonometry. The fascination with “Jersey Shores”. How anyone could catch a pedophile IN THE ACT OF ABUSING A CHILD and just walk away. Without stopping the sicko (and following up with kicking the living shit out of him). Without calling the police immediately to report the sleazebag. Or how anyone who’d been told “I just witnessed a boy being

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-90124559767128442562011-09-03T15:58:00.000-07:002011-09-03T15:58:10.188-07:00My health and how it impacts my life

I know this starts out on a low note, but gets uplifting at the end. I promise! My health impacts my family every day. My kids already know that Mom is going to say "maybe" or "we'll see" no matter what they ask to do later in the day or the week. They know this because they've had to live with a Mom who has fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, persistent nerve damage in my foot, and a tendency to

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-78828703593496959772011-01-24T10:19:00.000-08:002011-01-24T10:21:34.164-08:00The WriteRunner: Writers Digest ’11 Conference Report

The WriteRunner: Writers Digest ’11 Conference Report My husband, an aspiring author, wrote about his experience this weekend in which he traversed the country to attend a writer's conference. It's pretty darn exciting! :)

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-529571951105837032011-01-12T19:36:00.000-08:002011-01-12T20:55:57.960-08:00Tragedy in Tuscon - gun violence, politics, and mental illness

It's taken me a few days to try and process my feelings about the violence that erupted when 22 year old Jared Loughner opened fire in a grocery store parking lot on January 8, 2011, wounding 14, including Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who remains in critical condition, and killing six. This is such a complex issue. Whether politics was to blame, both the right and left are

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-56309538642179977732011-01-07T11:26:00.000-08:002011-01-07T11:26:41.617-08:00Something pretty personal - miscarriage

I'm lucky to have two relatively healthy, happy kids. My daughter, Emily, has grown into an incredibly artistic and intelligent young lady at 16 years old. My son, Noah, is 11 and already showing glances of the kind, smart young man he will be some day. Two children - one girl and one boy. A husband. A dog. It's the perfect family. However, there should have been three children. I was very

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-64470266435191563292010-11-17T12:04:00.000-08:002010-11-17T12:04:00.295-08:00TSA and their "enhanced pat-downs"

FOURTH AMENDMENT 'The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.' There's been a great deal of controversy in

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-60099241728919241902010-10-28T14:48:00.000-07:002010-10-28T16:16:08.836-07:00Fat - the last "acceptable" prejudice?

The interwebs are all abuzz about a recent blog on the Marie Claire magazine website. Go read it before continuing - it will help you understand just WHY there has been such an uproar. There have been many VERY good counter blogs, including ones at Fatshionista, The Polymath Chronicals, and Blogger Body Calendar. There have also been bloggers who've written, essentially, "it's not okay to make

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-7883411729366474732010-10-19T10:17:00.000-07:002010-10-24T20:59:17.933-07:00Big fundraising push for my sister's medical expenses

So far using the ChipIn! widget on the side of this blog, I've raised $330 to go towards my sister's medical expenses, and a friend mailed a check for $25. That's a total of $355 so far. I recently found out that friends and family back home in Tennessee are holding a benefit for her on November 6. I'd LOVE to be able to send her a check for $500 that she could open at or before the benefit.

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-10792798522591495312010-10-11T14:48:00.000-07:002010-10-11T14:48:43.357-07:00News about my sister's cancer & related struggles

My sister is recovering well from her breast cancer surgery and her hysterectomy. Health-wise, it seems like good news at this point in terms of those issues. Of course she will always have to deal with her fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, peripheral neuropathy, and so on. This will impact her ability to obtain and hold a job once her best friend (for whom she currently works as her

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-38299963049126182762010-10-08T13:59:00.000-07:002010-10-08T13:59:14.062-07:00I love the 80s!

My 40th birthday is coming up, and it's making me relive some of (the cool parts) of my youth. Specifically, I'm reminiscing about television, movies and music from the 1980s. Do you have favorite things you remember from that decade? Toys, games, technology, music, television shows, movies, clothing styles, etc. are all fair game.

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-4406525453992175612010-09-15T13:22:00.000-07:002010-09-21T14:00:28.494-07:00Updates on my sister

I'll be posting updates on this blog in the form of replies. You are welcome to add your own replies if you like, of course. I just got off the phone with my Mom. Sissy has finished the radiation from her breast cancer removal surgery. Apparently they put some sort of balloon in the place where the cancer in her breast was removed, and then were able to administer radiation treatment twice a

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-12145567584676693442010-09-03T13:35:00.001-07:002010-09-03T21:56:03.802-07:00Please help my big sister

My sister is 16 years older than me. She's had to become a very strong lady as life has thrown more than a fair share of curve balls her way. I can remember watching her dig for potatoes in our garden when, as a single parent, she was struggling to make ends meet. I know for a fact there were many times she literally went hungry to ensure my nephew would have food to eat. As a teenager, I

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-7675811397998212902010-07-12T21:00:00.000-07:002010-07-13T00:26:54.412-07:00My convention checklist

Since it's almost time for San Diego Comic Con, I thought it'd be good to revisit this blog post. PLEASE feel free to add your suggestions, as this post was originally written more for the average convention rather than a BIG con like SDCC. I attended my first convention way back in 1998, when I flew from TN to St. Louis for a Hercules/Xena convention. That was also the first time I boarded an

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-86978482014182894752010-04-04T10:29:00.001-07:002010-04-04T10:29:57.521-07:00The Break Up Letter

I'm sorry to do this in a letter, but you MUST have seen this coming. We've never really gotten along. Sure, you've been in my life for what seems like forever, but I'm honestly just SO ready to move on. I'd love to say something like "it's not you, it's me" to soften the blow, but it'd be a big cliche. It'd also be untrue, because you know what? It isn't me. It IS you. You have the

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-17064084935018343292010-03-26T23:50:00.000-07:002010-03-26T23:50:32.599-07:00wish list

Add this to my wishlist (the items, plus the body to go with it): http://www.hipsandcurves.com/plus-size-lingerie/p-255-plus-size-parisian-style-floor-length-skirt-default.aspx

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-33157260868919580322010-02-16T02:43:00.000-08:002010-02-16T02:43:05.234-08:00My take on the Southwest vs. Kevin Smith Fattie Throwdown

I've been following the story of director and actor Kevin Smith's recent travel woes with popular carrier Southwest Airlines with more than a little interest. The issue surrounds the apparently long-standing policy of Southwest to allow it's individual employees to make judgment calls about a passenger's size and whether a given passenger is "too fat to fly". I've got a horse in this race

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-21121754632294334312010-02-04T23:33:00.000-08:002010-02-04T23:33:27.787-08:00"Jon Stewart Wipes the Floor with Dick Sweat"

So tonight Jon Stewart had a segment about blogs and how the titles of political blogs are a bit more "intense" than the topic warrants, siting blog titles that use terms like "eviscerates" for situations that are actually quite reasonable and polite. After the break, he had a funny segment in which he showed President Barack Obama being addressed by a man named Dick Sweat, who's apparently a

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-43745057870750883832010-01-15T15:30:00.000-08:002010-01-15T15:30:36.052-08:00Team CoCo updates, link roundups here

In case you missed it, there are lots of great links out there about this whole fiasco. I thought I'd try to collect some of my favorites here. Please leave comments if you think I've missed something (but let's be honest, I don't really CARE if I miss any pro-Leno links). The Week Late Night Went to War has been a hotbed of controversy. Some late night talk show hosts have addressed it head-on

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-74008270333119118382010-01-14T13:28:00.000-08:002010-01-14T13:45:26.019-08:00The Conan v. Leno debate

I'm With COCO, originally uploaded by stevegarfield. Yeah, I know EVERYONE seems to be blogging about it. Twitter has seen lots of action with trending topics like "Conan" and "Leno", plus hashtags like #teamconan, #teamcoco and #imwithcoco. Clearly, while it may not be the most important news story in the history of mankind, it's a fairly popular topic of conversation. I'll tell you right now

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-4320662354622021912009-12-03T01:56:00.000-08:002009-12-03T01:56:52.441-08:00Fighting for that "Gratitude Attitude"

As you may or may not know, many years ago I created a website to reach out and offer peer support to other mothers who understood what it's like to experience PostPartum Mood Disorders (the main web page is at http://www.ppdsupportpage.com/ if you would like to visit, but I've not been great about updating it). I sometimes journal there, and the following is the body of my most recent entry. I

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-4128780260946200432009-11-12T14:04:00.000-08:002009-11-12T14:24:55.869-08:00How to Total Your Car in One Easy* Step

Just between you and me, I'll be kind of glad when 2009 is over. So far this year my husband lost his job (and decided to use this time to finally follow his nearly life-long dream of being an author) and also was hospitalized with some stomach issues. This year I dislocated my ankle and broke my leg the first weekend of July, resulting in plenty of pain and nerve damage, of course, but also in

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-84047797160433108362009-11-03T15:49:00.000-08:002009-11-03T15:49:06.295-08:00When Dates Go Wrong

I have had a few weird, ridiculous & otherwise WRONG dates. I know you have, too. Share some of your best "bad date" stories here, please?

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-87018214831314062002009-10-23T23:02:00.000-07:002009-10-23T23:02:54.060-07:00Hurt

Hurt sucks. Whether it's hurt feelings or physical pain, hurting just sucks. Hurt is something we all understand, though we may deal with our hurts in very different ways. One person may "turtle up", retreating into an emotional or social shell until the worst is over. Another person may work overtime at some cathartic task. Someone else may find their pain morphs into anger or frustration. When

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-16536787220187734982009-10-19T00:38:00.000-07:002009-10-19T00:40:51.358-07:00My response to William Saletan

I'm finding that I'm just not getting over Mr. Saletan's initial post about the Roman Polanski rape. His second article didn't do anything to ease my mind. After reading the third follow-up, I decided to leave a comment. Below is what I wrote. Here's the line that still bugs me "A guy who goes after 5-year-old girls is deeply pathological. A guy who goes after a womanly body that happens to

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-63299961365995344612009-10-11T05:28:00.000-07:002009-10-11T05:28:14.202-07:00Halloween is near...BOO!

I will be the first to admit it. I LOVE old movies. By far some of my favorite movies are in the "horror" genre, things involving Vincent Price, Alfred Hitchcock, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, and Boris Karloff to name a few of the "big names" back in the day. With Halloween only weeks away, I've had the opportunity to see a lot of old horror flicks on television and I'm LOVING it! It's bringing back

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-26162439428151395322009-10-08T00:25:00.000-07:002009-10-08T00:28:10.298-07:00Lady Fun With Guns

I'm one of those lucky women who has some truly awesome girlfriends with whom to hang out and basically enjoy life. One of these awesome ladies heard about a local business hosting a weekly "Ladies Night", complete with freebies we'd have to pay for any other night of the week, and decided it would make a great girls night out event. THAT, my dear readers, is how we wound up here: At first

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-12894406528544822322009-10-03T01:33:00.000-07:002009-10-03T01:33:49.810-07:00More on Polanski

The country - indeed, the world - has been going nuts about Roman Polanski this week. There's been some good, some bad, and some ugly. Squarely in the GOOD category is Polanski, Polanski, Polanski: Kate Harding's blog listing all of the OTHER blogs she's written in the aftermath of Roman Polanski's arrest - the Hollyweird support system, the Whoopi "rape-rape" thing, and most importantly a very

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-33247106543291101532009-09-30T15:23:00.000-07:002009-09-30T15:23:26.593-07:00"It wasn't rape-rape"? Say WHAT?!

It's been all over the news lately. Roman Polanski was arrested for raping a 13 year old back in 1977. Why so long to arrest him? Well, he kinda fled the country in 1978. Yeah. So anyway, today I read online that there had been a discussion of it on ABC's "The View". And that discussion didn't put co-host Whoopi Goldberg in a very good light. Apparently, she defended Polanski by saying "it

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-91990632915288327632009-09-29T22:46:00.000-07:002009-09-30T01:55:00.692-07:00"A Murder of Crows"

If you've been terrified of our feathered friends since watching the Hitchcock classic "The Birds", I apologize for this blog in advance. It's Tuesday evening and I'm surfing the web while my local news is on the television. I like to multitask. Don't judge me. Anyway, I've been paying a little attention to the news here and there, looking up when the latest story about the Bikini Baristas

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-2307749544762753502009-09-29T16:22:00.000-07:002009-09-30T01:53:50.681-07:00Evil HTML?

Just testing how this works if I try to add some HTML code. And what better to test than with the brilliant Dr. Horrible?

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-49259817099342784882009-09-24T14:37:00.000-07:002009-09-24T14:37:29.275-07:00Well crap. This is a new one for me.

Seems I've joined the ranks of the identity theived...thefted...theved... Oh, however you say "holy shitballs, my identity's been stolen!" I got a call today inquiring about some recent (large) online purchases using my account. Like I'd ever shop at Tommy Hilfiger?! I'm pretty sure that's one of those companies that doesn't believe fat chicks have no business even looking at their website, much

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982748519473108795.post-70723403982564131012009-09-22T22:14:00.000-07:002009-09-30T01:55:48.368-07:00Gotta start somewhere, right?

Not entirely sure how often I'll be blogging here - my online time is already stretched pretty thin with Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. - but at least now I'll be able to subscribe to the blogs of people who use Blogger. Hey, it's why I joined Live Journal. I think I've posted maybe an introductory blog like this on LJ, and maaaaybe one or two others. That's not a lot considering I joined LJ

Queenie Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02840761111063734444noreply@blogger.com0