Deviant Dispatches

Source The next four years will be hard for this country. Our rights will be hacked at with ice picks, machetes, toothpicks that introduce cracks in the foundation. It is Day 1 and the White House's climate change webpage has already disappeared , along with the LGBT , civil rights , and ACA pages. Trouble is not brewing; trouble is here. So what can we do about it? Groundwork has some great starting points on their site, and I listed a few details more below. Artist Haley Gilmore Educate yourself . What issues matter to you? Learn about them. What issues matter to others? Learn, and then fight for those too. " A healthy society is one in which those at the center scream in agony when those furthest away are cut." Make calls . Phone calls are the most effective method of contacting elected officials. Set an alarm on your phone to remind you to call on a regular basis. Keep your senators' contact info  bookmarked (or on speed dial) so you don...

If you're looking for causes to donate time or goods to or volunteer for, here are a few. You can find another list here . If you want to check these out more carefully, view them on  charitynavigator.org ; I haven't done so for all of these yet. Please share this with others.  Children Boys & Girls Club Big Brothers, Big Sisters Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Prevention National Coalition Against Domestic Violence rainn.org Freedom of Speech/Press propublica.org rcfp.org Global Warming nrdc.org earthjustice.org sierraclub.org Legal Defense aclu.org LGBT Rights thetrevorproject.org lambdalegal.org Political Activism www.emilyslist.org runningstartonline.org Racial Equality naacpldf.org The Anti-Defamation League maldef.org splcenter.org showingupforracialjustice.org Refugee/Immigrant Assistance refugeerights.org nilc.org theyoungcenter.org Reproductive/Women's Rights plannedparenthood.org reproductiverights.org now.org nwlc.org  - a 4-star charity for ...

Having made lists like this for many years, I'm starting now to better recognize my limits and reasonable expectations. Here are 20 goals for the year; I hope to accomplish 15 of them. The above paragraph makes me feel old. 1. Have specific "me" time once a month 2. Complete three home projects from the following list (roughly in preferential order) Fix the driveway Fix the toilet Hem the white curtains that are floating around the basement somewhere (for the bedroom) Have Troy and Sam over for a renovation party (yaaaaay) Paint bedroom trim white Get and hang new bedroom blinds Get an A/C tune-up Redo the tea room (more shelves, hang calligraphy) Paint and re-carpet the basement steps Replace a window? 3. Continue to attend NOW meetings 4. Go to Dragonfly Yoga regularly and/or do yoga at home once a week  5. Knit Ingrid another sweater 6. Knit myself hand warmers with a freaking I-cord so I don't lose the damn things a fourth time Bonus...

Hi! It's been a while. Consider this my attempt at getting back to it. Um. Again. I didn't post it here, but at the beginning of 2017, I made a list of 21 goals for myself. 1. Reread The Happiness Project 's chapter on clutter - done 2. Complete at least three home improvement tasks - done Replace front window with a bay window Get tools (jigsaw and sander, not that I used them) Get rid of stuff we don't use, including a lot of clothes Fix the driveway ... kind of. It still needs new asphalt. Paint house Get/make a file cabinet/bench 3. Do an activity with Tickle once a month over the year - done, including an awesome family vacation 4. Exercise more - nope 5. Play mandolin more - I broke one of the strings; does that count? 6. Create craft corner - done, and I love it! 7. Send Grandpa lefse - hand delivered, along with cookies made from his grandma's recipe 8. Make krumkake - nope 9. Start food/garden share with neighbors - sure, I'll ...

First of all, my postpartum depression post has quickly become the most viewed one I've ever written. You are all amazing - thank you for all the support. I hope that post has helped many of you in some way. Here's a bit of an expansion on that. I mentioned that I had two dreams that led to my decision to take meds; they were so vivid and spoke so clearly that I still recall them in detail seven months later. The First Tickle was two and a half months old, and I couldn't admit to myself yet that I was experiencing PPD. And then I dreamed. I saw a drawing. That was it: a simple drawing that could have been a cartoon clipped out of a newspaper. It was an alphabet quilt, colored in brown scale on a bright white background. Each square of the quilt was its own letter, with a corresponding animal family: A for alligator, B for bear, and so on. But in each panel, one parent played energetically with the child and smiled happily, while the other parent sat by themselves t...

Let me preface: I love my daughter. I have loved her since Day 1 (however you might measure that). I'm continually amazed at all the things about her - from the way she stared at everything so intently the moment she was born to all the shifts and changes as she's become a different person over the last nine months. She's incredible and studious and smart and adorable and (yes) perfect. I thought (hoped) it was just hormones at first. Then I thought it was just trouble adjusting to this big life change. Then I called it by its true name (at least, in my head) and tried to ignore it, and then hoped it would go away on its own. I'm sure many other mothers do this too. I felt so guilty for having postpartum depression. I also felt angry for so many reasons: I couldn't figure out how to do it right (because surely I was doing it wrong). Spousal Unit had (still has) a different parenting style than me and we had trouble compromising (largely because of the...

Parenting so far has been an adventure in ups and downs. Strength and Weakness of Body My daughter's birth went well. I was healthy throughout pregnancy and she was born with no complications. I'm still amazed at the fact that after she was born - after birthing a freaking child - they gave me ibuprofen, and it was enough to manage the pain. My body makes food for my daughter while I'm busy doing things like taking pictures or cleaning poop off the floor. I was able to function week after week without REM sleep. That said, the first week was a trip. I don't deal well with lack of sleep, even now that I have a three-month-old. In the first week, I got so dizzy from lack of sleep and weird hours that I nearly fell over several times. It was enough to make me feel nervous about carrying her from room to room; thankfully, Spousal Unit was home during that time as well. I also got a painful infection, and later that month, I was sick enough that I had to get two l...