IntenseDebate - MoniqueAC

8 years ago @ The Toast - Cocktail Hour: Open Th... · 0 replies · +2 points

If the 'major Canadian charity' is Free the Children / Me to We, I have heard very bad things about the organizational culture. (OTOH, my kids have participated in school-based Free the Children groups and We Day and gotten a lot out of it.)

8 years ago @ The Toast - Cocktail Hour: Open Th... · 0 replies · +1 points

But burrata is just spectacular! It leads to good mental health so...

8 years ago @ The Toast - Cocktail Hour: Open Th... · 0 replies · +2 points

Two things:

Pumpkin dip: canned pumpkin and cream cheese - beat well, add brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, and cloves to taste. Eat with slices of pear and/or apple.

Pumpkin bread: I also have a yeast bread recipe if you are interested that incorporates pumpkin puree in the dough (it's a sweet bread, with sugar and cinnamon).

8 years ago @ The Toast - Open Thread! · 0 replies · +2 points

OMG Awesome!!

8 years ago @ The Toast - Open Thread! · 0 replies · +8 points

Several times now I have seen an older (maybe late 50s) man who is learning to ride a unicycle. He rides it on a path that is a bit out of the way (I run along it for that reason). He wears elbow pads and such (which is probably a good idea).

8 years ago @ The Toast - Cocktail Hour: Open Th... · 0 replies · +1 points

I have both tragus and helix piercings, too! I don't remember the healing process for the helix very well (it was a long time ago). The tragus, though, which I got five years ago, healed very easily (although it may be because the piercing I had the year before it was an eyebrow piercing and that was ridiculous to heal, since it's so easy to knock it against things...). You do have to be careful when sleeping (and avoiding sleeping on that ear), which seemed more of a problem than I had had with previous ear piercings (the helix and the 5 lower ear lobe ones I have).

The only thing I've found with the tragus piercing is that it interferes with earbuds. I wear a captive bead ring in the piercing, which is part of it, I'm sure, but I do have to carefully situate the earbud to make it stay in place (particularly when running).

8 years ago @ The Toast - Remembering Loretta Sa... · 0 replies · +4 points

Thank you so much for this. Today of all days, this is something that has to be addressed, has to be talked about.

8 years ago @ The Toast - Cocktail Hour: Open Th... · 0 replies · +6 points

I had an abortion when I was 20 (25 years ago, this time of year, too!). I honestly can say that I have had zero regrets. I had been with my then boyfriend for only a few months, as well; I was halfway through college; and I really wasn't in a place where I wanted a child.

I was raised Roman Catholic, so I sympathize with what a rigorous religious upbringing can do to you. The procedure itself was scary for me only in the sense that it was a surgical procedure (things are probably different here now -- I'm in Canada -- but at the time, we had only just gotten rid of our abortion law and, while there was relatively easy access, it took time to work through the system). I had no afterangst whatsoever. It was really more of a sense of profound relief -- I never doubted it was the right/only thing to do. I don't know if this is helpful. I know that some women have more mixed feelings, even when it's the right/only thing to do.

Anyway, I ended up marrying the boyfriend (a mistake on an epic scale) and had two children when I was ready for them (much later, when I was 29 and 31).

8 years ago @ The Toast - Cocktail Hour: Open Th... · 0 replies · +1 points

For what it's worth, I have read Fun Home and my kids are in grades 8, 9, and 10 this year. I don't think it is too advanced at all for that age group.

As an alternative suggestion, I really love Guy Delisle's graphic non-fiction about his time spent in Shenzhen, Pyongyang, Burma, and Jerusalem. They are amazing books and he is a gifted storyteller.

8 years ago @ The Toast - Books That Literally A... · 0 replies · +28 points

That is amazing. Wow. I salute him for fully embracing the spirit of the book.

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