i am pro-choice.

Well.

Generally speaking, I try to avoid posting anything political to any sort of social media. I hate arguing, and contention in general. And I don't like to draw lines in the sand between myself and other people. I mostly just want everyone to get along and love and support each other.

However, since this is my personal blog, I feel like this is maybe a good place to start with posting things that could be potentially controversial. I think it is good for me to learn to own up to what I think and believe.

So. Here is the issue for today:

After reading this blog post, and its follow-up, I feel that I can finally confidently proclaim that I am  "pro-choice" in regards to abortion.  Both articles are pretty long, but really worth the read if you feel conflicted about which side of this debate to be on.

I am pro-choice.

Here are some of the main ideas the author addresses in the first article:

• banning abortion does not decrease abortion rates
• the better solution of birth control
• the argument that birth control prevents fertilized eggs from implanting and therefore could be seen as "aborting" babies (women's bodies actually naturally dispel fertilized eggs more often than we think)
• How the fact that it is more difficult to afford children these days affects the abortion rate

Honestly, it is a relief to be able to confidently be on one side of the debate here. I've thought about this issue a lot, and have been frustrated with it on many an occasion.  I'd share more

Anyway. Have a read, and tell me what you think.

wholeness

I found this beautiful thing on Feminist Mormon Housewives, and just had to share. It makes my heart ache.

And I will recommend to you what fmh recommended to me: it is best read aloud.

Listen: The world is here
by Desmond Tutu

Don’t you hear it, praying and sighing and groaning for wholeness?
Sighing and whispering: wholeness, wholeness, wholeness?
An arduous, tiresome, difficult journey towards wholeness.
God, who gives us strength of body, makes us whole.
We yearn to experience wholeness in our innermost being:
In health and prosperity, we continue to feel
un-well, un-fulfilled, or half-filled.
There is a hollowness in our pretended well-being:
Our spirits cry out for the well-being of the whole human family.
The beggars and the mad people in our streets:
Where are their relatives? Who is their father? Where is their mother?
We cry for the wholeness of humanity.
But the litany of brokenness is without end.
Black and white; rich and poor; Hausa and Yoruba;
Presbyterian and Roman Catholic; We are all parts of each other.
We yearn to be folded into the fullness of life together.
Life, together with the outcast,
The prisoner, the mad woman, the abandoned child.
Our wholeness is intertwined with their hurt.
Wholeness means healing the hurt,
Working with Christ to heal the hurt,
Seeing and feeling the suffering of others, standing alongside them.
The person next to you: with a different language and culture,
with a different skin or hair color–
There is no wall, there is only God at work in the whole:
Heal the sores on the feet; salvage the disintegrated personality;
Bind the person back into the whole.
For without that one, we do not have a whole.
God who gives us strength of body
Makes us whole.
Amen.

One of my favorite parts: "for without that one, we do not have a whole." 

Watched 500 Days of Summer again last night, and I can't get this song out of my head.

Not to mention how great the scene is, just overall.

The long, cozy evenings of winter always make me crave romance.

I know many of us already know this, but many still don't, or don't realize its importance. 

Violence against women begins with turning women's bodies into objects.

laundry soap

Hello, friends.

I have been a little absent lately. My apologies.

I have some ideas for posts that i've been sitting on, which I will hopefully share soon, but in the meantime I want to share something else with you.

-------------------------

I've been making my own laundry soap for a few years now. It works well, doesn't leave a strong scent (but it does leave a fresh scent), is much cheaper, and is environmentally friendly. I got this recipe from The Naturally Clean Home by Karyn Siegel-Maier.

I usually make a double or triple batch, and it lasts me through 4-5 months or so.

Mix together:

1 cup washing soda (available in boxes in the laundry aisle)
1 cup baking soda
1 cup soap flakes or finely grated pure bar soap
10 drops essential oil of choice* (optional)

Use 1/2 cup for an average load. (I usually use less than that)

I usually start the water running into the washing machine, put in a scoop of soap and glug of white vinegar (which apparently also cuts down on static electricity).

Enjoy!

*Here is a picture of the essential oil chart in the book, which I really appreciate, 

though I will say I don't really notice the scent in the washed clothes, after drying:

exhaustion

This morning, I woke up, and I actually felt rested. Kind of sort of rested. At 7am, no less.

Glory be.

Which, let me tell you. It's about time. After spending nearly my entire weekend in my pajamas, in my house, and feeling slightly ill and/or utterly exhausted, it's about damn* time I start feeling rested. On Sunday afternoon I stood in the middle of the kitchen in my pajamas, completely at a loss, asking myself, "...what exactly is it that normal people eat for dinner?"

All I could come up with were pasta and nachos. Which just reinforced to me a thousand times over that it was clearly time to lay low for awhile.

After the move, and our Walden excursion to Timp Lodge, I proceeded to have some weird stomach thing. On my birthday, of course.  This, shortly after my ear infection which popped up the weekend before we moved. And the weird foot injury that showed up out of nowhere a couple days after that (also just a couple days before we moved).

And then, I got to thinking. When was the last time I wasn't drowning in responsibilities? And I think it was March. Or maybe the end of February. Just before I began teaching at Walden. (Don't worry, post with details about that job coming soon.) I have seriously been running like mad ever since. Maybe I'll write a post with details about how things have been since then. Mostly fun, but totally busy crazy.

Thank goodness things seem to be slowing down just a tiny bit. Parent teacher conferences today and tomorrow, general conference this weekend, (and a birthday sleepover, to make up for being sick on my birthday) and then things should be pretty normal, hopefully. Who knows, maybe I will be able to devote more time to things like unpacking boxes! Such excitement!

Also, as noted above, a couple days ago was october 1st, which marks the first day of me not being on my mother's health insurance. This (at the moment) has me feeling somewhat orphaned (i don't know why i wasn't expecting that), though i anticipate that the orphaned feeling will develop into more of a feeling of independence. i mean, at age 26 i am legally allowed to do anything any other adult can do (rent cars, drink, etc.), which is a little crazy to think about.


*I also seem to have recently picked up the habit of swearing like a sailor, which is loads of fun. believe me.