I was just reading this review of the SATC movie and found myself thinking, “Am I the only woman on Earth that does not have the smallest desire to see this movie?”

Background: I loved the series. Both D and I watched it religiously. Though toward the end, it started to wear on me. Maybe something changed when Carrie started having an affair with (a married) Big while she was with Aidan. Whatever the reason, I wasn’t heartbroken when the series finally ended. I was actually pleased with how they closed the story up.

Now, four years later, the movie is finally out. Eh. My interest is long gone. I’ve gone through some personal changes that instead of fawning over Carrie’s shopping sprees, I find it all quite shallow and materialistic. Maybe it’s woman’s fantasy, but I guess not this one’s. Since so much of SATC revolves around fashion and shopping, it now holds as much interest for me as picking lint out of my pocket.

To each her own. The only reason I’m bothered by this is because there seems to be this feeling of: if you’re a woman, you will FLOVE the SATC movie. I’m not trying to break the mold, I just hate being restricted to such confined quarters.

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Now that I’m no longer pregnant or nursing, I’ve been enjoying caffeine once again. So much that I finally placed another order with JavaPodz for some yummy SERC coffee! Another plus is that since I’m no longer nursing, I can have dairy once again, so no more watery rice milk as coffee creamer!

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Totally off-topic: I just saw this bit about The Sims Online shutting down after six years. How is this relevant? I was a beta tester and had loads of fun back in the day. I was so into it that I had a “news” web site for it where my Sim did interviews with other Sims, reviewed people’s homes, and discussed other happenings in the online world.

I left the game soon after it launched. Too many fucktards started playing and the nice community the beta testers enjoyed quickly disappeared.

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I’m posting this mostly to save it somewhere where I can find it again easily …

This is originally from Greenopia.

Party Planning Guide: Green Baby Shower

By Stef McDonald

Invitations

• Go paperless and send e-mail invitations.
• If you want to go with old-fashioned paper, buy invitations made on recycled stock or print your own invitations on plain recycled cards or paper.
• Include a note to invitees encouraging them to choose organic and eco-friendly gifts.
• Include a note to invitees asking that they bring gifts that are unwrapped. As the host of the event, you can provide guests with reusable brown paper gift bags, raffia ribbon, and a minimal amount of tissue paper for a splash of color. It’s au naturale and you and your guests will be impressed with how the gifts look.

Decor

• Place fresh-cut flowers from your local farmer’s market or nursery or garden supply source on tables with food and drinks.
• Get small pots of native flowers and plants and place them around the room.
• Place soy candles on tables.

Food and Sweets

• Get food from a local restaurant or catering service that uses organic ingredients. Or make your own dishes using organic ingredients.
• Serve bowls of fresh fruit.
• Get baked goods from a local business that uses organic ingredients. Check your local farmer’s market for bakers as well. Or make your own baked goods using organic ingredients.

Gifts

• Buy clothing made from organic cotton or organic bamboo. Get bath and body products that are all-natural, organic, or chemical-free, without artificial preservatives and fragrances.
• Avoid wasteful wrapping paper and instead wrap your gift in an organic cotton towel or blanket.
• Don’t discount hand-me-downs. If you’ve had a child and have clothing or other items in storage that you’re willing to part with, bring them along.
• When the time comes to open gifts, hand out one gift to each of the guests and allow them to be opened as a group.

Extra Touches

• Bring a blank notebook and ask guests to write personal messages to the baby-to-be in crayon.
• Send leftovers and flowers home with the guests.
• Send the soy candles home with the guests and ask them to light them when they hear the happy news of the baby’s birth.

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I came across this recipe today when The Daily Green e-mail hit my inbox. I’m excited about trying a whole wheat, more nutritious cookie recipe, but I have the little “no dairy and no soy diet” problem. (I don’t think I explained the story here, but basically, due to possible allergies, in order to continue giving my son mama’s milk, I have to cut out daily and soy from my diet.)

So I was checking out the recipe for this cookie and wondered about butter substitutes. After a quick Google search, I came across a site called Living Without Milk. Perfect! On their site they give a bit of advice on how (and what) to substitute for butter or margarine. One suggestion is combination of applesauce and shortening, both of which I already have handy in my pantry.

Looks like I’ll be baking this weekend!

SERVINGS
Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened*
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts, chopped **

PREPARATION
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or cover with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Cream the butter with the brown sugar until light in color, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg until well incorporated. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend well. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, and nuts.

3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until brown. Cool on a wire rack.

* to be replaced with 7 and 1/2 tablespoons of applesauce and 2 and 1/2 tablespoons of shortening.

** I will most likely omit the nuts due to the high allergen probability.

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I just noticed that on the sides of these plastic bags, there’s a REUSE logo and a list of “10 WAYS TO REUSE YOUR TARGET BAG”:

1. Tiny Trash Can Liner
2. Doggy Duty
3. Water Balloon
4. Road Trip Rubbish
5. Soggy Laundry
6. Ice Pack
7. Toiletry Tote
8. Kitty Litter Liner
9. Tomorrow’s Lunch Bag
10. Care Package Padding

The best idea would be to bring your own shopping bags, but if plastic bags are a must, I suppose the ideas above are good ways to reuse what you already have. And to make each bag go even further (think of it as prolonging it’s demise in a landfill), I like the ideas where you can easily keep reusing the bags, such as 6, 7, 9, and 10.

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