Oh noes, I lol’d Nora

Thank you, Dean, for the caption.

Movie review: Baby Mama

Movie: not funny enough to be a comedy, not gooey enough (barely) to be a chick flick.

Verdict: meh.

Exception: Tina Fey is HOT.

Some links about Warren Jeffs, FLDS, El Dorado and abuse within polygamous sects

I’m trying to weed out the ones with an obvious bias against religion or Mormonism, but no guarantees. This is one time when being of no particular religious faith is both an advantage and a disadvantage; it’s easier to see some things and harder to see others.

State of Utah v Warren Steed Jeffs

These are the felony charges filed against Jeffs of accomplice rape of a child.

God’s Brothel

These are first-hand accounts of life inside polygamist societies – not for the easily nauseated, but extremely valuable as primary sources, and not limited to FLDS. I found it about two years ago, after reading about the El Dorado compound then being built in West Texas.

Polygamist Groups

This is a clearinghouse-type site of news articles, organized by group. Obviously the organization has an agenda and can select which stories to archive; there are, however, a wide variety of sources, many from local and regional papers. This is a particularly interesting rundown of the treatment of teenage boys that I was talking about in the comments:

Texas sect kicked out its boys as teens

If the purpose of the sect is truly to pass on its religious values, including polygamy, why curb the number of boys? Shouldn’t they be raising them in the faith of their fathers, rather than treating them as competition for the youngest, prettiest wives?

The Hope Organization

The Diversity Foundation

Non-profits dedicated to helping victims of abuse in polygamous communities – foreverastudent will be able to ascertain their respective credibility much better than I can.

Hey, this condo has WiFi

But I really am going to try to de-computerize for the weekend. Beachy beachy beachy.

Quick progress pic: Ishtar with crown and regalia (warning: NSFW if you’re a total frickin’ perv)

Lack of posts, crazy busy, excuses, excuses… toddler update

Have I mentioned that Nora is two? Very, very two.

Notice the sweet potato on her chin. She knows it’s there. Her grandmother knows it’s there. She knows her grandmother knows it’s there. She is suspicious…

… and rightfully so. The wipe! The dreaded wipe!

The reaction:

If that’s not a two-year-old face, I don’t know what is.

More goddess previews

Osun: Yoruban

Bastet: Egyptian

Freya: Norse

Xochiquetzal: Mayan

Ishtar: a variety of Mesopotamian cultures

Bathing beauty

“Pretty” is such an insipid word. “Beautiful” – overworked, meaningless. And “cute” is faint, faint praise indeed for the fine joyous sight of my little love naked and perfect in the water.

Today, as often happens, I was attempting to take a bath and she was hovering over the water, giggling, dropping shampoo-bottle depth charges into Mommy’s excitingly large bathtub and making enormous splashy windmills. As also often happens, once I’d washed my hair I let her get in to play for a while. The tub is so big and we are so small that she can circle me, dipping and bobbing like a baby otter. She is astonishingly comfortable in the water, free and weightless and elemental, and all at once I remembered feeling that way, too, and so tomorrow we will join the pool down the street.

Because all good otters know that time on dry land, especially in the summer, is time wasted. Fortunately, my cub has just reminded me.

Ishtar

One of the goddesses for my sales table at an upcoming show. And (drum roll, please) took the picture myself. Cameraphobia, I cast thee OUT.

Click for a whopping big view… let me see if I can find how she looked originally.

Here, like this -sorry about the tiny stolen image.

Surviving abuse post? Look on the Pages widget…

… down and to the right. I’ve been getting questions about where it went; I just moved it to be a permanent feature.

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback.