Lady Jayne's Pillow Book

It's Hammer Time!

2012-03-01T07:27:00.000-08:00

When this lovely photo meme popped up on my Tumblr dash I just knew that I had to do a special Thor's Day post. I also realised that I've been hording lots of lovely, although slightly odd, Thor stuff and that it was high time I started sharing.

Michelangelo is probably spinning in his grave right now, but I have to admit that I have a real soft spot in my heart for this kind of photoshop.

I don't even know where to start with this one. LoL! The idea of Thor spooning soup over his rolls sends me into fits of hysterical laughter.

And, just to prove that I'm not a total idiot who thinks that the comic book Thor is the "real" Thor, here's a photo of some amazing Mjölnir pendants from 10th century Sweden, courtesy of Fuck Yeah Vikings and Celts. Gorgeous, aren't they?

Man Candy for a Cause

2012-02-27T06:54:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday!

Today's Man Candy comes courtesy of the 2012 Naked Muse Calendar, a wonderful charity project where male poets have doffed their duds to help raise money for Juvenile Diabetes.

This is a fundraiser after my own heart. The photographs are beautifully done and the men are glorious - every size, shape and colour under the sun. Everything about this project is just full of win.

So why not follow the link and treat yourself? It's for a good cause!

Sunday Night Shag

2012-02-26T18:55:00.000-08:00

Have a shag-tastic Sunday!

Tumblr Posts of the Week

2012-02-25T14:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a long, long time since I've done one of these, eh?

Things have been going really well in Tumblr-land. I'm enjoying the new Fan Mail feature that they've added to the dashboard; it lets me chat with followers with out cluttering up my timeline with wordy posts. On the other hand though, I really wish they'd stop harassing me about the whole Missing-e thing. Tumblr's had more than enough time to fix all of its dashboard problems and they haven't done squat, so I wish they'd stop giving me grief about having to use a third party extension. That stupid pop-up thing is really starting to drive me nuts!

Anywhoo... Here's my favourite post this week from Lady Jayne's Pillow Book. I get such a kick out of all of these archaeology memes that have been going around lately.

Meanwhile, over at Arrow of Adonis this has been, by far, the most popular photo of the week:

And finally, things just keep rolling along over at PervyGirl. Here's my favourite of the week - a real live, actual jacket patch from an Etsy shop called The Steam Patch Company.

Friday Five

2012-02-24T08:13:00.001-08:00

Ooh! I love this one! Day 23: Five websites you visit daily.

1) Statcounter, of course.

2) The History Blog.

3) TYWKIWDBI.

4) Swoonworthy.

5) The local newspaper.

The Vampire Hunter to End All Vampire Hunters

2012-02-21T13:56:00.000-08:00

If you've been hanging around here for a while, you'll know that I have more than a few guilty little pleasures. By far the most lovingly indulged of them all is my fondness for historical/horror mash-up fiction.

I'm currently about half-way through Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. I figured that I had better get going on it before the movie comes out.

It's too early for me to offer an opinion of the book just yet, but the recently released movie trailer has kinda rocked my world.

I actually found myself in bed last night, laying awake and wondering who would win a supernatural smack down - Grahame-Smith's vamp slaughtering Lincoln or A.E. Moorat's zombie slaying Queen Victoria.

How awesome is it that I live in a day and age when those are the sort of things that keep me up all night?

And for the record, my money's on Queen Victoria.

Man Candy Monday

2012-02-20T18:42:00.000-08:00

Let's start off the week with something sweet, shall we? Happy Man Candy Monday!

Sunday Night Shag

2012-02-19T19:18:00.000-08:00

Just popping in for a quick shag.

:)

Friday Five

2012-02-17T17:11:00.000-08:00

I know I've been kinda AWOL with this lately, so it's time to pick up the slack! With out further ado, happy Friday and welcome to Day 21 of the Pick Five Blogging Challenge!

Today's list is made up of my five favourite gadgets, which was actually kind of hard to compile, 'cause I'm not all that into gadgets. Here's my best shot at it though:

1) My Keurig coffee maker. I'm not sure how I managed before I got one of these. Yum!

2) My Kindle. I still think e-book readers have a long way to go before they can replace real books in my life, but I still get a lot of use out of my Kindle. I love being able to download a book the very instant I get the notion that I want to read it. Instant gratification is my middle name, apparently.

3) My iPod. Ah yes. I still have my ancient old Classic iPod from way back when and I still adore it. Everyone laughs at me because it's filled with 80's tunes and History TV shows.

4) My KitchenAid Classic Stand Mixer. I got it for Christmas last year and honestly, I don't know how I ever survived with out it.

5) Now, this one is still on my Must-Have list, but I think it could quite possibly be the greatest gadget ever invented by mankind - the Wake N' Bacon Alarm Clock. A thing of true beauty.

My Bloody Valentines

2012-02-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

There are so many amazing Supernatural Valentines popping up on my Tumblr dashboard today and I just couldn't resist sharing some of them. Nothing says "I love you" like demon blood and archangels!

Man Candy Monday

2012-02-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

Yeesh! I remember a time, long, long ago, when weekends used to be lovely and lazy and relaxing. Sort of the exact opposite of what my weekends have become lately.

And to top it all off, my poor little kiddos are home sick with this really horrible upper respiratory virus thing.

Fun times people. Fun times.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy.

2012-02-09T08:55:00.000-08:00

A long, long time ago, I used to PbP.

For those of you unfamiliar with the acronym - PbP stands for play-by-post. It's this wonderful combination of role playing, tabletop gaming and writing that's played online, usually on a forum of some sort. I always found it to be wickedly addictive and one of the best creative enterprises I ever participated in.

For almost four years I PbPed non-stop and, lord help me, it was fun.

You notice the past tense there? It *was* fun. But then the last game I played in turned in to the single most hellacious experience of my online life so far.

It was the perfect PbP shit-storm; an amazing game up until a certain point when it seemed that everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The meta was out of this world. The behind the scenes back stabbing and the on-screen trolling was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. And of course, there was the ubiquitous "I'm too busy playing WoW to post, but I won't pull out of the game" element who helped grind the game down to a stand still, dragging it out past any hope of redemption.

I can't even begin to describe how horrible it was. The game was eventually shut down, of course, but that didn't stop the nastiness from spilling out into everything else. It didn't take long for the whole forum environment to get too toxic for me to handle. So I left, vowing that it would be a cold day in hell before I ever PbPed again.

And then along came NaBloWriMo and I stumbled across two lovely blogs written by avid PbPers (Bladesharp and Drama, Dice and Damsons). It was only when I started reading about their many games and projects that I began to realise just how much I was starting to miss it all.

In the months that followed NaBloWriMo, I found myself wandering around the 'Net, trying to find a decent PbP site that had a good following and lots of active games. I believe that I've found one that will suit me and I've just this week de-lurked and joined the boards. I haven't gone so far as to join a game yet, but there's a recruiting thread for one that is seriously tempting me.

I'm still a bit leery though. I can't help but remember the horribleness that came before and I don't think I could stand to go through it all a second time. My free time is very limited and I hoard it like others might gold coins. I can't stand wasting it on bitchiness and petty drama.

But on the other hand, I'll never know until I try again, right? It could be the single, best gaming experience of my life so far!

*torn*

Man Candy Monday

2012-02-06T08:02:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is today's Man Candy.

I suspect that my attraction to long haired men is due to the fact that I spent my formative fangirl years as a teenager in the 80's. Honestly, I'm probably the only person on the planet who thinks that Fabio is totally hot.

Hee! Maybe I shouldn't admit that out loud on the internet, eh?

And just a gentle reminder - every day is Man Candy Monday over at my Arrow of Adonis Tumblr. It's very NSFW though, so click at your own risk!

Sunday Night Shag

2012-02-05T18:40:00.000-08:00

It's been kind of a weird weekend so I'm just gonna leave you with this lovely photo while I try to sort things out.

See you tomorrow for some sweet delicious Man Candy!

Random Kinkery...

2012-02-02T06:53:00.000-08:00

... the Better Homes and Gardens addition.

What I've Been Reading

2012-01-31T18:54:00.000-08:00

As you may remember, I signed on to do the Random Reader Challenge for Historical Fiction a couple of weeks back. I've finally finished reading Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran and now all that's left to do is offer up the review needed to complete the challenge. So here goes:

All in all, I enjoyed the book. I though it was very nicely written, but perhaps laden down by a bit too much detail. I enjoyed the fashion, wax modelling and artistic elements of the story, but after a while I started to get mired down in all the endless names and places. The French Revolution is not really an area of history that I'm all that familiar with so I found it difficult to keep all the people and events straight as the story progressed.

I also think that Moran did an excellent job of eloquently (and perhaps quite accurately) describing the fear, uncertainty and even the utter absurdity of the Terror. More than once, I found myself flabbergasted by the atrocities people committed in the name of freedom. Honestly, there's nothing more frightening than mob mentality and that was wonderfully conveyed in this tale.

The biggest complaint that I have about the book is that I found its focus to be a bit odd. While it was certainly a stirring tale of the French Revolution, I didn't feel that justice was done to its main protagonist. The title on the front of the book glaringly shouts "Madame Tussaud", yet pretty much the entire the book was about her life when she was Marie Grosholtz. It's not even until the final chapters of the book that meets her future husband, Francois Tussaud.

The French Revolution was important to Marie's life and career, obviously, but I found it weird that it was the sole focus of a Madame Tussaud story. I would have enjoyed reading more about how she rose to prominence in such a male dominated society, how her museum became so famous that her name is still recognised to this very day. In so many ways she was a very modern-thinking woman, a true feminist pioneer who rose to fame because of what she did, not who she married - a very rare thing back in those days. That is more of what I would have liked from a book titled "Madame Tussaud".

This was certainly an enjoyable read, but I felt I was cheated a little bit by the marketing of it. I will never regret spending the time to read a history book of any kind (fiction or non-fiction), but I would have enjoyed this particular one so much more if it had told more of the Madame Tussaud story.

Man Candy Monday

2012-01-30T06:59:00.000-08:00

I've got another busy week ahead of me, so I think it's time to treat myself and indulge in a little bit of inspirational Man Candy.

Happy Monday to one and all!

Sunday Night Shag

2012-01-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

Here's another one from my stash of favourite sexy couples photos. The original post is here on my PervyGirl Tumblr.

Both of those are NSFW links so click at your own risk!

Friday Five

2012-01-27T07:49:00.000-08:00

Happy TGIF! It also happens to be Day 20 of the Pick Five Blogging Challenge, so here goes: Five things you couldn’t care less about that everyone else loves.

1) Harry Potter. I'll probably have to hand in my Fangirls-of-Tumblr membership card for admitting this in public but I don't have even the minutest interest in these books. Nor the movies.

2) Cellphones. See here and here for further rantings on the subject.

3) "Sexy" vampires and werewolves. I don't get the attraction. I really don't. They're part of the reason why I've given up on the erotica/romance novel industry.

4) Reality TV. I don't think I'll ever understand why people like to watch this kind of stuff. Real life is never interesting in person, let alone scripted to appear real on TV. *yawn*

5) "Shoe porn". I follow quite a few bloggers that are always posting photos of designer footwear that they they covet, shoes with teetering stiletto heels and staggering price tags. I just look at them and shrug a little. Do people not realise how many pairs of Merrells they could get for $2000?? Yeesh!

Gimme a Head With Hair, Long Beautiful Hair.

2012-01-26T19:26:00.000-08:00

This is the coolest thing I've seen in a long, long time.

Janet Stephens is a professional hairdresser that has the amazing ability to "reverse engineer" and then recreate the most intricate Greek, Roman and Etruscan hairstyles using only the beauty products and tools of the time.

In this particular video she recreates a two thousand year old braided chignon that she first spotted on an ancient bust of Empress Julia Domna, wife of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus.

There's more information on Janet Stephens and her work here on The History Blog. I highly recommend checking it out - it's absolutely fascinating stuff.

The Man To End All Men...

2012-01-24T19:22:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't resist putting up a quickie post to wish Dean Winchester a very happy birthday.

There's just no one else on TV like him. So sexy. So noble and proud. So very deliciously damaged. Why Jensen Ackles has never won an Emmy for playing him, I'll never know.

Anyway, I feel like celebrating this auspicious day by linking to some of my favourite Supernatural Tumblrs:

We Have Guns, We'll Find You

Some Sort of Porn Site

Scary Just Got Sexy

Misha's Kidnapping Testicles Appreciation Blog

Enjoy!

Man Candy Monday

2012-01-23T07:17:00.000-08:00

I always get a kick out of seeing the various search engine enquiries that bring people to this blog. Felicien Rops is by far the most common query that leads back here, but the second is "sexy Native American men".

So who am I to disappoint the masses? This is sexy Native American actor and model Jay Tavare and I think he is quite possibly the most beautiful man I have ever seen.

I can't think of a better way to start the week!

Sunday Night Shag

2012-01-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

Man, this was a terrible week for blogging. So, by my way of apologizing, I thought I might introduce you to one of my favourite naughty photos from my top-secret personal stash.

Am I forgiven?

Friday Five

2012-01-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

I'm on Day 19 of the 30 day Pick Five Blogging Challenge and I'm pretty sure that this week's post is going to expose me for the geeky fangirl that I secretly am: List five cartoons that I used to watch as a kid.

1) Transformers. Man, I ate, slept and dreamt Transformers. 24/7. I even had a Transformers lunch box and thermos set. Geek-tacular or what?

2) GI Joe. It was my brother that got me hooked on this one. All I'm gonna say about this one is... Shipwreck. *wink wink*

3) Thundercats. Lion-O was one of my first ever "celebrity" crushes. And, as the fates would have it, thanks to our newly acquired subscription to Teletoon Retro, Thundercats is now my five year old daughter's favourite too. What can I say? I'm proud to pass the torch on to the next generation of fangirls!

4) Battle of the Planets. I keep meaning to pick this one up on DVD, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I haven't seen it since I originally watched it on TV, but I have vague, hazy memories of it's awesomeness.

5) Dungeons and Dragons. What can you say about this one? It intrigued me enough to go out and buy my first ever Player's Handbook. The rest, as they say, is history.

Man Candy Monday

2012-01-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning to some typically Canadian winter weather. It's hellaciously cold (-32* C with the windchill) and it's super windy and snowy. I had to drive the kids to the bus stop this morning, even though it's only a block away, because it's just too damn dangerous to be outside for anything more than a few minutes.

Time to dig out the long johns, I guess.

Happy Man Candy Monday!

Sunday Night Shag

2012-01-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday, so it must be shag time, yes? Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Friday Five

2012-01-13T07:15:00.000-08:00

Happy TGIF! And, as usual, it's time for the Friday Five blogging challenge. Today is Day 18, so here's a list of my five favourite fictional characters.

1) The Winchester Brothers. Goes with out sayin'. Supernatural rocks my world, baby!

2) Repairman Jack. The last Repairman Jack novel came out just before Christmas and I can't bring myself to read it yet. I've been following the series for almost 20 years now and it would feel too much like saying good-bye to a very dear (yet amazingly bad-ass) friend.

3) Ethan Gage. He's the rake to end all rakes. So charming and so witty and always in so much trouble! Honestly, I can't wait for the next book to come out so I can see what sort of mischief he gets into next.

4) Maggie Brown from Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter. It was hard to pick just one character from A.E. Moorat's books, but in the end I had to go with Maggie. Oh how, I wish there were more heroines like her on the bookshelves!

5) Indiana Jones. What kind of an ex-archaeologist would I be if I didn't list him here? I'd be lying if I said he had nothing to do with me choosing an arky degree in University.

Random Kinkery

2012-01-12T07:10:00.000-08:00

I've seen this illustration floating around my Tumblr dash for awhile now and I'm quite intrigued by it. It was done by a man named Hans Baldung Grien who, for all intents and purposes, was a very talented German Renaissance painter who trained under none other than Albrecht Dürer. He also seems to have a rather healthy (unhealthy?) preoccupation with witches and all the naughty things he figured they got up to behind closed doors.

This particular drawing is entitled Witch and Dragon and it totally reminds me of an Ellora's Cave book I read once.

(Photo via: Bad Seductress)

Bookish Things

2012-01-10T06:56:00.000-08:00

I've got a real jumble of literary type things to blog about today, so bear with me.

First of all, I've just finished reading the above book and I'm feeling the need to rave about it for a minute.

I fell head over heels in love with A.E. Moorat the moment I flipped open to the first page of Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter and read the first line of the first chapter. Ever since then, I just can't enough of his delightfully weird history/horror mash-ups.

His historical interpretations are always so spot on and I adore how he merges all these amazing academic details with these wonderfully gory horror tropes.

More than anything though, I love, love, LOVE Moorat's kick-ass female characters. Jane Seymour and Agatha Hoblet really stole the show in this book. On the one hand we have Seymour, so wonderfully calm and competent, a lethal demon hunter in the employ of the Catholic Church. On the other is the delightfully insane witch hunter and torture aficionado, Mistress Hoblet.

It's such a refreshing treat to read a book with such uniquely strong heroines in them. While the men around them plot and fuss and fret, Moorat's ladies kick butt like nobody's business! It's such a lovely change from all the simpering blech that's haunting the pages of most historical/paranormal/romance novels these days.

Secondly, I also wanted to announce that I'm participating in Random House's Random Reader Challenge, the Historical Fiction edition. My book of choice is Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran. I have until the end of February to finish reading it and to post my review, so stay tuned for that. Hopefully it won't take me that long to read it, but these days... Ack! You never know!

And finally, for those of you who enjoy a naughty read every now and again: I'm so excited to see that The Erotica Readers and Writers Association blog is up and running again. Looks like they'll be updating on a regular basis and that they've got tons of interesting stuff planned for us erotica-philes!

Man Candy Monday

2012-01-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

Hoot mon! Happy Monday everybody!

And just a quick heads up - Arrow of Adonis is back up and running after a lovely (and much needed) Christmas break. Swing on by if you're craving a much larger dose of Man Candy.

Sunday Night Shag

2012-01-08T18:54:00.000-08:00

I feel like reviving a meme I created way back from when I was writing my old erotica blog. I used to post a sexy couples photo every Sunday night, then top it off with some nice Man Candy the next morning. I already have the Man Candy Monday thing going, so why the hell not the Sunday Night Shag?

Enjoy!

Ooh! I almost forgot...

2012-01-06T16:37:00.000-08:00

*squee*

Friday Five

2012-01-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

I'm on Day 17 of the Pick Five Blogging Challenge and I have a feeling this one is going to be a very therapeutic post for me. I get to rant about my top five pet peeves! Yay!

1) Emotional Vampires. I'm not sure if this is a legit psychology thing or not, but so much of it rings true to me. For some reason I can't explain, I seem to attract these types of people in droves. Dealing with them is exhausting and I find that it's damned near impossible to cut them from my life.

2) People and their cellphones. But I've ranted about this before, so I'll spare you a second helping.

3) Dirty dishes left in the sink. Ugg! Biggest. Pet. Peeve. Ever. Wash 'em or put 'em in the dishwasher! *I'm looking at you Mr. Lady Jayne!!*

4) Running out of windshield wiper fluid. This is Canada. It's the snowiest and slushiest place on the entire planet. With out fail, the wiper fluid always runs out on the wettest, dirtiest day of the year and exactly two minutes into my half-hour long drive to my volunteer gig. So, what to do? Take my life into my own hands and attempt to pull over to top up, or do I take my chances and keep on going, tailgating the dude in front of me in the hopes that he kicks up enough spray to keep my window clean? Regardless, it always ends the same: me, leaning up against a filthy car, breaking nails and shredding skin trying to get the freezing cold jug of washer fluid open, then sloshing it all over the place while trying to pour it into that tiny little hole. So annoying!

5) Ironing clothes. Household chores are never fun, but this is the one that bugs me above all else. It's tedious with a capital "T" and five minutes after you put the clothes on, they look like shit again anyways.

/rant

Obligatory New Years Post

2012-01-03T18:59:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to one and all! As you can see I'm never one to take resolutions seriously, but I'm always one for looking back. So here goes!

I can't really complain about 2011. It was a pretty even-keeled year for me as far as these things go. There were a few little blips of melodrama here and there, but it was never really anything major.

Here's the breakdown:

Things I gained in 2011.

More me-time. I adore my mornings off more than anything. Seriously. Y'all have no idea.
Some financial security. And believe me when I say it was long overdue and more than welcome. It's so fucking nice not to have to pinch pennies any more.
A Tumblr addiction.
Enough plot bunnies to fill a barn.
A nice, shiny new Blogger blog.
A wonderful volunteer gig.

Things I lost in 2011.

About 30 pounds.
My uncertainty about NaBloWriMo (which, in the end, turned out to be quite a bit of fun).
My desire to try NaNoWriMo (viva ROW80!).
Some emotional baggage that's been dogging me for awhile now. Oddly enough, NaBloWriMo helped me finally put it to bed. Hallelujah!
That hideously stained carpet in my living room (hello, sexy hardwood flooring!).
Filament Magazine. I'm still heartbroken over its demise. I miss it already.

So all in all, I think I came out ahead in 2011.

And I couldn't resist adding this - my favourite horoscope prediction for 2012 from the always brilliant Swerve Magazine:

Cancer

Cancer, you share your sign with the vivacious Lindsay Lohan! And that’s not all you’ll share—this year the effervescent Ms. Lohan will be coming to town to shoot a new film called Pussycat in Cell Block C (a documentary). You two are going to be BFFs! Hope you can keep up. There’s a lot of community service in your future. Lindsay will be on a whirlwind of court-appointed activity, such as allowing the less fortunate to do her nails. And you’ll be right there, pouring out the drinks and flattery. How exciting for you, Cancer!

Alas, the circus must move along eventually. And when it does you’ll be left behind like a discarded ankle bracelet. The latter part of 2012 will be spent drying out and attempting to mend fences with neglected friends and creditors. Things are not going to go too well, Cancer, and Lindsay didn’t even leave you the number of her bail bondsman. But you’ll always have your memories. And the scar from that drunken nail-file accident. Did she ever apologize for that?

Man Candy Monday

2012-01-02T07:24:00.000-08:00

It's Monday. The holidays are over. I guess that means it's time to get back down to business, eh?

Cue the Man Candy!

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-23T19:16:00.000-08:00

This is my last night of relative peace and quiet until after the Christmas break is over, so I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful holiday and offer up one last wee bit of Christmas kinkery.

Naughty gingerbread cookies are one of my most favourite things ever.

Enjoy!

I Saw Mommy Spanking Santa Claus

2011-12-21T19:46:00.000-08:00

Just popping in to share a wonderful piece of retro Christmas kinkery with you. Here's Hollywood legend Ida Lupino giving a naughty Santa what he deserves.

I just love stuff like this. Seriously. It puts a great big smile on my face.

(Via: CalineCoraline)

Man Candy Monday

2011-12-19T18:23:00.000-08:00

By this time next week, Christmas will be over. I'm getting excited for it to finally get here, but I'm sure I'll be quite relieved when it's done.

Until then, have fun decking the halls!

Historical Pudding

2011-12-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the season (and since I have a lovely Linzer Torte aging away in the pantry), this blog post from The History Blog really caught my eye.

A tinned Peek Freans Christmas Pudding discovered in the back of a kitchen cupboard in Dorset, England is estimated to be 112 years old. It's quite possibly the oldest Christmas Pudding in existence.

There's also quite a wonderful backstory to the whole thing too, involving the Temperance Movement and the Boer War. It's definitely worth a moment or two to peruse the post.

You can find it here. Yum!

Man Candy Monday

2011-12-12T19:02:00.000-08:00

I'm in a rather festive mood today.

Happy Man Candy Monday!

Oh. And if you need a little something extra to help keep you warm tonight it's Hot Guys In Long Underwear Day over at my (very NSFW) PervyGirl Tumblr.

The Christmas Crazies

2011-12-10T19:34:00.000-08:00

Yeah. T'is the Season and all that.

Until the holidays are over, I don't suspect that I'll have much time for regularly scheduled blogging. No matter how much I bitch and whine about it, there *still* aren't enough hours in the day to get all my shit done.

Go figure.

Anyway, I thought I'd smooth things over with a lovely little snippet from a medieval manuscript - a picture of a nun decorating a very special Christmas Tree.

Fa-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la.

Baking Day

2011-12-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

I am *this* close to finishing my Christmas baking.

I put a huge dent in to-bake list yesterday, baking up a huge double batch of my Grandma's old shortbread recipe. I do this every Christmas and every single time I end up asking myself why I don't make these cookies more often. Shortbread shouldn't just be for Christmas. It's too damn delicious to only have once a year!

Grandma's Shortbread Cookies.

1 pound of butter
1 cup of icing sugar
3 1/2 cups of flour

Cream butter well. Add sugar and mix well. Add flour, a little at a time.

Roll into 1 inch balls and flatten with the back of a fork. Coat fork with icing sugar if dough is too sticky. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes, until golden brown on the bottom and sides. Remove from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. Stuff your face.

Enjoy!

Man Candy Monday

2011-12-05T07:55:00.000-08:00

I'm literally blogging on the fly here today. I have so much to do and so little time to get it all done! And things are only going to get worse as it gets closer to Christmas.

*sigh*

Ah well. I think I'll take a moment to stop and smell the roses, at it were.

Happy Man Candy Monday!

Friday Five

2011-12-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

Ooh! Here's another Friday Five I can get behind. Day 16: Five favourite foods!

1) Prime rib dinner. My family is very British and at an early age I was instilled with a great respect and fondness for hearty roast beef dinners. I'll admit to being partial to a good tenderloin, but prime rib really is my all time favourite, especially if served up with all the traditional trimmings. Sadly, as awesome a chef as Mr. Lady Jayne is, the intricacies of Yorkshire Pudding production seem to have eluded him. I don't hold it against him, of course, but if anyone out there has some tips/tricks for making yorkies in a very high altitude environment, we're all ears!

2) Miss Vickie's Sea Salt and Malt Vinegar potato chips. Oh gods! These are my crack cocaine. So very, very gooood...

3) Soup. I am a soup fiend. I eat it all the time. But never from a can. Never, *ever* from a can. Making delicious, healthy soup from scratch is so easy, I don't understand why everyone doesn't do it. Some of my faves: ham and bean, minestrone, leek and potato, beef and barley. In the winter, we fire up three or four soup pots on the weekend and live off of the end results for weeks.

4) Schnitzel. My husband makes a mean schnitzel. In our house it's a staple comfort food and we even use the leftovers to make a special meal that we call the Schnitzel Gruber. I'm not exactly sure how it got it's name (which I'm told is German for "schnitzel stealer") but the recipe is a closely guarded family secret. Even I don't know how to make it!

5) Chocolate chip cookies. Honestly, there's nothing better, is there? I've tried a lot of different recipes over the years, but the one off of the back of the Chipits bag is always the best. In this house, they disappear faster than I can bake 'em.

Hot in the City.

2011-12-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

Every now and again, some trivial little thing pops up on my dashboard and knocks my world off kilter a wee bit. This time around it was this post from Swoonworthy.

Apparently yesterday was Billy Idol's 56 birthday. 56!! Seriously? Can you believe it??

I had such a huge crush on him back in the 80's. And now he's 56! Which, by the way, doesn't diminish his hotness one little bit in my eyes. He's still totally gorgeous in a wonderfully DILF-y, silver foxish sort of way.

What this really means is that I'm feeling old now. Very, very old.

*grumbles*

All Lovely Things Will Have an Ending...

2011-11-29T07:26:00.000-08:00

...or so the poets say.

I was completely and utterly heartbroken to hear that Filament Magazine is closing its doors forever after the release of its ninth issue.

It's hard for me to put into words how much I adored this mag. Everything about it was so full of win. The men were beautiful. The articles were wonderfully eclectic and genuinely interesting. The fiction was always smoking hot. Filament spoke to me in ways that no other magazine ever had before and probably never will again.

And if all of that weren't enough, Suraya (Filament's creator) was always so incredibly gracious and supportive. Not a lot of people know this but she, singlehandedly, was behind two of the greatest moments of my blogging career. I honestly don't know where Arrow of Adonis would be right now without her recognition and encouragement.

Ugg. Listen to me. I'm still reeling from this.

I sincerely wish Suraya all the best. I know this must have been a hard decision for her to make and that she wouldn't have shut things down with out good reason. I hope she knows how much her hard work and her exquisitely pervy sensibilities will be missed.

Man Candy Monday

2011-11-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

Wow! This was a real wash-out week for blogging, wasn't it? I even missed my Friday Five!

As usual, it seems like I just have too many things on the go. The story of my life, I guess.

Anyways, I promise to do better this week and to make up for my absence here's a lovely photo that has proven to be a real inspiration for me. Wet men are so sexy, aren't they? And his eyes? Unf.

Library Porn

2011-11-23T18:59:00.000-08:00

I've just been slammed these last couple of days, scrambling about trying to get everyday Real Life things done. There's been no time for blogging, sadly. I'm actually supposed to be folding laundry right now, but I just had to pop in to share this photo with you.

No, your eyes don't deceive you. That's a hammock. In a library!

There aren't words to describe how much I want this.

(via: TYWKIWDBI)

Man Candy Monday

2011-11-21T06:58:00.000-08:00

*dreamy sigh*

What is it about a man in kilt?

And just in case you feel that you need a little more Man Candy to get you through this cold, dreary Monday, I highly recommend a visit to Swoonworthy. Karen has fine eye for teh man-flesh!

Friday Five

2011-11-18T08:08:00.000-08:00

It's day 15 of the 30 Day Pick Five Challenge. Yay! I've made it half way through! I really like today's challenge: five things you can see around you right now.

1) A basket full of dirty laundry. I left it out for the laundry fairies to do, but apparently they never made it around last night. Go figure. *eyeroll*

2) A picture of Optimus Prime that my son drew for me.

3) The tree outside my bedroom window is full of sparrows, juncos and house finches. It's cold outside and they look grumpy, so I guess that means the bird feeder is empty.

4) My Thor action figure.

5) Bobby Singer's Guide to Hunting by David Reed. As soon as I'm done here, I'm gonna make myself a coffee and curl up on the couch with it.

Goddess On the Mountain Top

2011-11-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

I saw this dress up paper doll and had a pretty good chuckle over it.

Personally, I think she's gorgeous just the way she is. She doesn't need tarting up.

Via: We Named the Dog Indiana

Random Kinkery

2011-11-16T18:44:00.000-08:00

I've been seeing a lot of these wonderfully racy engravings popping up on my Tumblr dashboard lately. They're from one of the most famous erotic books in all of history, the I Modi, published during the Italian Renaissance.

There are 16 engravings in all, each depicting famous couples from myth and history engaged in various sexual acts. Most of the original versions of the book were destroyed by the Catholic church, but various other versions of the plates have survived, despite many additional attempts to censor them.

Personally, I find these illustrations to be incredibly likable and some, like good old Hercules there, to be down right sexy.

I also kind of like the idea of female satyrs. I had to Google them just to see if they were legit.

(via: Feminist Slut)

Man Candy Monday

2011-11-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

I've had a busy yet wonderfully productive week. I've clocked in some serious volunteering hours. I've taken a huge dent out of my Christmas to-do list. The kids are officially caught up on their homework. I've recouped all the sleep I lost on my Vegas vacation and as of tonight I am the only one in the house who hasn't succumbed to this brutal respiratory flu thing that's going around.

*knock on wood*

I think I'm going to celebrate my kick ass housewifery (and my sterling immune system) by posting a photo of the lovely South Korean actor Oh Ji Ho and his very sexy boots.

Yay me!

Ode to a Croque-Monsieur

2011-11-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

Tucked away in the endless sprawl and ramble of the Caesar's Palace casino in Las Vegas is a little slice of culinary Heaven. It's called Payard and it is my absolute favourite place in the whole entire world. It's filled to the brim with sweet treats of every kind - chocolates, candies, pastries, cakes, cookies, crepes, ice cream - all made by hand and every last crumb of it delicious beyond compare.

It's like a religious pilgrimage for me. I can't visit Vegas with out stopping by for a rich, chocolaty Pont Neuf and a cup of coffee and I always manage to leave loaded down with boxes upon boxes of goodies. I even take a special carry-on bag just so that I can get my precious Payard treats home safe and sound. It would be an absolute sacrilege to leave them sitting out on the broiling hot tarmac at McCarran airport for hours on end.

So imagine my surprise and delight when our latest trip to Sin City revealed that a small (yet wonderfully elegant) dinning room had been added on to the cafe and shop. We had originally planned to eat at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill that night, but those plans instantly fell by the wayside in light of our new discovery. While I was busy making reservations, Mr. Lady Jayne began chatting up one of the women behind the counter at the shop - as he is always wont to do, the flirt - telling her how much we enjoy Payard's and how we always make a special trip to Ceasar's Palace just to stock up.

Anyway, to make a long story short; two hours later I'm enjoying the most exquisite Croque-Monsieur I have ever had the great pleasure to stumble across, Mr. Lady Jayne is up to his elbows in sweet, creamy Coquille St. Jacques and voila! Who should arrive at our table side but the man himself - pâtissier extraordinaire, F rancois Payard! It turns out that the "shop girl" the hubster had been speaking with before was the store manager. She had told him what big fans we were and he had decided to stop by and pay us a visit.

Oh gods! I felt like was meeting a rock star!! My husband later joked that my eyes lit up like fireworks and he was worried that I might leap across the table and jump the poor man's bones!

We had such a wonderful conversation with him. Mr. Lady Jayne has some pretty deep running roots in the food service industry, so there was lots of interesting business talk going back and forth. Unfortunately, I don't think our attempts to persuade him to open stores in Canada were successful, especially since he's in the middle of expansion plans in to Asia and the US east coast right at the moment. Still though, a gal can dream, right?

And if all of that weren't enough to make me squee, a huge plate of macarons arrived at the table while we were enjoying with our after dinner coffee. "Compliments of Monsieur Payard," the waiter announced as he set them down.

Thinking about it just makes me smile all over again.

What a glorious evening!

Friday Five?

2011-11-12T09:42:00.000-08:00

Yikes! Looks like I'm a day late and a dollar short, yet again. Ah well, better late than never, right?

*gets herself organized*

I'm on Day 14 of the 30 Day Pick Five Challenge and it looks like it's a real doozy this time around: List five people you can't stand.

Seriously? Just five?? LoL!

In all honesty, I don't tend to hate on specific people all that much. If I find some one annoying I just ignore them. I don't really care enough to get all up in arms about it.

In the spirit of the blogging challenge though, I'll have a go at it. Only I'm going to tweak it a bit and speak in general terms, instead of wasting my efforts on naming names, as it were.

Here goes!

1) The 99% of the population who are addicted to their cellphones, who text while they're walking or driving, who answer their phones at the dinner table, who are tweeting in the middle of a conversation. This is my biggest pet peeve of all time. Stop being so bloody rude people!!

2) People who waste my time. I seem to have had a bad run with these kinds of people over the last few years. Seriously. I'm a busy gal. I scrap and claw for every second of me-time. Why do you think I want to spend every second of my hard earned time endlessly beta-ing your crappy romance novel? Or listening to you ramble on for hours on end about your fan-fic PCs? That's not to say I'm a total scrooge - I help out when I can - but when I find myself spending every second of my free time stroking your ego... I'm so done.

3) People with no manners. Rude people suck.

4) People who think they speak for me, especially when it comes to sexuality. You know the type. Women aren't visual. Women like romance, not sex! Women have to be emotionally involved in order to orgasm! Anal sex/deep-throating/BDSM is this evil, horrible, degrading thing that no women would ever enjoy! Close your eyes and think of England! Blah, blah, blah.

5) People with small minds. Racism. Sexism. Religious fanaticism. They all annoy me. A lot.

Hee! So how was that? Ranty enough for ya?

If this isn't real, it needs to be!

Better Late Than Never!

2011-11-09T06:58:00.000-08:00

Oh how I wish I had stumbled across this photo before the Halloween holiday had passed! Isn't it marvelously creep-tastic?

It's a 19th century jack-o-lantern carved from a turnip on display at the Museum of Country Life in Ireland.

I'm pretty sure that, by this point, we all know the folklore behind these things, so I won't bother boring you with it other than to say that I seem to be going through a bit of an apotropaic magic bender these days.

So stay tuned if you're looking for new and interesting ways to ward off malignant spirits!

Via: TYWKIWDBI.

Man Candy Monday

2011-11-07T08:01:00.000-08:00

Home again, home again, jiggedy-jig!

Arrived home very late last night and I have to admit that, while I love Vegas to death and always have a fabulous time when I'm there, I'm also *very* glad to be back home. In fact, I'm kind of feeling like I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!

Vegas has always been a T&A kind of town and that's always bugged me. But not in the way most people might think. I'm never one to begrudge anyone their kinks, but I totally believe in fair play - what's good for the goose, is good for the gander, right?

I sort of lost it on the poor gal at the MGM Grand who was trying to convince me and my husband to buy tickets to see their Crazy Horse burlesque. When I asked her if there were any male dancers in the show, she just started at me. Then I told her that when they added some, I'd happily take in the show.

Seriously. It's my biggest pet peeve of all time.

That said though, I go down to Vegas often enough that I'm starting to sense a bit of change. Both the Chippendales and the Thunder From Down Under boys have regular shows on the Strip and I spotted another two weekly, all-male reviews advertised - one of them at the Hooter's hotel, no less.

That's right, ladies. Naked men at Hooters!

I'm choosing to see that at progress.

;)

Man Candy Monday...

2011-10-31T19:49:00.000-07:00

... the Halloween edition!

And so endeth NaBloWriMo!

It was a very fun month, definitely a bit of challenge at times, but I somehow managed to pull it off. The best part by far though was meeting my fellow NaBloWriMo-ers and discovering a whole new slew of awesome blogs to follow.

I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that I'll be celebrating our blogging success by going on a well deserved holiday. Don't be surprised if I'm gone for a while - I'll be wining and dining (and shopping up a storm) in Sin City for the next week.

Viva Las Vegas, baby!

And viva NaBloWriMo!

Tumblr Post of the Week

2011-10-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna up the CanCon factor here for a moment, eh?

It was posted a little bit more than a week ago, but this one still makes me giggle out loud. It comes from what is rapidly becoming one of my favourite Tumblrs to visit - Canadian Problems.

Yes, we're a unique nation with more than a few unique problems and we're very proud of that. Plus we always love to poke fun at ourselves.

Here's a few of my faves:

Dirty Words

2011-10-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

I know that I harp on this an awful lot here on this blog, but I really do have an obsession for all things sexual and historical. For the most part this manifests itself in my ever growing collection of vintage erotic art, but every now and then I stumble across something a wee bit different that captures my fancy.

Spurred on by my discovery of this book, I seem to have fallen in love with the etymology of "naughty" words. Honestly, the human sexual lexicon never ceases to amaze me. It's mind-boggling just how much of our language is devoted to fucking. Don't believe me? Check out the Dictionary of Sexual Terms and Expressions.

And just because I'm scraping the bottom of the NaBloWriMo barrel, I decided to make my own Dirty Words Word Search Puzzle.

Enjoy!

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;noframes&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href='http://www.wordsearchmaker.net/wordsearchplayer.aspx?puzzleid=e78ffc41-1ea4-434f-a990-9eeef86d0a8f'&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Free Word Search Puzzles&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/noframes&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;Make Your Own Word Search

Friday Five

2011-10-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

It's Day 13 of the 30 Day Pick Five Blogging Challenge and it's a real doozy this time around: list five phobias that I have.

1) Spiders. This is the big one. I am completely, utterly terrified of spiders. Big or small, they all make me squeal in terror.

2) Large groups of people. I hate crowds. Big time.

3) Traffic accidents. I never want to be in one. I never want to even see one. It frightens me just how drastically a life can be changed or ruined by such a completely random thing.

4) Snakes. I'm lucky that I live where I do. Snakes are kind of a rarity around here. Seen the odd one or two in the wild, as it were, and I didn't really like it much.

5) Bears. I had a scary run-in in with a black bear when I was a kid and it scarred me for life. I always take bear spray with me whenever I go into the mountains - winter, spring, summer or fall. People think I'm nuts, but I just don't care.

Is It Friday Yet?

2011-10-27T19:01:00.000-07:00

Yeesh! I am exhausted!

Had such a great time at the artists' retreat retreat yesterday, but it was such an unbelievably long day. By the time I got back home I was utterly dead on my feet. And to top it all off, I came back to a house full of sick kids.

Looks like I'm going to spend the next couple of days playing nurse-maid. Yay!

Anywhooo... here are some photos that I took at the retreat yesterday. Whatta view, eh? Gorgeous!

The view from Echo Hill

Lot's of snow in the mountains.

Looking north, towards Banff

The museum/gallery.

White trailer = port o'johns.

Random Posting

2011-10-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

I'm spending the vast majority of today out at an artists' retreat in the mountains, so I'm just throwing together a quick, mindless post to cover my NaBloWriMo responsibilities.

One of my most favourite things ever is when very clever, witty people goof around with photoshop. And, of course, I enjoy it all the more when they spoof historical stuff.

Case in point:

Hello, Sugar Puss!

2011-10-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

*Click on image to enlarge*

I found this photograph of a vintage (1942) kiss card during my ramblings around Tumblr this week.

The date and the odd army-like references leads me to think that it was a WWII kinkery, that these cards were meant for American enlisted men and their "sweethearts" to share. I've gone to Google in an attempt to find out more about this particular brand of card, but I've come up empty-handed.

I like the idea of intimacy cards (kiss cards, dance cards, etc), and I've seen photos of some really cute ones, but this particular one strikes me as a lot raunchier than most.

Hmmm. How did that old saying go? Something about being overpaid and oversexed...

Via: This Isn't Happiness

Man Candy Monday

2011-10-24T07:19:00.000-07:00

This amazingly sexy photo comes courtesy of Maureen over at fangirlswoons. I adore her blog and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in better understanding the idea of the Female Gaze.

She's the queen of "pro-penis feminism", baby!

Please go visit her!

Random Kinkery: The Arts and Crafts Edition

2011-10-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

There. Now you have something fun to do today.

;)

Happy National Archaeology Day!

2011-10-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

I've been hanging on to this Youtube video for a while now, saving it for a special occasion. And what, I ask you, is more special that N.A.D.!

So with out further ado, I bring you "We Don't Do Dinosaurs! (The Archaeology Song)"

Enjoy!

For more info on National Archaeology Day visit The Archaeological Institute of America website.

Also, if you're looking for something fun to do on the internet today, in the spirit of the occasion why not check this out - it's a chance to see some very cool archaeological sites in Canada and the US on Google Earth.

Friday Five

2011-10-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

It's day 12 of the Pick Five blogging challenge and this week's septet of randomosities are: five favourite outdoor sports/board games that I enjoy. Seems like a weird combination but... *shrugs*

1) Hiking. I'm lucky that I live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet and there is no better way to experience it all than hiking. I used to do hardcore back-country before the kiddies came along, but these days I'm a lot more low key about it.

2) Skating. I've been taking lessons for awhile now and I just love it. It's my life goal to be able to skate outside at Lake Louise with out making a complete ass of myself.

3) Mousetrap. My kids and I love this game. Whenever we're snowed in we play it *endlessly*. I have to let them win occasionally though or else they get kinda grumpy.

4) Cribbage. My Gran taught me to play when I was little and I've loved it ever since.

5) Checkers. I personally prefer the Chinese variety, but regular old checkers will always do in a pinch. It's one of those games that anyone can enjoy - my five year old daughter especially loves to play against my 94 year old Grandmother. There aren't many games around where that can happen, right?

They Say Witch. I Say Vampire.

2011-10-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

Just in time for Halloween!

Here's a very intriguing archaeological discovery that's been making rounds on the internet over the last month or so.

Excavations in a 13th century Italian graveyard have unearthed the remains of a woman who had no less than seven nails driven through her jawbone. She was buried unshrouded, in the bare earth, with up to thirteen additional nails surrounding her body, the placement of which suggests that her clothes were nailed down into the dirt.

How do we know she is a witch?
*insert Monty Python joke here*

Now, the popular media headlines, of course, all scream "witch!", but I'm not 100% convinced. The grave, despite its lack of the usual burial accouterments, is on consecrated ground and we all know that heretics were never permitted such a honour. Also, using things like nails or bricks to pin down a corpse is a very well-known traditional folk "remedy" meant to prevent vampirism.

The history of vampirism is an infinitely fascinating subject, one that was associated with mass paranoia, religious hysteria and the often odd, unpredictable process of death and decay. It was usually nothing more than simple rumor and coincidence that brought about claims of vampirism - some one thought they saw or heard the newly departed walking around in the middle of the night, a personal item of the recently deceased went missing, the soil of a grave site was discovered disturbed, there was an outbreak of disease after the burial took place, etc. All of this would have been enough to spur on local panic and warrant an exhumation. If there was anything unusual about the corpse (it hadn't fully decomposed, its eyes were open, its blood still flowed as if fresh) then vampirism was the logical explanation.

It's a process that has been documented many times in the historical record, in many different cultures around the globe: burial, suspicion and then exhumation, followed by a quick re-burial with preventative measures.

And that is what I see here - a quick re-burial with some serious preventative measures meant to keep her from getting up and wandering about. They can call her a witch if they like. I'm leaning more towards vampire.

Anyways, the real truth of the matter is that the factual information on this excavation is pretty sparse at this point, making it impossible to form anything more than a simple guess as to what exactly happened to this poor woman. What details there are on her burial and others like it can be found here. And if you have a strong stomach for the biology of death and decomposition, I highly recommend the book Vampires, Burial and Death by Paul Barber.

BAMF

2011-10-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

Whew! I've had a hell of a day! I left the house at 8:00 this morning and just got back about 45 minutes ago. I only have 15 minutes to blog before Supernatural comes on and, honestly, the show is all I can think about right now.

I've decided that today's blogging effort will consist of this awesome fan vid that I found because, let's face it, you can never have enough Dean Winchester.

Seriously.

You can't.

I'm totally uncool and I have no idea who sings the song that accompanies the vid, but just so that you know - it's full of naughty words.

Brace yourself for incoming BAMF-y!

Blog Awards and Chicken Parts

2011-10-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to take a quick moment to do a couple of quick shout outs to some of my fellow NaBloWriMo-ers.

Firstly, many thanks to hollymarie7 over at "The Soulmate Secret" Experiment for bestowing upon me the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award. It's my first blog award ever! (And I think it may have something to do with all the Man Candy I've got scattered around all over the place.)

*wink*

Thanks again, darling!

Secondly, I'd just like to wave and say "hi" to MM over at Adventures in Dimension X and thank her for turning my love affair with the humble pygostyle into a full blown obsession. The icing on the cake was this right here:

*drools*

Yummy! I think I'm way past due for a roast chicken dinner!

Man Candy Monday

2011-10-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

Wet men by Francois Rousseau

Well, we've officially passed the half way mark of NaBloWriMo and I appear to be none the worse for wear for it. I haven't had any "wtf am I going to post" moments yet, although I suspect I will have more than my fair share of those as the month progresses.

So to celebrate my apparent stick-to-it-ness I present to you some very dirty young men.

Filthy, aren't they?

*nudge nudge wink wink*

Autumn Bounty Part II

2011-10-16T06:15:00.000-07:00

Last month it was my in-laws' apples. This weekend I was up to my elbows in tomatoes.

Mom and I buy a couple of 10 pound boxes of Romas at the local farmer's market every fall, then spend a day or two stewing and packaging them up for freezing. Usually we blanch them, then peel and seed, but this year we decided to try a new technique.

We just tossed the tomatoes into pots to stew with herbs, garlic and roasted peppers then pushed the whole mess through sieves to strain out all the seeds, skins and cores. We thought we were being clever and that this new process would be less time consuming, but boy-howdy were we wrong. Sieving is hard work. And it takes forever!! We ended up with a lot less sauce than we expected, plus it was of a much thinner consistency than we were used to.

Still though, it was delicious, and so wonderfully smooth. All I could think of when we were dishing it out into the Ziplocs was that it would be absolutely perfect for making soup. I couldn't wait to get home and try it out.

I bodged up some awesome Minestrone with it - equal parts tomato sauce and chicken broth, one can of red kidney beans, one can of diced tomatoes (since I had smooshed up all my fresh ones), onions, carrots, celery, zucchini and pasta. The tomato sauce was so well seasoned from all the garlic and herbs that we had cooked them with that all I had to add to the soup was a sprinkle of dried basil leaves. I threw some grated parm on top and... voilà!

Soooooo freakin' delicious. Yum!

Random Kinkery

2011-10-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

Ooh! I found another wonderful piece of vintage kinkery for my future erotic museum.

Isn't it marvelous?

Via: Old Erotic Art

Friday Five

2011-10-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

I'm on Day 11 of the Pick Five blogging challenge - and today's list-of-five is: my favourite bands/musicians/artists.

1) k.d. lang

2) Dougie MacLean

3) Oscar Lopez

4) Gordon Lightfoot

5) Jann Arden

Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm a folkie. A *Canadian* folkie. But at least I didn't have Anne Murray on my list, right?

(She might have snuck into the Top Ten though. LoL!)

What I'm Reading

2011-10-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is another one of those books that I can't believe I haven't read before.

Anyone with more than a passing interest in Egyptology has no doubt heard of Giovanni Belzoni. If you haven't, well... I'm not even sure I could do the man justice, so I'm just gonna toss this quote from the back of the book at ya:

"If you wish to find inspiration for Allen Quartermain and Indiana Jones go now further, for here is a highly entertaning account of a fascinating character." Chichester Observer

And a fascinating character he was indeed! He was incredibly tall (at least 6 foot 6, but often taller by other accounts) and was capable of great feats of strength. He was handsome and quite charismatic. He had no formal education, but was remarkably intelligent and possessed a keen knowledge of hydraulics and engineering.

In the early 1800's he moved from Italy to England where he made a living performing strong man acts and starring in pantomimes. His signature performance was something he called The Human Pyramid where, with the help of a special harness, he let a dozen volunteers from the audience cling to his massive frame while he paraded about the stage. It was obviously quite a show-stopper as it seems to have impressed itself upon the memories of quite a few notable Brits at the time.

Belzoni's Human Pyramid by watercolourist RH Norman

Never entirely satisfied with his life in the limelight, Belzoni eventually found himself travelling towards Egypt, hoping to pursue a more academic line of work. In a country that relied so heavily on the erratic flow of the Nile for survival, it was rumored that there was a great deal of wealth and opportunity to be had for anyone who could improve upon the ancient irrigation systems already in place. Thinking that some of his hydraulic designs might find him political patronage, he sailed off to Alexandria.

His waterwheel machine proved be a success during initial demonstrations, but when a member of his entourage was seriously wounded by the contraption it was deemed too dangerous for common use by the Pasha. One thing lead to another and Belzoni soon found himself in the employ of the British consul, scouring the desert for ancient ruins and collecting artefacts for the British Museum.

I almost hesitate to call what he did in Egypt archaeology, as such. True, he made some of the most amazing discoveries the science of archaeology has ever seen and, yes, he was very good at detailing the finds he did make. That said though, it always seemed that thoughts of fame and fortune were at the forefront of everything he did. For example, he so diligently copied the details of Seti I's tomb, not with an eye towards preservation, but with the notion of building a sort of ancient Egyptian amusement park back in England with the recreated tomb the main attraction.

But that is neither her nor there. Belzoni's biography is an amazing one to read. It's absolutely and utterly fascinating and a hundred times more wild and entertaining that any Indiana Jones movie could ever hope to be.

I'm going to end this post with a quote from one of my favourite passages in the book, one in which Belzoni himself describes his explorations in a mummy pit that he discovered in the ruins of Thebes.

"A vast quantity of dust rises, so fine that it enters into the throat and nostrils, and chokes the nose and mouth to such a degree, that it requires great power of lungs to resist it and the strong effluvia of the mummies. This is not all; the entry or passage where the bodies are is roughly cut in the rocks, and the falling of the sand from the upper part or ceiling of the passage causes it to be nearly filled up. In some places there is not more than a vacancy of a foot left, which you must contrive to pass through in a posture like a snail, on pointed and keen stones that cut like glass.

After getting through these passages, some of them two or three hundred yards long, you generally find a more commodious place, perhaps high enough to sit. But what a place of rest! surrounded by bodies, by heaps of mummies in all directions; which, previous to my being accustomed to the sight, impressed me with horror. The blackness of the wall, the faint light given by the candles or torches for want of air, the different objects that surrounded me, seeming to converse with each other, and the Arabs with the candles or torches in their hands, naked and covered with dust, themselves resembling living mummies, absolutely formed a scene that cannot be described. In such a situation I found myself several times, and often returned exhausted and fainting, till at last I became inured to it, and indifferent to what I suffered, except from the dust, which never failed to choke my throat and nose; and though, fortunately, I am destitute of the sense of smelling, I could taste that mummies were rather unpleasant to swallow."

If you're interested in a full list of Belzoni's many accomplishments in Egypt here's his Wikipedia entry.

Hanky Spanky

2011-10-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

If I ever won the lottery I'd take my winnings and open up my very own erotic museum. I'd spend all my time travelling the world and buying up whatever little bits of random kinkery caught my eye. Stuff like this:

Erotic Ivory Spanking Paddle 19th Century
European
1850
This piece was purchased in England years ago from an antique store. It originally was used in a bordello.

Price
$3,800

Via: Douglas Rosin Decorative Art and Antiques

My Husband Amuses Me

2011-10-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

Look at what he sent me:

*snerk*

Man Candy Monday

2011-10-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

I like this particular photograph for a couple of different reasons.

Firstly, I'm drawn to it because it's a piece by Luis Rafael, a man who takes the most amazingly sexy pictures of some of the most amazingly handsome men I have ever seen. His style is quite unmistakable and even though his intended audience is gay men, I find that, as a straight woman, a lot of his art is incredibly appealing.

Secondly, I adore this photograph because of the octopus. If you're a fan of erotic photography, then you've no doubt seen hundreds of photos or animations of scantily clad women draped in tentacles. I find it infinitely refreshing to find a photo like this that embraces the "Tentacle Erotica" genre, but makes a male body the central focus of the piece for a change.

Thanksgiving

2011-10-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

We're celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend up here in the Great White North and I have to be honest with you - it's a holiday that I have a lot of mixed feelings about.

On the one hand, any opportunity for people to gather and spend quality time together is a good thing in my books. Celebrating the rich bounty that this amazing land provides us is a great thing too.

On the other hand, Thanksgiving basically glorifies a very shameful part of Canadian history - the treatment of the native peoples of this land. To a lot of these people, Thanksgiving is more of a day of mourning than anything else.

I wish there was more emphasis on the fact that this holiday has two very different faces, that it is indeed a day to be thankful, but also a time to be mindful of the price it cost the First Nations of this country. I also wish that both sides of the Thanksgiving story was taught to our children in school, but, sadly, that never happens.

I do my best to make sure that my kids understand the full significance of the holiday, but they're young still and I'm not sure they really understand it yet. I feel that it's very important that they do though, so I'll keep at it.

After all, as the saying goes, those who do not know their history are forever doomed to repeat it.

Tumblr Posts of the Week

2011-10-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

Things are plodding along as usual over at my Tumblrs these days. I've missed a few days here and there, of course, but I'm not stressing about it. I've got sick kids to take care of and NaBloWriMo holds all the blogging priorities for the next few weeks.

I've finally given up on the Tumblr Queue over at my Pillow Book so posting will continue to be sporadic. That said though, there were so many awesome photos on my dashboard this week that it was hard to pick my favourite. I think I'll settle on this one. It's a magnified photograph of beach sand taken by a Chinese scientist for the Nikon Small World Photography Contest.

Cool and kinda creepy, eh?

It was another slow week over at PervyGirl. Still though, there were a few brilliant moments of random hotness. I really like this photograph. It's actually quite refreshing to find a photo with this sort of dominant woman/submissive male dynamic played out with out the benefit of leather corsets, fishnet pantyhose, impossibly high fuck-me heels and strap-on dildos.

It was a good week for me over at Arrow of Adonis - lots of blog hits, lots of likes and reblogs. By far the most popular post of the week was this beauty. There's an awful lot to like in that picture, isn't there ladies? The kilts are just icing on the cake!

Friday Five

2011-10-07T17:49:00.000-07:00

For the last month or so, I've been doing this Pick 5 blogging challenge that I found on Tumblr. Instead of doing it all at once, I've spread it out a little by only posting once a week. So far I'm up to Day 10 and the 'challenge' is to list 5 hobbies that I enjoy.

1) Baking. I'm a pretty crappy cook, but I love to bake. I have no idea I'm any good at it or not, but my efforts seem to keep my husband, kids and neighbours happy.

2) Cross stitch. I used to stitch up quite the storm before the kids came along. I made mostly Christmas stuff which I sold at local craft fairs during the holidays. I never made tons of money at it, but I had fun and that's what it's all about right?

3) Volunteering. I totally considered this to be a hobby. I do a lot, usually 2 or 3 times a week depending on my schedule.

4) Blogging. Obviously. LoL!

5) Yoga. Yet one more thing that fell by the wayside when the kids came along. I still manage to sneak in a few sessions here and there when time and money permits, though. Actually, new hot yoga studio has opened up just down the street from my house and I'm kinda curious about it. I think I'd like to try it and see what all the fuss is about.

I'd totally stitch this.

Image via: Subversive Cross Stitch

Coughs and Sneezles...

2011-10-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

Looks like it's my turn to have my blogging plans waylaid by snot clogged, fever wracked children.

It's always a mixed bag of emotions for me when my kids are sick. Yeah, it's stressful and everyone is cranky and sleep deprived, but there's also lots of mellow 'down time', something that is rare in our busy household. We nap and snuggle, watch movies and play games, we explore the internet and do jigsaw puzzles.

Today we had an impromptu Splatalot marathon. If you've never seen this TV show, I'm not sure I could really describe it to you. Let's just say that my kids love it more than anything and leave it at that, shall we?

It helped pass a long day and for that I will be eternally grateful to Gildar and the gang.

Huzzah for Splatalot!

Fangirlin'

2011-10-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have a bit of a Supernatural fangirl moment here. Avert your eyes if you feel it necessary.

Gods. This show. It's only two episodes into the current season and it's breaking my freakin' heart. I'm going to be a blubbering mess by the time it all ends.

And it certainly doesn't help that the show's fandom does awesome shit like this.

Artwork by Quickreaver.

Prehistoric Finger Painting

2011-10-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

Ever since I went to see Cave of Forgotten Dreams last month, I've been on a bit of a prehistorical art bender. When this wonderful little video crossed my path, I was instantly intrigued.

The rundown is basically this - an archaeologist studying 13,000 year old cave paintings in a complex in France has determined that the vast majority of its linear artistic designs were created by children, some as young as three years old. In fact, the most prolific artist in this particular complex appears to have been an 5 year old girl.

It's an absolutely monumental discovery.

Although I have to admit that it does make a certain amount of sense. As a mom, I've seen this sort of "fluting behaviour" a million times - during arts and crafts time (paint, glue, sidewalk chalk etc), during play time in the sandbox and the garden, and who could forget the baby food finger painting sessions on the highchair tray? My son still can't walk down a hallway with out dragging his fingertips along the wall as he goes.

It's not really much of a mental stretch for me to accept that this sort of behaviour would have been present in Paleolithic childhood as well.

I highly recommend taking the time to watch the video. There's also a companion article here. The archaeology behind all of this is almost as fascinating as the data it discovered.

Man Candy Mondays

2011-10-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

I first fell in love with the Man Candy Monday meme back in the old Erotica Cover Watch days.

Stumbling upon ECW was a revelation of sorts for me. It made me realize that the things that bugged me so much about popular culture and media bugged a lot other women too, that I wasn't alone in my dissatisfaction.

Kristina Lloyd and Mathilde Madden were the inspiration for my erotic Tumblrs, they gave me the courage to step up and become the change I wanted to see in the world. They made me realize that it was OK to want to see things from a perspective other than the one that was constantly shoved down my throat.

Erotica Cover Watch may be no more, but I will always bring Man Candy Mondays with me where ever I blog.

Why 'Pillow Book'?

2011-10-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

A pillow book is basically a form of diary - a random collection of thoughts, observations and poetry that became a popular literary tradition in early Japanese society. One of the most world's most famous pillow books comes from this era, written by an 11th century Japanese noblewoman named Sei Shōnagon.

Somewhere along the line, as the pillow book tradition became more "westernized", it seems to have picked up a more savory connotation. These days, pillow books are often associated with ancient sexual secrets and written erotica.

I certainly don't fancy myself on par with Sei Shōnagon, but I liked the idea of creating my own pillow book, especially one that encompassed all of the genre's various incarnations. It's that wonderful blend of art and history and kinkery that appeals to me on so many levels.

There's more info on pillow books here and you can find Sei Shōnagon's Pillow Book for sale on Amazon. It's a fantastic read. I highly recommend it.

The Pillow Book by Hisashi Otsuka

NaBloWriMo

2011-10-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

I know I've left this to the last possible moment, but I've finally made up my mind to join the National Blog Writing Month festivities. A blog post a day for the month of October definitely sounds like a challenge I can get behind!

Perhaps I should start things off with an introduction?

My name is Lady Jayne and I freely admit that I have a lot of odd interests. I have a degree in archaeology and I'm a total history geek. I'm also an unabashed foodie and I'm fascinated by mythology, folklore, feminism, sex and erotica.

I have four blogs - this one on Blogger and three photoblogs on Tumblr. Lady Jayne's Pillow Book is my Tumblr companion to this blog and is basically a warehouse full of weird stuff that has caught my fancy over the years. PervyGirl is my attempt to collect (NSFW) erotic images catering to a female point of view and Arrow of Adonis is my other NSFW collection that celebrates the beauty of the male form.

So yeah, that's me in a nutshell.

I'm looking forward to the post-a-day challenge and I can't wait to meet all my fellow NaBloWriMo bloggers.

Cheers darlings!

Friday Five

2011-09-30T06:14:00.000-07:00

Five celebrities I love? LoL! Supernatural rules my life, apparently.

ETA: You know, I just sort of picked those photos at random, but once I posted them and took a better look at them, I had to giggle a little. Look at all that sexy scruff! No wonder this show has so many rabid fangirls, eh? Delicious!

Also, I finally found the link to the 30 Day Pick Five Blogging Challenge if there's anyone out there interested in following along or joining in.

Random Gorgeousness

2011-09-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

These marvelous photos by Benedetta Bonichi have been making the rounds on my various Tumblr dashboards, much to my infinite delight. They're just too lovely not to share!

Ironclad

2011-09-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

I *finally* got to see Ironclad.

I know that a lot of critics slagged it, but honestly? It was just so full of win. It pretty much contains everything I love in a movie - gorgeous men, huge swords, Danish mercenaries, trebuchets and siege towers, cheesy special effects and, best of all, a brief flirtation with historical fact.

I have to admit though, I am getting sick and tired of the whole Templar Knights thing. Just like everything else "Popular Culture" gets it's grubby little paws on, the Templars been fictionalized and romanticized to the point of ridiculousness. Also - and this is a common complaint that I have with most movies - the female characters were incredibly disappointing. One of the promo photos has a picture of the female lead holding a rather menacing looking morning star and I had high hopes that she might have a more pivotal roll to play in the grand scheme of things.

But no. She existed only to sleep with James Purefoy. Which is great work if you can get it, I suppose.

I want to have his Viking babies!

Man Candy Mondays

2011-09-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

Had a bit of an uneventful week this time around. And I'm not really looking forward to this week either, since I have a third wheel hanging around the house and intruding upon my blissful morning solitude.

Ah well. Nothing I can do about it, I suppose. Except maybe celebrate my Monday with a photo of the ever sexy Rick Mora, whom I think should be officially promoted into Silver Fox-hood.

All in favour say "aye".

Tumblr Posts of the Week

2011-09-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

I'm having quite a love/hate thing going on with Tumblr these days.

Firstly, over on my Pillow Book Tumblr the queue is giving me absolute fits. I have it set to put up six posts every day between 7 and 8 o'clock, but it usually only posts two a day. Go figure. The queue is sort of notorious though and I don't think it has ever worked properly, which is too bad 'cause it's a really handy way to keep the blog going when there isn't time to constantly surf and post.

Here's my favourite post from my Pillow Book for this week:

Warning! Looting and pillaging ahead!

I'm starting to get a wee bit frustrated with my (NSFW) PervyGirl Tumblr. It's getting harder and harder to find really good quality photos that fit with the blog's theme of smut from a straight woman's POV. Honestly, for every half hour that I spend searching the dashboard I probably only find one or two pictures that are suitable for reblogging. There's just such a low surfing to posting ratio that it's starting to feel like phenomenal waste of time.

Perhaps a bit of a break is in order. I dunno. Something definitely needs to change though.

Anyway, here's my favourite PervyGirl post of the week:

And finally, it's been a bit of weird week over at Arrow of Adonis. For the first time ever, in a year or so of Tumbling, I've had one of my posts removed by the Tumblr staff. It wasn't a photo that I had posted myself, I had reblogged it from some one else and it had literally thousands of notes (reblogs and likes) on it. It was a pretty common sight on my dashboard and, to be honest, it still is. Not sure what's going on there.

Sourcing is something that always bugs me about Tumblr. One one hand I can totally understand that a photographed image can be considered artistic/intellectual property, no different than an artist's painting or drawing. On the other hand, if you're putting sexy pics of nude men with huge cocks up on the internet chances are extremely good that they're gonna end up in rotation on the gay Tumblr blogs.

Just sayin'. *shrugs*

So to round things out, here's my favourite photo from Arrow of Adonis. How delicious is this? Yum!

Honestly. If it weren't for aging gay porn stars, us straight gals who fancy a bit of grey would have no sexy photos to oggle!

Man Candy Mondays

2011-09-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Oh wow! It's been such an amazing week/weekend. After so many years on the back burner, my life has finally come full circle. I'm still grinning ear-to-ear over all the new opportunities that are heading my way.

So here's celebrating my perseverance. And my new found freedom to pursue what I really want in this world.

Seriously, I am the luckiest chick on the planet, baby!

Yay me!!

Random Kinkery

2011-09-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

Ack!

Things have been insanely busy this week! So much so that I didn't even have time to write up the Friday blogging challenge. Hopefully this crazy little bit of random kinkery will help tide things over until I can get back into my posting groove.

Honestly, is there a women alive who hasn't wanted to do this to a man at least once in her life? LoL!

Autumn Bounty

2011-09-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Apologies for being a bit AWOL this week, but I've been a busy little beaver.

My sister-in-law showed up on my doorstep a few days ago loaded down with boxes upon boxes of little green apples, freshly picked from my in-laws' back yard. I've been peeling and coring and slicing and applesauce-ing every free moment I've had ever since. My back hates me for all the standing, but it's totally worth the aggravation. My house smells frikkin' awesome and my freezer is full of yummy treats that will last us through the long, bleak winter.

Before I chain myself back to the apple peeler though, I'm going to leave you with my Grandma's recipe for apple crisp. It's classic and simple and oh so delicious.

Grandma's Apple Crisp

1/2 cup unsifted flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/3 cup cold butter (cut into cubes)

Sugar to taste (I usually use Splenda. The amount, of course, will depend on the tartness of your apples)
5-6 cups of apple slices

Topping: Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

Toss apple slices with sugar (Splenda) and a small handful of the crumble topping. Place in a greased baking dish and top with remaining topping.

Bake uncovered at 350 for approximately 1 hour, until apples are tender and the sauce begins to bubble up the edges of the dish.

This also freezes really well. My baking dishes have glass lids, so once the crisps have cooled I put them on, tape them down with masking tape and then wrap everything up in cellophane. They keep forever.

And, although perfectly tasty when baked as per the recipe, I also like to free-lance a bit, adding additional fruit (rhubarb, strawberries, blueberries, etc) to the apple slices. Sometimes, in lieu of adding a handful of crumble topping to the apples, I add about a teaspoon or so of ground ginger instead. Makes a nice savoury crumble for an interesting change of pace.

Enjoy!

Man Candy Mondays

2011-09-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

It's been such a lovely week.

Having the house to myself every morning is just the best thing *ever*. I'm constantly amazed at just how much stuff I can get done when there aren't any distractions (read: husband and children) around to stop me!

Random Kinkery

2011-09-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

Aren't these awesome?

When I first spotted them on my Tumblr dash, I sort of dismissed them as just another deck in the long, illustrious line of x-rated playing cards. Closer inspection, however, made me realize that they're actually tarot cards.

I've collected tarot decks for a while now and have quite a few of the erotic variety, but I've never seen a deck quite like this one. I've been scouring the web for more details, but can't seem to find any more info on them.

Found via: Schund & Schmutz

Friday Five

2011-09-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

List your five favourite TV shows.

Yes. Well. I'm probably going to embarrass myself with this one. Let me preface my choices here by saying that I find the majority of the shows on TV these days to be complete and utter crap. I guess it's not surprising then that a lot of my choices hark back to the 80's and my childhood faves.

So here we go, in no particular order.

1) Lovejoy. One of many BBC shows that I was addicted to back in the 80's. The only thing better than the show were the original books by Jonathan Gash.

2) Absolutely Fabulous. What can you say about this one, really? It was absolutely fabulous, darling. There aren't many shows that give us good, raunchy humour from a woman's POV now, is there? I'm so happy to hear that there are new episodes in the works!

3) GI Joe Renegades. GI Joe was one of my favourite cartoons when I was kid and I was over-the-moon ecstatic when I heard they were doing a TV remake. I especially loved the premise of the show, how we got to see the Joes before they actually became Joes. My son and I had a great time trying to figure out exactly who the various "guest stars" of each episode were. Anyway, I really hope The Hub picks this one up again.

4) Golden Girls. There was just so much about this show that was so full of win. Not only did the entire cast consist of women, but they were all women over the age of 40!! I'm amazed that it ever got aired at all and I kind of doubt that anything like it will ever be aired again.

5) Supernatural. What can I say about this show that I haven't already? Sexy. Smart. Funny. Scary. Heartbreaking. Angsty. Bromancey. I could go on and on and on...

Winchester Wednesday

2011-09-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

I don't really turn on my TV all that often, but when I do, it's a pretty safe bet that I'm watching Supernatural.

It's a show that's pretty much chock-full of all the things I love - myth, folklore, urban legends, supernatural beings, insanely sexy men, angsty bromances - all wrapped up with witty dialogue and plot lines that ping pong between the truly macabre and the gut-wrenchingly beautiful.

Honestly, I can't get enough of it.

And neither can the rest of my fellow fangirls.

Now I'm not big on the whole fanship thing and the inevitable squabbling that goes hand in hand with it, but this video is too amazing not to share. Watching it made me realize just how amazingly deep and profound and well written the character relationships are on the show.

Plus it makes me cry every damned time I watch it.

I also, on occasion, do a Winchester Wednesday meme on my PervyGirl Tumblr. Lots of lovely NSFW goodies there, my friends.