Christmas Cheers!

What Are We Gonna Do?

Sorry to be heavy, folks.  I promise to have some great crafts for you soon. But today, Miss Ginger heart is in other places.

No cute pictures or funny videos.  Just worry.

Worry about our country, and the epidemic of crazed shootings we are suffering.  Half the country seems to think we should ban guns; the rest are crazy trying to defend their right to bear arms.  (I'm pretty sure our forefathers never anticipated the killing machines our military has invented to fire off multiple rounds in seconds.)

The way Miss Ginger sees it, there are 2 elements to a mass killing: guns, and mental illness.  And no matter what laws our congress passes, on this Earth, and in this country, there will always be guns and mental illness.  The problem arises when we put them in the same room together.  So how do we fix it?  That part is not something Miss Ginger can solve... if she had that answer, she wouldn't have time to be writing this silly little lifestyle/drag/craft blog.  But, Miss Ginger does know something she can do:  DEMAND MORE!!  More attention from Congress! More attention from our President! More attention from the medical community, the scientific community, and the business community!  We can't just roll over and say "oh, well!"

Regardless of what anyone may think or hear, Obamacare is a small step in the right direction, in that it will provide medical insurance to help with the expenses of treatment for mental illness.  Now I know it's not the vaccine to end all violence, but if a person has access to health care, they may be able to treat depression, schizophrenia, or other mental conditions that can escalate without care.  And with health insurance, when a routine illness like the flu comes along, they are more likely to see a doctor who may then recognize signs that more assessment of their mental state is needed.

But we must demand MORE! When a patient sees a doctor in most clinics, they are routinely screened for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other common disorders that the patient may or may not have. These are not symptomatic diseases, so blood testing is the only way to find them.  We think nothing of testing for or treating these conditions.

But what about mental illness?  Have you ever been screened for it?  Has your doctor ever recommended treatment?  No?  You know why?  These aren't big money makers for big pharma!  You've all seen ads on TV to treat high cholesterol, impotence, even urinary incontinence!  But do you ever see an ad for a drug that treats schizophrenia?  Bipolar disorder?  Panic disorder?  Nope.  Taboo. Not glamorous. 

The assessment tools used to diagnose mental illness are specialized, time consuming, and expensive.  Most "family practitioners", the doctors we see most often, aren't of the mindset to consider mental illness, unless the patient shows clear signs of instability.  Even then, most doctors would rather perform a "digital rectal" than approach a patient about the possibility of mental illness!

We, as a society, need to DEMAND MORE attention to the discussion, assessment, and treatment of mental illness!  Through open and frank dialogue with physicians and patients, we can make a difference in how and when the conditions are treated!

Now, on to guns.  Don't worry, you can keep your fucking pistol in your handbag, and no one wants to take away your precious squirrel rifle, though for the life of Miss Ginger she doesn't understand America's love affair with guns.  But that single shot rifle, or even that relatively low caliber revolver aren't what worries Miss Ginger, nor is that what massacres scores of people in minutes.  Miss Ginger is talking about weapons that load themselves automatically, spraying exploding bullets into crowds of people.  It's illegal to hunt deer with those things, and they would blow a duck to bits, so why the hell does anyone need those?  Best case scenario, they are outlawed except for military and police personnel.  Since Miss Ginger knows the NRA's lobbyists will never allow that to happen, we should at least recognize that it's not the gun that kills a person... it's the bullets.  So, let's limit the amount of bullets anyone can buy for those things.  And while we're at it, before they could own or carry the gun or the bullets, they should be thoroughly screened for signs of mental illness, with follow-up screening at renewal intervals, just to be sure.

What else can we do?  We can't just sit by and let this happen in America.  Miss Ginger wants to know how she and the rest of Ginger Nation can help end, or at least reduce, these senseless killings!!

Almost Christmas Caturday.....

Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!!

My new mantra. Loves me some Sweet Brown!! (The good part starts at :50)

Are you?

Miss Ginger FINALLY Has a Reasonable Diagnosis!

Be Careful, Crafters!

You don't want to end up with a nasty case of "Glitter Lung!"

Caption This:

Happy Caturday!

Just be careful and don't step on any cracks!

Time is Running Out!!

If you are planning to attend "Ginger Grant's 50th Birthday Celebration" and have yet to make your reservation, time is running out on the special deal that Miss Sonna has negotiated for you!!  Go to www.bourbonorleans.com to book, and PLEASE email Sonna so she can add you to the head count!  Even if you have made other hotel reservations,  please let Sonna know so we can ensure you are properly liquored up accommodated! The deadline for Sonna's special rate is December 1st.... after that,  you're on your own!!  PLEASE come!! if you want to come and need "financial assistance" let Miss Sonna know and she may be able to hook you up with a "roommate".  "Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match....!"

Miss Ginger wants you ALL to be there to help her celebrate her next half centennial!!

Here's a Handy Site!

http://www.printablepaper.net

Printablepaper.net is a handy free site that allows one to download and print over 700 useful forms, grids, and templates.  They have everything from attendance forms to shooting targets!!  Miss Ginger has found the graph paper selection to be particularly useful for designing all types of patterns and sketches for sewing, quilting, and, of course, geometry!  Boy G uses the 4-lined indexed graph paper to plan woodworking projects to the 1/4" detail!!  And the perspective graph makes it easy for the two to confer and collaborate on room designs and other spatial layouts.  Best part of all? You don't have to buy a whole pack of some obscure paper when you just need to plot one measly little polar graph!  

There are scorekeeping forms for just about any sport or game one can imagine... teacher forms for all kinds of record keeping... music paper for exercising your inner Mozart...  Really, everyone will find something useful! Check it out and leave a comment to let us know your favorite!! 

Thanksgiving Etiquette!

Proper etiquette is a must at any civilized meal, even when said meal is of the "bring-a-pot" variety.  If you are asked to bring something for you holiday meal this year, one can only hope that your hostess has been kind enough to give you specific instructions on how your offering can best compliment it cohorts on the Thanksgiving buffet.  Keep this in mind, gracious hostesses: Marney has a lot to teach us all!

From: Marney

As you all know a fabulousThanksgiving Dinner does not make itself. I need to ask each of you to help by bringing something to complete the meal. I truly appreciate your offers to assist with the meal preparation.

Now, while I do have quite a sense of humor and joke around all the time, I COULD NOT BE MORE SERIOUS when I am providing you with your Thanksgiving instructions and orders. I am very particular, so please perform your task EXACTLY as I have requested and read your portion very carefully. If I ask you to bring your offering in a container that has a lid, bring your offering in a container WITH A LID, NOT ALUMINUM FOIL! If I ask you to bring a serving spoon for yourdish, BRING A SERVING SPOON, NOT A SOUP SPOON! And please do not forget anything.

All food that is to be cooked should already be prepared, bring it hot and ready to serve, warm or room temp. These are your ONLY THREE options. Anything meant to be served cold should, of course, already be cold.

HJB—Dinner wine

The Mike Byron Family
1. Turnips in a casserole with a lid and a serving spoon. Please do not fill the casserole all the way up to the top, it gets too messy. I know this may come as a bit of a surprise to you, but most of us hate turnips so don't feel like you a have to feed an army.
2. Two half gallons of ice cream, one must be VANILLA, I don't care what the other one is. No store brands please. I did see an ad this morning for Hagan Daz Peppermint Bark Ice Cream, yum!! (no pressure here, though).
3. Toppings for the ice cream.
4. A case of bottled water, NOT gallons, any brand is ok.

The Bob Byron Family
1. Green beans or asparagus (not both) in a casserole with a lid and a serving spoon. If you are making the green beans, please prepare FOUR pounds, if you are making asparagus please prepare FIVE pounds. It is up to you how you wish to prepare them, no soupy sauces, no cheese (you know how Mike is), a light sprinkling of toasted nuts, or pancetta, or some EVOO would be a nice way to jazz them up.
2. A case of beer of your choice (I have Coors Light and Corona) or a bottle of clos du bois chardonnay (you will have to let me know which you will bring prior to 11/22).

The Lisa Byron Chesterford Family
1. Lisa as a married woman you are now required to contribute at the adult level. You can bring an hors d’ouvres. A few helpful hints/suggestions. Keep it very light, and non-filling, NO COCKTAIL SAUCE, no beans of any kind. I think your best bet would be a platter of fresh veggies and dip. Not a huge platter mind you (i.e., not the plastic platter from the supermarket).

The Michelle Bobble Family
1. Stuffing in a casserole with a serving spoon. Please make the stuffing sans meat.
2. 2.5-3 qts. of mashed squash in a casserole with a lid and serving spoon
3. Proscuitto pin wheel - please stick to the recipe, no need to bring a plate.
4. A pie knife

The June Davis Family
1. 15 LBS of mashed potatoes in a casserole with a serving spoon. Please do not use the over-size blue serving dish you used last year. Because you are making such a large batch you can do one of two things: put half the mash in a regulation size casserole with lid and put the other half in a plasticcontainer and we can just replenish with that or use two regulation size casserole disheswith lids. Only one serving spoon is needed.
2. A bottle of clos du bois chardonnay

The Amy Misto Family (why do I even bother she will never read this)
1. A pumpkin pie in a pie dish(please use my silver palate recipe) no knife needed.
2. An apple pie in a pie dish, you can use your own recipe, no knife needed.

Looking forward to the 28th!!

Marney

Happy Thanksgiving, dear Ginger Snaps, and for gawd's sake, remember:  a SOUP spoon is NOT to be used for SERVING!  Learn it!

Another Organizing QuickTip!

Did you ever notice how plastic containers are like socks... you can never seem to find the mate?  With so many sizes, shapes and brands of storage containers on the market, Miss Ginger constantly found herself with mismatched tops and bottoms. Quelle domage!

Now, she buys "to go" containers at her local restaurant supply store- the same kind  in which  your egg drop soup is delivered from your local Takee Outee!



They are available in tubes of 25 for about the same price that you'd pay for a 4-pack of brand name containers at your local grocery, and they come in a multitude of sizes that all take the same lid, sold separately!  They nest in a drawer or cabinet and take up very little room! The containers are freezer and microwave safe (don't microwave the lids!), and you can run them through the dishwasher and reuse them.  But, they are so cheap that if you put something yucky like spaghetti sauce in them (does that ever REALLY come out of plastic?) you can toss it without breaking the bank!!

Craft Room!

Miss Ginger has been a busy bee putting together the first phase of her craft room, and here it is!!  Now she's REALLY ready to bang out some crafts for you, but first, she's going to let you in on how you can put together a space like this without a lot of carpentry skills or tools! All you need is a wall!

It all starts with these great rolling tool cabinets that form the base.  Miss Ginger got these at Sam's Club, but you may find them cheaper at your local home center, or at Harbor Freight Tools or Northern Tools. You could also use a couple of old dressers or nightstands, matching or not, as long as they are the same height. (A couple of 2-drawer file cabinets would work, also, although the deep drawers are not as useful!)  Since these were on wheels,  Boy G built little "garages" around the 2 cabinets so they can be pulled out to create additional work surface, but if your carpentry skills are limited, you can set your work surface right down on the cabinets.  You can buy a preformed formica counter of varying lengths at Lowes or Home Depot, or you can even use a door, as long as it is flat. Don't worry about the precut doorknob hole- it's a great way to run a power strip to your work surface.

Another option is to buy wooden butcher block counters from Ikea, or if you're really handy, lay-up your  own surface out of lumber, like Boy G did with these poplar boards.  This requires a little more time and a few more tools, but it's allows you to make a low-cost countertop that is durable and beautiful. 

There's an easy shortcut to the overhead cabinets, as well.  If you don't have the time and talent to build  cabinets like these (paneled doors are not easy!), you can buy prefab unfinished cabinets at Lowes.  They are really easy to hang with a cordless screwdriver and a level.  Screw a ledger board onto the wall to make sure they are nice and level, then rest the bottom of the cabinet on the ledge, swing it into place, and screw it into the studs.  The cabinets are not real heavy, but they are a bit awkward, so you may need a helper.

To add the shelves between the cabinets, use nail on strips that hold shelf brackets.  You can buy pre made shelving at Lowes, or buy plain boards in the lumber area and finish them to match.  

Add some plug-in lights underneath the bottom shelf and countertop height stool, and your craft space is ready for your imagination to run wild!  Best of all: even with the shortcuts, you can build the whole thing for less than $800!! 

Hillary 2016

Miss Ginger is starting the campaign early!

Vote!!!

Tuesday is election day: don't forget to participate in your most precious right as an American!  We may not be able to marry (yet), but we can certainly vote for people who will move us toward that landmark of equality!  I'm not telling you how to vote, but I WILL tell you how I voted, and why I voted that way!

It's SO Easy!

It s SO Easy to help the victims of Sandy... just text "Red Cross" to 909-99 to donate $10 to the Sandy relief fund! Miss Ginger just did it... won't you?

Birthday Link!

If you are interested in hotel reservations for the birthday bash, you can follow this link; the event code is already filled-in!

https://gc.synxis.com/rez.aspx?Hotel=20340&Chain=5150&group=1302GEORGE

Remember to do it before December 21st to get the best rate!

Celebrate 5-0 With Miss Ginger!!!

As loyal readers already know, and new readers will soon find out, Miss Ginger LOVES a party!  As she revealed earlier this year, she has never, in all her years, had a surprise party, so she's throwing herself one!  Obviously, she's has known her 50th birthday was inevitable for quite so me time, so that's not a surprise. And she knows she wants to celebrate it in New Orleans, so there's no surprise there, either.  Now she's signed the contract for the hotel arrangements, so that won't be a surprise.  But the one thing that can surprise her is YOU!  YOU can show up to the party and make it the best surprise ever!! (Just don't tell her you're coming!)

So here's the gig. We've blocked a group of rooms at the luxurious Bourbon Orleans Hotel right in the middle of Bourbon Street.  Miss Ginger has stayed there many times, and she has to say it's one of the best locations in the French Quarter!  The party will be on Friday, February 22, 2013 with continued festivities through the weekend.  If you'd like to join in the fun, call the hotel at 866.513-9744 and request the George Burch Group rate of $209 per night, a steal for a French Quarter property!  Call soon to be sure you can get this rate!

Miss Ginger has booked herself a balcony suite overlooking Bourbon Street, and that's where the Friday night party will begin! It's over the top glamour like you never seen, so pack your sparkliest sequins and your poofiest boas, because anyone who shows up without over-the-type finery will be thusly adorned!  We'll have drinks and nibbles, see who arrives, and celebrate half a century of untold sophistication! 

Saturday night, after a day of rest and recuperation, we'll have a room reserved at Emeril's NOLA, one of Miss G's favorite eateries, for those who wish to join us.  Sunday, there will be brunch at the hotel, either ala carte or catered, depending on how large our party turns out to be.  So, if you're in for a birthday blowout bash like no other, here's what you need to do:


1. Call the hotel to book your room: 866.513-9744.  Rooms will be released on a first come, first served basis, and will be held at the rate of $209 through Friday, December 21st.  After that date, rooms will be booked at the rack rate.  You're welcome to other hotel arrangements if you wish, but the rate of $209 is a great deal, and the hotel is in the middle of everything.
2. Please email our Cruise Director, Sonna, at salton77@yahoo.com, to let her know you're coming.  She's keeping the guest list TOP SECRET, especially to Miss G, but she needs a head count to be able to plan the activities, etc. Let her know if you wish to be included in the head count for NOLA and the brunch on Sunday morning.
3. Make your travel plans! United, Delta, Jet Blue, and Southwest all fly into Louis Armstrong International Airport.  The hotel offers valet parking if you choose to drive.  And if you plan your trip carefully, you can even take Megabus from spots long the east coast!
4. Pack your bags with glitz, glamour, and comfortable shoes, and DON'T TELL GINGER you are coming!!  She hopes to see all of you there, but hopes there will be a least SOME element of surprise!  

Another Organizing QuickTip!

Buy pantry containers at your local restaurant supply store. They are extremely durable, wash easily by hand or in the dishwasher, and have cups and ounces marked on the side so you can tell at a glance how much is left!  The lids, sold separately, are color-coordinated to the print on the markings, and fit all the different sized containers with the same color.  If you lose or damage a lid, you can easily replace it with a new one! 

Organization QuickTip!

Use self-adhesive business card holders from the office supply store to label the jars and containers in your pantry, instead of using an adhesive-backed label. Print your labels on perforated business card blanks. This way if you change the product stored in the container, you can slide out the old card and insert a new one, without having to peel off a stubborn label and deal with the residue it leaves behind! 

Wide mouth quart canning jars are great for storing pantry staples, and are much easier to organize and find than a bunch of half-used bags of beans, peas, or rice spilling all over!  You can buy a dozen jars for about 16 bucks, and they will last forever!  For another 10 bucks, you can replace the 2 piece canning lids with a plastic storage lid that is much easier to deal with.

Finally, for about $30 at Lowes, you can get a wire shelf unit that screws to the inside of the pantry door, adding valuable space and keeping these often used items right up front where they are easy to find!

Miss Ginger has lots more great storage ideas to share, so stay tuned!!  

I've Been "Etching" to Share This With You!

One way to personalize glass and make it special is etching. Miss Ginger knows of 4 different ways to etch glass, each requiring different skills, materials, and equipment, and each providing similar, yet unique, results. This post is going to show the 2 different etching techniques used by Miss Ginger on the "Winchester Room" project, chemical etching and mechanical etching. Both of these techniques provide a true "etch" into the surface of the glass, making it permanent, weatherproof, and dishwasher-safe!

You can also etch glass by sandblasting, but Miss Ginger has not yet perfected that technique (she's working on it!)  And finally, there are "frosting" sprays that are available in the spray paint aisle of most home centers, but those will wash off if used outdoors or in the dishwasher. 

On the Winchester Room sconces, Miss Ginger used 2 separate stencils, one for the large "W", and a separate one of the lettering.  Stencils can be handcut with an Xacto knife into contact paper, or computer cut with a knife plotter into vinyl. You can also buy premade stencils at craft stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby. (Miss Ginger has an entire post on stencils coming this week!)  Those with an artistic bent can also freehand their designs, but Miss G uses a stencil because she can't draw a straight line, much less a recognizable depiction of anything!

The "W" stencil was applied to glass, followed by a brushed-on application of Armor Etch cream.  Armor Etch will frost the glass wherever it is applied, making it easy to use with vinyl stencils, which protect the rest of the glass from the chemical reaction.  It only takes a minute to work, and then Miss Ginger rinsed it off and applied the next stencil. Because she wanted the lettering to be bolder, she etched it with a Dremel Tool, which gives a deeper, rougher etch that stands out better, especially on colored glass.

Here's a different project where you can see how Miss Ginger used the Dremel technique to etch glass bottles to hold dish soap and hand soap near her kitchen sink.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend when it comes to this project: you'll need a diamond burr bit to fit your Dremel Tool.  It sounds pricey but it's not; Miss Ginger bought a 50 piece set from Amazon.com for about 12 bucks, giving her different shapes and points to handle the different nooks and crannies in even the most detailed stencils! 

With the stencil applied to the glass, Miss G just followed the outline with the whirling bit, scratching the surface of the glass as she worked. (Those with sensitive sinuses should probably wear a dust mask for this. Miss Ginger doesn't, but she should!) Follow along the edges first, and then fill in the middle.  The tool works fast, so it really doesn't take very long to do a simple design like this!

Outfitted with pumps from a couple of old hand lotion bottles, these decorated soldiers avoided the landfill and take their permanent place next to Miss Ginger's sink, ready to wash away dirt and grime at a moment's notice!

What would you want to etch?  Have any questions?  Leave a comment for Miss Ginger- she'll answer!  Promise!

Happy Housewarming!

When 2 of GingerNation's most FABULOUS GingerSnaps bought their first home, Miss Ginger knew she wanted to do something special for them.  So when Mr. and Miss Alaineous posted photos of their basement redux, Miss Ginger's imagination went to work.         They chose a pub theme for their new room, and even named it "The Winchester Room"  so Miss G was inspired to give them wall sconce candleholders to frame the grand entrance!  

Miss Ginger started by creating a "logo" for the winchester room on the computer, and cut a stencil to transfer it to the glass.  After cutting the bottoms off of 2 matching bottles using the G3 cutter,  Miss Ginger used etching cream and a Dremel Tool to etch the pattern onto the glass. (She's got posts coming to explain all of the options for decorating glass and making stencils!) 

Once the glass was decorated, Miss G had to create a way for Mr. Mischief to mount them to the wall.  From the molding aisle at Lowes she selected 2 inexpensive pre-cut pine pieces, and finished them with a wipe-on stain and glossy spray-on polyurethane.  After drilling pilot holes to avoid splitting the wood,  she screwed 2 oversized eye-hooks into the wood to hold the neck of the bottle.

Because these sconces will be holding a heavy bottle and a flaming candle, Miss G. added aluminum rail hangers to the back to ensure they would mount to the wall solidly.  If you've not used these before, they are really handy for hanging something heavy, or for hanging something that could be knocked out of position by bumps or vibration.  They are easy to find in the hardware aisle at Lowes, and they even have a built-in level to make sure your item is straight and solid! 

So here's the finished product, right before Miss G packed them up to send to surprise the Larsens!  Miss Ginger can't wait to see a picture of them installed in the Winchester Room!

Cutting Glass...

One of the things that led Miss Ginger this new blog focus was her refined taste for wines and cocktails.  After sending many, many (many!) empty wine bottles into landfills, she decided to start saving them in an attempt to "up cycle". (She also wished to avoid a "Bree Van de Kamp" moment!)   Once she saw the evidence, she decided it my be prudent to substitute S. Pellegrino for her beloved Pinot Grigio during the week.. then the green glass REALLY piled up! 

That stash is 4-deep, folks, so there is a lot of glass craft coming your way!!

Miss Ginger had seen a couple of different methods of cutting glass on Pinterest using yarn and acetone, and they made it look WAY too easy... which is was. The science seemed solid... use yarn soaked in acetone to heat a burning ring around the bottle, then dunk it into ice water to stress the glass and cause it to break.  It broke, alright, but here's the problem with that science:  the glass breaks in a line at it's weakest point. The bottles used for water and most wines are designed to protect a relatively cheap product, so the glass is extremely cheap, meaning there is a lot of variance in thickness throughout the bottle.  If this glass is forced to break along its own volition, the line will be notched, jagged, and not at all straight.

A much more reliable way is to use a glass cutter to score a line along the surface of the glass, thus creating a straight, controlled point of weakness for the glass to break.  You still use a hot/cold shock, but you have shown the glass where to break!

There are 2 readily available devices designed to create this line.  The first, sold all over in craft stores and on the internet, is a cheap black plastic pos with which Miss Ginger became disgusted from the moment she tried to use it! 

The other readily available cutter is the G2 "Generation Green" bottle cutter, which Miss G highly recommends!  

This unit is made of sturdy aluminum levers and is easily adjustable to the diameter of the bottle and the height of your cut.  Once the dimensions are set, you can cut bottle after bottle at exactly the same place to create a "set" of glasses, candleholders, or other crafty items!

Using the G2 is simple!  Assemble the unit according to the package instructions.  Hold the pivot point in place with your left hand, and adjust the horizontal and vertical planes to position the cutting head perpendicular to the bottle. Once the unit is tightened into position, keep the base of the bottle flat against your work surface as you push the cutting head into the bottle with your right hand and rotate the bottle with your left.  The key to a clean cut it to ensure consistent pressure against the glass as you turn the bottle. Done properly, you should hear a scratching sound as the cutter score the top layer of glass.

After the bottle is scored,  hold it into a pot of simmering water to heat it along the score. (Miss Ginger has discovered that her asparagus pot it the perfect size and shape for this adventure!)

After heating, plunge the bottle into ice water above the depth of the score.  You may feel a "bump" as the glass breaks along your score line.  If the bottle doesn't separate at the score line, hold it above an below the line with your hand and twist gently in opposite directions.  If it doesn't easily separate at that point, dunk it into the hot water again, and it should separate immediately.  If it doesn't separate after the 3rd dunk, it's probably a bad bottle- try again with a new one!

If your score was successful, the bottle will separate cleanly along the score line, and all you have to do is scuff the razor sharp inside and outside edge with emery cloth to prevent cuts and make your vessel usable as a glass, vase, candleholder, or whatever your imagination desires!

If your cut edge has flat raised nibs, like this example, you didn't keep consistent pressure as you turned the bottle, and yu had line segments that weren't scored, causing the nib.  This glass isn't lost, thought it may require a little grinder with a diamond bit in a rotary tool to give a satisfactory edge.

If your glass breaks along a vertical line, or in multiple horizontal planes that where not scored, it is lost.  Scrap it and try again with another bottle.









Cutting glass is easy, fun, and useful!  As you will see in upcoming posts, there are millions of things you can make from up cycled bottles and jars! 

It's Here!!!

Miss Ginger has promised you a NEW and IMPROVED blog for quite some time, and here it is!!  With it's fresh pink color and easier to read posts, this 'ole blog is moving into new territory with a focus (yes, a focus!) on all things domestic!  In addition to more recipes and more decorating and organizing ideas, Miss Ginger will bring you ideas for sewing, building, and crafting!  But these aren't your kindergarten niece's "noodles-on-construction paper"- Miss Ginger will bring you the best of what Momma G taught her, updated with tips on the best tools, materials, and products  on the market today!  It's "crafting gone drag queen mad" like you've never seen before!!

So what brings about this newfound focus?  It's a long story, but in a nutshell:  Miss Ginger's original blog started as an attempt to publicize her charitable endeavors, and create a place where friends in the community could go to find out what was happening in her life. With the advent of facebook and twitter, Miss Ginger found much more efficient ways to hawk her shows.  Still, she had made so many friends on this blog and beyond that she kept it going with a disjointed series of stories and dialogues that were sometimes sweet, sometimes stupid, but hopefully, always entertaining.

The entertainment will continue, she promises! But as she looked for a new purpose for her blog, she wanted something unique.  Even though her domestic prowess is unmatched, "mommy blogs" are a dime a dozen.  "Gay" blogs are all over the place, and she didn't want to put herself in competition with Joe.My.God, Towel-rod, or the inimitable David Dust, the masters of the genre. "Drag queen" blogs are almost a ubiquitous as the mommy ones, with Rupaul and every girl who ever sashayed away trying to make a buck in the blogosphere.  Those blogs are "fierce", or I think the girls now say "sick-ning", both things which Miss G decidedly are not.  She is tasteful... cultured...  and just a skilled at putting an arrangement on the table as she is a meal!  

So hun-hun-hunty:  let's get it going!  The crafts are coming, I promise-  we'll have our weekly "kiki" to bang out some glitter and settle our nerves!!  What's a kiki, you ask?

For ann coulter....

(She doesn't get capital letters in my blog!)

No one could respond better to her ridiculous tweet than this young man....

Dear Ann Coulter,

Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow.  So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?

I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow.  I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you.  In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.

I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.

Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.

Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.

Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.

After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me.  You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.

I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.

Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.

No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.

Come join us someday at Special Olympics.  See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.

A friend you haven’t made yet,
John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia

All Miss Ginger has to add is: "Well done, John Franklin Stephens!"  Miss G could have worked for weeks on a response and it would never have been as well-conceived or well written!