It's Gary Pennick Day!

I've been looking forward to this day of honoring my dear friend, Gary Pennick, who blogs at Klahanie. He's the real deal – honest, kind, trustworthy, great listener, fun to hang around the internet (or tree house...) with and just a great guy. BUT, he doesn't like blogfests, or hops, or God forbid, the A-Z Challenge. (You knew I was going to say it Gary...I had to. It's for the irony...) So several of us got together to host this Gary Fest, because regardless of what happens, this day is to bring attention to our oh so unassuming, stay in the background, "promote others not himself" guy.

Participants are to invent three silly, corny, stupid or annoying blogfests that they'd never join. This task is going to be hard for me, because I love joining most of them...I honestly enjoy meeting and greeting and to me, a blogfest is like a good cocktail party. Mingle. Converse. Share information. Snack. DRINK.

However, I'd never join these three:

The “If You Join the Linky, They Will Come Bloghop". Sign up. That's it. No need to visit anyone, just wait for the suckers to show up at your door.

The “Great Vomit Story Blogfest”. Tell the most disgusting vomit story you have. (I'm COMPLETELY vomit phobic. COMPLETELY. I'm glad my boys are beyond the bodily fluid age...)

The “Throw a Relative Under the Bus Blogging May Challenge”. Tell embarrassing stories about your relatives, being sure to call them by their full, googleable name, for a whole month. Be sure to go in alphabetical order. (You know that last requirement is another shout-out to our anti-alphabet spokesperson GARY!)

In case you haven't noticed, we love Gary. Be sure to visit the rest of your co-hosts:

Hosted by

 Mark “Madman” Koopmans

 Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh

 Rockin’ Robyn Engel

 Morgan “The Morg” Shamy

and enjoy the silliness of today. Don't forget the whole point though, and be sure to visit GARY himself.

I love you buddy. Happy YOU Day!

~Tina

National Worm Hole Day: Dr. Who's Cassandra

I have been given a once-in-lifetime opportunity by Stephen Tremp, (A-Z Co-Host again) to SAFELY traverse a wormhole (AND return) for one opportunity. Just one.

His partners in this adventure are Laura Eno, Luanne Smith, and Carrie Butler, who made our great badge.  Thanks to all for organizing this.  

Any Dr. Who fans out there? Our whole family watches it, but I guess because of who I am and what I think about, I found the Cassandra episodes the most...thought provoking. As a recovering anorexic, I couldn't help but latch on to the symbolism of what society had become by the end of the universe.

I suppose a little catch-up is necessary...since I know not all cool people are die-hard sci-fan like we are, let me tell you that Dr. Who is a Time Lord, the very last of his race, and he travels through time and space in a “ship” called a Tardis. From the outside it looks like a blue police call box, but like in Harry Potter books, the inside is much bigger than the outside. His job is to keep the world from ending at the wrong time. Yeah, I wouldn't take the job either.

One of the times they keep returning to is the end of the universe (hmmm....can't imagine why that would interest anyone...) and they keep finding Cassandra. She has become as thin as possible. She is a piece of skin, stretched tight, and has to be misted to keep from drying out. Yet she's happy. She has achieved ultimate “thinhood”, something all of us anorexics long for.

In the episode I'm thinking about, the Doctor takes her back in time, waaaay back to when she looked like she was a human, and shows her hosting a dinner party. IMDB won't give up any of those pictures, (though all the rest of the photo credits go to them) but here's her face, 

and imagine the body to match.  As the doctor is sitting with her as she dies, she says,

"I was really beautiful, wasn't I.”

“Yes, Cassandra, you were. You just didn't know it.”

“Thank you for showing me this before I go.”

I don't remember what happened next because of course my family (of men) is worrying about if the sonic screwdriver will fix the thingamajig long enough to let them get the Tardis back from the end of time vortex to...wherever they were going.

Me? I'm looking at flat Cassandra, about a millimeter thick, and how she thought she'd achieved beauty. And then looking at real Cassandra throwing a dinner party and having a good time. 

So for my trip through the worm hole, I'd go back to myself before I went all nuts, and tell myself I look beautiful. Just the way I was, when I was 14, a size 3, a successful gymnast, with my whole life ahead of me. I'd also tell myself NO.  Do not let what anyone else thinks of your looks influence what YOU think about your looks.  Because looks don't matter. 

We are not the costume we walk around in.  We are what is in our hearts.  Love to those of you out there who really know what I'm talking about.

~Tina

Monstrous Monday Blog Hop!

Monsters. There are scary monsters, silly monsters, classic monsters, imaginary monsters. I'm going to write about the monster that stalks me daily. Let's see if you can guess who it is.

My monster has the power to alter what I see in the mirror. I get a skewed picture.

My monster makes me think about it every waking second of every day. I cannot escape. Ordinary tasks, ordinary events of the day take on epic proportion as I battle it. It's the center of my universe, and likes it there.

If I try to hide, it finds me.

It finds me in jeans that are a bit tight.

It finds me questioning every bite of food I put in my mouth.

It whispers in my ear that I can finally have back what I haven't had in so long.

Control.

It sings a siren song of solution to all my troubles.

If only I were thinner, then...

I might not have high blood pressure

I might not have asthma

He might pay more attention to me

I'd be able to get more done

I wouldn't be depressed

I wouldn't be in pain

I'd...

It's all there, all for the taking, if I just take back the control. It's really about control, and not so much about food.

Have you guessed?

Anorexia.

I was never a cook. I mean, when all you eat in a month is maybe one piece of plastic wrapped American cheese from your roommate's shelf in the fridge, why bother learning sauteing or double boilers or how to soft-boil an egg you'd never let past your lips?

I'm different now. I love to cook. I love to eat. I'm healthier, recent asthma bout not counting. This is the body that climbed the fourteener. This is the body that rode the MS 150 from Denver to Canyon City. (That's 150 miles away, just by way of explanation.) This body carried two high risk pregnancies.

So what's my problem? Anorexia is like alcoholism. You can be a behaving anorexic, or an active one. I'm behaving. But on those days when the jeans are a little tight and life is a bit out of control (those high risk pregnancies are now two teenage boys) I long for the control. The euphoria of extreme hunger and the will-power to overcome it.

I know it's hard to understand unless you've walked the road yourself. But it's an evil monster, and when you see it stalking those you love, it puts you on alert. Moms – please don't ever mention weight to your daughter no matter what. Praise her for her wonderful qualities, let her eat what she wants, and remember that one CarelessWord can start a cycle that will never end.

Ok, probably not the sort of monster you were expecting, but you can visit Tim Brannan at and get all the info. Meanwhile, it's a blog hop, so hop on over to one of the other participants you'll find on the list below.

OFFICIAL Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Blog Announcement

Hello dear bloggy friends! Today is a special day in Blogland. Today is the first OFFICIAL announcement of the Blogging A-Z Challenge co-hosts! Who will it be? To whom will we turn with questions? What's all this about anyway? No worries. You haven't missed the boat. You haven't lost your invite. You haven't been dropped from my Christmas card list (I just no longer send them). In fact, THIS is your official invitation to the official challenge which I am officially co-hosting.

Your other co-hosts for this adventure are:

Arlee Bird     Tossing It Out                 

Alex J. Cavanaugh   Alex J. Cavanaugh  

Stephen Tremp   Break Through Blogs   

Tina Downey (that's me!)  Life is Good    

D.L. Hammons       Cruising Altitude 2.O         

Jeremy  Hawkins        Retro-Zombie             

Shannon Lawrence  The Warrior Muse  

Matthew MacNish (Rush)     The QQQE     

Elizabeth Mueller    Author Elizabeth Mueller          

Jenny Pearson      Pearson Report     

Konstanz Silverbow    No Thought 2 Small    
Damyanti   Writing on Writing: Amlokiblogs

We are going to be working tirelessly to get you ready for this challenge.  Not quite ready to do an ironman triathlon?  Not sure if you can swim the English Channel?  Never climbed a 14-er? (For you non-Colorado types, that means hiking to the top of a mountain that measures more than 14,000 feet) Not a even a marathon runner? This challenge is for you. The only requirement is that you TRY to post once a day, on the letter of the alphabet for the day, throughout April. That's it. No penalties if you don't finish, but take a look at the benefits, if you participate:

Your blog will have more traffic

You'll learn from your fellow challenge mates

You'll find new blogs that entertain and encourage you

I can't guarantee more followers, but last year, at final count at the end of April, I'd gained 27.  When all the post-challenge Challenge visiting was done, I'd gained  a total of 72.  SEVENTY-TWO!  That's not a dyslexic number thing.  It's true!

If you're a seasoned blogger, there are benefits for you, too. You'll have the golden chance to encourage others and help them navigate their blogging career by sharing your triumphs (and tragedies, if you dare).

Sound good to you? The linky list opens on January 30^th at the OFFICIAL (that's the word of the day, by the way) Blogging From A to Z April Challenge Blog.

Through the coming months, we'll be sharing tips and ideas and working hard to get you all excited for April. Feel free to contact any of us with questions or concerns. That's what we're getting paid the big bucks for. Well, not really, I'm exaggerating as I tend to do. Hyperbole is a favorite literary device of mine...
 I'm excited to be a co-host on this adventure.  Never promised that I was a blogging expert.  I'm just a girl who likes to write.


P.S Got a good question in the comments: Is it OK to join if you're not a writer?  Of course!  One part of what made last year so much fun was that when I was out visiting, I never knew what kind of blog I was headed to!  If you blog, you can join this challenge.  So to the artists, musicians, table-scapers, scrapbookers, as well as you whose blog defies categorization -  hop aboard!  We're an equal opportunity bunch.