I’m a little late writing about this, but remember: I’m old, and my time needed to recover from a bout of vigorous frivolity keeps getting longer and longer. 

It was a lot of fun hosting the baby shower for Powerliberals Robin and Steve last Thursday night.  The shower was held at the 331 Club in conjunction with the usual Drinking Liberally festivities, and I think I can say with a fair amount of certainty that it went pretty well, despite– or maybe because of the copious  amounts of Butt Paste amongst the many lovely gifts. 

I had promised a maximum of 3 “Stupid Shower Games” complete with “Wacky Prizes” for the winners, but initially had a difficult time finding prizes with sufficient wackiness.  Then I noticed a particular item on the expectant parents’ list of needed and desired baby supplies :  

Butt Paste!  What is it?  Well, besides being the hip, happening diaper rash ointment/skin protectant du jour,  the name “Butt Paste” itself, especially in combination with an actual physical product with that name,  that is actually for sale and can be purchased practically anywhere,  has a high level of inherent wackiness, therefore making this  wonder item both a shower present AND a wacky prize, doing double duty as it were.   Excuse me, I mean ‘doody’.  In  baby shower discussions the word ‘duty’ must ALWAYS be replaced with the prescribed, hilarious kiddie term ‘doody’.  It’s some kind of law, I think.

The women in attendance had all been to more than enough baby showers to know the routine by heart, but I was a bit surprised at how many of the guys came up to me afterwards to say “Thanks for doing this. You know, I’ve never been to a baby shower before.”

Oh my poor dears, what you’ve missed! 

There are  lots of online resources for planning baby showers, including the most important part of any baby shower:  the games.   After going through pages after pages of game ideas, I ultimately settled on 3 games that were not only stupid, and baby shower classics,  but also hopefully would lend themselves to being played successfully by a (cosmopolitan, argumentative, and somewhere between tipsy and hammered) Drinking Liberally crowd,  in a bar.   The results? =   hi-larious baby shower hijinx!  

If you thought those 3 games were stupid, folks –  trust me, I could have chosen some that are much, MUCH stupider. 

The wacky prizes ended up being three “weekend-getaway” gift packages:

(and many thanks to EB and prize-winner Mrs. EB for posting an illustrative photo)
 
First we had the Dick Cheney Weekender, complete with a Halliburton coffee mug,  assorted fun S&M  accessories- cum- office supplies,  butt paste,  stain removers and bandaids.  

Next was the Bill O’Reilly Weekender, including a high-end super premium loofah,  assorted fun S&M  accessories- cum- office supplies,  butt paste,  stain removers and bandaids.

Finally there was the Katherine Kersten Weekender, with everything you need to have a great weekend the KK way:  a game of Bible Bingo,  assorted fun S&M  accessories- cum- office supplies,  butt paste,  stain removers and bandaids.

Congrats to all of the lucky winners!

Most of all, I add my voice to Robin and Steve’s to say a big Thank You to everyone for bringing your good wishes and good cheer in celebration of the impending Powerliberal parenthood. 

  
And next time I think I might include a hangover remedy along with the other party favors.

 

~

 

Posted: October 16th, 2007 under Gift Ideas, I only drink Liberally, Local characters.
Comments: 1

And They Cook, Too

• A Blogger Cookbook Fundraiser for
  Doctors Without Borders
• Compiled and edited by Ginger Mayerson and Kathy Flake
• Illustrations by Carol Colin and Robin Riggs
• Cover Graphics by Tild~

 

From the introduction:

Last year on October 8 an earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, hit Kashmir, the northern part of Pakistan. Being a native Californian, I know that’s no small cheese. Unfortunately, by October 8, 2005, I was tapped out from Katrina giving and could not give to my favorite charity, Doctors Without Borders, also known as Les Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). There was no doubt in my mind that MSF would be on the spot, doctoring in Kashmir, then and even now, and around the world wherever they are needed, as usual.

And so, partly out of guilt, but mostly out of admiration, the plan for this cookbook fundraiser was born. Now, I don’t cook very much and my basic culinary philosophy is “Shake it out of the box and eat it.” However, I very much admire people who make an art of cooking and even make it look fun. I also read a lot of blogs, all kinds of blogs from all over the world: political, art, culture, whatever, and I noticed many of these bloggers posting recipes. Sometimes I’d print them out and put them in my very neatly organized, but seldom consulted three-ring Recipes binder. Every now and then I’d think how nice it would be to have all those online recipes in a book format… And an idea began to take shape..   

– Editor Ginger Mayerson

 

Back in February of this year I was honored to be asked by Ginger Mayerson to contribute to this great project.  I did the front and back cover graphics for this terrific collection of progressive bloggers’ recipes and essays which went on sale in late March.  

By early July, sales of And They Cook, Too had generated nearly $400 in donations to Doctors Without Borders. 

See the Table of Contents and more…

…including the list of bloggers who contributed recipes and/or their time and effort in assembling this project.

As you will see, there are some pretty big names on the list:

Body and Soul, Majikthise, Mad Kane, The News Blog/Steve Gilliard, Sadly, No!, Dohiyi Mir, Elayne Riggs, Agitprop, Pam’s House Blend, and the list goes on…

Makes a perfect Christmas gift for the progressive people on your list.  Why not treat yourself and also buy a copy for your very own? 

Please support the worthwhile cause of Doctors Without Borders by buying a copy of “And They Cook, Too” today.

Thank you and Merry Christmas!

And They Cook, Too

• A Blogger Cookbook Fundraiser for
  Doctors Without Borders
• Compiled and edited by Ginger Mayerson and Kathy Flake
• Illustrations by Carol Colin and Robin Riggs
• Cover Graphics by Tild~

~

Posted: December 18th, 2006 under A Blogger Cookbook Fundraiser, And They Cook, Doctors Without Borders, General, General, Gift Ideas.
Comments: none