For your Christmas shopping needs

Commercial break!

My sister has a shop in Portland, ME, called Ferdinand where she makes and sells T-shirts, cards, and other cool stuff. If you don't happen to live in Portland, ME, you can also get stuff online either through the shop website or at her Etsy store.

This, for example, is the Kitchen Gorilla Gift Set, just to give you a taste of what I'm talking about.

You can also see her stuff in person at various stores around the country, as you see here.

Just so you know, I'm not the only person to think her stuff is cool.

Really good stuff that other people wrote

Here are links to a few things that I thought I would comment on, but now I feel I shouldn't bother because the originals were far better than anything I could add.

A while back, someone who's probably regretting it now wrote a long screed about how his salary of $250,000+ really isn't that much because living well is really expensive (I am paraphrasing). James Fallows has taken that dog to town with a whole series of blog posts on the self-pitying poor, all of which are worth a read. I particularly liked this entry, probably because it has data and a chart.

I recently added a blog called City of Brass, written by a Muslim on Belief.net, to my reading list because I realized I need to know more about Islam. I need to add it to my blogroll on the left there. Also containing data and a chart, this blog maps mosque controversies nationwide, among other things.

Apparently, the Roman Catholic church is about to canonize a woman who was excommunicated for blowing the whistle on a predator priest in the early part of the 20th century. I thought the story was interesting and thought I'd pass it along.

And I would be remiss if I did not announce MadPriest's two new ventures in online community and worship: St. Laika's and its companion website The Anchorhold, a blog about spiritual practice. Your question of the day on St. Laika's is "When did you feel closest to God?" Feel free to visit and share.

Finally, Jenny at Ask the Bloggess has been offering some kind words, including this entry, This too shall pass which begins

No questions today. Just answers:

No. You aren't alone.

Yes. We all feel this way sometimes.

No. You won't always feel like this.

Yes. The world is a better place with you in it.

***
Good to remember today and always.

The TeaBag's first cup

Because what I need is something else to distract me, I have started a blog, right around teatime on a Monday afternoon. Why? Because I'm just as opinionated as anybody and because I want to see what happens. I want to see what's rattling around in my own head and see what readers (if any) come this way and what they think as well.

Why "The TeaBag"? Because it takes me a little while to steep and get the flavor out of a thing. I don't respond instantly to input. Don't expect to see flash responses to most major news of the day. I'm a savoring kind of a person who likes to settle down and sip at something. I'm not trendy or fashionable or even fancy. No extra double shots with foam. Just a cup of tea. Though I do like to add a little sweetener.

And if this all sounds unbearably fey, I apologize. I hope it won't be. Although I like a good cup of herbal at the end of the day to calm me down, first thing in the morning I take my tea black with a full dose of boiling water. We'll see what happens. Thanks for sitting down with me for a bit.