May 2021

When you want a quick cake and don't feel like baking a whole one (or don't have enough people around to consume the rest), a mug cake is perfect. It's also great because you can add only what you want into the cake, making it as personal as you like.

Hungry Girl has a great easy cake that only requires two ingredients! In just a couple of minutes you can mix yogurt and cake mix for a quick, easy cake.  She has a bunch of other mug cake recipes, too.

Last year we seemed to be inundated with stories of animals getting adopted in record numbers as people stayed home, but we still hear stories of animals in terrible circumstances that need help. That's what's happening right now in Santa Cruz county, where 47 cats were taken from a dismal situation and now need homes.

While I don't have high hopes about finding my Love's Lemon scent anytime soon (or one that's been made recently enough to smell good, that is!), I've seen so many fun 80s bath and body products around the web that prove we're keeping the 80s alive and well! One of my favorite indie companies, Fortune Cookie Soap, had a whole 1980s collection based on celebs as well as things like the Rubick's Cube. Material Girl linen spray, anyone?

How vaccinations became a political issue used to be beyond me, but having seen so many things become political in the past few years, I wouldn't be surprised if dentistry for sloths became a divisive issue tomorrow. (Let's not forget that Black people have plenty of reasons to mistrust vaccines based on their past history with the American government and doctors.)

Wow. Just... wow. My fellow uterus owners, today I saw a post going around where a person without a uterus seriously said that he expected a pap smear might be awkward because--I kid you not--it might make you moan. I'm so not kidding. This person thought that having your most sensitive body part pried apart with cold steel, then scraped for tissue samples, might somehow be erotic.

If you follow James Fell on social media, you already know the author is a gem. He always has the most creative, and sometimes cutting, way to express the changes we need to make in our society. He recently shared an aching poem that resonated with him about toxic masculinity and declared that May 5th be known as International Day of Battling Internalized Toxic Masculinity.

Tiktok user @mndiaye_97 makes fascinating videos about animals and I love the creator's fun commentary and introduction to species that I've never heard of before. This week I watched the creator's piece on the bigfin squid, which led me down a rabbit hole of terror. (I heartily recommend looking up anything you see on Tiktok or YouTube--or anywhere online, for that matter--for verification.)