I can’t get enough of em! Happy Hump Day!

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Please consider donating to any of the following organizations:

World Vets – International Aid for Animals

WSPA – World Society for the Protection of Animals

Search Dog Foundation

Global Animal

This dog was helping his injured friend. They have since been rescued.

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UPDATE!!!! In less than 24hours, we got it done! THANK YOU to all who donated! I’ve sent personal messages to you generous sweet people and after contributing a bit myself, I have ordered the ukulele and it should be on its way soon!

People are awesome!

Today has been total crap for me (my rat died) and for a lovely Richmond friend Jen (aka @thecheckoutgirl & @fyeahmotherhood). She tweeted this:

I asked her what happened and she replied that her ukulele had been destroyed. It was really special to her, something she was teaching herself to play. I know this isn’t an earth-shattering thing to most, all the more reason to make an easy thing happen for someone who deserves it.

I asked a friend who just bought one and she sent me an Amazon link to the one she has. So, it looks like they’re $50-$100. I think we can do this. I know we can!

Please send any donation you can muster to PayPal, to my old email address LaraRan@aol.com. Log in directly because apparently, you get charged for having a donation button. Make sure you note that it’s a gift or donation or whatever it is you have to choose from that’s not a service/purchase.

THANKS SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!!! I’ll keep everyone posted on the progress!

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RIP Barnaby

when he was a baby

cooling off with his brother Toki who passed on Thanksgiving 2010

We will always love you.

This post was originally posted at, and all written content in this post is the copyright of My Milk Glass Heart

Rarely do I get really personal here but ladies were raging on Twitter today over the asinine hateful words saying that reporter Lara Logan deserved to be attacked while reporting in Egypt. Nir Rosen was fired over his words on Twitter and there are other posts saying that Muslims are “animals” and Logan should’ve known better. There are conflicting reports as to whether she was raped or not.

*Added on 2/17/11 – please see this wonderful post by Wendy Brandes explaining the situation in greater depth.

Whenever I hear someone say a woman “deserved” whatever attack befell them, I’m ready to break things. A rage fills me. Here’s where it gets personal. First off, let me say I don’t identify with being a “victim”. I am over what I’m about to tell you. It’s just a batshit crazy story. The fact that I was also accused of deserving an attack is where I’m going with all this.

When I was 12, I decided I wanted to start jogging. I have no idea where this sudden urge came from. It was early spring and I was almost 13. The weather was gorgeous and maybe I wanted some alone time out in my neighborhood. This particular day was my 2nd time to go running. My parents were going to get coffee so they told me to come back soon.

I had my headphones on (Pearl Jam’s Ten on a Sony cassette Walkman) and I was less than one block from home. A car drove past me in the opposite direction and then suddenly was stopped on the wrong side of the street going in my direction back home. Did he want directions? I took my headphones off and he started flirting with me. He told me he worked for a local grocery store, that he was going to band practice. He was in his early 20s. I told him I was 12 and needed to get back home. I put my headphones back on and was back at my house.

My parents left almost immediately. In the time it took me to get some art supplies and set up shop at the kitchen table, I heard a knock at the front door. My mom was still able to walk when I was 12, but barely. It took her a long time to get to the car so I figured my dad had left his keys in the house and I opened the front door without looking out the window. There he was.

A panic filled me. I noticed his car was parked in front of the neighbor’s house. My parents hadn’t noticed a thing. I went to shut the door on him but he pushed his way in. The phone started ringing, I went to run to grab the phone in my bedroom. I saw him admire his reflection and flip his hair in a mirror by the front door. My phone was on the floor under my desk and the answering machine came on. My boyfriend at the time was leaving a message and just when I was about to pick up the phone, he picked me up off the floor and threw me on my bed.

“Who’s that?”

“It’s my boyfriend!”

“You don’t need a boyfriend anymore.”

There was struggling and kicking and screaming. He managed to get his pants off while his arm was wrapped around my legs in the air. When he went to undo my shorts, I kicked him square in the nose. He was stunned. I managed to get off my back and screamed for him to get the eff out of my house. I saw his penis. It looked diseased. He got his pants back on and reached in his pocket. With an amazing arrogance, he threw a business card at me and said, “Call me when you want it because you know I want it.” I screamed for him to get out and he turned around and let himself out. I double checked the door, watched him drive off and immediately called the coffee shop for my parents to come home.

They came home, we called the police, the went and got him, yes he was diseased, we went to court.

I don’t remember much about court. I was only allowed in when it was my turn to talk and there was no jury. I remember he had a girlfriend sitting next to him. She had long blond hair and she was smiling at me. I was disgusted. He said that I had invited him over. His lawyer made me go into grand detail about what I was wearing. I had worn black denim shorts – not booty shorts but short,  a tucked in loose white t-shirt and Chuck Taylor high tops. Not the best running outfit but I was 12. I remember getting really irritated by how much I had to describe my clothing so I turned around and asked the judge what that had to do with anything. I had a really nice female judge who agreed with me. Then I was asked why the neighbors hadn’t heard me screaming, why someone didn’t call 911. How the hell was I supposed to know? By the time it was all said and done, I was exhausted by everything. I agreed to a plea bargain. I didn’t want to go in front of a jury. I had had enough. Apparently the guy and whatever witnesses he had brought in had conflicting stories and the judge believed me. He was put on a few years probation with a few years suspended and a restraining order from being in my neighborhood, where his friends lived.

That was that.

So to anyone who thinks a woman deserves whatever horrible thing happens to her because of where she was or what she was wearing, you are the scum beneath my feet. To anyone who has been victim of a senseless crime, it’s not your fault! To Lara Logan, words cannot express my sadness for what you went through in Egypt and the continued assault on your character and right to dignity when you need support the most.

I could go on and on about women who don’t support other women in their time of need. I could go on about sexism and racism and how backwards and evil these political fanatics (on both sides) are. I’m tired though.

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