Yeah yeah, I know.

I've been so bad about the blogging lately, there's probably nobody out there and I'm talking to myself. Oh well, that's OK -- it's not like there was a huge amount of trafic here. :)

So, I found the cutest cat picture. It's in the Foster & Smith catalog and snagged it for my blog. Does this not look like the happiest and most content cat you've ever seen? This kitty makes me smile every time I see the picture.




On a totally unrelated note, I've been watching the Eureka marathon today and am now going to have to rent the DVDs from Netflix and start watching this show when it starts up again in July. There aren't many current TV shows I actually watch, but I like this one.

Funny Simpsons

OK, anyone who is still reading my blog knows that I'm a fan of "The Simpsons." I was watching one last night and about went into hysterics. Good ol' Grandpa Simpson was telling one of his WWII stories. Apparently, he was the guy who went ahead of the troops to find mines. He ends up directing tanks off cliffs, trucks onto mines instead of around them — you get the picture. Then he says, "And that's how I earned the Iron Cross."

Think about it.

:)

Fat acceptance TV segment

Some of you may have seen a segment about fat acceptance last week on the Morning Show with Mike and Juliet. If you didn't, check out Big Fat Deal or The F-Word. The owners of those two blogs were featured and were awesome! I'd rather not post the actual videos here and ask people to go view them at one of the blogs so that you can see their blogs and comment, if you'd like. You may have to scroll down a little to see the videos on their blogs.

Anyway, I've been reading a lot of comments here and there about the whole thing, and one point really sticks out: why didn't the thin people on stage tell us their stats? Mo and Rachel were asked their height and weight, along with questions about their blood pressure and cholesterol. As usual, it's simply ASSumed that the thin people are perfectly healthy and the fat ones have to justify themselves, and probably still aren't believed. I'm pretty sure people don't believe me when I say my blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure are all normal. Of course, the old "Well, it may lead to problems when you're older" comes up. Sure, it may also lead to problems in thin people, too. There are plenty of thin people who have problems with blood pressure and cholesterol.

I'm not anti-thin and I'm not pro-fat. I just want people to learn to feel good in their own bodies. As many of you know, this is something I've fought for years and have finally started to come to terms with in the last year. I'm also focusing on eating when I'm hungry, not according to any time table or schedule. I eat what I want when I'm hungry. Sometimes that means blueberries and tomatoes, sometimes that means a few Hershey's Kisses, sometimes that means chicken, sometimes that means a burger, etc. I feel much healthier and have started limited exercise again (limited due to the tendonitis in my wrist and the Dammit foot, as I like to call it). I got off that for a while and had no energy, was depressed, had all sorts of injuries and just felt awful. So, I'm back to what seems to work for me and I'm not gaining weight.

We are starting a health program at work and I'm part of the marketing team. I'm so proud that this program focuses on overall health, not weight loss. There are weigh-ins for people who want them, but the focus is on eating well and being active. This is great, because I'm done with diets. They don't work for me. All diets have done for me is make me fatter, lol.

Another interesting point that came up in that segment: Meme Roth, an anti-fat activist, says (and I'm paraphrasing) that fat people are already accepted and that an article in the New York Times touting that thin people should be accepted would be met with a backlash. I about spewed my drink on the monitor, lol. Didn't I see an article VERY recently that stated a prominent clavicle is the latest fashion accessory? Don't we see airbrushed people all over the magazines -- not just their faces, but arms and other body parts so that they look thinner (and ridiculously tan and smooth)? Doesn't every woman's magazine have at least one article in it about losing weight? How many times do you hear people who are a normal weight say they have to lose 10 pounds... or 20?


Oh, and one more thing while I'm thinking about it. I can't remember the doctor's name, but she did say these things aren't all black and white. That I liked. Then she went on to say that we can't use height and weight to determine health -- we should use BMI. Well, what the fark is the BMI number, if not a number based on your height and weight and no other factors? That one really boggled me.

So, Rachel and Mo were EXTREMELY poised, looked fantastic, and really handled everything so much better than I could. When I get mad my face turns red, so I would have been purple by the end of the segment.

Again, I want to stress that I'm not about hating anyone. To be fair, I think Meme Roth has some good points, particularly about getting soda machines and that kind of crap out of the schools. She doesn't mention it in the segment, I don't think, but I've seen her mention it in other places. I just wish she didn't have to act like it's horrible that we fatties have access to clothes that actually fit us instead of wearing mumus to punish ourselves until we lose weight to fit into "normal" clothes. I've lived that way (well, not in mumus) for way too much of my life, wasted my life waiting to do things until I lost weight, and I'm not going to do it anymore. I find it interesting that since I stopped dieting, I feel better and I look better.

Anyway, enough of the rambling. If you've made it this far, thanks. :)

Thank you, Carson Kressley!

So I just watched two episodes of Carson's Look Good Naked and have such emotions about it. I was crying along with the women when they looked in the mirror and realized how beautiful they really are, even though they aren't perfect. It was very interesting to see how many extra inches they added on to their weigh due to their own misconceptions of what they really look like. As someone who has battled my weight all my life, I really can empathize with them. It's so refreshing to see somebody help women see how beautiful they are, rather than tell them what parts of their bodies they need to change to be beautiful. Of course, there are still lots of people who think you aren't beautiful unless you have a flat stomach, but screw 'em, lol.

As I've mentioned in the past, I no longer diet. Since making that decision, I lost about 10 pounds and have pretty much stayed in that range, give or take a pound here and there. I'm going to get back into some sort of exercise regimen next week, possibly over the weekend. It's nothing huge, just getting in 30 minutes of exercise, five days a week. This is in addition to my walking I do to and from work. There really is no reason for me not to get in 30 minutes on an almost daily basis -- except this past week. I wanted to start this past Monday, but I woke up with a bad back and was actually at home mostly sleeping from Monday through Thursday due to the sciatica problem and the muscle relaxers they gave me to help. It did help, though, and I went to work today and can once again sit without too many problems. So, I don't want to push it yet, but early next week should be fine.

So, thanks Carson! Between this show and What Not to Wear, I've really started to gain confidence regarding how I present myself.

Well, that's what I get.

I wasn't in the mood for the CSI/Without a Trace thing last night, but was tonight. I knew CSI is always available on demand the next day, so ASSumed Without a Trace would also be. WRONG! Of course, I watched CSI first, then went looking for Without a Trace and now I don't know the ending! I don't want anyone to tell me, as it will eventually be a rerun, but I would have been much better off if I'd checked that the other show was in the On Demand section before I even started.

Lessons learned. :)

What Not to Wear

I'm no fan of reality shows, but I have to say that over the past year I've really become addicted to this show -- I love it! I like both British and American versions, but I don't catch the British one very often. I see Stacy and Clinton on all the time, though. I find them edgy and funny, and I love the faces and comments they make.

Like the show tonight -- the woman they made over was so thrilled after her hair and makeup was done that she just kept giggling after she saw herself in the mirror. I love that! I also liked the one I saw the other day where she came out in her new clothes and Clinton says, "Oh! I almost said a swear word."

They are all about making the most of a person's body, accentuating the positive. They also try to incorporate the person's style into what they buy. I admit that sometimes I cringe when I see them getting rid of all those clothes, wondering what articles of clothing in my closet they'd toss. However, I've done a lot of tossing myself lately, so there probably isn't as much to toss as there was a few months ago.

I just love what they do. I've realized lately that I really do feel better and more confident about myself when I think I look good in my clothes -- which means not wearing stuff that is way too big. I still sometimes wear clothes a little bigger than they probably should be, but I'm doing better. I don't look like a big blob anymore, anyway.