My New Must See Series

Ok. So my family (two young boys and my Honey) made merciless fun of me when I wanted to record this series and sample it. But How to Look Good Naked is awesome.

My Honey scoffed because reality TV is not our genre of choice. (Too much Big Brother and Real World.) We get our reality based TV fix from Joel McHale on The Soup. The boys just don't even want to think about their mom naked (Thank God. That is exactly how it should be.) They certainly aren't comfortable that their mom might want to look good in that condition. (Once again, all is absolutely correct in our little world.)

But, now that I have had a chance to watch it. All the males are gone for the evening and I don't need to worry about mildly amused testosterone sending mild whiffs of sarcasm floating through the atmosphere. I love that show.

The episode I just watched had a young girl named Marlo who had just survived treatment for Hodgekins Lymphoma trying to deal with her new post-chemo body. At first I felt awkward ever time Carson asked her to strip to her underwear, but, all the makeover girls look good with clothes hiding their imperfections. We all stand and look at ourselves in the mirror before and after showers and deal with all our imperfections constantly. The look that Marlo had on her face as she confronted herself in the three-way mirror and said out loud how disappointed she was in her body, is exactly the look that I get at certain times when I look at myself. I guess what I'm saying is it is easy to empathize. Then they get right to business, and you watch as her confidence climbs.

I really enjoyed it, and set it up for series recordings right after completing the episode.

It really is nice to see a network trying to tell women to see what is good about themselves instead of all the points that need to be tweaked.

Now, if the network can get rid of all the advertisers who are selling weight loss products and other items meant to feed on your insecurities during that time slot. It is the age old conundrum: How do you create content that asks/teaches women to accept themselves as they are yet keep the money coming in from advertisers who make money by making sure women feel imperfect?

Is there a product aimed at women that is not trying to make them slimmer, fitter, younger, or more beautiful?

Anyway, it is a great series. I also like the fact that it is not featuring foul mouthed brides or women with too much money throwing a fit because they are not getting worshiped enough.

Here's a little clip I found on YouTube that might give you an idea.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful ...

• That I look very good for my age. (I hate to sound conceited, but I decided that I will be happy to be a great looking forty something instead of lament the fact that I no longer look like a twenty something.)
• For Tiffany at Wild Iris Salon
  
• For my Honey who loves me just the way I am (no matter which personality I am expressing at that moment).
  
• For my Children. They are my reason.
  
• For teenagers that like to write creatively. They turn water into wine.
  
• For Brenda Kinsel. She gives me hope.
  
• For the Pyramid Corporation. They give me style (when I can afford it).
  
• For the Office of Letters And Light, a group that makes my Novemebers so much more interesting and exciting. Someday I will finish a novel that I start. This year so far I have doubled my word count.
  
• For the Chicago Writers Association, a group that has taken me under their wing and into their fold. They are there for me when I need a touchstone.
• For the gang at Artist's Way Play (a yahoo group) they have given me so much emotional and creative support this past year. They are my light house to weather my storms of confidence
• For the folks I know at NASA. You are pushing the boundaries and you inspire me because I see you living your dreams.
• For The Pretty Girls because you make me feel welcome.
• For mineral make-up
• For the Abs Diet. There is a lot less of me because of this.
• For my dance teacher, Austria. She Monday something to look forward to.
• For my contact lenses.
  
• For so much more than I have time to mention.
  

Fatty Acids

So...The other day I was standing in Walgreen's about to commit a mortal sin. I was about to actually plunk down the $30 to $50 that pay for a month's set of diet pills.

Yes, I know that diet pills don't help. I know that my diet and exercise plan are what really cause the fat to melt away. But I need to lose weight NOW! I have been on the Abs Diet, using the sample instruction from Women's Helath which gauranteed me flat, sexy abs by the end of June. And, even though I gave my self until mid July because I started late, I'm not seeing the weight drop away. I'm seeing my body tone up. I'm feeling better, and I have more energy, but I'm still 30 pounds heavier than I want to be.

So on the 4th of July I reached my breaking point. I was feeling really fat. Like "one minute I was fine, thinking I looked pretty good then the next minute I was a big old moo cow on steroids" fat.

I was getting ready to go out to the Kane County Cougars game. I love them and they have great fireworks, but every time I'm there I can't help but notice all the great looking women. They look so good in their short-shorts, halter tops, and perfect tans. I don't know if my Man has seen them. He is sweet enough not to mention them, but since some time last year I've been feeling like I can't compete. This trip was going to be different. Since I am pulling together a stylish wardrobe, compete with those little t-shirts with the empire waistline, the ones that look so cute and hide so many flaws, and I have proper shorts that fit right, I knew I was set.

I didn't even make it out of the house before it all crashed around me, psychologically speaking. At one point I even swore I was watching my ankles grow right before my eyes. Despite all my Man's assurances to the contrary, I was barely able to leave the house because I knew I didn't stack up. My man said he couldn't seen it. My mother comfortingly explained that if I was swelling as fast as I claimed I must be pregnant. So I sat myself down in the 10th row of the Grandstand and talked to myself about the realities of life. I asked myself what all my worrying and obsessing would do. Could crying make me younger? No. Could whining make me lose weight? I started to reason myself back into reasonable self confidence again. I even played "I may not look as good as her, but I've got it all over her" to cheer myself up. That was when I took my son to the souvenir shop at the ballpark and caught sight of the elderly whale in the mirror. Tomorrow . . . Diet pills would enter my diet!! It was a promise I intended to keep.

So there I stood in Walgreen's on the 5th of July. I hadn't realized that Alli was non-prescription. I had originally come in to purchase the one that eats away at all the fat around your tummy, so I stood in the Diet Aids section deeply absorbed in the brochure and debating which starter set I would buy. I must have stood there too long because I heard a bright young voice announce over the intercom, "Customer Assistance needed in Diet Aids. . . Customer Assitsance needed in Diet Aids." We've all been taught in communications class that there is the sender, the receiver, the medium and the message, right? The sender may have been trying to get a somewhat confused looking customer get some much deserved help, but she might as well having been saying "Big Fat Cow hanging out in Diet Aids. Mooove along, Bossy!"
I dropped those pills and got out of there so fast.

Actually, I'm grateful to her. I had no business buying those pills. According to the literature my weight doesn't qualify me. I can put $50 to so much better use. As a matter of fact I am planning on signing up for dance work out classes in the fall. That is so much better for me than diet pills.

But what I want to know is where is this warpped since of body reality coming from.