I'm getting back to...

After an emotional ride I am ready to get back to normal!

I finished the blue dot skirt and with or without weightloss it's done and fits me now. I will post pics as soon as there is a pretty day, it's been raining and yucky outside. I bought some beige linen/rayon blend for a pair of cropped pants. It's in the wash now and will be washed and dried again to shrink it before I start cutting. I am thinking of New Look 6354. I like the wide elastic waist, and the fact that they do not look like elastic waist pants I luv! I have made them before but need to grade the pattern up one size.

And maybe Hot Patterns Cowl-neck top. I think they would look good together.

I am also getting back on the wardrobe therapy, even though I am so far behind I am going to get it done because my closet needs it!!

Self-Degradation

Self-Degradation: The act of degrading one's self, or the state of being so degraded.

My blogger friend Elise posted some thought provoking questions on her blog. With her 'Who the Hell is That' moment I can definintely identify with! I don't know who and how we have been brainwashed into thinking we aren't good enough, but I know it must stop!!

BUT IT IS HARD! When all around us we are constantly attacked by images and statements telling us how to look, how to feel and how to live our lives.

'Buy this, take this, feel this way'

I guess this would be akin to an addict and how they cope with life day to day, and avoiding the downfall of giving in to the affliction - pain, suffering and disease. We have to deal with loving ourselves on a day to day basis, or we will fail!

One way I am coping with 'Self-Degradation' is to have the outlook that we are all beautiful pieces of art. Yes art!!

While some art is openly beautiful, as in the Venus de Milo and the Birth of Venus - other art is beautiful in translation. When we say "she/he is beautiful" the term beautiful is descriptive of your attitude towards that individual. So can beauty be defined? No. For if I believe something to be beautiful you may not necessarily have the same opinion. Would this then be where our confusion lies? As we don't need to please everyone, but only ourselves!!

Beauty: the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit .

 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' - but are you not the beholder? Don't you have the power to say what 'is' and 'is not' beautiful! When you degrade yourself you are taking away your power.  Your power to see the beauty that truely is you. You dare to look deep inside and know you are beautiful and unique. Become empowered and fight those feelings of self doubt and self bashing. Realize the beauty of the world and how you are connected. Stop poisoning yourself with feelings of pain, you have the power!

Life's bumps in the road...

Thank you all for the warm thoughts and hugs!!

You have helped me and my family in a rough time.

Farewell

The sands of time are running low

And soon my children I must go

My heart with love for you is filled

But soon its beating must be stilled

I leave no treasures of any kind

Only my love I leave behind

Take it and share it between sister and brother

And always be kind to one another

Weep not beside the grave for me

Don't bring me flowers I cannot see

Only ashes lie neath the cold sod

Just pray that my soul has gone with God

Some of you perhaps may weep

When my eyes are closed in eternal sleep

But try to remember it won't be forever

For God can bring our spirits together

I pray that I go to a world far above

To be with the others that I love

And to wait awhile on that Heavenly plain

Until the day we shall meet again.

poem written by Florence McInnes

My grandmother passed away Sunday morning.

She truly was an angel on earth and in heaven!!

Lingerie Ad Up-Roar!!

I am a little upset! Fox and ABC didn't want to air a lingerie comercial by Lane Bryant - Cacique, because they considered it to be to sexy?!?! Wait a minute if we can see Victoria's Secret comercials with almost naked ultra thin women, what is so different with plus sized models? Is it just another one of those quiet little things that society/media does to us women. It all boils down to the pressure of society/media on women and how we are not good enough/worthy/beautiful unless we are super thin and look a certian way! I have been fighting with body love issues forever so this really hit me in a soft spot. Is it  prejudice? Do people have a prejudice towards heavery persons? We see it in a multitude of ways - heck I can admit for years of weight prejudice!! When I was thin or fighting to be thin I would see someone heaver than me and think - 'I don't ever want to be that heavy' 'how disgusting it must be to be that size', 'they can't possibly be happy like that'. Just watch tv and you are bombarded with ads for weight loss and how to get ripped in 90 days. We are a country that is fighting our weight! The average size of an America woman is 14. Now come on, those ultra thin models are no where close to a 14. So is it a weight prejudice issue? Or is it that a woman with a bit more 'meat' on her bones is actually sexier? I do believe that a woman needs curves but also needs to be healthy. Women should have differences in body shape and size. Society/Media needs to focus more on the beauty of our uniqueness, the fact that we are beautiful and sexy in our own way. Whether this was a true act of discrimination or a slight ploy of publicity on Lane Bryant's side it still stirred up a lot of talk. And this kind of talk is what we need to help change the pressure on woman and girls in America and how we view ourselves!!!  What do you think?