Right this minute, hell is freezing over. March 29, 2009

Today I went on a search for brown capri pants. I did not find any.

However.

I found a bathing suit. It fits me, it contains the rack of doom without the use of an evil underwire, and it is neither black nor brown nor blue — the holy trinity of fat girl bathing suits — in fact, it is all sorts of fun swirly colors. Top, bottom, and little skirt (cuz I love the little miniskirt bathing suit look), all for $60. On top of that, they had lots of stuff on ridiculous clearance. It was a good day to be a Target shopper.

Reason number 2 –I cooked. I tell you, right now it is very chilly in the underworld.

Read, and heard, and thought today. March 25, 2009

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
-Maryanne Williamson
Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech (maybe)

“Don’t be too fat, or too thin, or too dark, or too light; don’t be too sexual, or too chaste, or too smart, or too dumb. Be yourself. But make sure you fit in.”
Anna, One Tree Hill, Truth, Bitter Truth

It is easy to believe that we are not enough. Not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough or talented enough. Our houses aren’t clean enough, our clothes aren’t right, our earring are too big or too small or not expensive enough, our teeth are funny looking. Our dreams and desires and the secret hopes of our hearts can’t possibly come true, why would they, as inadequate as we are.

There are those in the world whose whole existence is devoted to keeping the rest of us bound in our own insecurities and fears, and, just in case our own aren’t enough, they pile on more we never thought of.

This is, of course, all lies.

If you read this post, this is my challenge to you: today, if only for one minute of your day, defy the lies. Live the truth. Be yourself, and be enough.

Then if you want to, tell your story. I want to hear it.

Feast of the Annunciation

Ave Maria, gratia plena,
Dominus tecum,
benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus.
Sancta Maria mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen

The unnecessary hatemongering March 22, 2009

According to the New York Times, the Obamas are planting a garden in the south lawn.

I find this a fabulous idea. Almost everyone, no matter their body composition, could benefit from eating more fresh foods. Gardening is awesome, even if I personally suck at it. I love that the presidential family is encouraging other people to grow their own food. They are going to be raising bees too. I hope they get chickens as well and have fresh eggs. This whole thing makes me so happy that I am tempted to try raising vegetables again, despite my failure to grow anything for the past 5 or so years.

My question — in an article about something that has so many positives, why oh why even mention the dreaded OMG FATZ plus DIABEETUS?

Oh, because the media had all been drinking the fat-hate kool-aid. Made with organically grown sugar, of course.

For example, this passage:

While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.

It would have been just as effective like this:

While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when many families eat too much processed and convenience food.

Or this one:

The first lady, who said that she had never had a vegetable garden, recalled that the idea for this one came from her experiences as a working mother trying to feed her daughters, Malia and Sasha, a good diet. Eating out three times a week, ordering a pizza, having a sandwich for dinner all took their toll in added weight on the girls, whose pediatrician told Mrs. Obama that she needed to be thinking about nutrition.

“He raised a flag for us,” she said, and within months the girls had lost weight.

like this instead:

The first lady, who said that she had never had a vegetable garden, recalled that the idea for this one came from her experiences as a working mother trying to feed her daughters, Malia and Sasha, a good diet. Eating out three times a week, ordering a pizza, having a sandwich for dinner all took their toll on the girls, whose pediatrician told Mrs. Obama that she needed to be thinking about nutrition.

“He raised a flag for us,” she said, and within months the girls were feeling healthier.

It’s really not that hard to make articles like this about HEALTH, not WEIGHT. I really want to believe that Michelle Obama cares about improving Americans’ health. I desperately want to believe it. That’s why it breaks my heart to see a story as positive as this one taking something so good and totally missing the point.