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Friday, June 30, 2017

Body-Shaming


What is “body shaming”?  I ask because I don’t think we understand what it really is.
 

“Body shaming” is criticizing a woman’s body, the shape of her body, making her feel ashamed of parts of her body.
 

But it is not “body shaming” to show disapproval when a woman dresses in skimpy clothing or an inappropriate swimsuit.  It is not “body shaming” to ask a woman who is dressed in inappropriate clothing to cover up more, especially when children are around.  It is not “body shaming” to express discomfort when a woman acts too trampy or seductively or inappropriately.
 

Have we women lost all sense of decency, modesty, and self-respect that we act offended whenever someone critiques our inappropriate dress or behavior, crying about how we are a “victim” of “bullying” and “body shaming” and starting rants on Facebook to get others all riled up about how “unjustly” we were treated?
 

When in reality, we really should have just covered up more or acted more decently.  I’m sorry … but I think there are some things we should be ashamed about.  And shame on us for attacking others when they call us out on our indecency, instead of just growing up and accepting responsibility for our poor choices.    

Celebrating Open Marriages - How in the world did we get to this point!?!

You know what's disgusting?

The "my open marriage is so great" stories that are on-line recently.  Followed by advice on how to have a successful open marriage for yourself.

Have you people lost your freakin' minds!?! 

But when it all falls apart and you feel broken and cheated and used and empty-handed and diseased, remember this: You chose it!

I feel sad for you.  For what you've settled for.  For the fact that you think you have a rich, fulfilling, exciting marriage ... but that it's really just a mirage, an illusion of something real and solid, and it will eventually leave you with nothing but an empty heart.


There is truly a better way out there: A marriage where spouses commit to each other for life.  Where we value the other person and the security of our marriage so much that we promise to live life together, with each other, side by side, through good times and bad, setting aside selfish pursuits for the good of our spouse, our relationship, our family. 

A marriage where we can count on each other, trust each other, and feel safe with each other because we know that we are a team, that we are in it together, that it's "the two of us" against the world. 

A marriage where we fight for each other, where we protect our relationship, where we build a wall around it to keep it safe from interference, from attacks, from temptations, from the things that seek to divide us and rip us apart and lead us astray. 

A marriage where we make our home the safest place in the world, where we know that we are valued and we belong and we are most loved. 

A marriage where we cherish and respect each other so much that we share our body, our heart, our bed, our life with no one else in the way that we share those things with our beloved - because no one else could even come close to taking the place of our beloved.

That is the kind of marriage that I want!


"Open marriage" people might think they are having some kind of exciting fun that the rest of us aren't having.  But what I have is far better.  I have a husband who shares himself only with me, who loves me and cherishes me and pursues me more than anyone else.  A husband who has committed to living life by my side, to sticking together when times are tough, to sharing the joy when times are good, to protecting our love from the world's sabotaging attempts, to providing a safe, stable life where we both know we belong and we matter and we are loved more than anyone else out there.

I don't want a disgusting, pathetic "open marriage." 

I'll take the long-lasting, deeply-fulfilling security of a good, old-fashioned, monogamous marriage any day!

Gender Denial


I think it’s interesting (and that’s the nice way of saying it) that a country who considers Science to be god would fight so hard against the idea of gender, that they push the idea that we can deny our genetic code or “choose” our gender as if it hasn’t already been decided for us at conception. 
 

How ridiculous!
 

Our chromosomes and genetic codes are scientific realities.  And yet here we are, denying scientific reality, acting as if it’s nonexistent and negotiable.
 

If you attack and tear down your own “god,” where does that leave you?
 

Personally, I believe in a shocking, new-fangled idea… that God created us as males and females, that (with few exceptions) most of us were born as boys or girls, no matter how much we try to deny it.
 

 

FYI, I am not referring here to people who want to change their gender when they are older. 
 

I am talking about the nonsense of trying to remove gender from birth certificates as though it doesn’t really exist. 
 

I am talking about people who claim that doctors “assign” a child its gender at birth when a doctor is really just stating a biological fact. 
 

I am talking about parents who choose their child’s gender for them, encouraging them to be the other gender or to be “gender-neutral” before the child even understands what gender is, using their child as a way to show how “open-minded” and “progressive” they can be so that they can fit in with what’s popular in society at the moment.
 

I am talking about parents who say that they will not assign their newborn baby a gender but will let the child pick its own gender when it’s older.
 

NEWSFLASH:  Your baby was born with a pre-determined gender.  It’s a biological fact.  And by refusing to acknowledge it, you are teaching your child that this very personal, intimate, important part of them is unimportant, shameful, and unspeakable, that it’s something to be ignored or denied.
 

Which one is going to mess them up more?  Acknowledging and celebrating their maleness or femaleness (even if they want to change it later) OR denying their gender and acting like it’s unimportant, like it’s shameful to be a boy or a girl?
 

I believe that most people will agree with me here, but they will feel bullied and shamed into sounding more “open-minded and progressive.”  “Open-mindedness” has become the new god in our society.  And it is squeezing out truth and reality.
 

And now, society has become so intolerant toward truth that we will not even tolerate biological facts.  It has become “cool” to deny truth and biological reality and to attack anyone who stands up for it. 
 

“To tolerate” used to be along the lines of “respectfully agreeing to disagree.” 
 

But now it means “You have the right to agree with me, but if you don’t then you are hateful, evil, and wrong, and I will get together a group of Facebook friends to protest and to tear you down.” 
 

When did Truth and Reality and Fact go out of style?  When did good ol’ common sense become something to be ashamed of?  When did promoting nonsense and looking foolish and sounding stupid become popular and fashionable?
 

A changing society doesn’t necessarily mean that we are getting smarter or better.  Sometimes it just shows what fools we can be!
 

No one has the guts anymore to stand up for truth and common sense because we are too busy trying to impress each other with how progressive and open-minded we can be, even if it makes us look stupid.  As intelligent human beings and as an advanced society, we should be ashamed of ourselves for how easily we let ourselves be bullied and shamed into agreeing with nonsense.   

God's Love


Thursday, June 29, 2017

My GMO Birds

I just had to show off the newest animals to hit the pet store: 
Genetically Modified Headless Birds.
They might not be cute,
but they sure are quiet and they don't eat a thing.


 




 

(Totally kidding here!  They both happened to be scratching their backs with their beaks at the same time, making them look headless.)

A Note to Boob Measurers:

A note for the employees of fancy bra shops who measure our busts to see what size bra we need:

          I was at a bra shop awhile back, buying myself some of the first nice bras I owned in a long time.  The last time I did that was before I had four children, nursing them for a bunch of years combined.  And after all that swelling and deflating, swelling and deflating ... well, things weren't as perky as they used to be, including my thin cotton bras.
          Anyway, so I went into this shop and a salesperson asked me if I’d like to have my bust measured so that I knew which size bra to try on.  Since I was treating myself to a nice, expensive bra, I decided, Why Not?

          So she measured my bust and confidently stated what size I needed.  And I said, “No, I need a cup size bigger."
          “Well, the tape measure says the smaller one,” she said, clearly a little hurt that I would question her professional measuring skills.
          “Ok, grab me a smaller one,” I said, knowing full well it wouldn’t fit.
          So she brought it to me, and I tried it on.
          “How’s it fit?” she asked.
          “It’s way too tight!  Can you get me the next size up?” I replied.

          When I was done, I could tell that she was a little confused, like she was thinking, But the tape measure said!?!  What happened?  How did I go wrong?
          It didn’t dawn on me until I was walking out of the store that I should have explained to her what happened (she was clearly too young to know) …

          I was wearing a thin, stretched-out, cotton bra when she measured me.  And “droopy mom boobs” are not the same thing as “perky young boobs.”  Our boobs have expanded and deflated so much that they ooze downward.  (Have you ever blown up a balloon really big and then let the air out?  Yeah, like that.)  And you can't measure them when they are drooping and oozing - because by the time we finish scooping it all back up and putting them into a supportive, high-quality bra, they gain a cup size.
 

          So, confused saleslady, it wasn’t your tape measure or your measuring skills.  It was physics, gravity.  Someday you’ll understand: Scoop first, then measure.

Easiest Ever Spaghetti Sauce


 

That's it!  Super Easy.  I'm not kidding when I say that this is the only sauce my sons will eat.  They love it!  But they will hardly eat a whole serving of spaghetti that has store-bought sauce on it.  Of course, you can cook up some seasoned ground meat and toss it in to make a meat sauce.  Or make meatballs on the side and add the cooked meatballs to the sauce.  And you can change this up in any number of ways: add diced peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, zucchini, etc.  My family, however, doesn't like chunky sauce, so we just keep it to the tomato paste and spices. 

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Essential Oil "Keep the Plants Healthy" Spray

Just like I don't like to use toxic products on our skin, I don't like to use it in my yard or in my vegetable garden, either.  But occasionally, I do find the need to use something to help ward off bugs, fungus, mildew, etc. 

The following is a recipe I use to try to keep the plants healthy and to help fight off "plant sickness."  You could probably use more essential oil than what I did, but I once burned the leaves of my roses with a "too strong" blend.  So I use this milder version first to see if it does the trick, before moving to a stronger one. 

Test it on your plants first before spraying the whole thing.  And I personally do not spray the parts of the vegetable plants that we will be eating in the next few days.


Essential Oil Mosquito Repellant

A couple weeks ago we had a horrible storm go through the area.  It left tons of standing water all over the neighborhood.  And now - predictably - we are swimming in thousands of mosquitoes.

I do not like to use DEET sprays or other toxic products.  Not if I can find a safer alternative.  So what I do is make my own bug spray from essential oils.  This is the recipe I use.  Adjust it as you want to, including the essential oils that are safest for you and your family. 

(Research the oils you want to use to see if they are safe for your family, for young children, for those with compromised immune systems, for pregnant women, etc.  And remember that citrus oils make your skin photo-sensitive.  So I do not put them on my skin if I will be in the sun.  I generally just spray our clothes and hair.  And if you are unsure, use less essential oil instead of more.  And if you are going to put it on your skin, test it on a small patch of skin first before spraying all over.  You can always add more later if it's too weak.)

And one more recommendation to ward off mosquitoes:  Eat lots of garlic!


 



 

 


 




Saturday, June 17, 2017

More Poetry in Bloom

Because I love taking pictures of flowers!
 
Therese Bugnet
 
 
 
 
Rose de Rescht 
 


 
Kiss Me 

Friday, June 16, 2017

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

After (and Before) the Storm

 
As I finished up taking pictures of the flowers (previous posts), this rolled in ...
And it was time to go inside! 
 
 
And then after the strong storm swept through,
I took my camera outside to find out what made it through okay ... 
Blanc Double de Coubert

 

June's Other Delights

 
Clematis flowers









 
 
  
Bishop's Weed flowers
 

 
 
Salvia

June's Roses


Beautiful Cinco de Mayo 







June's Peonies