My 3 Things! (what are yours?) 01/13/2012

If you know me, you know I hate (HATE) winter.  Short days, little warmth, and sun is rare.

I JUST GET BLUE in the winter.  

Today, I heard some good news, some interesting news, that certainly could help us all cope:

ON A DAILY BASIS LIST THREE THINGS THAT YOU ARE….thankful for, love or make you smile.  

 

 

Have you tried this?

Here are MY 3 things~~~~what are yours?

 

Today I am thankful for (or I smile when I think about)….

1.  When ALL my kids are at home in the evening, I feel much more content.  I feel whole and complete.

2.  I like anticipating (looking forward to) Stephen (aka DADof7) coming home from a trip.  Short or long, just knowing that he’s on a plane, headed for VA Beach, and knowing he’s anxious to get home really makes me happy.

3.  I like it when I can look in the mirror (like today) and honestly tell myself:

TODAY, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL~~BE CONFIDENT & OWN IT!!!

 

So, tell me~~~WHAT ARE YOUR 3 THINGS?

 

 

 

REAL Woman versus the “model” 01/12/2012

‘Most runway models meet the BMI criteria for anorexia’, claims plus-size magazine in powerful comment on body image in the fashion industry

By TAMARA ABRAHAM

A magazine dedicated to plus-size fashion and models has sparked controversy with a feature claiming that most runway models meet the Body Mass Index criteria for anorexia.

Accompanied by a bold shoot that sees a nude plus-size model posing alongside a skinny ‘straight-size’ model, PLUS Model Magazine says it aims to encourage plus-size consumers to pressure retailers to better cater to them, and stop promoting a skinny ideal.

Size 12 (U.S.) model Katya Zharkova, 28, stars in the shoot, which has a powerful statistic accompanying each image.

Size matters: PLUS Model Magazine has shot size 12 Katya Zharkova pose with a ‘straight-size’ model to demonstrate the difference between them

 

One, printed alongside a photo of the Russian beauty holding a tape measure across her rear, reads: ‘Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less.’

Another states: ‘Ten years ago plus-size models averaged between size 12 and 18. Today the need for size diversity within the plus-size modeling industry continues to be questioned.

 

More…

• ‘Standing in my pants was not something I thought I would ever do’… Woman once taunted about her body crowned plus size model of the year

 

‘The majority of plus-size models on agency boards are between a size 6 and 14, while the customers continue to express their dissatisfaction.’

And finally, further highlighting how poorly the fashion world caters to plus-size women, the magazine tells us: ‘50% of women wear a size 14 or larger, but most standard clothing outlets cater to sizes 14 or smaller.’

Body image: The Russian beauty poses with a tape measure around her rear alongside a statistic that shows how different models are from real women

In an accompanying editorial, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Madeline Figueroa-Jones, explains that the feature is a response to a fashion and beauty industry which continues to endorse a skinny ideal that is not always healthy and alienates a huge percentage of the market.

She writes: ‘We are bombarded with weight-loss ads every single day, multiple times a day because it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that preys on the fear of being fat.

‘Not everyone is meant to be skinny, our bodies are beautiful and we are not talking about health here because not every skinny person is healthy.’

Ms Figueroa-Jones says consumers can no longer identify with models; the disparity between real woman and those that grace ad campaigns and the covers of magazines is to wide now.

 

Body image: The model proudly bares her U.S. size 12 curves in the magazine shoot

 

‘Small women cannot be marketed to with pictures of plus-size women, why are we expected to respond to pictures of small size 6 and 8 women?’ she asks.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2085226/PLUS-Model-Magazines-Katya-Zharkova-cover-highlights-body-image-fashion-industry.html#ixzz1jGkOW5lc

Parenting—You decide which way is best! 01/09/2012

Parenting with coffee VERSUS Parenting with wine. Enough said!

25 Ways You Know You’re Such a Mother

(MOMof 7 personal note—-these are great but I personally know ‘I am such a mom’ when I’m out shopping and the sound of a young child throwing a tantrum totally stresses me out because the parents are doing nothing)

 

Posted by Jill Smokler 

on January 9, 2012 at 8:48 AM

A few months ago, I was in the grocery store roaming the bread isle. Wheat, white, pita, English muffins … Boring, boring, boring. And, then I spotted it: Goldfish Sandwich Bread. There, right in between the milk and the exotic food aisle, I squealed. Bread, in the shape of a giant Goldfish cracker?! My kids would bepsyched!! This was the best trip to Safeway EVER!!! Wooo-hooo!

And, then it hit me: I am such a mother.

I asked my friends for their “motherhood moments” and the answers made me laugh — I can relate to every single one … What about you?

25. Your new accessories consist of boogers, spit up and pieces of food on your outfit.  — Monica

24. Your kid starts to throw up and you hold out your hands to catch it because you’re no where near the toilet. Then you hold the crying child, getting barf in your hair and that’s the least of your concerns. — Amy

23. When going grocery shopping alone is considered “Me time” — Lizette

22. You quietly wipe a butt (and remember to not flush!) while on a business call. — Laura

21. Your six year old daughter has more shoes and a cuter wardrobe than you. — Patti

20. You pick someone else’s boogers and it’s no big deal. — Melissa

19. You actually like driving a mini van. — Jody

18. When you know 1 million things to clean with BABY WIPES! — Diana

17. When you feel the need to stick a bottle in the mouth of anyone upset. — Michelle

16. You carry human teeth in your purse.  — Penny

15. You just forced them into bed and you’ve had enough then an hour later you’re bawling your eyes out at their baby pics. — Nermeen

14. You hold your poop till 11 p.m. so that you can go without an audience… — Evin

13. ‎”What kind of poop was it?” counts as stimulating conversation.  — JoAnna

12.  When you jam out to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song while driving and realize you just dropped off the little one at daycare. — LeKisha

11. When you have extra underwear and leggings and emergency fruit snacks stashed in your purse and glove compartment at all times! — Kathryn

(AND FOR THE TOP 10….CLICK HERE)

http://thestir.cafemom.com/big_kid/131169/25_ways_you_know_youre

GIVE IT UP! 01/06/2012

(the Scene:  Mom and daughter in kitchen discussing time management ((or teen daughters’ lack of time management)) and the college application process!  STRESSFUL, right?)

In a somewhat heated discussion last night with one of our daughters I said: “Look, you have to GIVE SOMETHING UP RIGHT NOW (something that’s eating up her spare time) in order to MAKE ROOM for planning for your future.” 

…and then after I said that, I thought ‘wow I sound smart’. LOL. But so very true. 

You may not want to, but you HAVE TO give something up in order to MOVE FORWARD. So…what are you going to give up?  

Seems easy, right?  But it’s not because we are selfish creatures who like to control our free-time.  The sad truth is, if we continue doing what we do, even in our free time, we will SURELY miss opportunities, moments in time, when we are called to do something different.  That’s sad!

So I ask again, 

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE UP???!

 

Tiger Woods’ ex-wife bulldozes $12 million home

Courtesy of Pacific Coast News

By Shane Bacon | Devil Ball Golf – 15 hours ago

There are times when divorce forces people to do strange things. Burn sheets. Throw out clothes. Toss rings into the ocean. But when you get $100 million in your divorce, you can trump just about anything and that’s what happened with Tiger Woods‘ ex-wife when she bought a $12 million home and bulldozed the whole thing.

[Check the before picture above and the after picture after the jump]

Yes, according to TMZ, Elin Nordegren bought a $12 million home in North Palm Beach, Fla., but didn’t like it, and has plowed the whole thing.

 

The house, which had six bedrooms and eight bathrooms, is now just rubble, with no word yet on what is going to replace the beautiful building you see above, but I guess when you have nine figures in the bank, it doesn’t really matter what you want.

(Want to see the house AFTER she blew it down?  READ MORE……click here)

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/golf-devil-ball-golf/tiger-woods-ex-wife-bulldozes-12-million-home-232405259.html

“101 Uses for My Ex-Wife’s Wedding Dress” 10/20/2011

By Laura T. Coffey

TODAY.com contributor

updated 10/19/2011 12:29:44 PM ET

Divorces. Separations. Breakups. Ignominious endings. They happen to the best of us, and they’re often messy, confusing and searingly painful.

There’s no shortage of self-help books for people mired in the throes of a breakup — and yeah, sure, they’re helpful. But Kevin Cotter, the guy who gave the world the websiteMyExWifesWeddingDress.com, refined the formula, combining his raw emotion with comedy and joining the ranks of bloggers-turned-authors with his new book, “101 Uses for My Ex-Wife’s Wedding Dress,” out next week.

READ MORE:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44951001/ns/today-relationships/t/he-turned-exs-wedding-dress-book-success/#.TqA5WZsUqsp

 

To order the book visit this site:

 MyExWifesWeddingDress.com

Siri Has a Sense of Humor 10/18/2011

iPhone’s Personal Assistant App Is Secretly Hilarious

Posted by Maressa Brown 

on October 17, 2011 at 9:37 PM

The iPhone 4S may not be breaking all that much new ground in the world of smartphones, but it does have some seriously cool features, and one of them is kind of a gamechanger. Siri, the personal assistant application, actually, for the most part, understands what you’re saying, so you can say, “Send a text to my husband,” and it’ll do that. Or you can say, “I’d like to go out for Indian,” and it’ll tell you where the nearest restaurants are. I’ve played around with it a bit today, and it’s not just cool. It can be a laugh riot! Siri comes up with some hysterical responses to, uh, let’s just say, not so conventional remarks (like “I need to hide a body!”) and questions (like “What’s the meaning of life?”). She even cops an attitude from time to time.

In fact, there’s a whole Tumblr called “Sh*t iSay to Siri,” devoted to her hilarious interactions with iPhone 4S users so far. Here are some of the gems …

 

 

 

Ha, awww! If you express your affection to Siri, she’s actually really sweet and modest about it … sometimes! Be forewarned: Overdo it and she’ll definitely try to deflect more than accept your “compliment,” by saying something along the lines of, “This is about you. Not me.”

If you ask Siri how much wood could a woodchuck chuck … she’ll tell you. She may even say it’s “42 cords of wood, to be exact!” (How could you not know that, ya dummy!)

Bhahah, I just love that she takes it SO personally when you ask her about HAL 9000, the antagonistic control freak computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Siri brings a whole new meaning to the term “phone sex“? Hey, at least she can laugh when her boss acts like a teenage boy!

 

MORE:  http://thestir.cafemom.com/technology/127510/iphones_personal_assistant_app_is

Divorce Really Does Make Marriage Better! (what do you think?)

The divorce rate for second marriages may be higher than that of first marriages, but don’t tell that to people on their second marriages. Many feel their second marriages are actually much, much stronger than their first. And while the statistics don’t support this notion, reason really should.

After all, don’t we learn from our mistakes?

Divorce is one of life’s most traumatic events. Anyone who has been through it likely puts a much higher premium on only going through it once. The fact is, many people marry for the wrong reasons. They marry out of fear of being alone or because everyone else is doing it. And when you marry young (under 26), you also do it not knowing how the person will change.

Every day we are married, we learn more about marriage. After nearly nine years of marriage, I can officially say I have a pretty good understanding of what it takes to make a marriage last. And it’s not undying love and passion (though those are important, too).

What really matters in marriage is a strong foundation, AKA the “boring things.” Is he responsible with money? Loving? Do you feel a close friendship? Does he make you laugh? Can he keep a job? Is he volatile or does he have any addictions? These are the kinds of things women should ask themselves when getting married.

From the outside, it’s often easy to predict which marriages will last and which will fail. But that doesn’t mean those predictions come true. Some of it is luck — my husband and I married at 25 and have grown and changed enormously since then — but some of it is also foresight. I was engaged before my husband and my inner voice knew it was wrong.

MORE:
http://thestir.cafemom.com/love_sex/127177/divorce_really_does_makes_marriage

Cuddle or Good Sex? Which do you want??? 07/19/2011

Men love to cuddle while women just want to have sex

By Jessica Laurence, Jul 12, 2011

 

Getty

Time to turn those outdated stereotypes on their heads; men want more hugs while women just want to get down to it.

According to researchers from the Kinsey Institute in the US who surveyed over 1,000 couples aged between 40-70, cuddling makes a real difference to how happy men feel.

The survey showed men who often kissed and hugged were three times as contented as men who didn’t get so much cuddle time.

As a relationship progressed, men more frequently reported feeling content in their relationships, while women were more likely to report better sex.