Ok,so, last night we were watching “I didn’t know I was pregnant” because that shit always cracks me up – mother of 3 doesn’t realize she’s pregnant with number 4 until she drops the kid on the bedroom floor. NICE. Anyway, afterwards there was a show called “Obese and pregnant” and I didn’t bother to change the channel because I was working and hardly paying attention anyway.
And then I paid attention, because srsly? Who was the skinny assed bitch that wrote that shit?! This is the statement that got my attention:
“With 360 pounds on her 5′6″ frame, every step is like carrying a washing machine.”
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WHAT?! So, as a total fatass myself, who is 5′6″ and weighs quite close to the woman she was talking about, I can pretty much guarantee that I don’t feel like I’m carrying around a wash machine with every step.
(and YES – I’m well aware of the dangers of obesity, and NO I don’t need you to tell me I’m a fatass, so just turn your little commenting fingers away if that’s all you’ve got to say.)
And it even got worse. This was a show of scare tactics, plain and simple. That and deliberate inhumane dehumanization of one of the women. Two had complications, all three had c-sections, but here’s the worst thing. When one woman went for her epidural, they used TAPE to move her fat aside, assuring her that this was normal, and that they had to in order to get to her spine for the epidural.
Bullshit.
BULLSHIT.
I’m well aware that maybe I carry my fat around my frame differently? But sitting up, hunched over as they make you do, my spine is in PERFECT view – no problems reaching/getting to it at all, let alone with the need to TAPE MY FAT UP TO MY SHOULDERS. It was RIDICULOUS.
And it got worse.
Once they laid her down, they used the same 3-4 inch wide tape to hook under her belly and LIFT IT, hooking the other end of the tape to the bar just above her head, in a move that was VISIBLY overkill and unneeded. The ONLY cause for it to be done was to further humiliate and dehumanize a woman who’s already emotionally distraught.
I was pregnant the first time relatively thin – heavy by most standards, but not bad at all. I lost weight with my second. With my third, I was heavy to begin with and heavy to end with. But NEVER would my OB have had to TAPE my shit aside to do her job.
Other irritants: I’m sorry – at 9 months pregnant, even if you started out a skinny ass bitch, walking up steps takes your breath away, you need help sitting up out of bed at times, and you can’t breathe easily. These are not symptoms of OBESITY per se – but of having a BABY squishing EVERYTHING inside out of place as well as your joints going all loosey goosy on you! I had all those problems with all THREE of my pregnancies – skinny ass or not.
This show was a clear case of extremes and scare tactics.
Boo,TLC. BOO. Go back to your little people shows and John and Kate +1029381209321.
Yes, Susan Boyle (..and if you don’t know who she is, you’re living under an internet rock…) is AMAZINGLY talented. She blew the judges and audience away with her rendition of a Les Miserable song (my favorite one, incidentally) on Britain’s Got Talent. Yes she made them all look like asses because they judged her on her “frumpy” looks, and her age. Simon Cowell apparently has a heart and is human, blah de fucking blah.
The real question is this: Would anyone be giving it this much attention, (over 5million hits on youtube, many many appearances, international insta-stardom) if she were the typical 100 pound beauty queen with the same singing capabilities?
Yeah. I didn’t think so. You can tell since everyone is on about her getting a makeover and shit. OMG she wore a touch of leather and a dress with color yesterday! ALERT THE FUCKIN MEDIA! Oh, wait, they’re already there…
Question number two: Is the world populated with judgmental assholes who refuse to look past someones outer being to find inner beauty and talent? And when shocked to find such talent do they immediately seek to force that person into a more traditional “beauty” role?
Absofuckinglutely.
Good on ya, Boyle. Don’t ever change, not for anyone. Keep makin’ ‘em look like the assholes they are.
(And if for some reason you DO live under that internets rock: see here.)
In all those fucking forwards I keep getting (from my BUSINESS email group, which is beyond pissing me off), I wonder why THIS isn’t making the rounds….
I know, it’s because it’s FUNNY. That must be it. Yup. How about this one?
You see, from what I understand, it’s not a discussion group, but one for the higher ups to send business related information our way. I find that irritating to the 9th degree. I will start sending things back through, however, if it doesn’t stop. And no, that’s not to say I’ve definitively made up my mind one way or the other? I just hate shit being shoved down my throat. I mean…
Seriously people, my business colleagues, if I get one more fucking forward, I’m leaving the group until after Obama kicks Palin’s ass. What’s that? She’s not running for president? YA DON’T SAY…. *GASP*
[One. heartbeat. away.]
How about talking some ISSUES, instead of panting after the state MILF? Thanks bunches. What? The business group isn’t FOR such discussions? NO SHIT, YA DILLWEEDS. That’s kinda my fucking POINT!
Imagine that I owe you some money.
Imagine that this comes from three separate accounts, each of which is an equal amount.
Imagine now that I opt to pay this money. (I know, shock, right?)
Now, supposed I opt to write a single check, instead of three checks, and include on the memo each of the account numbers, AND include a note saying how to divide it, what account numbers it goes too as well, just to be SURE you get the picture. Because I’m already sure that there are idiots working for this organization, so let’s make it easy, right? Right.
Tell me – would YOU be an idiot and simply pay off one of the accounts and then issue a refund for the rest of the money, leaving the other two accounts unpaid?
Fucking idiots. Now I think I’ll just refuse to pay the other two until they get their heads out of their asses and bill me appropriately. As it is, they issued the refund in the primary name on the bill, instead of to the person who wrote the damn check, me. Which means I have to drag him off to the bank, have him cash it, and give ME the money.
Extra points if you can think of which government organization employs such idiocy… fuckin’ idiots.
..always dangerous, right? But you know how it is – on a random hop around the blogasphere, you stumble over a little comment that sticks in your craw and you mull over it and then think you’ve forgotten all about it but then it keeps on popping back up at odd times and you just wonder why about the whole blasted thing and hello get out of my head already?! So yeah – I had one of those moments, so I’m just gonna write about it. We’ll see how many haters this pulls out of the woodworks. Hee.
So, I was wandering around and random linkhopping as I’ve been known to do, and saw a picture of a waterslide with the comment “The waterslide of death. Obviously my children haven’t been on it.”
Our local water slide
I know, such a random thing to stick with me, especially as I’m not fond of waterslides myself, having a fear of heights and a severe dislike of getting my face splashed/wet. (I know, I’m weird.) But I couldn’t help but wonder why it was so ‘obvious’ that the kids hadn’t been on it. The slide looked a lot more innocent then ours does around here, and I couldn’t keep my kids off it if I tried. (For the record, I haven’t tried, either. Heh.) It’s built according to safety codes, and there’s a lifeguard at the top, plus the ones at pool itself to assure further safety of the kids and so on and so forth. I’ve never worried about them going down it, even as I refuse to do so myself and no amount of convincing can make me climb those stairs to fling myself into a watery grave of doom at all nu uh no way slide.
Point being – I refuse to impose MY fears on my kids. Does that mean I’m going to let them play with knives and fire and jump off bridges and cliffs? No, because that would be stupid. However, I won’t hold them back from something they want to try either, simply because I’m too scared to try it myself.* I don’t want anything to stand in the way of something they want to do – within reason of course – see the cliff, and driving at the age of 5 or dating before they’re 87 years old.
So I began to wonder a wonder that I’ve wondered before – what the hell is with us and coddling our kids so much nowdays? I mean seriously, we’ve gone so far into the OMG MAH PRESHUSH BB DONT HURT DERE WIDDLE FEELINGS mode of thinking that it seems there’s a great deal of wimpy pushovers and terrified kids running around scared of expanding beyond their little bubbles of “MOMMY SAVE ME”. Am I the only one who thinks this does not bode well for the next group of national leaders that we’re raising?
Now, I’m not saying that common sense shouldn’t reign, but we have to give our kids room to fail, else they will never learn anything – whether it be the thrill of sliding down to a watery tomb of death splash zone set aside for such rides, or dueling with swords, or driving before they’re we’re ready, or dating before they’re we’re ready or riding their bike around the block, or into town with an older sibling, or playing a sport and learning that NOT EVERYONE WINS and sometimes your kid will NOT be the BEST at everything…
If we convince them that they’re better without doing the work, or trying, or that everyone is the same, what good reason can we give our kids to strive to better themselves through their lives? How can we possibly expect them to reach and strive for their full potential, if we’ve coddled them into believing that what they are is all they can be? I fear that a whole bunch of people out there are coddling their kids into self-important delusions of grandeur, while pointing fingers at those of us who aren’t and calling us the bad guys and horrible parents.
It’s not about mommy wars, either. It’s about raising decent human beings that can fend for themselves, instead of reclusive little twerps that we can’t get out of our basement because THE SUN! IT MIGHT BURN MAH PRESHUSH SKIN and mommy I don’t WANNA go on the SLIDE don’t make me!
Ahem.
I don’t really have much of a point beyond the wondering why and how and even a bit if I am doing it all wrong myself. But then I get a look at the smile on my kids faces, I hear the way they talk with their friends, and I see that while they have no fear, they have as much common sense as I can pack into their little blond heads – and I know I’m doing OK.
Sure, you may think differently, and I suppose that’s OK, too as they’re your kids. Just remember, that no – it’s not obvious why your kids haven’t gone down that slide and mine are rushing for ride number 2730129381292. But in the end, I promise not to snicker as my kids rescue your kids from your basement someday.
At least, not too much.
Ok, how about not out loud.
That’s the least I can do.
*Please note that my fears are in no way a result of my parents’ raising me fearfully. I discovered them all on my own, because they allowed me to explore and learn my likes and dislikes all by myself while standing patiently by ready to rescue me when I needed it – just as I do my own kids. And you know, I never did touch that stove after it burned me the first time…
