Jamie Brewer

As I mentioned before, I like hearing about Amazing Women.  I think Jamie Brewer is amazing,

She currently plays a witch named Nan in “American Horror Story: Coven”.  She can hear people’s thoughts and is quite perceptive.  I like Jamie because she is very passionate about her Cause and has been a part of several movements to make things happen for people with intellectual disabilities.

She has spoken with Senators to stop them from using word like retardation/retard/retarded in the state legislation.  Texas now uses the term Intellectual Developmental Disability (IDD) in their legislation.  That’s a feat in itself because Texas is a pretty tough crowd.  She has been a part of several groups related to intellectual disabilities.  In ARC, she has served in a few different highly notable capacities, one being part of the ARC Governmental Affairs Committee for Texas.  The ARC has a unique history itself.  It was started in the ’50s by concerned parents and their friends.  It has changed names several times over the years landing on The Arc in 1991 as the word Retardation gained too much negative connotation.  I highly dislike that term as my Mother worked for several years at a State School facility taking care of many people with intellectual disabilities.  They adored her so much and came to know me as her daughter when I went to pick her up.  People end up in these facilities for many reasons, be it they were born with a birth defect or abnormality that loved ones were not quite able to handle, or some unfortunate event happened like a car accident which affected key parts of the brain.  Knowing the background of lovable people whose families stopped visiting made me real glad my Mom was in their lives.  She’s always been a “walk it off” and “you can do it, just take your time” type of person and the people she took care of showed improvement from what I could tell…or at the very least began to open up to someone treating them as a person and not a paycheck.  But back to Jamie.  I just think she’s pretty cool.  I’m not sure I’m courageous enough to go to such depths for anything I believe in…so I look to people like her and my Mom to give me strength to fight the good fight.

Photo from Wiki

Double Divas is double…interesting

Have you heard of the show Double Divas?  When I first saw a preview, I only halfway paid attention and somehow got the impression it was a reality show for either bigger sized girls or girls who wear larger sized bras going out and having fun and being proud of their sizes.  I don’t watch Lifetime very often so I didn’t see any episodes until recently.  The show cracks me up because of the unique customers they get.  The stars of the show own a lingerie type shop where people often ask for custom clothing for special circumstances.  When they are not helping those people, their goal tends to be making sure all women wear the right size bra.  Even on vacation, if they run across someone that is sagging a little too low or clearly is wearing too small a size, they tell them so and tell them what they do and to come to their shop and get fitted.  They have had some very interesting customers.

There was a guy with a plastic girlfriend.  She even had a tongue!  She loves Mexican food according to him and according to them she smelled like tacos.
The episode was called “Atlanta is Burning” because they did a “bad bra burning” event.  It was inspired by a customer who needed Civil War clothing.  Her significant other has been doing Civil War reenactments since he was a kid.  A lot of his family took part in it.  He wanted his Lady to join the event by wearing the clothes the ladies wore back then. The Double Divas had to do some research and found out that women wore 7 layers back then.  Yikes!  Can you imagine 7 layers in southern heat????!!!!  I knew they wore lots of clothing and several layers but yikes!  During the burning event, a fireman came and put the fire out.  When he showed up the owners threw all the rest of the bras in at once…and then in the next scene he was putting out the fire with the fire hose from his truck.  They were not happy about that.  These ladies are hilarious.  If I’m ever in the area I have to get them to make me a bra or something.  They do bras for all sizes, big or small.  They just want women to have the appropriate support.  They can tell by looking at a girl’s shirt whether or not sure is wearing the correct type of bra and bra size.  In episode “Motorcycle Mamas”, they were asked to make a bra for a goat.  Yes, you read that correctly, a goat.  Not a kid, not a human, a goat.  The utter was so low the kiddies could “barely suckle” as they said in the episode.  I guess there were ligaments gone on the back so it couldn’t hold the utter up on its own.  It was practically touching the floor.  That’s gotta be uncomfortable.  Betty is the name of this Mama Goat.  As silly as it sounds, the ladies came through and made Betty a bra that lifted her up enough for the kiddies to suckle.  It gave her some good support and she was probably grateful…if she understood what was going on.

These ladies are so ridiculous..in a funny way.  They are so bold…..just openly touching boobs and feeling under them…I guess they’re comfy with that sorta thing.  Tellin’ women out loud blatantly in a biker bar that they’re a G cup.   Hil-freaking-larious…and bold!

Body Confidence

I met some Ladies recently that I thought should be on TV, whether reality or fiction.  They were of all sizes, short/tall/thin/thick/curvy.  Each of them were wearing tight or real fitting clothing and even though not all of their bodies were perfect, they all looked fantastic in their outfits.  Some were showing a lot of skin in places you don’t usually see thick people showing skin, but still they looked good.  The reason they fascinated me was because I live and work in an area where people are obsessed with their sizes and their looks.  They all aim to be perfect and petite and won’t be happy until they get there.  Many times they get there and then go back to living their life normally and surprise surprise, a few pounds show back up.  I think it’s’ great for people to be healthy but I find it disturbing to see this obsession so much.  So often I hear people deny a treat and talk about how fat they are or how whoever is offering the treat is trying to ruin their body.  It annoys me because I grew up around people who wanted to look good but didn’t think they had to be perfect to do so.  Even if their stomach wasn’t completely flat they still wore cute outfits that fit them and not bulky over sized clothes to hide their so-called undesirable figures.  Even if they weren’t 100% happy with the size of their legs or arms, they still wore shorts, dresses, and sleeveless blouses.  Since they were walking with their heads held high in these nice outfits and still being themselves, nobody seemed to notice the imperfections.  They all had boyfriends or boyfriend potential.  The guys were attracted to how the Women presented themselves and how they portrayed self-confidence and their full personality despite their imperfections.  I learned this same way of life.  Wearing a bathing suit in mixed company to go have fun in the pool was no problem.

Unfortunately, as my generation got older and all the media outlets focused more and more on perfection, all of my friends became obsessed with their looks.  They could not walk out of the door without their make-up just in case they ran into other people when we were hanging out.  They started being overly attentive to any imperfection on their body and obsessed over covering it up one way or another.  They weren’t happy unless they starved themselves and worked out three times a day.  I held out for the longest still being capable of interacting with the public as myself and not having to disguise myself as what I thought I should look like.  I have grown accustomed to this way of life which is why I was so fascinated by the Ladies I saw the other day.  They were smiling and showing their full personalities with no apologies for their imperfections.  I forgot what it was like being around those type of people.  It is much easier to feel comfortable with being yourself because there are no worries about someone looking at you sideways because you are not perfect and aren’t acting like they are by obsessing over it.  Yes, some of these Ladies are aware there are some things they can do about those imperfections….like exercise more.  But in the mean time, they are not letting that stop them from enjoying their lives.  These are the people that need to be on TV these days…in my opinion.

Wake Up Call

My Mom woke me up today 2 minutes before I was supposed to attend a webinar.  She used to do that all the time..I’ve never been a morning person.  I was dreaming and as usual, she was in it.  Then I heard her call my name that way she always did when I needed to do something..whether that was get up and go to school or work…or come up front and do a chore or help her with something.  The second I heard her say my name that way my eyes popped open.  I wondered why she woke me up.  I looked at the clock and saw it was 2 minutes to the next hour.  I wondered if this was a day I was supposed to attend a class or webinar so I checked my e-mail and sure enough I had less than 2 minutes to click the link and log on.  That’s the second time she has done that lately.  For all I know it’s all in my head and this was just a coincidence…but I like it either way.  I don’t know if she could hear me, but I said Thank You anyway.

 

Domestic Diva’s Gumbo

Recently, I had the pleasure of eating some homemade gumbo prepared by Domestic Diva — owner of Healthy JunkFood .

It had crawfish, shrimp, and a bunch of vegetables.  It had a spicy flare and was great.  She has a gumbo recipe in one of her cookbook ebooks, but this one she made impromptu based on how she felt that day. Sometimes those are the best meals.

Website: http://www.healthyjunkfoodfun.com

To buy her cookbook ebooks:  Healthy JunkFood on Amazon

Green Women

I recently read an article about an inspiring young Lady in the DFW metroplex that is avidly pursuing her passion of living green and encouraging the rest of us Earthlings to do the same. I have actually met her in person and have witnessed her unending dedication to the “cause”.  She is a person that definitely “walks the walk”.  Even while out having a good time with friends she still keeps the environment in mind: asking for a “to-go” container as long as it was not Styrofoam and refusing the plastic bag to carry it in. She knows a great deal about various energy and environmental processes including how waste (trash) is handled and how hurtful it is to living creatures.

According to the article and her blog, she even goes as far as collecting chip bags at work and picking up recyclable items on her bike rides.
She is going on a 300 mile bike ride from New York to D.C. as part of a fundraiser. I have donated twice because I love that she truly cares about the environment and not just getting a free bike ride tour. She has to raise approx. $2500 to go. The money goes towards four environmental organizations of her choosing. She has received quite a bit of donations but is not there yet and there is not much time left. Her blog and the article have links to make a donation.

Her blog: http://carbonneutral-greengirl.blogspot.com/

The article: http://greensourcedfw.org/articles/dallas-greenie-preparing-300-mile-climate-ride-nyc-dc

I think she is an Amazing Woman and very inspiring.