Beauty Pageants

This weekend, my husband & I drove to Shreveport to cheer on our niece who was competing in a beauty pageant.  I know what you're thinking - those southerners are all about beauty pageants and it's demeaning to girls's self-esteem.  I used to think like that also.  I hated them.  And I do dislike some of them, but only for specific reasons. 

Our niece is a beautiful, positive young woman who has been in pageants since she was a baby.  And she loves doing it!  She doesn't always win (although in my biased opinion, she should) and she always accepts the judge's choice with grace and dignity.  By talking with my sister-in-law, I found out that my niece actually wins some really great prizes at these pageants, mostly scholarship money for college.  She participates in the pageants because she likes the girls she meets (most of the time) and is trying to get ready for college by helping out as much as she can. 

But what about the cost you might ask.  Yes, it does cost to enter the pageants but they do their own hair, makeup and they use dresses from homecoming, prom or previous pageants.  So, they try to cut costs as much as they can to make sure they don't end up losing money.

And let me tell you, it takes guts to go up on that stage and walk in front of all those people.  Guts I don't have.  I'd most likely faint or trip in front of everyone.  I'm not blessed by God with any kind of grace so tripping is a guarantee for me.  And it's tough work.  They have to prepare months in advance to make sure they are in shape, complete an interview, practice, practice, practice and smile till their faces hurt.

Now, there are some families who take the pageant competition to a whole other level.  Have you ever watched those TV shows that "go behind the pageant curtain" and show what some girls go through to win?  It's insane.  I know that TV edits shows to make them more "exciting" and probably make the people look insane, but really!  I watched one special where the girl (probably about 8-10) had fake hair, fake teeth, fake eyelashes, tons of makeup and dresses that cost more than I make in a single paycheck.  That's ridiculous - a child should be able to look, dress and act like a child. 

I personally believe that pageants should require all contestants to appear without makeup, without bikinis and only be allowed to present themselves as God made them.  No hair pieces, no eyelashes, buck teeth and all.  Let the judges judge the girls based on natural beauty, inside and out.  Also, I would loooove it if they had a camera where the judges could see what the girls acted like (no cameras when changing clothes - thank you!).  when they aren't on stage.  And then base their scores on whether the girls are really a positive role model or if it's just an act.  Makes you wonder what we would see if they did that. 

Am I venting?  Yep, a bit. I hate sore losers and pompous winners.

To my great envy and pride, my niece has been blessed with an abundance of hair, eyelashes that are real and reach her eyebrows and a gorgeous smile.  At one event, she was even tested to see if all of her hair was real (it was).  Her hair grew out so long that she donated it to Locks for Love and still had hair below her shoulders.

So, Laken, my beautiful niece - I am so proud of you.  It takes courage, sacrifice and confidence to put yourself out there like that.  Not many of us can do it.  And congratulations on winning Most Photogenic and Christian.

I finally figured it out

I've been struggling with this blog, wandering from idea to idea, trying to find out exactly what I wanted to convey.  Now, if you've ever had a discussion with me, you quickly find out that my brain is always going like a 100 miles per hour and I jump from subject to subject very quickly and randomly.

What I got stuck on yesterday is what it's like to be a Southern Woman and common misconceptions about us.  Then it hit me!  Finally - I know what to write about.  What's it's really like being a Southern Woman.  What our normal day-to-day routine is really like and let me tell you - Hollywood has left everyone with an exaggerated version of us.  

So, I invite you to sit back, grab a tall glass of iced tea (yes - I said ICED TEA) and join me as I navigate through this life as a southern woman where I laugh so hard my stomach hurts, love so much my heart feels like it's about to burst, cry more tears than physically possible and get so angry I'm liable to spit nails. 

Being a Southern Woman is a gift that reveals a new present every day.

What was I thinking???

I used to be a big exercise fan. I ran, did aerobics, rode bikes, swimming... then my kids entered into various competative sports and I found myself spending less time at the gym and more time on the bench cheering on my kids. I developed what we southern ladies refer to as a comfortable and snuggable body (translation - round and wiggly). Since my kids are grown I thought I could just pick up where I left off on the exercise.

 
So a group of us at work joined Anytime Fitness.  Being over 40, it's really hard to lose weight especially when you are the official M&M sponsor in the office.  The girls decided to start going to classes offered at 12:15, 3 x week.  First class I went to was a dance class - hip hop.  Let me start by saying that I don't have a coordinated bone in my body.  I'm Southern Baptist for a reason (baptists don't dance ya know) and I routinely walk into walls and trip over dust.  I like to think I provided the comic relief for the dance class.  Since I conquered this class I figured I would step it up and take the "Abs Class".  First time, I was sore for 2 days, not a big deal.  The next Abs class, our instructor (whom I am certain is Satan's daughter) told us we were going to have a really tough class and we would definitely be sore.  She wasn't lying.  It's been 2 days since the class and I'm still in pain.  I even went over to our Physical Therapy department and begged for help.  I sit down alot at work and when I stand up, I have to bend backwards to stretch out my hip flexor muscles.  Ooohhh the pain I am in.  Today the girls went for the Ab class at lunch and the instructor asked where I was.  Ha! - I'm in hiding until I can walk upright like a normal person.
Till next time - eating Aleve and loving heat packs....

What do I do when stressed???

Not so funny thing happened to me yesterday.  I am the "official-unofficial" comuter guru at work (all because my husband is a computer technician) so whenever things break down or need updating, I'm the "it" girl.  We have 2 computers that work together to maintain our database of scanned items which are subsequently shredded after scanning.  We got a new copier about a month ago, fancy thing that makes you feel like you're on the Starship Enterprise.  After several weeks of tweaking, we finally got it to scan our charts and things were just perfect.  I found out that if we experience a jam on the copier while scanning a chart, a blank scan is created which will cause problems with "computer A" processing it.  Now, what you have to know is that we scan files to Computer A which converts it into a PDF file that is read by Computer B.  No one ever explained to me that the PDF files are stored on Computer A!  I thought they were "exported" to Computer B and stored there.  Again, I "assumed" and you know what happens when you "assume".  So, about 2 weeks ago, I was showing the girls how to locate the blank scan so they could delete it which would allow Computer A to continue processing the scans.  While showing them where to look, I noticed a bunch of PDF files.  I checked Computer B and yep, those files were show up.  So I did what any normal idiot would do and I deleted the PDF files, about 200 or more of them.  In my moment of uninformed clarity, I also emptied the "Recycle Bin" just to make sure the computer was running up to speed. 

Fast forward to yesterday.  Sissy was trying to find a file in Computer B and none of my February's batch was showing up.  After banging my head against the desk several times, I realized what I had not been previously informed. Computer A holds the PDF files.  The same files of which I had deleted 200 or more of.  We back up our systems but only use 3 cassettes so they write over the info everytime I do a backup.  That was a bust.  A technincian came out and tried to do a recovery but again, a bust.  So I had to tell my boss that I deleted all those files but luckily we still had about 175 of them that had not been shredded so we could rescan them.  Yeah, I felt like a schmuck and basically pouted the rest of the day.  What's left to do then?  Dye my hair of course.  I have pretty long hair, to my bra strap and I've been dying my hair for years.  Yesterday's inspiration?  Burgandy.  So now I have multiple shades of hair running from a cool burgandy on top with my often dyed ends ending up looking like a blackberry.  I kinda like it though.  Makes me feel like a rocker chick.  An old rocker chick.

My hubby just smiled, actually said cool when he saw it went back to watching TV.  So, what's next?  Mardi Gras parade in Shreveport tomorrow with my sisters (no New Orleans for us - we're not stupid aside from what this post may imply about me).  And I'm going to start running next week at the gym. 

Have a great week!

Letting go...

So yesterday my husband hands me the title to our Ford Escape which we originally bought for me but gave to my daughter when she turned 16 and told me I needed to fill out the paperwork to have it transferred into Courtney's name.  I know it's time, she's going to be 22 in May and just got her RN license and job but my heart still fell.  I told him that if I did the paperwork, that it is just one step closer to her leaving us.  She just finished college in December, got a job in the NICU at RRMC and passed her NCLEX in February.  She's making enough to be comfortably on her own.  But I don't want her to go.  She is such an extension of myself that I feel like I'm being torn in two.  People always said we were like the Gilmore Girls, we have fun together, like the same stuff, can finish each other's sentences...  My husband is ready for it to be just the 2 of us since our son Ben moved out shortly after graduation last year.  It's never been just the 2 of us.  I have no idea how to act.  What will we do together?  What will we talk about?  What if he finds me boring?  I mostly am a homebody.  I love reading, watching TV and planning stuff that I never actually do (I am the spokesperson for Procrastinators R Us).  What to do???  I've always lived for my kids, revolved my life around them.  Makes me wonder what else there is out there that I would like. 
I guess this blog is going to be about letting go, embracing life and loving with all my heart.  Hope ya'll enjoy the ride.....