Insecurities.....and some randomness.....

Insecurity causes people to make assumptions about other people's motives.

When you're insecure about something, you do tend to make assumptions when you see or hear what other people are saying and/or doing that to you may somehow be related to that something that you're insecure about. Funny thing is, your assumptions may be totally off base and wrong. What's that old saying - making assumptions makes an ass out of you and me.

Sort of related to insecurities - have you seen the video of Christina Aguilera at the awards show the other night? Such mean criticisms of her body! I mean - no doubt about it - the dress she chose to wear was not flattering to her current figure/size, but damn. In looking at her - I don't think she and I are that far apart in size - and to see the comments that some people that I know personally think about what she looks like in that "condition" or "size" or "shape" - I can't help but wonder if they think the same things about me since our figures are somewhat similar.

But then - that's one of my insecurities. While I do sometimes wonder what people think, I honestly don't much care about what other people think about my size and/or figure. As long as my husband likes the way I look, should be the only thing that matters. For the most part, it is. The part that also matters to me is how I feel about how I look. I've always had issues with that, regardless of my size. I'm not sure that I'll ever be completely comfortable in my own "skin", but I'm working on it. That's part of why I go to the gym - the other part is to get in shape and lose weight so that I will be healthier.

I know I'll never be skinny. I'm more than okay with that, because I don't want to be skinny. Skinny is not an attractive look for me - I almost got there one time about 18 years ago, and had I lost any more weight, I would have been borderline skeletal. I'm not going there again, nor do I think I'm physically capable of doing that to myself unless I become ill with some horrific disease.

One thing I'm not insecure about is how I look for my age. I am constantly told by people that I don't look 43 - that I look no older than mid-30's. It feels really good to hear that, and I am thankful that I took after Mom and Meme when it comes to looking younger than my actual age.

Anyways - the boys were happy to see me yesterday when I picked them up from the boarding office. I was told Dominion did a little better and wasn't overly aggressive this time, which is a great thing. I got the total tongue bath on the way home from the vet, and Dominion and Gabriel were running around the car, taking turns on the center console, going from window to window, and were just so excited to be going home.

Yesterday was Steven's 16th birthday. I can't believe he is already 16! We had a quiet dinner at the Golden Corral - his choice - mostly family members and 1 friend of his came. Of course the money that he got was burning a hole in his pocket and he had to go spend some of it tonight at Gamestop and online at Barnes & Noble. The rest he is saving for when we go see BOTDF in December.

I can't wait for that concert - Steven insists that I must be in the mosh pit with him and his friends. That will be interesting!

Oh - by the way - if you are planning on sending packages, letters, cards, etc., to Brian during his deployment - a couple of pointers:

*cards and letters can be mailed for the normal postage that you'd normally send something in the US
*for packages - priority mail packages generally take 10-12 days to arrive, and parcel post may takes 4 or more weeks to arrive
*check size restrictions for priority mail - if the package is over a certain size, not only will you HAVE to send it parcel post, they will charge you an insanely high fee on top of postage charges (yeah, I discovered this the hard way when I sent him a package Friday)
*send your mail and packages through the US post office - those places such as Postnet and other places that offer mailing services will tack on a fee - that's how they make their money

I know Brian would love to hear from as many people as possible - feel free to have your kids send cards and letters to him, I know the soldiers enjoy those as well - if you don't have his address, please let me know and I'll be glad to forward it to you privately.

Also - I may have posted or emailed this previously but it bears repeating:

TF TALON (Aviation) reports that one of their soldiers’ grandparents was contacted by phone yesterday and informed that their soldier was hurt while working here in Germany. The caller implored the grandparent to send funds by wire to help cover the soldier’s medical expenses and get them back to the unit.

This is a very common scam, but what makes this situation unique is that the scammer connected to soldier to the deployment to the family and then targeted them quite convincingly. Not sure where this species gets its intel, but the fact remains that this report is an initial indication that we are in their sights. Recommend we warn the FRGs and spread the word as best we can: the military has very effective channels for communicating casualty information that DO NOT include cold-calling less-informed relatives. Our only defense for this op is better information; let’s not allow our friends & families fall prey to this ass-clownery. Read the ones you care about into our program ASAP.

If any of you are contacted by anyone regarding anything going on with Brian's safety or well-being, please contact me immediately. I don't care what time of the day or night it is, please contact me. Make sure if you are contacted, DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY TO ANYONE, and please make sure you get as much detail as possible so that we can pass it along to the proper authorities. If, God forbid, anything did happen to Brian, the military would contact me first, and I would pass along any information to you all as needed.


Thanks everyone, I hope you're having a great week so far, and that you all have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!