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The first day of school has come and gone. I really missed having an open house this year. My youngest entered the eighth grade, and they stop at seventh grade at Hoxie. Of course my eighth and 10th graders were NOT ready for school to begin.

I picked Brad up, but Briar had football practice, so I didn’t get to talk to him right away. I asked Brad how his first day was when he got in the car… “It sucked,” was his response. Which wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

Brad has only one class with his “best” friend, but was excited to have a study hall and to have Mrs. Davis for homeroom… even though they don’t go to homeroom very often.

I believe he was a little unprepared for Mr. Hackworth. If any of you had him as a teacher, you know what I mean. He was one of my favorites, though, when I was in high school, and I’m sure he will soon become one of Brad’s favorites, too.

When I picked Briar up from football at 6 p.m., he just said, “Eh, it was school.” He did, however, make a couple of new friends. He has a tough schedule this year, but is very positive about it.

Even with the time they’ve had getting up early for football practice, I don’t think they were prepared for the school day. They were both exhausted last night. They were in bed by 9:30.

Once we’ve adjusted to the school schedule again, I think we’ll have a great year.

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Do you ever wonder why they say the “average” size for a woman in America is a size 10/12? Really??? I know a lot more women, myself included, who happily fit into the size 14 to 18 category. It’s quite funny to me that a “size” is actually used to describe a person anyway. Especially since every clothes designer uses a different scale. A size 12 in one brand would be more like a size 8 in another. While you can lay on the dressing room floor & squeeze your gut in to try and wiggle into a size 18 in another brand. Then, comes the joy of trying to get up from that dressing room floor! There’s some exercise! I mean, let’s face it, most dressing rooms are smaller than a closet. On a rare occasion you can find a large dressing room, complete with a bench or a chair. Ahhh… those are nice!
Since, I too am more of a curvaceous/voluptuous woman (let’s not use the words fat or fluffy), I feel your pain. Quite literally, at times. Don’t you just love “elastic?” Seriously, I do love clothes, accessories,and especially shoes!! Yes, I am here to admit it, I am a shoe addict! It’s very hard to find cute, trendy, fashionable items in “women’s sizes.” If you can find it in a size that you can actually breathe in, then it is usually very “matronly” or makes you look much older than you are, or actually makes you look “bigger” than you are, just because of the way it is made. Hmmm…. Now for every one of you lucky ones who truly are a size 6 or under, you might be saying “Why don’t you fat girls just lose some weight & then you can wear the same cute clothes that we can?”
Well, my answer to that would be, “Why don’t you skinny girls just enjoy a box of Twinkies every once in a while & then try to zip your jeans?” ☺ I do not hate nor wish any ill towards skinnier women, I really don’t. I am just looking at it from a plus-size prospective, and adding a little humor to it. ☺

Let’s all just be healthy! My wise words for those who are standing in front of the mirror & cursing your thighs, would be this:
Try to get some form of exercise every day. Try to drink lots and lots of water. Try to avoid eating “fast food” 3 meals a day. Smile, enjoy life, enjoy your friends, enjoy your children, enjoy every day. Finally, put on your size 18 jeans with some fabulous high heels, shiny lip gloss, and just be YOU!

In closing, here are a few funny thoughts…

“The hole is the least fattening part of a donut. Unfortunately, you have to eat the rest to get to it.”

“Potato chips are crunchy, like lettuce. So, they ARE diet food.”

“I’m in shape. Round is a shape.”

“DIET” is a 4-letter word.

A fat-free “diet shake” is really good (when you dunk Oreos in it & chase it down with some “cheese-doodles.” ☺

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