The big topic on my mind today is tattoos. This is a touchy subject to speak negatively about, because it seems to me that the vast majority of people have them these days. But here’s my unsolicited opinion–I think tattoos are terribly ill-advised. I don’t personally find them attractive, but I’m suggesting that even the most beautiful and ornate tattoo in the world is a poor idea, because it’s a PERMANENT fashion statement. Young people, young ladies especially, please consider this: imagine the very hottest and most stylish hairstyle, makeup, clothes, or shoes that you could possibly buy, today in 2014. Now imagine that you have to wear it every single day for the rest of your life. It may be exactly the image you want to project and exactly the statement you want to make about yourself at 20, but how will it look when you’re 40…or 60…or 80? You’re not always going to be the person you are today! Your life will change, maybe drastically, and so will your body!
I saw a group of college girls yesterday, shopping for items for their dorm room. One, I noticed from a distance because she had on a nice summer dress and sandals, and I admired her pretty tanned legs. Then her friend came around the corner, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, with a large red and black tattoo of a pirate on the front of her thigh. She’s stuck with that, forever. I just find it sad.
Some Christians believe it’s a sin to get tattoos, based on the Bible’s one mention of tattoos in the Old Testament. (Leviticus 19:28). Others believe that one verse has to be taken in context with the other warnings in the passage about pagan practices. Verse 27 warns against beard trimming, which of course nobody objects to nowadays. If you’re questioning whether tattoos are okay and you want to consider it from a Christian perspective, I think it might be more worthwhile to consider the idea that we are not our own, for we were bought with a price; or that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Ghost. But I’m in no position to preach or throw stones about keeping one’s body in mint condition (see next section!) and I’m mainly making the point that I’m afraid a day will come when you regret drawing pictures on yourself.
WHAT’S ON MY MIND LATELY: Weight loss. I can barely stand myself anymore, and something’s gotta give. Before we moved to Florida in 2011, I had lost about 30 pounds and was feeling pretty decent about myself. I had to starve all the time in order to lose that much weight, but I truly felt like I had gotten used to starving, and accepted the fact that being continually hungry was the only way I could be anything other than fat. But gradually the weight came back. I hovered at a certain amount for quite a long time, but now I’m suddenly gaining. I can sit around and think of all the different things I’m going to do, and yet I walk right into the kitchen…WHILE THINKING ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS…and open up a Little Debbie or something. I don’t understand it but I can’t seem to get a grip. I have so many excuses. I have access to a gym (at my apartment complex) and a pool, but I’m afraid to go to the gym when the office is not open…anybody could come in there and harm me. I’m afraid of certain diet pills or whatever because I have high blood pressure and I’m afraid of what they might do to me. I live in a HOT, humid climate where going outside for a walk or a bike ride seems laughable much of the time. It’s always something…plus, one thing that really is true is that I have a husband whose idea of something to DO is really something to EAT. Eating is the most social thing in the world to him…he wants to eat all the time and if I try to abstain, he pouts or refuses to eat (even if he’s legitimately hungry). I’m going to try again this coming week…and in the near future, I’m on the list for a clinical trial of a new weight loss medicine. I hope that might help me, but I’m afraid it might have ill effects at the same time. I’ve thought about asking my Facebook friends for suggestions, but a couple of them sell weight loss supplements and I don’t want them hounding me. Plus, it’s really an ego issue for me–if I can’t lose weight, I don’t want to admit I was trying to. It was wonderful in 2011, when it magically fell off and only after it was noticeable did people begin to question me. If only they had known that my life was falling apart in many other ways, but that’s another story!
WHAT’S GOING ON AROUND HERE: At the moment, I’m watching Hoarders. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine. Notice how I do NOT enjoy watching “The Biggest Loser!” No way…I want to watch something that makes me feel totally superior. One wonderful thing that Brian (my husband) and I have in common is that we love to keep a clean and organized house. We are not so much germ-aphobes, we’re not into sterilizing everything, but we love to have a place for everything, and everything in its place. We are ruthless cullers and discarders. We donate so much to Goodwill that I wonder if the tax man is even going to believe all the donation receipts we have at the end of the year. I love for things to look nice and for my stuff to be accessible. Just last week, my closet and drawers had gotten too crowded, and I cleaned them out and donated a number of things that I was not entirely opposed to wearing, simply because I have other things that I’m more likely to wear. You can only fit so much stuff into your space, and I believe that when you get too crowded, it’s NOT because you need a bigger space, it’s because you need LESS STUFF! Anyway…I watch Hoarders all the time, but I have a horrible lack of compassion toward the actual Hoarders. Seriously, I do! I want to go upside their stubborn heads most of the time. They start to snivel about how they feel guilty and ashamed, and I want to say “GOOD! You SHOULD be ashamed for having your poor children living in this filth!” And furthermore, it amazes me how many of them are compulsive shoppers even though they are unemployed. HELLO, I work full-time but I can’t AFFORD to be a compulsive shopper, so how can they?! Okay, I’m getting red in the face. Probably not the healthiest show for me to watch, huh? It’s not nice to judge. :-(
While I’m watching TV and writing this, Brian is assembling a new desk for our son. Brandon (12) is away visiting his grandparents, but just prior to leaving, he asked for a new, larger desk. I have some feelings about this desk. Are you familiar with The Five Love Languages? Well, Brian’s is clearly Giving Gifts. So many times over the years, I have been seriously saddened over certain needs I had that were not being met, because MY love languages are Words of Affirmation and Physical Touch. I don’t get a lot of that, but boy, if I make the slightest reference to something I’d kinda maybe like to have, he will move mountains to give it to me. This difference between us is something I find very helpful to be aware of. I would still rather have a hug, but I know that his gifts say “I love you” in his way. Anyway…Brandon is the recipient of Brian’s gifts of love as well, this desk being one of them. If my son had asked me for the desk, I would have said, “Your current desk is not very old, but we can consider a new one for Christmas or your birthday.” I would have given him something to look forward to, and saved myself the trouble of thinking up a holiday gift. But Brandon got his desk immediately, and I am already telling him to NOT expect anything too huge for Christmas. I think I’m going to write him a letter at his grandparents’ house, to drive home the point that this desk cost the equivalent of a week of my paycheck, and I want him to appreciate it and take care of it, and NOT ask for something else expensive anytime soon. Do you think he’d take it to heart? I don’t know. I am in dread of the idea of him growing up spoiled and entitled, but I’m kind of between a rock and hard place here.
So that’s it for me…what’s going on in your world? <3
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