Tank Tops! I haz tank tops!

I turned 37 years old last week----but I feel 37 years YOUNG.

This past year and a half of the fitness journey that I've named Operation Strong-is-the-New-Skinny has been a slow ride towards my goals.

However, I must say that I am fit enough in my arms, back & shoulders to wear the new tank tops that my parental units bought for my birthday without looking like a skeleton.


Photo courtesy of my Instagram account. :O)

 The cover has been removed from over the lap pool area at my fitness centre, so I've taken out the mask & swim fins this past week. I can tell that my body mass has increased, as I float much better than I did at this time last year.  Also, I , um " fill out" my bathing suit top {NATURALLY, I might add} better this year.  But more important than looking better---I feel much better & my stamina is up.

I'm still quite a long way from my goal of being " competition-ready" but I will achieve that goal in due time. Right now I celebrate the fact that I EARNED shoulders & pecs that allow me to wear tank tops & bikinis without shame.

On the eve of my 37th year

I turn 37 this month.

Actually , the date of my birth is celebrated on the 17th

My 20th high school reunion is next summer. { Class of 1994}

This is a time of great reflection for me.

I'm NOT the shy, scrawny  girl that most of my classmates will remember.

These past almost 20 years have seen both joys & sorrows.

But, the old adage is: what won't kill ya will make ya stronger.

Many women fear Time .

I do not: I embrace growing older.

I earned every "laugh line" on my face. I've much to celebrate  during this 37th year.

Perhaps that some people find their 20's to be the best decade in life. This is not true for me: I struggled throughout my second decade just as much as I'd struggled throughout my teen years.

I drifted from job to job & from doctor to doctor: No one knew exactly why my brain works differently & as a result I'd been in & out of various psychotherapies. { both pharmaceutical & other} I struggled with seeking  direction in my spiritual life while feeling entrapped within a toxic faith community.

Thanks be to God that I had the courage to seek out Small Parish & The Episcopal Church.

My parents are true heroes. I am eternally grateful to them for their assistance. Mom & Dad, as they always have went way beyond the parental " call of duty" ---and without their assistance I would most-likely be just another statistic.

Mom was the one who, through an associate she knew , got me tested for autism. Although I DO NOT let my diagnosis of autism define me: it is a part of who I am that I do not deny.

I'm entering my 37th year of life on this Planet Earth in the best physical shape I've ever been. Although I was an athlete{ albeit not a very successful one---especially in basketball}, my poor self-image made me struggle with body dysmorphia.

Not anymore.

My new motto is: STRONG IS THE NEW SKINNY.

I am Woman, so hear me ROAR! Bring it on, 20th high school reunion!

The little red-brick church in Ohio....

Lately I have found myself full of memories. Most of my formative years were rather painful, as I was misdiagnosed with several different mental-health problems & coming-of -age was harder for me than it is for most " neurotypical" people.

But there was one group of people besides my immediate family who always " had my back" { so to speak}

The people of Hill Top Presbyterian Church in rural Ohio, I salute you.

Since both my parents are & were unchurched, I was not baptized until the second year of my first attempt at college. It was a late summer evening late summer when I knocked on the door of the parsonage of the little Presbyterian church within walking distance of my home in Ohio. Normally I wasn't in the habit of knocking on parsonage doors, but I'd felt led by the Spirit Herself to walk myself up that hill & inquire about receiving the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.

When I told Jenny, the minister at the time, of my desire to be baptized, she said:

"Sarah, I have been praying for you to ask about baptism for a long time. Of course I'll baptize you."

Naturally it wasn't quite * that* easy. The Session{ the governing body of a local Presbyterian congregation} had to approve of my baptism.

The date was set for a Sunday morning in early October. I'd come home from college for the weekend & was very excited to be "officially" adopted into the Family of Christ who had nurtured my walk with God for several years.

Although I'm proudly Episcopalian, I'll be forever grateful to the people of Hill Top Church who took  me in as a " spiritual orphan" & formally adopted me into the Family of God.

" Pretty White Girl Syndrome" & Jodi Arias

Today the much-awaited verdict was read in an Arizona courtroom. After months of coverage on TV and online, Jodi Arias was found guilty of first-degree murder. 

I am happy that justice, in this case at least , was served. While I am against capital punishment---I do believe that Ms Arias needs to pay her debt to polite society for her remaining natural life. She is not, in my opinion, fit to be among polite society.

Yet what I am most relieved about is that Jodi Arias' case was not acquitted due { in part at least} to what is known in the media as " Pretty White Girl { or woman} Syndrome". 

You know the scened: a conventionally pretty Caucasian girl or woman finds herself in sort type of legal trouble. The national media descends upon the case & the American public is almost literally glued to the TV throughout the duration of said trial. After months of testimony & a drawn-out " jury watch" on HLN, the " pretty white girl" is acquitted of all charges by a jury of her alleged peers.

Why is the " pretty white girl in distress" such a media phenomena?  We see this fascination with the "PWG" with reports of missing persons in the mainstream media. How many missing women-of-color are reported in our news services? I cannot name one, but I can name several PWGs whose plights have captivated American TV viewers.

Laci Peterson

Natalee Holloway

JonBenet Ramsey.

Caylee Anthony

Elizabeth Smart

Jaycee Dugard

Chandra Levy


What trait do all of these " missing persons " share? They are all female, young, attractive & overwhelmingly Caucasian. Why do the mainstream media outlets choose to report upon cases that ONLY involve the PWG? I know there have been studies done upon this subject natter, but the findings of such studies do not satisfy me. Are only PWG's worthy of capturing the attention of our society? What about men & boys who go missing and/or are victims of violent crimes?

I AM a Caucasian American. My hair is naturally blonde, I have fair skin & bluish-green eyes.

My disdain for the Mainstream media's obsession with PWG's does not stem from my membership in a non-white ethnic group.

I am concerned about the propogation of the falsehood that White people are better than nonwhite people" that is still evident now if one knows where to look. If you do not believe me when I say that racism is still an issue visit some a town is Alabama, Missisippi , Ohio or western Pennsylvania. {I have seen evidence of a mentality of Caucasian-centricity in towns in all of these states.} My late grand-Godmother{ may her soul requisitat en pacem} spent all 90-plus years of her life honestly believing that people of African-american descend are somehow " inferior".

It is my wish that  I live to see the end of racism in our nation & as a society. maybe if enough people petition the major news corportations regarding stoping coverage of the PWG Of The Month we can evolve beyond racism once & for all.

Amen.

Dog-grooming.

Best Dude & I gave our Englsih Springer Spaniel Seamus, his summer clipping this afternoon. Here is a mobile phone taken after we finished{ three hours after we started Operation Clip-The-Dog}

I am sorry for the poor quality of the photo.

 Seamus did well with today's clipping. We sat on the back { covered} porch and used a set of good grooming clippers that Best Dude bought to clip his late{ and great}Standard Poodle, Fred.

This was my first time giving a dog a total clipping & it is much harder than I'd anticipated it to be.

Instagram addict

My name is Sarah Beth & I am an Instagram addict.

Currently I am still learning the workings of the Instagram social application. It has a neat editing feature, but I've only managed to successfully edit instagram photos twice.

I wish I could figure out how to post my Instagram photos to Facebook, as some of them are worth sharing on a more personal level with my Facebook followers. My device is not " data" adaptable, so I also depend on finding wi-fi if I wish to use Instagram when I'm away from home.

My Itunes still won't synch most of my digital music library to my new device! Grr!

Smile, you are on Instagram!

I'm slowly teaching myself the myriad the new features of my mobile device.

Last evening I made two { unsuccessful} Face Time calls. But I did see how that application works, even though **both** individuals whom I contacted via Face Time did not respond.

Anyhow, since my Ipod Touch 5 came with the Instagram app already installed, I finally bit the proverbial bullet & signed up for an Instagram account. In case any of my readers want to " follow" me here on Instagram, my handle there is: springermamma12.  But I warn you, you will not see anything salacious on my Instagram, I have this hunch that almost all of my posts will be of our English Springer Spaniel, Seamus. :O)

My Ipod is not data-compatible, so I'll not post pix on Instagram from every minute of every day---like one of the people whom I " follow". :O) But I try to embrace " new{ and Instagram is new to me} technology so we'll see how often I post to this particular social media platform.

Happy snapping, y'all.

Its here....my series of Videoblogs....

I posted my first video blog to YouTube.  If you want to follow my, email me privately at Sarahbethstaugs@gmail.com and I'll give you the name of my YouTube channel.

I'm not quite sure how often I will post the video blogs, nor what each post will entail. Some of the ideas that I've brainstormed are:

Books I've read or am currently reading

Current events{ and I promise to not get political , as I HATE politics}

Famous people whose work I admire & why I admire her/his work.

TV shows I watch. { I'm a big fan of NCIS, Duck Dynasty & The Big Bang Theory}

Right now I am thinking about my next vidlog entitled" Front Porch Vidlog: #Episcopalian.  Although I missed the proverbial boat  for the Church's "I am Episcopalian" campaign, it isn't too late for me to post my own video about that subject.

Upgrade to an Ipod Touch 5 #Firstworldproblems #bestBoyfriendEver

Best Dude gave me my birthday present early===he bought me an Ipod Touch 5.

Although I admit to being a total Windows devotee I am learning the Apple operating system slowly but surely on my new Ipod.

For those of you who do not know---the Ipod Touch is pretty much a mini-tablet computer. As a matter of fact, the ONLY trouble that I've found with the unit thus far is getting most of my music files transferred to the device. Naturally the music that i listen to the most is the music that will not transfer. :o/

The only music files that have successfully transferred to my new Ipod so far are the ones that i actually purchased from Itunes. { most of my digital music library is comprised of music I had transposed into digital form} Best Dude told me he thinks the problem is the anti-piracy software that might be built into the new IOS operating system. A friend of mine who is a BIG fan of Apple products said that I *shouldn't* need to deal with the problems with the transfer of my music that I'm experiencing.

Other than that, the Ipod Touch 5 is awesome! I am, as a photographer, particularly impressed with the quality of the " mobile" camera found on this unit. I've taken two photos thus far with my Ipod & even Best Dude is impressed with the clarity of the mobile photos. :O)

Did you pray today?

Did you pray today?

I was reminded this morning that today is the National Day of Prayer.

I keep a running list of intentions about which I discuss with Our LORD. Praying on behalf of others is easy, but praying for my own needs is hard. I've already been blessed with so much---and I know of so many others with much more pressing needs than mine.

Lately I've been more mindful of THANKING God our Creator for the many blessings I've been given.

My spiritual director once told me that even Jesus Himself asked for prayers from His friends, so it is perfectly OK for us to petition God on behalf of our own needs.

Well said{ as usual} Father Bob. Well said.

Anyhow, why is it so hard to discuss our own concerns with our loving God? Why am I{ for example} so self-conscious about praying for myself?

Hmmmm?