Swiper NO Swiping!!

Wow, it's been a crazy couple days out there in blogland. I've been reading a few of my favorite blogs and it appears that because they are posting Flickr banners on their sites or just pictures in general of their children on their blogs, there are freaks out there in Internet world stealing those pictures and using them for random reasons.

Kooky huh?

One blog chick was sent a link to some stupid scam site that was claiming to hold the secrets of choosing whether or not your next child is a boy or a girl. There was some lady on there stating that she had two boys and wanted a girl so badly and used this "supposed" technique and lo and behold she had a girl. Her testimonial was somewhat convincing except the picture she posted at the end was NOT her own children and had been lifted from a mommy blogger out there minding her own business.

There was another mommy blogger, that I absolutely love to read her stuff, that had three or more of her pictures stolen and even doctored. She found a picture of her daughter who can't be older than 7 or 8 doctored in a way that made her look like she was shooting up meth or something. How fucking sick is that!? Oops, sorry didn't really mean to drop the F-bomb, I usually try to sesame street it up but that's really messed up. She's a child for goodness sake. They took another one of her pictures and made some stupid comment about this little girl being fat and she's the size of a broom stick at best. This mom had a picture of herself stolen and someone else was claiming to be her. Pretty sad.

I try not to post pictures of my children on this site and have not given my real name and real location to where I live for a reason. There are some messed up people out there that have nothing better to do than to prey on others. I'll admit I have put up maybe two or three posts that have had a couple of pictures in them but I don't go all out like some of the other bloggers out there but realize all it takes is for someone to find that one picture that was posted and run wild with it.

I, like most of the other mommy bloggers out there, do this just for fun. It's a nice little hobby that lets me say what I want to say, how I want to say it and if someone stumbles upon it and happens to agree with me or gets a kick out of it then that's fine. I don't do this for anyone other than myself. I often catch a lot of grief from my husband from it because he thinks it's nonproductive. I say phooey on that and do it anyway because it give me a creative outlet to write stuff that's in my head. I like to freedom to be able to do this even though I don't divulge everything about my life in fine detail.

I know someone who was personally attacked via the Internet for some things they posted on a blog and the firestorm from that is still going strong. They have been struggling with it for a couple of years now and it's pathetic. This person has had their personal information posted in more than one spot for any and everyone to see and use as they wish. It's actually pretty scary if you think of it.

I realize that there are no real laws that govern what is put out there on blogs or other Internet sites. Every time I hit the publish button I am taking a chance on having something I say either taken out of context or even stolen. There are bloggers out there that have had an entire post that they have written posted on someone else's site except their names had been removed and it was signed with someone else's name all together.

I really don't worry too much about my stuff getting lifted unless there is some other big ol' girl out there that likes to bitch about trying to lose weight and wants to lift some of my rantings! I really don't talk about much other than that or so it seems to me. I do talk about my boys but I made the conscious decision a while back to not blog so much about A1 because he is at a very volatile age right now and I don't want to embarrass him horribly since I do know that some family members read this.

I blog about A2 because he's little and frankly he does some pretty funny shit. My husband is fair game but outside of some of the quirky things he does to make me laugh or want to choke the living hell out of him I refuse to get too personal regarding him as well.

Anyway, I just think it's a sad thing when you can't even post up a picture of your little one or really anything or anyone to share with friends or even just a wandering stranger, because you think they are the cutest thing ever, and can't trust that it'll be cool to leave it there and that everyone that sees it will agree that you have the cutest child on the face of the earth and leave the picture alone. (I know that was a horrible sentence but it makes sense in my head!) The gist of it: Can't post pictures because SOME people aren't cool and just plain suck!

So with all that said my final thoughts on the matter is this: Don't steal other people's shit. If you aren't creative enough to come up with something on your own then go read a book, don't try to blog using posts from other people. If you aren't that photogenic don't swipe somebody else's picture just to doctor it up to make you feel better about yourself, it sucks.

Whew, I'm glad I got that out. I'm was sitting here all alone reading some of those horror stories and actually missing my little guy this morning. He's at preschool again and while Monday was a different story, I was actually begging for alone time then, I'm currently watching the minutes slowly tick away until time to go get him. He and I spent a good day together yesterday (no preschool) and he actually cried for about five seconds this morning when I dropped him off. I stood outside the door secretly hoping he would keep crying so I could just go back in and get him but he didn't. He likes playing with the other kids. I think he cried this morning because he was still sleepy. We stayed up pretty late last night tinkering around with another freebie phone my hubby got for me. This one is the Sony w300i, it's the Walkman phone I wanted when it first came out last year but it cost about $300 at the time. It's got some cool features on it but it's taking me a while to learn the ins and outs of it.

I do have good news to report on the weight loss front but it totally goes against what I said I wasn't going to do the other day. Monday I weighed myself and it said 143.4 (membuh that?) and was determined to hit 140 by next Monday. I said I wasn't going to weigh again until then. Whatever! So much for that.

The good news is that I couldn't help myself and jumped on the scale yesterday afternoon at around 4 or so and guess what it said..........141.7!! I couldn't freaking believe it. I was jumping up and down hooting and hollering, that is until I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I kept on hooting but not so much jumping. I've still got a ways to go before I enjoy that image. I, of course, knew it was too good to be true so today I got on the scale again and I was right, it no longer said 141.7 but it said 142.4. I'll take it though because it means I've at least lost a pound. GO Me!

I put on a pair of green cargo pants today that are an 8 and they fit pretty good. I didn't have to suck in to button them but they do feel a tiny big snug across my belly. Not so much where I'd be humiliated if you lifted up my shirt. The good thing about putting on these pants is that a couple of months ago they use to cut me in two when I tried to button them and they were so tight in the front it was camel toe city. I'm talking the kind that hurts you to look at. I also put on my I (Heart) Twinkies t-shirt and it no longer made me look like I was stashing a case of them in various regions such as my back and under my boobs. It now just kind of fits like it should, a little snug across the boobs and loose on the side. I bought this shirt because I thought it would be funny for me (a big girl) to be wearing a shirt that pretty much advertises the reason I AM a big girl. My husband didn't quite get the irony in it. He seldom does.

I'm pretty pleased with the progress I'm finally making. I know it's not going to be an overnight transformation. It's more about feeling better and having more energy to keep up with A1 and A2. I like to kid about it being for the $25 but that's just one tiny incentive that brings out the competitor in me. My counterpart in this little venture is hovering around the -6lbs area, and while that's great, I really rooting for them make some more progress too. I want them around for a long long time and dropping the weight and being healthier is the only way that will happen.

Here's a thought, I'm thinking about upping the anty to whoever reaches their goal first not only gets the $25 iTunes card but for every pound the other person didn't lose of their 25 that's worth that much more on another iTunes card. So if my partner wins and I'm still 15lbs away from my goal, I would have to cough up another $15 card. How's that grab you G?!

So here's to kicking it up a notch and reaching that goal.