How do you react when someone compliments you? Do you make a joke out of it? Do you blush and stammer and feel awkward? Do you thank them? Or do you just feel they are telling you what you want to hear to get something out of you? It’s getting harder to give a sincere compliment. Not because there are not good things to compliment people about. But, I feel people will not believe I am sincere or they will be embarrassed. It’s a shame.

Have you heard of Operation Beautiful? It’s random acts of kindness based where you leave a note for any stranger just saying something positive. Especially geared to making women feel good about themselves. You can join the Facebook group, or better yet write out some notes and leave them to be found around wherever you will be today.

Facial Hair Is Ugly - xxx.com - Don’t look like a man. Remove all facial hair to be beautiful.

The above was on top of my Gmail this morning. An ad supported by Google. An ad that abuses and preys on a commonly known problem for women. An ad that calls women ugly. An ad that sells based on bringing misery. What kind of trash is that for Google to pull? I was surprised they would run an ad like that. I thought Google was progressive and making an effort to have tolerance for race, religion, gender. I guess that only applies in some cases.

It’s so easy for advertisers to target women. We grow up being told how ugly our bodies are. How we need to put so much work into being presentable. Keep yourself pretty from your toes to the top of your head. Heaven forbid she might be human and not smell lovely one day, she might not have white enough teeth, her eyebrows might be a bit bushy, her left nostril might be a millimetre larger than the right nostril. Advertisers have been picking on women as a means of selling for generations. It’s time for it to stop. Google should know better and I really thought they were trying to do better than something backhanded like that.

Today’s babble will probably squick some of the boys/ men, so you have been warned.

It’s a period thing. When I was younger I didn’t notice anything about myself changing at this time of the month. I can’t say the same about the age I am now. Maybe it’s part of upcoming menopause or just the winding down of the female brain in general. I have nothing scientific, just mad science.

But, I have noticed a definite difference in myself in the day(s) before and during that time of the month. In total it’s not quite a week of time. I get a lot more sensitive and I have a big tendency to fall into a deep pit of depression. I’m writing this cause today I really can’t write anything else, I’ve been trying. I feel like my life, all the negative things, are piling in over my head and I’m being left in some hole to dig my way out when I wake up and feel better one day.

Yesterday I woke up and knowing I’m going through a bit of a rough spot I decided I would compile my limited funds and go out for breakfast. That usually cheers me up. At the very least I like the smell of bacon and eggs and when I’m out I don’t have to clean any of it up or get zapped by the bacon as it fries. All good things.

I made the mistake of feeling optimistic enough to look at the dating part of Craigslist. Why do we sabotage ourselves with this swill? I read a post that seemed really sincere, someone else feeling alone in the big city and wishing to meet someone. I was wrong, well sort of. I wrote a note. He replied. I sent another one and that was it. I made the fatal flaw of being honest. You see, men only want porn models, not attractive real women. It doesn’t matter who you are on the inside, only what you are on the outside.

I am sorry I let that one dickhead spoil what I was trying to make of my day. But, it did. I didn’t go out and I spent the day feeling awful and the most I did was wash dishes and make a blog post from a photo I had taken on Sunday. Pathetic. Normally, I would have gotten angry and not been down on myself, life and everything. But, it’s that time of the month and I seem to get sucked into this portal of despression so easily.

I’m glad it is about the last day today. I am pushing myself out the door once I give this a quick spellcheck and post it up.

I know I’m not the only one going through this kind of madness at this time of the month. I never really understood it till now. I’ve always thought it was just part of someone’s outlook in general. But, I’m not a moody person, I am usually optimistic, open and friendly. This is just not me and yet I am having a hard time overcoming it. I’m glad it’s only once a month. Easier to think of it as just 12 times a year, that sounds like a lot less.

Anyway, my sympathy to the other women out there who go through this (or worse) at that time of the month. Don’t do something you will regret later. Try not to email anyone in any heat of the moment. Do your best to pull through cause you know it will only be a few days.

See you later.

Here we are, not getting any younger and maybe a little more shapely and curvy than we’d like to be. We know the route to being thinner is diet and exercise. The problem is finding the motivation for this self deprivation and torture.

Future MILFs is an online group of women (not the only one) but I really like the appeal to a woman’s sexiness. Think of yourself as sexy rather than an overweight, older woman trying to get in shape. Think of all the head you will turn once you become a hot, sexy woman. Think of how great it will feel to turn those heads. Maybe this is the very motivation you need to get started and stick with a plan (your choice of plan) in order to become your hot, sexy self.

The Future MILF Club started as a weight loss group. Every Friday the Future MILFs post our "Weekly Weigh In". It includes pounds lost this week and total lost. You do NOT have to put your weight if you don't want to. Then include a little blurb on how your week went. If you dorked out when you got your gold star or stripped down to a tank top and bike shorts, a la The Biggest Loser, for your weigh in.

You can do any weight loss program that works for you so long as you keep your weigh ins honest. We want to know if you couldn't walk away from the Twinkie cause it will make the rest of us feel better for licking the peanut butter jar.

But as the club evolved we've all decided that we should open it up to people who are trying to get their sexy groove back in other ways too. Ladies who want to work on dressing like they did before kids used their shirt as a booger rag. Or maybe someone who wants to actually look forward to sex again but hasn't been able find their mojo since they had kids. Whatever your goal towards MILF-dom, post your progress on your blog every Friday. And post your failures too, it helps all of us to share.

But most importantly, keep a sense of humor. The name of our club was chosen in a tongue-in-cheek way to remind us of that.

Embroidery and Beadwork by Mary Yaeger

My female merit badges illustrate female "rites of passage" as well as the myriad physical manipulations women undergo to achieve cultural ideals of beauty, such as weight watching, whether or not to shave or wear makeup, etc. I've created tiny replicas of female products, such as a birth control pill pack and a pregnancy test. The miniature scale and meticulous, hand-embroidered surfaces convey my impressions of growing up female in our culture.

Female Merit Badge Descriptions for a Poster by Mary Yaeger