This week’s Tank Top Tuesday picture comes from Eku Egao, taken on her trip to trip to Perry, Maine searching for agates on the beach! “I’m a rock hound, among many other things, haha! I stock shelves overnight for a living, but my passions lie in comics, gems, singing, and acting.” Check out her work with a super professional fandub production of the last season of Sailor Moon www.youtube.com/starsfandub, “I’ve just wrapped up recording as the evil Queen Nehelenia. (I’m a total nerd, but I know there are other Sailor Moon fans out there who oughta hear this. Fat girl acting!)”

Thanks, Eku, I love this picture so very much!
We don’t often get to see fats in nature, as it were. Ha-ha! I wanna go rock hunting now!

**Would you like to exercise yoru right to bare arms?
Email your Tank Top Tuesday picture to: notblueatall@notblueatall.com

Tonight we’re heading over to California’s Great America for their Halloween Haunt and I’m a little anxious.

I haven’t been to a haunted house type thing since I was like 10 or so. It was a recreation center thing and my fave aunt was participating. I don’t remember what scared me so, it wasn’t overly professional or anything, but when I was outside upset, my aunt came to console me and I didn’t recognize her at all! She was dressed as a scary witch, I think. Ha!

This one is professional, and not cheap, but my lil sis gave us tickets and so I couldn’t refuse (she and her husband work for the Haunt every year). I’m excited, but nervous. Also, I sort of want to try to go on rides, but the whole publicly fat thing plus my BPPV (benign for of vertigo) makes me a little apprehensive, too. Ugh!

I haven’t been to CGA in ages. Funny, too because we’ve lived like 2-3 miles from it for the last 11 years! Last I went was with a bunch of friends after 8th grade graduation. Ha-ha! But I’m willing to suck up my fears and possible embarrassment to have a great time with my favorite people. I mean, I still get that initial jolt when I see a huge spider in my apartment, but now I don’t scream for it’s execution & removal. We just relocate them now (mostly my husband, but sometimes I get the courage to do it myself, too).

What do you get anxious about? Have you faced your fears?

I am a subscriber to Entertainment Weekly. I don’t read any of the usual celebrity gossip mags, but this one I feel covers a lot of bases, is short & simple and keeps me in the loop in the entertainment world. I usually get quite a kick out of it. However, this last week’s issue? Not so much. You see, there was a little blip/sideline at the bottom of  a page in the TV section talking about dream t.v. show crossovers. Several shows were mentioned, but of course my eyes were drawn to the only two shows listed that I actually watch: The Big Bang Theory (LOVE this show & still crush hard on Johnny Galeki) and Mike & Molly, which I know is overall a terrible show that perpetuates a lot of dieting myths and fat hate, but I like Melissa McCarthy so friggin’ much it’s hard not to watch it. Ugh! But this little sidebar dream crossover thing? Well, the first two shows mentioned were these two shows! The problem? Their dream crossover plot: “While Mike & Molly are visiting Molly’s pal Penny at The Cheesecake Factory and run into Leonard, Raj, Howard & Sheldon who offer to devise a sciencey way for them to eat unlimited desserts without gaining weight. Fortunately Sheldon’s grueling battery of tests causes Mike & Molly so much stress they wind up losing their appetites forever.”

WTF?! Really, E.W.? That’s your dream crossover plot? UGH! Those two shows don’t even exist on the same plane. BBT is by far the better show and certainly the character of Sheldon would not give a flying leap about weight loss or dieting much less helping a specific person. Ridiculous! And? Fat hating! DOY!

**Also, a big fat BOO! to The Big Bang Theory! When the guys were at the comic store in yesterday’s episode, Leonard asks Stuart, the store’s owner (played by Kevin Sussman) if he has a girlfriend, to which he says yes but then goes on to say, “She’s horrible. When she wants to have sex, she puts on her plus sized Wonder Woman costume, and asks who wants to ride her invisible plane.” UGH! Really? We never see this girlfriend or hear anything else about her looks, so why throw in the plus size reference? I know it’s not a major offense, but it is pointless and adds nothing to the story/character/plot at all.

After seeing a post yesterday on Adipositivity, I grew very excited for last night’s episode of 30 Rock, a fave show for sure! And I was not disappointed! The gal in question, Jen Ponton, was great as the Carvel Cashier who gets fired for giving cash to Kenneth for returning “misspelled” cakes (it was an intentional grift job). Well, watch for yourself, here’s the ep:

I get this catalog from a company called “Solutions” you may have even read some posts about it or their products on this blog before (before it was a dedicated Fat Acceptance blog, that is).I discovered something called a “bra liner” and the catalog carried Pambra’s version and seemed to have some good reviews. Well, being the “bargain huntress” that I am, I just couldn’t bring myself to pay retail for them. But I knew I needed something!!! You see, I believe I have Hidradenitis. Though I have not been diagnosed with it, it often gets misdiagnosed anyway, after finding others on Fatshionista and later someone started a LiveJournal Community specifically for those with it, I soon realized that that was exactly what I had. I had assumed I simply had “sensitive skin” or heat rashes. When it gets hotter it gets worse, too. UGH! And that means painful bumps along my bra line. Terrible stuff, let me tell ya!

So I headed to eBay, my fave place for open market bargaining! I bought a 3-pack of bra liners and couldn’t wait for relief! When they arrived I tried them and while they were a bit awkward at first, I did like using them. Only, after running them through the washer & dryer? They became misshapen and unusable unless I wanted to hand wash, dry flat or even possibly have to iron them. UGH! No thanks! So, when I saw another blogger giving rave reviews over the Pambra’s liners I was quick to comment with my dissatisfaction. I was contacted by Pambra that same day (and my comment quickly disappeared). Turns out, I had purchased an impostor! They offered to send me one bran and one tummy liner to try out.

Bra liner                        Tummy Liner Illustration

I received them and you know what? They were 10 times better than the impostors. Ha-ha! Go figure. But I can assure you, personally, that I gave it the old washer & dryer test (I iron no clothes!) and they came out perfectly fine! I have worn the bra liner a few times and still enjoy it. It takes a bit of coordination to get it on at first, but then it stays put all day! Nice! I only tried the tummy liner once because the weather has gotten colder and colder lately and I haven’t needed it, but it fit nicely in place (read how to measure on the site as I didn’t and had to remeasure) and I didn’t think about it much while wearing it. Cotton and comfy!

My lesson in this? Sometimes, it’s just better to pay retail up-front than end up with impostor products that simply don’t do the job of the original! Hard lesson, learned! This bargain huntress thinks the Pambra’s Bra Liners are perfect!

*I was not paid to review these products, though I was given a free sample (1 of each).
The above is an absolutely, 100% honest review.