Hi CurvyGirls, You probably know by now how much I love animals. They have played a very special role in my life for which I am very grateful. The appeal below is from my friend Gina, a member of our community. Maybe you know someone who could give this little sweetheart a home. Please read – and Thanks! Debra ——————————– Cranberry was brought into the hospital while we were having our Adoption Day/Craft Fair on Sunday. A woman found her on the Schuykill Expressway. This 5 week old kitten’s eyes were crusted over so badly that she could not see. She was covered in fleas and seemed all grey, despite the fact that she is grey and white. I cleaned her eyes and bathed her. Unfortunately, both her eyes seemed ruptured. When young kittens have eye infections that go untreated, they can easily lose their sight. She was brought to a Vet hospital by a foster volunteer where she tested negative for Feline Leukemia and Feline AIDS. Due to her lack of sight, they thought either the cat would need a bilateral enucleation (removal of both eyes) or euthanasia would probably be best. I checked in with another doctor who is always willing to give advice no matter what time of day, and she thought making such a rash decision may not be the best thing. She suggested I drop the kitten off to her in the morning and have multiple veterinarians take a look at her. We set her up in our front bedroom where she ate half a bowl of food, played with a stuffed animal, drank a ton of water and then meowed for about 1/2 hour when we shut the light to go to bed. Monday afternoon I was informed that the left eye was ruptured and that the right eye was not much better. However, the doctors did feel that we could try to make her comfortable and she may not have to lose both eyes. She had a fantastic appetite, vocal chords better than some American Idol winners and a wonderful personality that makes her impossible not to love. Last night, while we were in the bedroom she darted after my foot and batted at my big toe that I was wiggling. I did not move my leg or my foot, just my toe. This made me think that maybe there is a little glimmer of hope that she might be able to see a little. She will be seeing an Ophthalmologist on Thursday night. Please say a prayer for little Cranberry and hope that she will regain some sight and that she will not have to lose both of her eyes. I do not think that she knows that she is not like other kittens. She eats and plays and PURRS….. and PURRS….. and PURRS. She loves our dogs and thinks that they are big furry toys. She gives kisses and loves to be held. We are not trying to “save the world”, just those that cross our path. She was headed somewhere on the Schuykill, but ended up with PurrFect Paws Rescue. It is only fair to give this baby kitten a chance. If anyone is interested in making a donation in Cranberry’s name, please send checks payable to: PurrFect Paws Rescue c/o Gina Daniels 2529 S Clarion Street Philadelphia, PA 19148 PurrFect Paws Rescue is a registered non-profit corporation in the State of Pennsylvania and operates as a 501(c)3 federally tax-exempt public charity. We provide the best care possible to all of the animals that come through our rescue. We are able to do this because of people like you, who help us. We can’t do this without you. Everyone who donates to our rescue plays a part in saving these innocent lives. Please help Cranberry.

OK, so I admit, I love to watch The Bachelor. While I do not watch TV much as a rule, there are a couple of shows I love. I do love to watch Kimora Lee Simmons – she IS fabulous. And watching her assistant, James, sweat through every show cracks me up. She runs him around and gives him jobs that put him in a tizzie and his reactions are hysterical but somehow James always comes thru. Anyway, the other show I secretly watch every season is The Bachelor. I did miss the season of Mary and Bryon, but I caught the rest. Actually while reading Yahoo yesterday I learned that Mary beat Bryon up or something like that. Is that love? I will keep you posted for the REST OF THE STORY. So, every Monday night after class I come home and get ready to watch the BACHELOR. When Chris, the host of the show, said this was to be the most DRAMATIC ever he was not kidding. I watched Brad Womack get rid of the posse one by one and the drama of the ROSE and who would get it had me and my girlfriends just about having an anxiety attack. That is how dramatic watching this was. The build up was trememdous and for sure love was in the air. All of our girlish fantasies come true. It was clearly DeAnna who was the strongest woman there and she let her feelings be known out of the gate. She was looking for a man and wanted to fall in love. But in the end, it came down to 2 women, Jenny and DeAnna. Well, my money was on DeAnna from the start. Big Greek family, so adorable and able to be romantic and let her feelings run like a surf board. As I was anticipating the BIG FINALE AND ROSE CEREMONY I settled in for the night and wanted to see this young girl truly get her KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR. I figured I would get some tips from the show on how to find my KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR since I have been meeting the FLAV’s of the world. Oh, I want the emotionally secure guy, with looks and money to sweep me off of my size 9 shoes and make me believe there are still those GOOD, EMOTIONALLY SECURE MEN who truly exist. Well, did I and most of America get the SHOCK OF OUR LIVES. Come on, we all thought for sure one of them would be flying high and getting ready to say I DO. But when I saw Brad jump off of the podium I knew the outcome. He was gonna let them both go – and he did! We all were in shock except probably ABC. Do I think it was rigged? Who knows. Either Brad has more issues than me or this guy poured it on to both of them with words scripted right off of paper. The ratings for the BACHELOR have been so low if they did not do something it was sure to go off of the air. But I truly believe none of those women knew what was going on as to only have their hearts broken. This is not over yet, as I have been getting email from CurvyGirls who knew I loved the show. Will I ever watch the show again after Brad’s big letdown? Only time will tell and, oh, as soon as I diagnose Brad’s mental disorder. Debra

Well, other than Super Bowl Sunday, Turkey Day is the biggest EATING day of the year. But unlike the Super Bowl, which is over in a day, Thanksgiving seems to give some people carte-blanche to eat for the next 5-6 weeks. I think that by starting with Thanksgiving and realizing that you can get through the day without eating the estimated average of 5,000 calories Americans consume (no kidding I heard that on the Today Show) the holidays will be much easier to deal with. So, here are some tips to remember: 1. Do not go without eating all day and wait for dinner. Have some cereal, fruit, oatmeal, yogurt or some other breakfast food that is nutritious. 2. By not eating all day and going to dinner starving you will have set yourself up for an emotional, as well as physical binge, so eat sometime before you go. 3. Remember, the foods that most people serve on THANKSGIVING are foods that are available all year long. You can always cook a turkey dinner anytime; so dont treat it like the last supper. 4. Eat sensibly. If you like everything, take a taste and move on. If you start eating massive amounts of food because it is Thanksgiving, you will probably feel horrible before bedtime and the next day. Eating all of those fats and carbs will send your body into orbit. All of your organs have to work harder to sustain the body and the heart will actually need to pump more blood because of abnormal caloric intake. 5. The biggest reason not to overeat is you will feel so much better for doing it. I have been getting through the holidays for many years and I clearly remember all of the Thanksgivings I stuffed and gorged because it was THANKSGIVING and that is what I thought I had to do. I have a serious talk with myself about it and eat consciously. Again, you can taste if you need to, but keep it under control. You can do it! HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL…BE PEACEFUL, BLESSED AND GRATEFUL. MAY YOUR DAY BE FILLED WITH LOVE. Debra

Well everyone, I think that the winter is finally upon us and this is a tough time of the year to stay fit and fabulous as you all should be doing. First, it is so much easier to come home every day and put on those warm sweat clothes and hit the couch than to get yourself motivated to get a workout in. I have heard every whiny excuse and reason for being sidetracked. Of course I have been doing this for over 25 years. Now I am not saying you need to get 2 hours, 6 days a week in. But you owe it to yourself to look and feel better and get those workouts in, just 3 days a week. One of my clients had a great idea for a challengeand tonight in class Ill discuss this and see who is up to the challenge. We will begin right after Thanksgiving. Most of us worry that we wont make it thru the holidays without gaining weight or eating until we cant breathe. I plan to avoid it. And so can you. Theres no magic potionor any crazy programs. Just the drive, commitment, determination and dedicationthatI make to myself daily to do my best and EATCONSCIENTIOUSLY.The challenge is to see who can stay on goal through the holidays and the winner will get a special prize, to be announced. This will be a fun weekly weight loss/get fit program. So, spread the word and bring a friend to workout with the CurvyGirls this week. And dont let the rain stop you or the couch lure you from the workout. Before you know it, the holidays will be over and the springtime will be here and all of your hard word will pay off. Debra

While I am all about women taking charge and being independent and empowered I draw the line at pornography. This website has been struck in recent days by website vandals who have been posting porn ads with totally disgusting language. First, let me apologize to those of you who visit the community regularly for having to see that. Second, please know that my great team, Richard, Don and Kevin are working hard right now to protect our site from this kind of disgusting spam, which I am told comes from Russia. Wherever it comes from I never want to see this nasty material again. Porn is degrading to women and should not be present on a website that is meant to be a safe and fun community for women. I am sending this out to all of you to thank you for your patience and to assure you that steps are being taken to prevent it from happening again. Please hang tight and know it will be fixed. I guess this is one of the pitfalls of starting a new website in this day and age. Who knew? What I do know is that it has no place on the CURVY GIRL WORKOUT WEBSITE. Again, please know we are working on it. Debra

So, I am out for a run yesterday morning with Hannah, my favorite canine girl and loyal companion and certainly the love of my life. My body as well as mind were craving a good heart pumping, sweating and invigorating workout and what better place to get a workout outside than the East River Drive? I love it there and can always get into my zone while enjoying the scenery. There were a lot of runners, rowers and cyclists and the place was packed. I was really motivated to get moving and to get my day started. I was ready for the challenge. I warmed up and set my goal at 4-5 miles. The sun was shining and I felt great. As I got into the 2nd or 3rd mile, the strangest thing began to happen to me. As I was running along, minding my own business my mind switched gears and thoughts of eating began to overwhelm me. Not just some food, BUT LOTS OF FOOD. Yes, I was having thoughts of binge eating happening between my ears. What was this all about? I just had these intense cravings and that was that. Where the heck did this come from? Gosh, I did not even have my morning coffee yet. Thats my treat after the morning run. I was taken aback as this feeling came over me. I immediately began to trace what could have possibly triggered this. Those old feelings of wanting to Binge and Eat thousands of calories was right in front of me and overwhelming me at that very moment. I kept thinking – What is this? I lost my weight. I dont binge anymore. It has been a long time since this toxic behavior had its grip on me. But this was real and I needed to get in gear to handle it. As I continued to get to the finish area the desire was getting worse. I began to negotiate with myself. I made all kinds of excuses to binge – the best being TOMORROW IS MONDAY. It was then I had to stop and really use my knowledge and skills to lick this thing before it took me over again, as it had many years ago. Back then I would have given in. But today I know better. I thought to myself, I have the power to change this. Its what I teach all my clients. You have the power to create change. It is the first step of the MAZDA METHOD motivational program. It is part of my soul. Honestly, I was almost in a panic. Once those feelings come over you it is so hard to get out of their grip. But as I done so many times before I was able to switch gears. I took a step back and told myself that this is only a temporary issue. It will pass. If you give into it you have no power. You will feel helpless and accomplish nothing that will move you forward. That would be a step in the wrong direction. Plus I probably would have been so sick to my stomach. That thought alone began to help me to get over this morning catastrophe. I kept thinking my face might puff up, my knees would hurt and that none of my low rise jeans would fit, Was it worth it? NO! The fact is this; I made a commitment to myself many years ago and that alone stopped me in my tracks. I promised myself that I would never feel that horrible or look as bad as I did 25 years ago ever again. My life today is happy, motivated and I have never felt as good as I do today at 53. In the short amount of time it took for those OLD, NEGATIVE, TOXIC feelings to surface, it was an even shorter time to get rid of them. Tonight as I sit here writing this I realize that at any time those feelings can come back to haunt me. I need to make sure I am ready for the attack. Listen, go out and have a great week. And start today and do not wait for the Monday that may never come. Make every day count. Debra

So I am training a client today and while listening to the news, as we do every session, we both stopped in our tracks when the headline said, beauty pageant competitor was told to FATTEN UP. Did my ears hear the TV correctly? I told my client we had to hear this piece of news and my first reaction was this was a gimmick out of Hollywood. But it seems that Miss England, Georgia Horsley, was told to put on the pounds. She is so adorable and at 5′8 and a size 4 – a stick I might add – she is very happy with herself. She has an athletic body. Im thinking, What the heck kind of athletics does she play? Any sport might break someone that skinny in half. One good wind would blow her over. However, she did say, and I quote “I probably would have been more hurt if they told me to LOSE WEIGHT, I think. Now Georgia, this curvy girl Debra Mazda, wants to know what you mean by YOU THINK. To me that means shes thrilled that they told her to gain weight and not lose it. Well, good for you because at 5′8 and a size 4 sounds pretty small to me. Like Barbie Doll size clothing. But as I listened to her she said shell comply with the requests of the pageant leaders. They want her to get curvy and voluptuous. Yes, did you all hear this? CURVY AND VOLUPTUOUS! To me it seems like they have the right idea and that women are meant to be curvy, hence that is what ours bodies are built like. The pageant leaders do not want stick-like models like the ones we have here in Hollywood. Most of whom need a big dish of macaroni, some garlic bread and Caesar salad with extra dressing. The women of Hollywood. Most of them have more negative body issues than the average American woman. Who would ever think they are good role models? They can just about manage their own lives, let alone tell others how to move forward. So why do we listen and watch what Paris and Nicole and their little friends do? Let me know so I can stop watching ACCESS HOLLYWOOD. Well, Georgia went on to say she will put the weight on and to her it is not a major issue, she is just worrying that the weight hits all of the right places. For her sake I hope she makes it, as she was very candid about the request and not at all worried about eating to put weight on. I might follow her diet real soon myself. Debra