How to Create Your Own Miniature Portable Sandstorm

Step 1: Have a Toyota Landcruiser with a bikini top. (Actually, any vehicle that can have a bikini top or even a convertible can fit this bill. I won't be a car-ist on this. Everybody needs to enjoy the sensation!)

Step 2: Have a solid month where you can't drive said car because the weather decided to go back to being winter and all cold and shit. Make sure to leave the bikini top on and do not convert your car back into "solid" mode because dammit it's just going to get warm again and you'll have to put it back on again. Also make sure that there is plenty of wind (100+ mph preferred) and that you are parked in such a way that ALL the sand in the desert blows through the vehicle. It must be very free-form, with little to no blockage of said sand, hence the importance of the whole "not converting it back to normal" part.

Step 3: Decide on a now-lovely desert morning that you want to actually drive aforementioned vehicle because it's going to be a delightful day and you really want to have some fun. Finally.

Step 4: Get into vehicle after brushing off the seatcover. Think to yourself, "Hmmm. That was a lot of dust."

Step 5: Drive slowly out the driveway and out the dirt road to the paved road. Again, think to yourself, this time saying, "Hmmmm. There's a lot more sand in this seat than I thought" as you slide back and forth on it while jouncing down the dirt road.

Step 6: Get up to speed (55 mph at minimum, with 65-75 mph preferred) on paved road. Realize that the wind that normally playfully swirls about the "inside" of the vehicle due to the aerodynamics (or lack thereof) that occur with the bikini top on is now swirling around you with the stings of billions of little pieces of sand that is being sucked up off the floor, out of the seat covers, etc. Shriek at your children to shut their eyes and to cover their mouths as you attempt to squint, drive and spit out sand at the same time. Have visions of the Sahara and wonder what it's like to be a camel in the middle of a deadly sandstorm and wonder if you will make it out of this alive or if you'll crash into something because you have been blinded.

Step 7: Drive at least 10 miles at top speed to get out all the dust. Arrive at your destination wishing you had camel-like eyelashes because damnitall, your eyeballs are now full of dirt and really, really hurt. Alot. Have children giggle maniacally about your reaction to said adventure, losing all sense of dignity in the process.

The End.

Enjoy driving with your top down! The weather is lovely outside!

I Really Have to Stop Reading Bodice-Rippers and Start Reading More Important Stuff

Because the vast majority of the "serious" books that are listed below that I've read I actually read in high school. I didn't even read Lord of the Flies until I was forced to two years ago for a college English class! Ooof! Enough with the fluff!

Tagged by Fauve
Look at the list of books below.
*Bold the ones you’ve read.
*Italicize the ones you want to read.
*Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.

If you are reading this, tag you're it!

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True(Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible (not in it’s entirety)
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolsoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

We Interrupt our Regularly Scheduled Programming for this Rant from our Sponsor

First off, let me say that I am deeply saddened by the tragedy at Virginia Tech. In a perfect world, it would not have occurred. People wouldn't snap like that. Innocents wouldn't get hurt and killed. My heart and my prayers go out for those affected by this horrible incident and the families of those who died needlessly.

But I have to say that I have had enough of the BS that is coming not only from other countries but from those within our own about how this wouldn't have happened if only this killer hadn't had access to a weapon - more specifically a 9mm with high-capacity magazines.

How do you figure that? If he had mowed down a crowd of people with his car, he could have had the exact same effect. A bit harder to do, but still plausible.

This killer purchased the gun legally. He jumped through the hoops that are set up. He had his paperwork in order. He followed the laws. What he chose in the end to do with that gun, however, was NOT within the law. At the place where he purchased the weapon, Fox news did an interview and the employees gave the story straight - everything was in order, it was a perfectly legal transaction, and they had no indications that they should not go through with the sale. It was by the book. End of story.

The killer could have easily found the same weapon through the black market. Don't fool yourself. Far more weapons are out there and available for nebulous sales than we would like. THESE are the sales that need to be stopped, not the perfectly legal ones. But they're much harder to stop than the above-board ones. You know what they say - when you outlaw guns, the only people that have them will be outlaws, and you'll find that there will be many, many more than the government can control.

As for the high-capacity clips, since this killer was practicing tactical shooting at a range and becoming quite proficient at it, he could have been using 5-round magazines and still have gotten the same results. Once you know how to load that fast, it doesn't matter what size magazine you have. Ask a Navy Seal.

The key here is that his mental condition was undiagnosed and nobody knew about it. The legally purchased gun didn't cause these deaths. It was the man with the fractured mind behind it that killed these people. He just happened to use a gun.

My knee-jerk reaction to all the talk about limiting sales of guns makes me want to go out and bankrupt myself buying as many as I can before they take them away. I legally use my guns. I like my guns. I have no intention of using them for the same types of activities as this recent killer did. Why punish me, and the thousands upon thousands of other legal gun owners for the actions of the few?

We have a constitutional right to bear arms. This stems from the belief of our founding fathers that the people of this country have the right, should it become necessary, to take up arms against the government in times of oppression and rebel as we did against the British government. And while I honestly cannot foresee a time when this would happen, God forbid if World War III were to break out and all governments were to crumble, I want to be able to protect those I love in that dire scenario. Considering the state of our world, I would say that it's not entirely too paranoid a delusion to consider that there is a chance it might happen.

The end of this rant is the old adage that "guns don't kill people, people kill people." It's true. The millions (perhaps billions) of rounds of spent ammunition at target ranges throughout the country proclaim this truth. Not a single one of them killed another person. Just the target silhouette. And watermelons. A few of those, too.

I Like History as Much as the Next Guy

But this is getting ridiculous.

Every day for the last couple of weeks, three of my male co-workers gather at one of the co-worker's desk and re-hash the who, what, when, where, how and why of World War II. Specifically the Pacific Theater, the different Japanese and American ships and airplanes, who sank who, and which Japanese high commander committed seppaku/hari-kari.

It's the same conversation. Dealing with the same ships, the same planes, the same battles. Over and over and over and over and over and over. Did you know that the last shogun of Japan became the head of their war department during WWII and that he committed suicide before the war was over and it was the second in command who was promoted to head of the department that the Americans ended up beheading after the war? I do. They've argued about which guy was beheaded five different times in the last two weeks. Five times. In nine days.

I'm going to commit seppaku pretty soon if they don't knock it off. Its that or go postal on them. Either way, it won't be pretty.

Fingers are Going to be Pricked at Some Point in Time

I have two weeks to finish a wedding dress that isn't even cut out yet. Impossible? Perhaps. But I've been under worse pressure than this before with a sewing project. If all else fails, I'll just take the Wednesday before the renewal off as well to finish things up. I've got the leave, so no biggie. I've already made a mock-up of the bodice and made my adjustments to the pattern so that it will fit nicely. I think once the thing is done it will look very nice up top with my corset. I may feel like the Titanic on top, busting out all over, but it looks good. It's been a while since I cinched the girls up - the last time was to go to Ren Faire.

Today, I brought to work the alencon lace that I cut from a huge piece of lace netting that I'm going to use to decorate my sleeves. I have to trim around the edges of the design so that I can applique it back onto the netting once I cut out the sleeve from it. I don't want to waste my precious sewing time at home doing this tedious task, so my breaks and lunchtime will be spent trimming away. Slow and methodical. This will be my first time attempting this sort of thing, but I have a grasp of the concept of how to do it so it shouldn't be too hard.

Tonight, I cut the sleeves out of the lace and I will cut out at least the lining of the dress. If I still have time tonight and I will start to cut into the silk. If not, then tomorrow evening. That should actually be the most tedious part of the whole thing. Once that's done, it's on to construction, which should go relatively quickly. I'm considering building the lining first so that I can get the whole length situation squared away properly and deal with the horsehair braid first. That would also mean that I can take care of some of the trimwork quickly on the bottom of the dress. Theoretically, dress construction should be completed by Sunday evening at the latest, which leaves all next week for the handwork of finishing.

We'll see if I make it. Wish me luck!

Monday Morning Fripperies

• There really are movies out there that I could watch several times in one day and not be annoyed or bored with them. Among them are: The Princess Bride, Ever After, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Addams Family, The Addams Family Values, Ferris Beuler's Day Off, The Mummy. There are several others that I'm probably forgetting. But damn, I know most of these movies are campy, but I love them to death. And I love it when I get to see them over and over again. It's a sickness, I tell you. And it's a sickness I'm passing on to my children. Muwahahhahahaaa!

• We are three weeks away from the renewal. I have finished the dresses for the girls (well, minus hooks and eyes, but those take all of five minutes to put on), the outfits for The Husband, Fezzik and Inigo. All that's left? My dress. I had to order some new bones for my corset so that's not quite complete yet but should be by the end of the week. At least it's functional enough to use for fitting purposes for the dress so it's not a big deal. And if I don't finish my dress in time or it doesn't turn out right? There's a dress sitting at one of the bridal shops in town that is totally my style that I can go down and purchase off the rack that will fit. It was a wee bit too small when I tried it on two months ago, and with my recent inches lost plus a solid corset, it should fit now. Backup plans are good. And thank goodness that the "style" everybody wants right now is strapless, because that means those dresses with sleeves just sit and sit and keep getting marked down. Bonus!

• There are a few topics in religion that really set me off. And I'm finding that as I keep my mouth shut more and more about them that I am becoming a powder keg about them. Not good. I need to find an outlet. Perhaps blogging about them or just writing up an article about them that I keep for myself will do the trick.

• Thing One sucked up some water accidentially with my Dyson a while back. She lied about it at the time, and so the pre-motor filter which saved the motor from certain death by H2O sat wet for some time. As a result, it molded because it couldn't dry properly, and now the "lifetime filter" has to be replaced, which means ordered and wait for it to be shipped. Color me pissed. I am without vacuum, and since my house was just impregnated with dirt from the latest windstorm, it makes for a very unhappy mommy because it feels like we are living in filth.

• Speaking of our latest windstorm, can we please have Spring and be able to keep it? Pretty please? This is utterly ridiculous. Next thing you know, it will snow here, which usually only happens when hell freezes over. And the way the weather's been lately it seems like it just might.

• The Husband needs to do like Frankie says and just RELAX. There really was a valid reason why we eloped the first time. The man gets so flustered when something doesn't go according to plan and reacts at about 20 times the level that he should. Plans don't always work, darling. I know you're under extra stress with the damn headaches, but take a chill pill about this. Why don't you go back to the whole "just tell me when to show up" mentality and let me deal with the little hiccoughs that go along with planning an event, okay? That way you won't have an aneurism and I won't become a widow.

• Damn, but I love 80s music. I loaded up some of our old CDs onto the iPod and am totally loving it. Big hair bands rocked! And when I look at all the photographs that I just scanned in for the photoshow for the renewal, I realized just how 80s The Husband and I really were/are. And speaking of that, I realized looking at those photos that my hairstyle has essentially not changed much in the last 20 years. Just a little bit of change here and there and a few color variations, but it's basically the same. Ooof. Oh well. I'm not one to go out and get a sassy short new do and there's not much difference between longer cuts if you don't want obvious bangs so what are ya gonna do, right?

• One of The Husband's co-workers needs to lay off on the hunt for the "triggers" for The Husband's cluster headaches. Dude, it's a trigger that set off the whole series, not a trigger for each headache. I know you mean well, but just because The Husband drank a Red Bull doesn't mean that he's going to get a headache this evening. He's getting a headache because it's a CLUSTER of headaches. This is a whole lot more over-arching than you think. You're a sweet guy and I'm appreciative that you care, but just stop already.

• The Husband participated in our annual Biker Blessing and Ride this weekend. And now he wants a Harley Davidson. A vibrator. Sweet fucking hell. We just got you your FJR. Enjoy it. We have to win the lottery for you to get a Harley at this stage. Smooches from The Wife.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to My Support Group Meeting . . .

You can file this under "Shit That Only Happens to Me."

So yesterday my friend A and I went to Delano for one of my surgeon's WLS support meetings. A is in the process of getting approved for the DS and needed to attend one of the meetings to satisfy Dr. K's requirement of support group attendance before surgery. Traffic was really heavy, and in between Tehachapi and Bakersfield, there's this long stretch where there's a large grassy median between the two sides. We're trucking along, when all of a sudden people start slowing down and then suddenly braking. Oh crap. Then we see it.

A couple cars ahead, there was this sudden explosion of feathers. And mixed in with the feathers were all these tiny ducklings flying everywhere! Seriously, people, it looked like one of those cartoon explosions when somebody gets hit with a hammer and stars and little birds are flying around. Except this time it was feathers and tiny ducklings.

A and I are shrieking, "Don't hit the ducklings! Don't hit the ducklings!" as we drive through the feathers. We look at each other and A says, "Should we go back and check?" Oh hells, yeah! So we flip a bitch across the median, flip another one after where the feather pile was, pull over and run on back. Mama duck and one duckling are toast - roadkill pizza. But there, hiding in the grass, are seven other little guys, peeping their little hearts out. Half squeak and half peep as it were.

.

We chase them around the median (thank God it's large), manage to get six of them, while the seventh runs across the highway into the really high grass on the other side. A dashes over and tries to find him but there was just no way she could see him. She comes back over and we find a soft-sided cooler in her car to stash the little guys in. They're a bit shook up, and are VERY loud about their distress. No apparent injuries. They're still downy so there's no way they could have survived on their own at this stage without mama.

When we got to the meeting, I called The Husband to let him know that we were okay. He asked if there was any drama on the trip over because he knows how icky the traffic to Bakersfield can get, and I said, "Ummm, well, there were a lot of cars on the road, but, ummm, we rescued six ducklings cause their mama got hit and I'm bringing them home." I could just picture the stunned look on his face. To his credit, he didn't say anything but, "I'll get the brooder ready."

.

We leave the ducklings in the cooler (with the lid open) and the windows partially down while we go to our meeting. We come back to the car, and lo and behold, they had all jumped out, of course. So we spent about 10 minutes chasing the little buggers around the car with flashlights to corral them all and then another ten minutes cleaning up the messes they made. Half a dozen ducklings really poop alot in an hour's time, people!

I got home around 10 p.m., and the brooder was all set up with hay, water, food and a light for them. This morning all six were huddled together, a bit cold, but alive and they had eaten about half of the food and drank a whole lot of water, so I think they'll make it.

After last week's debacle with the premature newborn lamb that I couldn't save, this was a good balm to soothe my animal husbandry side. Make way for Ducklings!

.

Are we dead to beauty?

Absolutely incredible. A virtuoso violinist plays at the Metro and is virtually ignored. While I'm shocked, I'm not surprised. We are so inured to things anymore that the daily flashes of beauty get ignored. We have our routine. Anything that deviates from it is ruthlessly cut out.

I would have loved to have been there to listen to it. But I'm also smart enough to know that I may just have ignored him as well.

Link courtesy of Miss Snark.

Hi, My Name is Sarah, I'm a Movie Junkie!

I have blatantly stolen this from Sharon, because I'm a bit in the dumps today. The past 24 hours saw both a new arrival at the sheeple ranch and a departure. One of our adolescent girls gave birth to a baby boy last night at about 5 p.m., but he just didn't have the strength to stand. He made it through the night, so I took him to work to try and nurse him back to health. It didn't work. He died about two hours ago. Fuck. Again, at least we tried, right?

Anyway, the "rule" for this is that if you score more than 85, you have no life. Well, that would probably be me, cause I love movies - and I score at 128 with this list. So what. I've probably read many, many more books as well - again, proving that I have no life whatsoever.

Here's the list for your own fun.

(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
(X) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane
(X) The Princess Bride (I think I get bonus points for the sheer amount of times I've watched this one!)
( ) AnchorMan
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
(X) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(X) Anger Management
(X) 50 First Dates
(X) The Princess Diaries
(X) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
(X) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(X) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
( ) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
(X) Harry Potter 3
(X) Harry Potter 4
(X) Resident Evil 1
(X) Resident Evil 2
(X) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
(X) Lilo & Stitch
(X) Finding Nemo
(X) Finding Neverland
( ) Signs
(X) The Grinch
(X) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Only if we're talkinng the ORIGINAL one here.)
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(X) 13 Going on 30
(X) I, Robot
(X) Robots
( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(X) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
(X) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(X) Never Been Kissed
( ) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(X) King Kong (Again with the original here!)
( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(X) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
(X) Final Destination
(X) Final Destination 2
(X) Final Destination 3
(X) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
(X) Surviving Christmas
(X) Flubber
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(X) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
(X) Hellboy
() Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
(X) The Whole Nine Yards
(X) The Whole Ten Yards
(X) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(X) Ten Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
( ) Gothika
(X) Nightmare on Elm Street
(X) Sixteen Candles
(X) Remember the Titans
(X) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(X) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
(X) Bad Boys
(X) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Sleven
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
(X) Ocean’s Twelve
(X) Bourne Identity
(X) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
(X) Predator I
(X) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(X) Ice Age
(X) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
(X) Independence Day
(X) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
(X) Christine
( ) E.T.
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(X) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds (Both the original and the remake)
(X) Rush Hour
(X) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(X) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She’s All That
(X) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(X) Mars Attacks
(X) Event Horizon
(X) Ever After (Again, do I get bonus points for the sheer number of times I've watched it?)
(X) Wizard of Oz
(X) Forrest Gump
(X) Big Trouble in Little China
(X) The Terminator
(X) The Terminator 2
(X) The Terminator 3
(X) X-Men
(X) X-2
(X) X3
(X) Spider-Man
(X) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
( ) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday
(X) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
(X) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
(X) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
(X) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
(X) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
(X) Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
(X) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(X) Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Base-ketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
(X) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(X) Monsters Inc.
(X) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(X) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(X) Hulk
(X) Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
(X) Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(X) Waterworld
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 1
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 2
(X) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
(X) Army of Darkness
(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(X) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(X) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks: Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks: The Battle For Endor
(X) The Matrix
(X) The Matrix: Reloaded
(X) The Matrix: Revolutions
(X) Animatrix
(X) Evil Dead
(X) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(X) Silence of the Lambs
(X) Hannibal

Size 8

Yup. That would be me. Well, actually 7 and a half does fit, but I think that it will be too tight for a little bit longer, so I didn't want to go there and just went with the 8.

What? Oh! It's my ring size, silly! After one too many close calls with my wedding rings, I had to take them in to be sized down because the ring keepers irritate my skin too much. I haven't been a size 8 in rings, in, well, forever. I honestly can't remember back that far, even when I was a more normal weight my fingers were always fatter than the rest of me in that regard.

While I may not fit into a size 8 jean just yet, my relatively new size 18 jeans have begun to sag and bag in the ass and thighs and my size 18/20 shirts are much looser than they were. The pounds are slinking off slowly, but the inches are moving much quicker at this point, and I suppose that's all for good. I'll take the inches gone over pounds gone any day of the week!

Since I've reached the 100+ pound loss point, I really don't feel it necessary to tell people just how much I've lost unless they're very close friends or family. So to describe the situation, I've started telling people that I've "lost a runway model." Hee! I figure that's just about right, skin and bones that most of them are.

My question for the day is this: When did you stop telling people how much you had lost and instead gave a visual reference or something else to answer their curiosity? Post a comment and let me know.

Oh, and by the way . . .

ONE HUNDRED POUNDS LOST! Whooooo-Hooooooo! And no, it's not an April Fools thing. Hee!

As I promised. Finished tattoo pictures!

It's done! Whoo-hoo! And I am ever so happy. It's so beautiful that I can't even describe it. So, you'll just have to rely on the picture.

The Husband asked me what kind of flower the pink/red one at the top was cause he thought it looked like a jalapeno. Dude, it's a fuscia. I think. For all I know, it could be a jalapeno. It's pretty, so who cares.

We also added another member to the family this weekend - a male Queensland Heeler (a.k.a. Australian Cattle Dog) named Dusty. One of the enlisted families on base had to get rid of their dog in less than a week because the new duty station they were going to couldn't give them information if they could bring their dog. And since we have so much space, as well as sheep to keep the Queensland happy and busy, they felt we were a good match. He's a love and absolutely gorgeous. Everybody seems to get along just fine so far, and while he's still settling in and is a bit nervous, I think it's going to work out well. We've had a Queensland before, and adored it, and can't imagine that this would be any different. So welcome to the menagerie, Dusty. We love you already.