GUESS WHAT?!?!!

I picked a grape tomato yesterday!!

However, I ate it before I could take a picture of it as proof.....






Bring on the acid-induced canker sores..........

Weekend Wrap-up

Netflix Movie of the Weekend: "Finding Forrester." A modern-day "Dead Poet's Society." Decent rental, but I felt there were story lines that could have been expanded a bit more.
~~
Cinema Movie of the Weekend: "The Dark Knight" After getting through the 15" of previews the movie was an additional 2.5h long! The buzz with the release was of Heath's assumed Oscar nod because of his death. No, I think he truly deserves this. Heath loved doing the challenging roles to amde him alter his accent, and being the Joker was that challenge. He re-defined The Joker; not as campy as Jack Nicholson's redition. This was, by far, the best Batman movie to be released.
~~
Weight Watcher's Update: At the close of Week 7 I dropped another 3.5# giving me a total loss of 20.6#!! 10% is now less than 5# away. I'm still about half-way of what I'd like to lose.

Start: 258
Current: 237.4
10%: 233
Goal: 220-ish
~~
Caption Contest Winner! This week we have a NEW WINNER!! Ace is this week's winner with, "I feel pretty, oh so pretty!"
~~
Not a bad weekend to report; didn't really do a whole lot. The usual domestic crap like laundry. Went and saw "The Dark Night" which was very good, to say the least.

Grilled/smoked a bunch of stuff last night; a.5# turkey breast, Italian turkey burgers, and pollock. That should keep us going for most of the week.

Mallory started cutting Tooth #3 (right upper) last week and I believe I see Tooth #4 (left upper) getting ready to poke through. Walking better though crawling is still the preferred method of motation. She's 10 months old today!!!

She had her 9m appointment a couple of weeks ago and I've had a few people ask how Mallory and Jenna compare at the same age. I dug out Jen's baby book to look at her stats. At 9m, Jenna was 22.6# and 29".

Mallory? 28.5" (essentially the same length) and 20.5#; a full 2# smaller than Jenna. Mallory is long and lean. Again, I think part of this is because Mallory was crawling much sooner than Jenna did, therefore, is burning calories faster.

Caption Contest!!

Netflix Movie of the Week: "Fletch" (1985) Why do I listen to my husband?? Granted, some of Chevy's one-liners were funny but an over-all dorky movie.

~~

It's Friday, right? This week's contest is CAPTION. Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!!

Belated Weekend Wrap-up

Netflix Movie of the Weekend: "Manchurian Candidate " (2004) Interesting movie.....not horrible. Glad I didn't pay full-price to see it. Meryl Streep plays a really good political beotch.
~~
Mals and I had a delightful weekend! Steve and Jen left for DSM Friday evening and he came back solo yesterday as Jenna was to spend a few days with gramma. The plan was to get her back tomorrow, but it looks like she'll stay another night and we'll get her Wednesday (YAY!!). It was a relaxing time with just Mallory. I clearly felt muchless stress with just her than with Steve and Jenna around.

Mom palled around with us Saturday and after having lunch we went to Hobby Lobby and spent over an hour there. I picked up a collage frame and a shadow box to work on a couple of projects and helped mom with some decorating ideas for her sun room.

I had my eye appointment yesterday to discuss my keratoconus in further detail. Dr. Liu is clearly not concerned about my condition.

I got glasses when I was 13-ish. Probably around 18 or so is when my vision and prescription changed a lot; I became more near-sighted and astigmatism popped up. Thesea are both signs of keratoconus. Within the last 6 years (I'm guessing) my prescription hasn't really changed much; maybe some tweeking here and there but nothing major. So my bet is that I developed adult-onset KC. Dr. Liu told me that in severe cases when a person is around 13 their visision is already crappy (my words) and by theire 20s or 30s they've had a corneal transplant. Not so with me.

We discussed treatment options, like corneal transplants, and riboflavin cross-linking. This is a proceedure where riboflavin drops on the eyes are exposed to UVA radiation. The UV cause the riboflavin to become stiff and thus strengthens the cornea. Sounds incredibly intriguing to me. He told me I can do this at home with super-complex B-vitamins and to not wear sun glasses.

Over time, UV radiation causes cataracts. I didn't think to ask about duration of UV exposure; if it's a quickie thing daily or constant no protection. Might have to call the office back and find out.....

So there you have it. He wants to see me back in one year for a check-up. But as it stands right now I'm good!

Caption Contest!!

So it's Friday, again, eh? I'm pretty tapped out with dry-humor, I-think-it's-witty-in-my-head humor so we'll just jump right into the contest. This week it's HEADLINE. Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!!

Bummer

NetFlix Movie of the Week: "Old School" I shut if off after 45 minutes.
~~
I had a consultation appointment yesterday with Omaha Eye & Laser Institute to discuss iLASIK; a new form of LASIK surgery approved by NASA and the Navy Seals. I have moderately bad vision; I don't remember my axis numbers and all that but I do know that my prescription translates to approximately 20/300 in both eyes. I have a decent astigmatism which gives me blurred vision without lenses; uncorrected when looking at something from a distance I'll see (faintly) the main object with heavy shadows of that object on either side.

The last time I discussed LASIK with my optometrist was a couple of years ago and he said my prescription was severe enough that if I have the procedure done I'll need need reading glasses. So what's the point, right? Plus, this is my only set of eyes and if they get messed up I'm boned.

But I had been hearing about this new iLASIK and thought I'd go talk and see what they could tell me. I had a series of scans of my eyes before I met with one of the doctors. She came in to discuss her findings and my options. She came right out and said I am clearly not a candidate for any kind of LASIK procedure because I have keratoconus.

Kerato-WHAH?!?!?

I had never heard of this condition which was very evident by the look of surprise on my face. Basically keratoconus is a progressive, degenerative disease of the cornea where, instead of maintaining the rounded shape, the cornea thins out and becomes shaped like a cone. As the cornea is what refracts light having a mis-shapen cornea will alter what a person sees. Keratoconus makes people very mear-sighted (of which I am) and causes a high degree of astigmatism (of which I have).

It developes in the teens and levels out in the 40s. In rare cases it can develop into corneal hydrops. My case is mild and my vision is still corrected by lenses. The first doctor wasn't really concerned about it as I'm 34 and still mild. But I do have an appointment Monday with one of the Big Cheese docs to discuss this further.

Music Review

There are usually two internet radio stations I listen to at work; either Pandora or Dave Koz.

Pandora is a great site my boss told me about last year. It's a site where you can explore artists that share similar musical qualities. Par example; if you like Leo Kottke (which I highly recommend) but aren't sure if there are any other artists that have his particular sound you would created a station and Pandora (through the Music Genome Project) will pull up a whole slew of artists that are similar in sound and you can vote 'yes' or 'no' if you like the song. I have discovered so many different artists and my mp3 collection keeps getting bigger. I highly recommend this site if you want to expand your likes.

The other one I like is the Dave Koz Radio Show; a weekly, two-hour smooth jazz radio show hosted by Dave Koz who is a phemon on the sax. On the internet the show is sans commercial (a bonus) and he brings in guest artists and plays new stuff, old stuff, smooth R&B. A nice mixture.

I try to keep up with smooth jazz artists and this is one station that helps me out. A few weeks ago he played a song from Ray Charles called, "Oh, What A Beautiful Morning" from "Oklahoma!" His version was so swingy and happy you couldn't help but tap your feet and sway like Ray. The cut is from the album "Ray Swings Basie Swings" and, as the story goes, this was a European concert of Ray's from 30 years ago.

This was previously unreleased and undiscovered until a few years ago. The tapes had good vocal quality of Ray but the music bed wasn't very good. SO! The still-touring Count Basie Orchestra re-recorded the music bed of the concert. Producers did a PhotoShop of the music and vocals and VIOLA! made a whole new album. There may be a few times where Ray might sound a little dull compared to the new music bed.

To the purist this is blasphemy. But to the everyday listener (like me!) this is incredible and I play it often and I play it loud. If you are a fan of Ray I would recommend this album.

Another album/artist I discoverd just last week on Dave's show is a 19-year old singer by the name of Kelly Sweet. I don't normally "highly recommend" albums or get all excited about any particular artist but her voice is the most clear voice I have heard in quite some time. She's too young to have a voice like this. She's too young to be singing what she sings about.

The song Dave played is called "Raincoat" and it's Nora Jones-lite. Twelve tracks on the album and all are very mellow; a good relaxing CD or a Sunday morning coffee and newpaper CD. On her website (previously linked) four songs play; "Raincoat," "We Are One," "I Will Be Waiting," and her version of Aerosmith's "Dream On."

When you go to her site and "Dream On" plays (the first to play), I want you to stop what you are doing and LISTEN to this song. You may need a kleenex. She has completely redefined that song and with her voice she makes it so hauntily beautiful.

Song #4 is in French; can't understand a single word but it's beautiful.
Song #7 is in Italian; can't understand a single word but it's AMAZING!
Song #9 is in Sanskrit; can't understand a single word but it's incredible.
Song #12 just flat-out makes me cry as I think about my girls.

There is not one song I dislike on this album. Remember, she's only 19.

And she's GORGEOUS!! Give this album a go; you won't be disappointed.