DragonLady&#039;s World

Archive for the Ramble Category

Opinions are like…

By DragonLady on December 29, 2011

Everyone has one and they all stink. There are some things I swore off writing about anymore, but since I am feeling pretty full of myself, I changed my mind. I’m not saying that’s a good thing, unless you define good as actually blogging. haha I add this statement after I’ve written a bit: it seems as though I feel like ranting.

1. Tim Tebow. Please stop talking incessantly about him. I like him, but stop.

2. The 2012 Presidential race. Please stop talking incessantly about it. Ok, so maybe that doesn’t really apply in this case since we need to be informed about the candidates, but really, there are none when all we are given with any credible shot of winning is either a Democrat or a Republican. Yes, they all suck. Rick Santorum is the best of the Republican lot, and so, of course, he doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance.

3. Sarah Palin. Why is she still news? I like her ok, but would not vote for her for probably anything.

4. Michele Bachmann. I liked her a whole lot better before she started campaigning. I still like her, but would not vote for her for probably anything.

5. Political conversations. I know, I am violating this in a sense with this post, but really, I don’t care anymore. I used to care. I attended one of the first Tax Day Tea Party demonstrations (there is a YouTube video to prove it), and I drug my kids along with nothing more to bribe them but the promise of a Chinese buffet lunch afterwards. The only thing I regret about it is that I managed to end up on a Cumberland County political email list. But I digress. The left tends toward anti-Christian; the right plays the Christian “hot button” issues for political gain. Both sides are playing their base for votes and doing nothing to improve society’s ill(s). So, I don’t care if it’s a Democrat or Republican. They both suck.

6. Dismissiveness. This particularly chaps my hide, and probably because I tend to do it myself. But really the fact that I tend to do it myself makes me feel qualified to point out the unchecked arrogance behind it. Which is why it chaps my hide for someone to seemingly direct their dismissiveness towards me. Obviously it wouldn’t bother me so bad if I didn’t think so much of myself. Still, hear me out! Let me finish my blankety-blank sentence before you blow me off!

7. Prissy women. You know them. I don’t mean “girly” women. There is a difference. Girly women don’t bother me. Prissy women do. Get over yourself.

8. Joyce Meyer. Irks me. Battlefield of the Mind being the sole exception once you get past the Joyceisms.

9. Lennon/McCartney. Great songs. Solo McCartney. Not so much. Solo Lennon. Crap.

10. Honda drivers. Green means go. That means put your foot on the accelerator and press down when the light turns green, not foot off the brake and ease off for a quarter mile and then try to race when the Neon has had enough.

Um, I should probably stop now. lol

This entry is filed under Politics, Ramble, Rant. | 4 Comments

15 Random Facts

By DragonLady on November 30, 2011

Because it beats an empty page when I am determined to post something. Petra suggested it.

1. Because this has come up several times in the past month, I hate chocolate and mint together. No, it is not any better in coffee either.

2. I can eat Miracle Whip straight out of the jar. I’m not saying that I ever have, I’m just saying I like it that much.

3. I don’t like black pepper.

4. I would rather listen to hip hop than Dixieland jazz, and I’m not really a big fan of hip hop.

5. I cannot creep Facebook wall conversations without giving it away that I am creeping. Haha

6. Almost turned this into a confessional post. LOL

7. I have no tattoos. I do, however, have a scarred up left hand because I am clumsy with knives. I actually have a kind of funny story about the last time I had to get stitches, but for the most part, you had to be there.

8. I weighed 131 pounds when I left for basic training. I’m 5’10”. I was a stick.

9. Had some serious puppet skills as a teen.

10. Hallucinated twice during dental visits as a kid. Ah, fun times.

11. Has neither read the books nor watched the movies of the Twilight series nor do I have any desire to.

12. Has a weakness for Shakespeare’s sonnets. Hmm, ok, that’s kind of confessional.

13. Could only watch Blackhawk Down once.

14. Sometimes mixes writing styles in the middle of a post and refuses to adjust for consistency.

15. Can’t listen to The Nutcracker Suite without the urge to imitate the orchestra’s conductor…particularly around my children.

And I am every bit as boring as I thought when I am not being confessional. LOL

And I haven’t spell/grammar or otherwise proofed this.

Just before bed update: 16. I HATE talking on the telephone.

Yes I know now the title doesn’t match, but I meant to include that one about the phone and got distracted and forgot until I was driving home. haha

This entry is filed under LinkWhoring, Ramble. | 8 Comments

Pajama randomness

By DragonLady on November 11, 2011

1. What’s wrong with this picture?

Ok, that’s not really the right question exactly as the picture itself has nothing wrong with it other than the odd position I had to get into to attempt a straight-on photo that captured both door frames from top to bottom, and yes, I know I failed to get the very bottom, but whatever. So, anyway, if you haven’t noticed, check the dimensions. (That’s the numbers next to/in between the solid black lines.) Just as a side note, I seem to not be able to use Fireworks to do CAD. I know much of the non-squareness of this house has to do with its age and natural settling. Somehow I find it hard to believe that the differences in dimensions of those 2 doors – namely the distance between the facings at top and bottom – are from natural settling. All of that because the hubby suggested I build another bookcase between those 2 doors.

2. I ate toast today. First bread I’ve had in nearly 3 weeks. It was wonderful.

3. I cannot eat salad every day. Vegetables, yes. Salad, no.

4. I find it increasingly difficult to deal with people that I perceive are as full of themselves as I am of myself. Was that a dual confession?

5. I also find it increasingly difficult to deal with my teenage children’s infatuation with My Little Pony.

6. Am devastated when I find myself bitter over having to confess and repent of my sins that I ask God to reveal to me.

7. Ate a fried Spam sandwich about a month ago (pre-diet) to see if I still hated Spam, and thought it was good. That is unsettling as I imagine there are more “mystery parts” in Spam than hot dogs.

8. Needs to clean the bathroom. It’s nasty. So why don’t I want to?

9. What’s the deal with “pajama” in the title of the post? It’s 2:30 pm, and I am still in my pajamas, and might not change out of them all day.

10. Wants to sound-proof my office.

This entry is filed under Diet, Hobby, Life, Ramble. | 8 Comments

And now there is progress

By DragonLady on November 4, 2011

Today is day 13 of my “radical” diet. Day 4, I wanted to die. Yesterday, all of my self-control was tested when I had to go buy a new can opener because the one I brought to work wouldn’t even poke a hole in the lid of the can of tuna I planned to eat. To get to Walmart, I had to drive past a LOT of fast food, and I wanted a burger BAD! First thing I smelled when I got out of the car at Walmart was fried food from the deli. I want to add that I also did not find plain tuna at all appealing. It needed either Miracle Whip or the sleeve of Ritz crackers I found in my desk that I gave to the guy next to me in the office with the instruction “Get these away from me!” Of course, he ate them in front of me later on.

So how is it going? I have lost 5 pounds so far. I lost 4 pounds the first 2 days, and (TMI ALERT) I’m pretty sure I lost that in poop. Yeah, and I’ve been pooping like 2-3 times a day which is VERY unusual. Either a) I wasn’t getting enough fiber, b) something was stopping me up, or c) both a & b. So after the 4 pound loss, I gained back a pound, but dropped back 2. Yeah, I know, “Don’t weigh every day.” Whatever. I want to know the exact day I drop below 200. I’ll celebrate with a bacon cheeseburger. hahaha Kidding.

I have noticed this week, that I’m not having the extreme mood swings, as if I have leveled off. Now, that might not be because of the diet. High stress events are always followed by panic attacks, and then depression before I level out. But, either way, I haven’t broken down into a sobbing mess all week. I did get snippy with the other music leaders last Sunday morning in practice, and then turned right around and did what I snipped at them for myself…live…opening song. Ok, that’s getting off topic.

I have to say. I am so sick of eating salad at lunch I could scream. I made a stirfry the other night from stuff I just threw together. It smelled sooooo good while it was cooking, and tasted sooooo good that night. I was so happy to have the leftovers for lunch the next day, and, yeah, it sucked warmed over. I steamed some turnip greens and kale, and they smelled awesome while cooking, and tasted ok, but really needed cornbread. lol Why does everything taste better with cornbread?

This entry is filed under Diet, Life, Ramble. | 6 Comments

“Why do we want what we know we can’t have…”

By DragonLady on October 19, 2011

2 or 3 weeks ago the hubby came back from his doctor’s appointment, and first announced that his liver is fine (YaY!), but then said, “The doctor said to tell you to make an appointment with him asap.” Uh…ok? “You talked about me didn’t you?!” Well, of course he did. So, I made an appointment, had blood drawn last week, and follow up today. For not being a physical, this came close, and there was a LOT addressed.

1. His scales weigh a full 10 pounds heavier than mine.

2. My blood pressure was 110/80. That is the lowest my systolic (1st number) has been in YEARS.

3. All my blood work was fine. Specifically glucose is normal (I am “at risk” for diabetes – hereditary). Cholesterol is high, but not alarmingly high. We both knew that would be high, we both know why it’s high, we both know how it’s going to lower, and my good cholesterol is real good. Liver is good. Vitamin D is low, but I forget to take my vitamins.

So with that all out of the way, we began to chat about my issues. I have a sinus infection. Which I knew, and that manifested itself after I made the appointments. He put me on antibiotics for 2 weeks to kill it off, and told me to take a probiotic along with it to replace the good bacteria in my digestive system that will be collateral damage. He also is putting me back on a nasal steroid since it seems my nasal polyp(s) is back. I’ll take the Flonase for 6 months or so and see if there is a reversal of the sinus issues. If not, he will refer me to an ENT for the polyp, which really means I will have to go to the VA since that is a “service-related” (and documented) problem. He gave me another prescription for albuterol (for asthma), and told me to try using a dose before I run to counter that whole wheezing thing my daughter says I do. Who knows, maybe that really is why I couldn’t ever distance run – asthma.

We talked about weight next, but I’m going to go straight for the female issues first. I told him about the bouncing emotions from real low to real high and many points in between. We talked about my irregular periods, and he said “Since you are still having periods, it’s not menopause.” But most of those issues will wait until the gyn appointment I have to make next which won’t be made until my next period which who knows if that will come in a week or a month. He isn’t concerned about overall hormone levels, but thinks that my ovaries might be out of sync. But it might also be part of the cycle of stress and diet. Worst case scenario will have me on birth control for a few months to get me back “regular.”

Again, out of order, but I told him about how my hair is coming out, not in clumps, but certainly in large amounts when I wash it and brush it. He hadn’t checked thyroid, but would see if they still had my blood (they keep it at the lab for a week) to test that. I told him I have a cousin who has had thyroid issue (though I didn’t add that she said her hair was coming out in clumps), and that one of my AF doctors kept an eye on my thyroid because it ran to the low end of normal.

Ah, the weight. I told him about the exercise and that I have been really watching my portion control and eating less because I know I binge eat. I also told him I wasn’t looking to have had drastic weight loss over the past few weeks especially since I know muscle weighs more than fat, but even at that I should see a loss of fat somewhere. I thought I had lost some boob (that will be the first to go since it was the last I gained), but the girls seemed back to their “normal” size today. Finally I let him know that I had fully conceded that pasta was my biggest problem, and I know I have to completely cut it – at least for a while. Well, then he lowered the boom. It’s not just the pasta…it’s ALL the starches. Wait, WHAT????? That’s not just pasta, that’s potatoes, and breads, and BREADS?? Biscuits? Cornbread?? You know what else that means? No GRAVY! Then he went in for the kill. Starches produce a good emotional feeling which is why I run to them for comfort…just like smoking. (I think James told him about my pipe.) The last couple of years have been pretty stressful between work issues and family issues. The stress causes me to seek out comfort, which I do in food, and starches are my quick fixes since I don’t smoke cigarettes anymore. I’ve been treating food like a drug…getting “high” off of mac & cheese. (That last sentence was me finally fully digesting the issue.)

So then he tied everything in together. The emotional bouncing, the weight, the irregular periods might all be a product of starchy, fried food diet. “Are you will to try a radical diet?” He asked me that and I was pretty sure didn’t mean this Radical, and then thought, “I’m going to have to eat like Petra.” Not to imply that is a bad thing. I had already been considering it. Thankfully, I love fruits and vegetables. I also love bacon, but he told me only lean meats, and not fried. Yeah, fried is may favorite food group. Starches are second. So that leaves me with tuna and turkey. I really am not too fond of the lean cuts of beef. I can have pork chops as long as I cut off the fat and grill ‘em.

All I gotta do is stop loving starches more than I hate being fat. I’m sure gonna miss my mac & cheese….

This entry is filed under Life, LinkWhoring, Ramble. | 8 Comments

Stick that in your pipe…

By DragonLady on May 14, 2011

Back when I was in college at UCA, there was a particular English professor who smoked a pipe and for the life of me I can’t remember his name. I can’t even blame it on not being in any of his classes either because I still can’t remember my Comp II professor’s name, and I had to look up my Lit I professor’s name. Anyway, I can remember walking through the old Irby Hall just to pass by his office and smell his pipe.

Back in those days, I was a cigarette smoker. I quit smoking cigarettes about 11 years ago, and never really lost the desire to smoke. Well, a couple weeks ago I had a massive craving that lasted longer than a couple hours. But before it was really over, I started thinking about a pipe. So I told the hubby I was thinking about smoking a pipe. He said, “You can’t smoke a pipe and look pretty.” I can’t be 40 pounds overweight and look pretty either, so that’s not an issue for me. So I said, “Well, then I’ll get a corncob pipe.”

I went to the tobacco store this morning after a corncob pipe. All they had was mini corncob pipes, and the guy even complained that they kept getting sent those mini-pipes when no one wants them. So instead I got a cool looking (my opinion) wooden one.

I grabbed a bag of Cherry Cavendish pipe tobacco and it smells just like what that English professor smoked.

It is definitely not the same as smoking a cigarette, even though I am not inhaling it. Even without inhaling it made me a little nauseous. Methinks I need a filter. And I don’t care how redneck/hillbilly it is, I likes my pipe.

This entry is filed under Life, Ramble, Uncategorized. | 6 Comments

Running into your past

By DragonLady on April 23, 2011

I’ve been going through my old cd/dvd backups and restoring photos and documents to my new desktop, since I have officially made it my main computer since about the first week in January. Since I have a huge hard drive in it (compared to all our other computers combined), I have the storage space. Anywho, I had found a couple of cd’s in my sock drawer a while back, and remembering what they were, I promptly destroyed them. Nothing illegal, but something I do not wish to keep around either. And I knew there was a backup somewhere with what was on those. And I found it and destroyed it too. By the way, 30 seconds in a microwave will render a cd/dvd completely ruined. Stinks though.

So anyway, back to the backups. I found 2 directories with names that ended with the s-word. I admit, I chuckled remembering where that naming convention originated, but changed the ending s-word to stuff instead of the one it was. Yes, that word still falls out of my mouth quite frequently, but it is no longer something I take pride in. But yet, once upon I did, and was all kinds of proud of myself when the security office saw similar-named directories in my home directory at work (in the UK, not where I am now). And no, I didn’t get in trouble, but only because it was found the week I was outprocessing before terminal leave, and it wasn’t worth the effort.

This entry is filed under Ramble. | 4 Comments

Something is, like, different

By DragonLady on April 22, 2011

I finally upgraded WordPress, and upgrading my theme, which rendered it not to my liking. Hence, the different theme, which still needs work to add some stuff back in. I made the mistake of not snagging a copy of my blogroll before blogrolling dot com shutdown, so I redid the ole blogroll from my Google reader, and a few blog-friend’s blogrolls. I still have the sidebar to work on and a couple plugins to get back in the code or disable.

And, I may work up a video tomorrow. I was just saying over at MacBros’ that I hadn’t done a video since I got a new webcam and mic.

This entry is filed under LinkWhoring, Ramble. | 4 Comments

“I didn’t wanna be this late…”

By DragonLady on December 9, 2010

I have been working on trying to write a post for like over a week now. And in the meantime, I have failed to check the spam hole. I should’ve copied those messages into a blog post. HAHAHA

So anywho, I have a post in the works, and yes I know I have blown the whole post a day thing with the writing prompts. I’ve changed the focus of the working post like 3 times, so who knows how it will end up because I may change it all up again.

I’ve read a couple more books. I can’t remember how long ago (it was during that 2 month unintentional hiatus), but I read Crazy Love in 2 or 3 days’ time. This past Saturday, I bought Forgotten God, which I finished last night. I’m real close to getting John Piper’s latest book, Think.

This entry is filed under Ramble. | 8 Comments

Hello… Anyone still here?

By DragonLady on November 19, 2010

Ok, so how are y’all letting me go 2 months without a post? The 2 or 3 of you who still read (when I write) know my email address… (Mac, Mel, I’m looking at both of you…kind of…virtually…)

Then again, I haven’t exactly been keeping up with y’all that well either have I.