Friday, August 14, 2009

If it weren't for bad luck...

My good friend, Lynne, from over at Lynne's Little Corner of the World recommended a series of books on her blog. They are called Royal Spyness and are written by one Rhys Bowen. As some of you know, I prefer to read books in hardcover rather than paperback and I prefer even more to buy those hardcovers on the "bargain" rack. I proceeded to search for at least the first book in that series somewhere, anywhere, at a discount price. No go. I looked in bookstores here in Texas and waaaaay over in Florida. Not happenin'. But. I did manage to find another book by this author. It's called Evanly Bodies and, up thru page 84, it was an excellent read. So what happened on page 85 to "lessen" my reading pleasure? Hard to say. Since there was no page 85. Yeah. Pages 85 through 116 were missing. Not torn out, not purposefully removed in any way...just missing. Bummer.'Course, I only paid $2.95 for the book so it wasn't a crushing loss, money wise. Still, it was a good story and I would like to have finished it! Back to the hunt...I've now expanded that hunt to include just about anything written by Rhys Bowen. I found another book from the Evan series, called Evan Blessed, yesterday at Half Price Books in Ft. Worth. I eagerly snapped it up, doled out my cash and brought it home...after first checking to make sure all the pages were there. lol Thanks for the recommendation, Lynne. I truly do enjoy this author's style (kind of reminds me of Dick Francis) and can't wait to read everything she's written! (You hear that publishers? I mean everything. No more removing of the pages, eh?)

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Stupid Is as Stupid Does

Have you ever done something so dumb you amaze yourself? It actually happens to me more often than I care to admit. The other day, I proved yet once more just how big of a doofus I can be when given the right circumstances. It was the day we left for Florida. I was up at 5:00 a.m., getting ready, finishing up the packing (which Randey was totally rushing me through!), trying to do something with my hair so I didn't look like a raving lunatic all day, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. Right before I went to slap some make-up on, I decided to change out my contacts. I use the extended wear kind and, quite frankly, I knew I'd left this last pair in too long. I did the left eye first (I'm a lefty. That's how I roll.) No problem. Wrestled with the new contact packaging for my right eye (don't know why it gave me such problems but I blame it for the temporary loss of sanity that ensued). I popped that right contact in and wham! the room started tilting a bit. Oh my gosh!!! I did leave that other set in too long! I was now legally blind in my right eye. I probably blew a retina or something. Maybe was even suffering from the dreaded Eyeball Expulsion Syndrome at that very moment! Oh the panic. How would I function? Would Randey start dressing me funny now that I couldn't see properly? What about my children? My grandchildren?? I'd never see them grow up! And the pain!! Heaven help me, but the pain was....wait a minute. There was no pain. There was nothing really. What the heck? Why was my vision so screwy in my right eye and why wasn't I laid out with the sheer agony of losing my eyesight? Because, Kari, you big dork. You forgot to take your old contact out before you put your new one in. **Sigh** The saddest part was, it's not like it's the first time I've ever done it. I just hadn't done it in awhile so it sort of took me by surprise. Really brought out the hypochondriac in me, too. Geez. Okay, so I calmed down and tried to remove the contacts. No go. Those puppies were stuck together like glue. I tried for what felt like forever before I finally had to go get Randey and admit what I had done. He had the nerve to laugh. A bit. I, of course, immediately let him know the seriousness of the matter and how insensitive and rude he was to not recognize that. In other words, I was an ass about it. It took a bit of wrangling, but with him shining a flashlight directly in my eye and me practically pressing my eyeball onto the bathroom mirror, we finally got the contacts out. Threw the old one away, put the new one back in and viola', I could see, I could see! Yeah. Like I said...stupid is as stupid does. And that day, I exceeded my stupid limit by leaps and bounds.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

What a difference a year makes...

This is me, in August of 2008. I'd lost about 20 something pounds by this point.
And here I am today, after losing slightly over 65 pounds. I'm looking a little older maybe, but not quite as "hefty". lol Love that Weight Watchers!!