The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[carton253]

Smeagol is going about it the long way!

[carton253]

Fantastic! I have a whole closetful of clothes that I haven't been able to get in to... Wore two new dresses this week... wonderful... tonight I have to go to Lazarus and buy a new pair of jeans... Yes, let them sneer... hopefully, their face will freeze in that position.

[Lil'freeper]

Will your new goob'ner veto that?

Who knows. The guy is a total RINO- capable of anything.

[Lil'freeper]

buy a new pair of jeans...

Good for you! It's very exciting isn't it?

[Corin Stormhands]

What diet are you on?

I've been on Michael Thurmond's Body-Sculpting Makeover since January. Well, I've not been on it religiously or I'd already be a lot thinner. But I've lost 40-something lbs. We've also recently joined a gym and I'm getting there 5-6 times a week.

[carton253]

Yes... and I have a trunkful of jeans that choronicle my yo-yo weight... so, after these new jeans get too big (and they will) I can just break open the trunk and begin to wear the fortune in jeans that I already own..

Same with my closet. I don't need a new wardrobe. I have an extensive one. Just too fat to get into it.

Yip-pee!

What diet are you on?

[carton253]

That is great... I am doing the Atkins. Started 2/13... have lost 15.5 pounds, 5% of my body fat and close to 18 inches...

[RMDupree]

I'd love to see you debating Andy Serkis!! HHAHAHAHAHAHA! He has NO idea of what he would be in for! :)

Nice snaig, Smeags! *wink*

[RMDupree]

Morning 2J!

How are the jedis today? And how are Pippin and Pepper?

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Ahh, the memories....

[RMDupree]

OK, here is the nightmare that I survived this morning…

I believe I have mentioned before that I have a terrifying fear of roaches. Seriously! I actually scream and run as if a serial killer was after me. The phobia is so bad, that I actually gag when the initial shock has passed. It’s a terrible thing, especially since I live in South Florida where there is no escape from these disgusting creatures!

Well, I went to take a shower this morning and, as is my ritual, I wash and condition my hair before soaping up. Right after I applied the conditioner, I happened to look up and lo and behold! One of these things (see pic below) is on the wall of the shower just above the hand held shower head. I jumped out of the tub and screamed for my mom to bring the spray. She does and I grab the hand held while I spray the roach and he falls, hitting my daughter’s poof scrubber thingie hanging from the shower knob. From there, he tumbles into the tub where I proceed to flush him down the drain mercilessly! As soon as he vanished into the hole, I shut the drain so he couldn’t come back out. UGH!!

Shuddering with complete revulsion, I step back into the tub and hurriedly rinse my hair, scrub my body and jump back out. The drain is still closed, but I keep imagining him climbing through the nearly invisible crack and attacking me! (I am gagging just thinking about it!)

So, my friends? – do you think the worst was past? I’m afraid not! After I toweled off, I reached into the tub to release the drain in the hopes that the sheer amount of water going through there would vanquish the demon insect into the nether regions of the sewer system. Just as I reached in, my hand just below the poof scrubber thingie hanging from the knob, ANOTHER ROACH falls into the tub! Missing my wrist by millimeters! AAAAGAGGHH!! *gag* *gag*

My mind quickly puts two and two together and I realize that THIS roach is the one I originally sprayed and the one down the drain was a different roach that was hiding in the poofie! I still had the spray so I sprayed the madly swimming roach as the tub emptied, all the while keeping my eye on the drain to see if the other dude makes an appearance. Fortunately, the first guy stayed down. Unfortunately, the other guy gets stuck in the drain and NO AMOUNT of water will flush him down. *gag*

I asked my mom what to do about it and she informs me that I will have to lift the drain’s plunger and remove the carcass myself. Needless to say, I left it there and told my mom that Glen can do body disposals since I will undoubtedly throw up the minute I see the corpse. Dead or not, they revolt me!! *shudder*

Please do not think my house is a slum or anything. It isn’t! We keep an extra clean house, especially since the baby arrived. However, since we live in South Florida where the weather this week went from rain to cold to rain to warm, these wicked creatures flee into any home they can find. They always appear to travel in pairs as well, which explains the lovely “twofer” trauma I suffered this morning.

Here’s the pic of what the creatures looked like. The image size is correct too! *GAG*

[2Jedismom]

Those are waterbugs! (I know they aren't really, but that's what we called them when I lived on the Gulf in Texas.) They are huge and actually live in trees and in the boards of old houses.

You are right, you can't escape them, but they aren't like the tiny little roaches people get when they live nasty. They are just part of the southern wildlife! LOL Usually, there isn't very many of them...

Have you ever had one fly at you?? AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

[RMDupree]

Yes! And lemme tell ya! THAT experience did nothing to ease my phobia!

They always try to fly right after you spray them. The one I sprayed on the wall actually attempted to take off, but I doused him with water from the hand held before he got airborne. *shudder*

[Lil'freeper]

We started with Atkins but are looking beyond it for maintainance. Atkins endorsed the work of nutritionist Sally Fallon, who along with Dr. Mary Enig, a lipid biochemist, have written a cookbook called Nourishing Traditions. I love this book- it is half text and half cookbook- and it is going to be the basis of our long-term maintaince.

The recipes are modern interpretations of the work of Dr. Weston Price, a dentist who practiced in the early part of the 20th century. He noticed a rapid increase in 'degenerative' disease- cavities, crooked teeth, diabetes, arthritis, and other chronic maladies that we regard as commonplace today.

He theorized that the 'degeneration' in health was tied to the increase in refined foods in the diet, namely sugar, vegetable oils, and white flour. He traveled the world studying traditional cultures and their foods and established a very convincing link between refined foods and poor health. His work is documented in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, which is a fantasic read. I could go on at length on it- not only on the science, but the historical context. Amazing work. Simply amazing.

Anyhoo, as we increase our carbs for maintainance we'll be avoiding the highly processed ones, including the soy-based stuff, and stick with simple, traditional foods.

Boy, you asked what diet we're on and I wrote a book, sorry!

[carton253]

Don't mind at all. I was a serious carb addict... failed the atkins test... had a horrible first three days... now I feel great. I am amazed at how good I feel.

I haven't had white sugar or white flour since February.

Like I said, I can't believe the difference in the way I feel... it's great!

[2Jedismom]

Good morning.

It's dusk in Baghdad.

[Lil'freeper]

I can't believe the difference in the way I feel... it's great!

Hopefully you'll find you can't go back to white flour. I ate a hamburger on a bun yesterday for lunch and got physically ill. My head began to buzz, my sinuses started dripping, my tummy felt bad, it was hard to focus and stay awake. It was awful. Avoiding refined carbs is no longer a function of will power- the after effects are deterrent enough.

[carton253]

I had the same thing happen... At the end of induction, I couldn't wait to drink a Diet Coke... but when I took a swig, I found it too sweet... ugh! I put it down. I couldn't drink it.

In class, I got a diet pepsi (only because I had no water)... after 5 or 6 drinks, I felt light headed and dizzy... I just stopped drinking it.

So I drink diet root beer or caffeine free diet pepsi/coke.

[Corin Stormhands]

So I drink diet root beer or caffeine free diet pepsi/coke.

Can you get Diet Rite where you are? When I have to have a soda, I try to go that route because it has no sodium.

[Dawntreader]

HAPPY 43rd BIRTHDAY HUGO!