bigger on the inside

Yesterday morning I had blood drawn for my latest round of thyroid tests. By 3 PM I had the results. I'm happy to report that, after over a year of blood work every 6-8 weeks, I am FINALLY stabilized. I'm super excited about this! No more testing for six months! WOOHOO!!!!

Being gluten free has really helped with my thyroid function. I was hoping that maybe I wouldn't have to take medication at all, but I'm happy with this low dose.

Slowly but surely, I'm making progress with my health.

It's about time!

Many thanks go to Anonymous who gave me the virtual cookies and milk. After the last few weeks I've had, it made me smile.

ETA: Many thanks to the TWO anonymous gifters.

I finally finished Breaking Dawn last weekend. It took me three months to complete it. Why? Because my freaking head kept exploding, blood kept shooting out of my eyes and I could only take it in pieces parts. SoccerRef joked that he should have bought stock in Duct Tape with as much as I used it to tape my head back together.


( You have got to be kidding me... )

I started reading Eclipse right after I finished New Moon and figured I'd finish it in record time as well. Boy was I wrong. I got about 200+ pages in and needed to take a break. A very long break. We're talking days...actually, almost a week. Once I gained a little perspective, and some of my sanity back, I was able to fly through the rest of the book.

( You're kidding, right??? )

Dear god, I don't even know where to start!

( Alrighty then...let's go howl at the moon, shall we? )

And I liked it. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed the book considering I'd heard so many mixed reviews. When the hype started, I'd decided that I could do without reading it. I'm not a bandwagon person (unless you count hometown sports) and I tend to shy away from things that everyone loses their minds over. This time, I made an exception. I was curious.

So, after devouring Twilight in two days, I went out last night and bought the other three books. I've heard the criticisms about them, but again, if I start something, I'm damn well going to finish it AND I'm curious.

( Sparkle with me for a moment... )

OMG. Less than ten minutes to go before the big BBC announcement regarding Doctor Who.

I'm dying over here. Ugh.

Quick question: Is it really considered a spoiler if the announcement is coming on national BBC television???

ETA: Could they possibly draw this out any longer????

ETA2: This sucks being on this side of the pond and not getting to watch the Confidential. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

ETA3: Refresh! Refresh! Refresh! doctorwho

The Doctor Who interwebz are gonna explode!!

( Major casting stuff for series 5... ) o.0

To all those participating in plum_lovin...the discussion thread for Two For the Dough is up.

With all the "spare" time I have, I've made it a personal policy to not get involved in reading long fics. Until today. I've been sucked in, and I mean that in the most literal and figurative sense.

Now I must pimp said fic. It's a Doctor Who/Blackpool crossover that is very well written:

The Way of Things by jlrpuck

It's a story set post "Doomsday" in the alternate universe where Rose was trapped when she and the Tenth Doctor opened the void - it's usually referred to as "Pete's world". Here's the summary...

It's been over three years since Rose and the Doctor said goodbye. What happens when she not only meets his doppelganger, but has to work with him?


So, uhm, yeah...guess what I've been doing today?

Back in July I spent 10 days reading the Plum series by Janet Evanovich. There was some discussion about starting a community that would be a type of book club where we could read the books from the beginning and then discuss them. Well, I finally went through with it and created plum_lovin.

If you're a fan of the books, or never heard of them, this is your chance to join in the fun! I'd like to point out Janet Evanvoich's official site. For more information on Stephanie Plum and her cohorts, please check out Wikipedia.

Hope to see you there! And please feel free to pimp it all you want. :D

I just spent the last ten days in Trenton, NJ with Stephanie Plum, Joe Morelli, Ranger, Grandma Mazur, Lula and Bob. What a wonderful little world Janet Evanovich has created with her novels. I read all 14 books and the 3 holiday novellas -- for the second time. The first 11 books and Visions of Sugar Plums were read right after Boo was born so I didn't remember a lot of the stories (though they do run together after a few) so for the most part it was like reading them for the first time.

Favorite book(s):
One For the Money -- I love how Morelli was brought back into Stephanie's life and the introductions of all of the characters. I laughed at how different Ranger is in that book. Not very mysterious at all and sort of wimpy (at least in my mind's eye).

Four to Score -- I liked the pace of this book and the fact that we finally see Morelli and Steph acting on the attraction. I'm a BIG Morelli fan. *g*

Fearless Fourteen -- I won't give away anything since the book only came out last month, but I really believe this is probably the best of all of them. Most importantly I love the way Janet wrote Joe's character as well as his and Steph's interaction. Plus there were a lot of laughs.

Plum Lucky -- OMG I don't even know where to begin with this one. Seriously. I laughed the whole way through the book and was left with wanting more when I finished. One can never have enough Diesel. Thank goodness Plum Spooky is going to be a full length Between the Numbers book because I'll need a huge Diesel fix by then and it's set during Halloween...so if you hear lots of squeeing coming from Pennsylvania in January you'll know why. It's just too bad that Diesel won't be in any of the numbered books (I asked over at her website) because I'm really tired of Steph not being able to choose between Morelli and Ranger. Why not insert some new blood into the mix. *g*

Twelve Sharp, Lean Mean Thirteen and Plum Lovin' are honorable mentions.


Least favorite book(s):
Hard Eight -- I'd probably like it more if it weren't for a certain scene where Ranger collects on Steph's "debts".

Twelve Sharp -- I know I have it as an honorable mention in my favorites, but there's a bit in there with Ranger and Stephanie before Joe decides to move into Steph's place (and it's a good thing he did!!!!) that just bugs me and makes me dislike Ranger and want to slap Steph.


Favorite character(s): Stephanie, Joe, Ranger, Grandma Mazur, Lula, Bob, Rex, Tank, Hal, Connie, Mooner, Sally Sweet and most definitely Diesel (yum!!!)

Honorable mention goes to Steph's neighbors in her apartment building


Least favorite character(s): Albert Kloughn, Valerie Plum, Vinnie Plum, Dickie Orr and Joyce Barnhardt


Favorite pairing(s): Just the one...Stephanie and Joe Morelli. Joe's the man, hands down. Yes Ranger is dark, mysterious and sexy, but definitely not the settling down type. I think I love Joe the most because he's a man after my own heart -- beer and pizza are his food of choice and he watches hockey (even if it's the Rangers). Then of course there's the fact that he's adopted Bob and will take care of Rex when Stephanie's brought him over to the house. I just adore Steph and Joe's comfortableness together and how well they know one another. Then of course there's the one line that Joe says that has cemented it for me. When Steph asks him to take care of Rex if something happens to her, Joe tells her that he wouldn't be in any shape to take care of Rex because they'd have to strap him down and sedate him if something happened to her. He loves her -- and not "in his own way".



I've decided that I want to be just like Stephanie when I grow up. I want to kick ass, take names and then maybe think about running away when an apprehension goes wrong. She's not fearless, but she's tenacious and determined. Really, Stephanie Plum is a fantastic female fictional character and we really don't have enough of those. It's too bad Tri-Star is being an idiot because I think they're really missing out on bringing these characters to the big, or small, screen.

Is it January yet?