A couple of days ago, I was putting Ricky back in the hutch when he decided to help me out a little, by launching himself into a flying leap off my hands and into the enclosure. Which was all well and good, except that one of his claws gave me a tiny scratch on my palm on the way down.

No big deal. I washed my hands and didn't think anything of it.

Until now, that is. Since the spot has since turned sore and puffy and looks suspiciously oozy, for lack of a better word.

It's not pretty. Think I'm dying. May lose hand. Need sympathy. Now. Please.

Ah, well. I guess I'll get my own back on poor, unsuspecting Ricky this afternoon - it's time for the "Search for Ricky's Genitalia" quest to continue. And if we find any man-parts? It's hello expensive surgery and bye-bye bunny balls.

I'll keep you informed. (Because I know you're simply itching to know how it goes.)

Edit: He's been booked in for Tuesday morning, so he gets to enjoy his manliness for another couple of days. Do you think that I should hire him some strippers and/or bunny adult entertainment for his last party weekend?

Every morning I drive the same twenty five minute route to work. Every morning I'm greeted with the same overwhelming stench of chicken manure as I drive past the pace farm on the corner. Every morning I get stuck behind the same cars who enjoy driving ten kilometres lower than the speed limit. Every morning I see the same striped car, with it's sunglassed owner chatting away on his mobile phone.

Every morning.

It's a fairly uneventful journey, but the things you notice on the drive are interesting. You see how many drivers break road rules and drive dangerously. You see how many drivers tailgate and overtake illegally. And you see people pulling some pretty amusing faces, too. Putting makeup on, talking on a hands-free kit, yelling at kids in the backseat, or even talking to themselves.

What would people notice if they paid attention to me driving along in my big red silver car? They'd most likely see me chewing on my lip (a horrible habit I've started doing more of recently), yawning hugely (am not a morning person) or belting out some tunes. (Let's face it: the car is hands-down the best place to sing.)

What do you think you look like when you're driving?

(In other non-driving news, Justin Timberlake is finally bringing his sexy down under. Is it bad that part of me wants to go and join the teenyboppers for the evening?)

The setting: My pretty classroom.
The characters: Yours truly, a visiting classroom teacher and the kidlets.
The background: The teacher asked if she could lock her bag away in my storeroom, and a little polite conversation followed afterwards.

Kidlet #1: [shocked voice] Mrs S is friends with Mrs X!
Kidlet #2: [snotty voice] Well of COURSE she is. Where else would she find a friend?

Apparently I'm more of a social recluse than I thought, if the idea of me having friends shocks my kidlets to the core. And also, notice I am married?

(To myself, but not the point.)

Most of you know that I keep a separate blog that is solely for whinging about weight loss. Well, actually, I have two; one being a community style blog that other members can access, the other being an ordinary old, semi-anonymous blog. Seeing that I have enough ramblings to waffle on about here without adding the woes of my extra flab, I figure it works best for everyone that way.

But I did decide to talk about some weighty stuff today, in hopes that you can help me out. You see, I'm going scale free for the month of August, as of yesterday. I won't go into numbers here (though if you're nosey, you can always ask me) but basically, the scales have had me fluctuating between the same two kilograms for the past six weeks. And it's not as though that number is a healthy or ideal one. I still have a heck of a long way to go before I even come close to reaching goal, and that's why I'm getting so frustrated. And wanting to eat. More.

To get myself out of the 'woe is me, I am not losing weight, think I'll go eat worms' rut, I've decided to go scale free. I've moved them out of the bathroom, I'm not weighing in weekly, and to be honest, I'd rather not know. I know it won't last forever, but fingers crossed that when I'm back to my semi-motivated self who exercises most days and eats fairly well with just the occasional splurge, it'll make a difference. That's the plan, anyway. Talk to me on September 1st, and if the numbers are the same, I might just go buy a whole pizza instead.

What I need your help with, are some quick and easy food recipes. It'll help in two respects - keeping me healthy and eating well, but also adding to my overseas stash of recipes that I'd like to gather together. (I just can't help tossing in a "List" item every now and again.) Obviously it'd be better if they were low calorie ones, but they have to be tasty too! They don't have to be main meals. I'd actually love some light ideas for things I can make of an evening to take to school over the next few days, like scones or savoury muffins, anything like that. I know I have some fabulous chefs who stop by, so won't you help a girl out?

(Bonus points to whoever can create a recipe with vegetables that doesn't taste like vegetables. I'm a freak. I don't like vegetables. It's a bit of a challenge.)

Chalk off another few list items if you will, because I killed two birds with one stone yesterday. To start with, I had my first Kirby catch-up, and am proud to announce to the internet that I didn't get lost ONCE. I made it all the way to her place, without heading in the wrong direction and in record time. I'm proud of myself. You should be too.

(I probably needed to add 'stop being so bloody useless when driving to unfamiliar places' as an item on my list, although I was trying to be realistic with my expectations, wasn't I?)

Stupid Aly idea of the day: Ordering a caramel macchiato from Starbucks. In grande size. With extra sugar. I don't drink coffee, ever, especially not 'gourmet' coffee, so I was hyper before even beginning our movie adventure. Just ask Kirby.

Yep, a good month after everyone else, we finally watched Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix. In Gold Class. What is that exactly? Basically, it's a really overpriced option of seeing a movie at any old theatre. You pay double the price, but get cushy seats and the option of being catered to while you enjoy the movie. I had a rough idea of what to expect, but yesterday's movie experience turned out to be much more extravagant than I predicted.

Firstly, we were told to bypass the candy bar and head towards the sign on the wall saying, yep, Gold Class. Once there, we stared around blankly, wondering where to go next and if we had to walk through the fire exit, when a sliding door magically opened in front of us. Once we shuffled awkwardly inside, we were greeted by a huge bar with one hell of a lot of wine bottles on it, and dozens of funky lounges with giant cushions. The lounge also had faces on the walls, roof and lamps, which was a little creepy and warranted me taking a photo.

(Unfortunately for you though, until I figure out how to get the images OFF my phone and onto the computer, you'll just have to imagine seeing Audrey Hepburn's face made out of dots on the ceiling. And random babies in lamps. Was weird.)

Feeling completely overwhelmed, we wandered up to the bar and asked what to do next. Here, we were given a menu (!) by the usher and asked to check it out and decide whether we'd like to order anything. As fascinated as I was by the $12 meat pies & $18 gourmet pizzas, all I wanted was my standard movie fare of popcorn and a drink. Which weren't on the menu. I was dismayed. And too embarrassed to ask for it. Especially since I was at this stage giggling like a schoolgirl because it was all so darned fancy. And because of caffeine. Lots of caffeine.

We eventually decided to be brave and ask the usher if we could have our popcorn, after which he proceeded to ask us at what time in the movie would we like our food? I was like, er, whenever? To which he sort of raised an eyebrow and probably thought about how I was a big stupid moron. We sat back down on the comfy lounge suite, singing along to Kylie Minogue on the speakers, and were soon showed into the theatre.

I thought we'd just be in a special section of the normal theatre, but I was way off on that one. We had our own private movie theatre! Well, not just Kirby and I. But there were only about 32 seats in the entire place. And boy, were they seats. Full reclining lounge chairs, with a table in front of them for food. It was just crazy. Sitting there in the big chairs playing with the recliner button, I felt like a little kid who was being naughty, I don't think I've laughed so much in a long time. (Kirby's fantastic company is to be commended.)

Despite a few minutes of mild panic when everyone else was delivered their gourmet food and cocktails (!) and our popcorn hadn't arrived, we did finally get our food. And it wasn't just in your standard cardboard packaging, either. Oh no. We got our popcorn in a big serving bowl, and our frozen cokes in tall drinking glasses. How's that for service?

All up, the movie itself was fantastic, the lounges were so comfortable and the whole experience was such a good day, I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to watching movies in 'economy class' anymore. But with a $36 price tag (plus food) I don't think I'll be able to afford the movies very much, either. I think Gold Class is excellent for longer movies, but definitely not a weekly thing. It's a shame though. One could get used to the luxury!

It's back! Did you miss it? Sure, it's only been a few weeks but still. You missed it.

Hallmark Cards
Are overpriced and overrated. Who pays $8 for a card that you can make at home for practically nothing? I'm a big fan of homemade cards, think they're more personal. And I am also cheap. Not the point.

Spotty Arms
Yes, I do still have spotty arms. No, I have not yet found the miracle cure. Alas.

Synonym for Shitload
Er. Are you looking for a child friendly synonym? How about just calling it a whole lot of something. Or a rather large amount of something. Or, if you like your slang and your swear words, you could go with the old favourite of a 'fuckload'. I know. Sounds completely disgusting on it's own, but put it in a sentence - 'I have a shitload of schoolwork to do' OR 'Yep, I'd buy that pretty jacket, except it costs a fuckload of money'. Ahem. You see?

I'm addicted to sherbies
OMG. How much do I love Sherbies? I think I've probably lost half of my readers by now, so let me just clarify - Sherbies are an Australian chewy lolly/candy that are orange flavoured and have fizzy sherbert in the middle. They're bad for you, full of sugar but very, very yummy. I ate practically four jumbo bags of them whilst recovering from my laser eye surgery. Mmm. Sherbies. (I love 'Milko' lollies too.)

Invitation letter for mum and dad visa uk
Well, I don't know about the Visa part of this search, because I haven't yet filled mine out, BUT I do know that after I move to the UK? I'll be sending my mum and dad an invitation letter to come and visit me there. Can you guys convince them that flying to London to see their only daughter while she is away from home FOR TWO YEARS might be a nice thing to do? And that there are nifty things to see and do nearby? (If I were moving somewhere on Route 66, they'd be there in a jiffy.)

Great comeback lines
Oh, here's one - 'HE: Can I have your name? SHE: Why, don't you already have one?'

I am happy oh so happy
It should be illegal to be so happy before 9am on a Sunday morning. Bah humbug.

Poetry in voices line - with sticky fingers in humbug bed
Call me crazy, but didn't I just type the word 'humbug'? I think I must have been automatically reading ahead and stole the word.. from myself! I am clever. But, not clever enough to help you with the poetry request. I stink at poetry. Except for acrostics. I can write a mean acrostic poem.

I want my own baby stepmother
What the hell is a baby stepmother? Like, you want your stepmother to be the mother of your kid? Or you want a stepmother who is literally a baby? You're strange.

Chemicals are restless
Part of the song Flawed Design by Stabilo - 'The chemicals are restless in my head.' I actually love that line.

Crimpy Hairstyles
Want to see one? Okay! Don't say I didn't warn you!

Wine Tasting Blogs
I only drink wine on special occasions. Or nights out. Or nights in. And my wine taste are quite cheap - bring me a bottle of $6 riesling and I'll be your best friend. (And probably fall down in your driveway.)

Is not exaggered
I was all ready to start picking this search question apart because exaggered? (Hello, spell-check?) Until I followed the search myself. And realised that in one of my oh-so-deep attempts (Hello, sarcasm!) at writing a short story, I actually was the one who made that typo. Read the short story and see if you can spot it. Bonus points if you don't cringe all the way through.

Tully is a stupid book
I don't think so. I think it's quite a good book. A very good book actually.

Teacher mentor didn't do his job
Let's have him killed!

Pictures of an irritated baby flicking someone off
I live to serve. Here's one. Here's another. And here's another irritated child.

Is a 10 year old capable of putting in contact lenses?
Can 10 year olds even wear contacts? I got mine when I was in high school, and putting them in didn't bother me. But 10? That's Year 4. Nah. I wouldn't be giving my kid contact lenses at that age. I'd keep them wearing glasses until they absolutely couldn't stand it any longer, because as fabulous as contacts are? They do give you lots of sty's. And are expensive, and fussy and need to be looked after.

All out of garbage bags
Bummer. Now how will you make spiffy costumes for your kid's dance?

Dance bitch
Alright! [Does the Macarena.]

From one side of my head to the other migraine
Poor you. Perhaps you should go to the doctors. Who will no doubt prescribe you PANADOL and tell you you'll be fine. But you won't. You'll still be sick. And if you happen to go back again, they'll give you the same instructions. And you'll still be sick. (Not that this has happened to me personally, or anything. Oh no.)

Love songs about wanting someone else
How about that Lips of an Angel song by Hinder? I feel like punching the lead singer and his husky voice out every time I hear it. What a prick! 'Sometimes I wish she was you.' Well, Mr Voice, I bet sometimes she wishes that you'd stop waving your weeny arms around in the air in your stupid filmclips too, so THERE.

Commercials all about me
Off the top of my head, I can't think of any commercials made for me. I can tell you a whole list though, that make me cry. Let me know if you want that.

Subconjunctival hemmorage
Basically, it's a fancy-schmancy term for a burst blood vessel. Which is another fancy-schmancy term for an EVIL BIG RED UGLY PATCH IN YOUR EYEBALL THAT LOOKS DISGUSTING AND WILL ONLY GO AWAY BY ITSELF AND YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. That pretty much sums it up.

Eh Eh bunky lyrics
'Louise, Louise, Don't give me none of that bunky bunky'. Surely bunky bunky can only mean one thing, no? Maybe? Sort of? Or perhaps I have a dirty mind.

Lovely words for ...
For what? Lady bloggers? Squirrels? Bunky Bunky? ALY? I must know!

Clothes worn in movie Love Actually
Not sure, but I'd like them all. They all look so funky and fashionable in their English coats. I want an English coat. I'm going to need an English coat. I didn't particularly like anything that Keira Knightley wore in that movie. I preferred 'Natalie'. She always looked so gorgeous. Hey! Mum just reminded me of that movie last night - I'll be at London Heathrow airport the day after Christmas! With all the hugs and stuff! And the Beach Boys song serenading everyone through loudspeakers! Am so excited! (What? Are you telling me that doesn't happen? Phooey.)

I want birthday cards
I recieved a whopping thee cards this year. Are you jealous?

Bruise underneath lower lip after eating corn on the cob
There's no easy way to say this: your corn cob is trying to kill you! Run for cover!

Who sings boom boom boom i want you in my room?
That would be the Vengaboys. (I absolutely do not have this song on my Ipod.)

Smelly thong
Okay, that's just gross. I don't want to know about your and your smelly thongs, no matter which kind you're talking about - shoes or knickers. Yuck.

Cankles
Hopefully my exercise (Exercise? That sounds familiar, but I just can't place it..) will permanently remove my cankles once and for all.

Squished boobs
This is what happens when I wear my Threadless shirts. They're great tees, though not particularly flattering to those of us with a little cleavage.

Pictures of the flying purple people eater
The FPPE is a bit like the Loch Ness Monster. We can only speculate. Eyewitnesses report that he looks a little like this. We may never know for sure.

Contiki tour grand southern reviews
Talk to me this time next year, and I'll give you my very own review.

Special words for a friends birthday
How about the good old fashioned 'Here's a blank cheque, pick out whatever you like, it's on me.' Or, you could just say 'Happy Birthday friend.' That could work.

Horror contiki experience Europe
I want to know all about your horror experience. I had an amazing time on mine. Oh wait, does that sound like I'm rubbing it in? I really don't mean to. It was just so excellent, the people were great, we saw so much . . . am I doing it again?

Chevy chase european vacation
Ha! I adore this movie. 'Look kids! Big Ben! Parliament!' I realise you'll have absolutely no idea what I'm on about unless you've actually seen the movie but come on. Who hasn't seen the Vacation movies? They're classic!

Parraeels
I've never actually typed it as one word before, but woo! Parra Eels! They've now replaced Penrith as my #1 Rugby League team, because Penrith? The boys have let me down. Plus, I haven't seen hunky Luke Rooney in forever, which is quite disappointing.

Fringe bangs around face picture
I'm much too scared to visit a hairdresser again anytime soon, let alone get bangs. But oh how I wish I could have nice, side-swept bangs. It's a shame my strange hair and cowlicks make it impossible to have that.

Koala biting in groin
That's got to be painful. I'd love to know what you have to do to piss off a koala. Steal their eucalyptus leaves? Poke them in the belly? Yowch.

Married by 26
That was "The Plan". Who knows if that'll happen? My bets are currently off.

Since I've woken up this morning in a bit of a confused state of mind, (It's Saturday. I'm hungry. My glands are hurting. I miss Jason. Where is he right now anyway?) I've decided that instead of wandering around the house feeling lost, that I'll instead tackle the tagging invitation Lara and Kris sent out a couple of days ago. Say what you will about meme's, but they are a perfect distraction.

Here we go. (I'll try not to revolve my answers around a certain recurring theme.)

RULES:
A. Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.
B. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

I can do that! [clears throat]

1. We'll start with something fresh, since you've all hopefully seen my bling picture. I have really large fingers. Scratch that, I'll be blunt. I have really FAT fingers. The top of them are average sized, but underneath the lower knuckle? They're huge. I remember being in high school and going shopping for a ring, and the jeweler told me I had the biggest fingers he'd ever seen on a woman. Needless to say, I've been scarred for life.

2. I still haven't read the new Harry Potter book. Yep, I'm a huge fan/nerd. Yep, I had it pre-ordered. Yep, it's sitting on my bookshelf. Yep, I stare at it lovingly every day. But I promised myself I would wait until Jase left before I read it, so it would be a nice distraction of sorts. My geek factor has kicked in again though, meaning I'm putting off reading it. (If you guys read my 100 things page, you might remember that I always start over in a series before I read the latest release?) Yep, I did that again. Finished Order of the Phoenix last night, now it's onto the Half Blood Prince, and EVENTUALLY I'll read the Deathly Hallows. I've managed to avoid seeing a single spoiler so far, so if you ruin it for me, I will hurt you.

3. I'm sick of being sick. Do I really need to go further? (I realise there are people who are legitimately much, much sicker than I am, but I still feel like crap.) Don't hate me.

4. My white-board calendar is still on June. I think I need to get with the times.

5. If I could have a servant for the day, their main tasks would include the following; washing my hair, brushing my hair, bringing me endless cups of tea and keeping me occupied. When did I get so restless anyway?

6. My newest bun, Ricky, seems to be growing up. (As evidenced by the fact that he now weighs more than Lucy and likes to hump everything in sight.) At our last vet visit I was told to ahem, check for certain prominent parts of his anatomy, and when I discovered them I could book him in to get his man-parts snipped off. (I don't know who is more tramatised every time we do this fun procedure, Ricky or me.) Well. As much as I have enjoyed that delightful task, to put it bluntly, I still can't find any boy-parts. Seeing as though I've never actually searched for bunny balls before and that there really isn't enough room in our hutch for baby rabbits, I think he'll need to go in for another checkup just to be on the safe side.

7. My birthday suitcase arrived the day before last. (It's light! It's pretty! It's red!) All I can think about now? Wanting to pack. Is five months before departure a little too early to be packed, do you think? I also want to pull apart my room completely right now, but again, probably a little too early on the organising. Settle down, self.

8. Dude! I just got a spam email from an astrology website, titled "Will He Come Back?" This is what it said: "Are you still obsessing about a relationship that absorbs all of your attention and has you wondering if he will come back?" Damn. That's some spooky shit. It's like it's reading my mind. [Freaks out.]

I'm not going to double my eight facts because let's face it, am lazy. And I'm also going to cheat on the tagging issue, so if you're up for a bit of a filler blog entry today (but an informative one at that!) feel free to steal.

After a long day, Jase is currently flying through the air on his way to London.

I'm impressed I didn't bawl at the airport. I'm impressed I didn't bawl all the way home. I'm impressed I kept it together at all. I do have a feeling though, that it'll hit me some time later this evening. But that's okay. I'm home alone, so I can mope just a little without anyone noticing and worrying.

As for some great news, he's been offered a job! He got the contract before he left home, which makes things much less stressful on his part. I'm so excited for him. I wish I was going too. (It felt so strange standing at the luggage check-in queue and not actually having any luggage of my own.)

Everything will be awesome. I have "The List", we have Skype, we'll be fine.

But crap, do I miss him already.

Want to see my bling?

So before I begin, I should inform you that I have tried to take photos of the birthday ring to share with you guys. Honestly. My camera though, isn't having a bar of it. Guess that's what you get for buying an el-cheapo digital camera with no zoom and an automatic flash. And for having a pale hand. Every time I try to take a picture of it, the flash turns everything white (well, whiter than it already is) and you can barely even tell I'm wearing a ring. I'll keep working on it.

But can I at least distract you with random animal/us pictures? Yes? Excellent!

You'll have to excuse the dodgy formatting, because I've figured that this theme? It does not like anything too fancy used with it. Center? Doesn't work. Trying to insert some basic html to get paragraphs? Er, no. And since my host has changed it's file servers, I'm stuck.

First is tanning bunnies. Watching them flop down on the ground is priceless. I did have other bunny pictures to show you, but this blog is being evil enough as it is already.  And next, these are my last photos that will be taken with Jase before he flies to London -- TOMORROW.  [Loud wailing.]  You'll have to excuse the red face and puffy eyes, and no, it's not from bawling at the thought of him leaving. It's the head cold and ahem, upper respiratory viral infection being plain old nasty. [Bleh.] Anyway, safe travels, dude. I love you. And I'll miss you. And just think of the perks over there, other than enjoying yourself in a foreign country and all. Let's face it, without my germs, you're most likely going to be sickness free for a while.And you'll get to go sightseeing!And be a tourist!And have fun! And maybe, just maybe, I'll learn how to mend holes in socks while you're away. Not that I'll be mending your socks like a house mistress or anything, but you know. It's a handy skill to have. Innit?

I had an awesome dinner out last night, with just Jason and my parents to keep me company. Ajay was busy enjoying a Gwen Stefani concert ("Wind it UPPPPP!") with Hayley, so we were just a tiny group. We ate at Hogs Breath Cafe, which has been a family favourite of ours for years now, they make the yummiest steaks you will ever eat. (That statement coming from me, the person who doesn't actually eat steak.)

They also make good cocktails. This one was called 'Bliss' and I was convinced that it was completely healthy because it has cranberry juice in it. Never mind the vodka.

After agreeing on getting me an IOU present, Jase surprised me with a present after all. And the best part? Boy's got good taste. He bought me a gorgeous ring, complete with bling! (No, not that kind of bling, freaks.) It's absolutely stunning, and I can't stop looking at it. It's shiny! He did really, really well.

Plus, you all completely spoiled me with birthday wishes. I think that's my alltime comment record! You realise I'll expect that much comment loving every day now, yes?

(And I know that Jason was excited to get all your welcomes to the blogging world.)

But the absolute corker of all the birthday gifts this year?

I'm officially the proud owner of a throat and upper respiratory viral infection. The cure from my doctor? Rest. Relaxation. And Panadol. Bloody hell.