Hijab-ified Amber - now, with added jilbab

Jilbab came, so you get pictures.

First, the abaya. It's a dark blue.


Abaya with pretty new khimar....

Another with the same combo, only this time, you get a goofy grin...

Jilbab. Showing off my hood. If nothing else, I can be a Jedi or something with this.

With one of my pashminas.

Now, I must confess, when I got these, and threw the abaya on, I went, 'oh hells, this is *so* unflattering!' and the same with the jilbab. They take away my shape! I think I look even fatter than I am in these. The jilbab is a bit better, but...still. I resolved, take the pictures, get it over with. And, I have to say, the jilbab, at least, has grown on me. It's *meant* to take away my curves. Yes, there could be a lot less of me, and believe it or not, I used to be even bigger. However, I wandered around for awhile in the jilbab/pashmina, doing house stuff. It's growing on me.

But, if ya'll wanna tell me they don't look bad, feel free. ;)

Piglet - Outward Hound - Extreme Dog!

Hee!

Piglet is my sister's chihuahua. We bought her a little life jacket and are teaching her to swim. Now, none of our dogs are ever alone near the pool, and we would never leave any of them alone in the pool, especially not Pig, who couldn't climb out if she needed to, because her little legs are too short.

Anyway...

This is Pig being introduced to the concept of large bodies of water. My mom's holding onto her.

This is her second or third swim...mom & dad kept moving a little further apart each time.

Pig, having successfully completed day one of her training! She then got a bath to get the pool water off and ran around the house like a nut.

Seeking Non Fiction Book Recommendations

Working on the assumption that one can never have too many books, I'm looking to expand my 'wish list' of non-fiction books. I'm going to list what I own, broken down into rough categories, and then, feel free to tell me what books you absolutely think I *must* have, on any subject. You can even list fiction, if you like, but my fiction collection is massive, so, no list for you on that.

*This is grouped roughly, and I'm just making the categories alphabetical*

Christianity:

Catholicism:
- 1962 Roman Missal
- Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica - St. Thomas Aquinas
- Begone Satan - Carl Vogl
- Catechism of the Catholic Church - U.S. Catholic Church
- St. Joseph Catholic Manual - Thomas J. Donaghy
- Catholic Women's Devotional Bible
- Catholicism for Dummies - Fr. John Trigilio
- Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church - Card. Joseph Ratzinger
- The Dark Sacrament: True Stories of Modern-Day Demon Possession and Exorcism - David Kiely
- Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul - St. Maria Faustina Kowalska
- An Exorcist Tells His Story - Fr. Gabriele Amorth
- An Exorcist: More Stories - Fr. Gabriele Amorth
- From the Angel's Blackboard: The Best of Fulton J. Sheen - Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
- God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life - Card. Joseph Ratzinger
- Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God - Scott Hahn
- Hostage to the Devil: The Possession and Exorcism of Five Contemporary Americans - Malachi Martin
- Interview with an Exorcist - Fr. Jose Antonio Fortea
- Jesus of Nazareth - Pope Benedict XVI
- The New Catholic Answer Bible
- Pray the Rosary - J.M. Lelen
- Rome Sweet Home - Scott Hahn
- Theology of the Body: Human Love in the Divine Plan - Pope John Paul II
- What Paul Meant - Gary Wills

Misc.:

- Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew - Bart D. Ehrman
- The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed - Bart D. Ehrman
- Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament - Bart D. Ehrman
- Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why - Bart D. Ehrman

Orthodoxy:

- The Orthodox Church - Kallistos Ware
- The Orthodox Study Bible
- The Orthodox Way - Kallistos Ware

General:

- 1776 - David McCullough
- Anything Goes - John Barrowman
- Back to the Batcave - Adam West
- Close to Shore - Michael Capuzzo
- Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and Times - Radu R. Florescu
- Ewan McGregor - Brian Pendreigh
- Heart Full of Lies: A True Story of Desire and Death - Ann Rule
- In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires - Radu Florescu
- John Adams - David McCullough
- The Lost Daughters of China - Karin Evans
- A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis - David M. Friedman
- Murder By Family - Kent Whitaker
- On Writing - Stephen King
- Plagues and Peoples - William H. McNeill
- What If? The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been - Various
- What If 2? Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been - Various

Ghosts:

- Coast to Coast Ghosts - Leslie Rule
- Florida's Ghostly Legends and Haunted Folklore: South and Central Florida - Greg Jenkins
- Floridaland Ghosts - Dyuan Clearfield
- Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from The Atlantic Paranormal Society - Jason Hawes
- Ghost in the Mirror - Leslie Rule
- Ghost Stories of Sarasota - Kim Cool
- Ghosts Among Us - Leslie Rule
- Ghosts of St. Augustine - Dave Lapham
- The Ghosts of 87th Lane - M.L. Woelm
- Ghosts: True Encounters with the World Beyond - Hans Holzer
- Grave's End - Elaine Mercado
- Hans Holzer's Travel Guide to Haunted Places - Hans Holzer
- Haunt Hunter's Guide to Florida - Joyce Elson Moore
- The Haunted South: Where Ghosts Still Roam - Nancy Roberts
- Haunting Sunshine - Jack Powell
- Hidden Files: Law Enforcement's True Case Stories of the Unexplained and Paranormal - Sue Kovach
- House of Spirits and Whispers - Annie Wilder
- I Never Believed in Ghosts Until... - Various
- Phantom Army of the Civil War and Other Southern Ghost Stories - Various
- Philadelphia Ghost Stories - Charles J. Adams, III
- Possessed Possessions - Ed Okonowicz
- Possessed Possessions 2 - Ed Okonowicz
- Psychic Pets and Spirit Animals - Various
- True Ghost Stories - Hans Holzer
- When the Ghost Screams - Leslie Rule

Islam:

- The Blood of Lambs - Kamal Saleem
- The Caged Virgin - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- The Exorcist Tradition in Islam - Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips
- The Face Behind the Veil - Donna Gehrke-White
- The Fundamentals of Tawheed: Islamic Monotheism - Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips
- A Hand Through the Door for My New Sister
- In the Land of Invisible Women - Qanta A. Ahmed
- Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Islam - Karen Armstrong
- Living Islam Out Loud - Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur
- Muhammed - Karen Armstrong
- No God But God - Reza Aslan
- Princess - Jean Sasson (I am aware of the *issues* with this book, but I own it, so I list)
- Qur'an and Woman - Amina Wadud
- Qur'an Translation
- Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
- Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West - Benazir Bhutto
- Standing Alone in Mecca - Asra Nomani
- Voices Behind the Veil - Ergun Mehmet Caner (again, *issues* are involved with the book, I know)

Judaism:

- 1 Enoch
- Abraham's Children - Jon Entine
- How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household - Blu Greenberg
- On Women & Judaism - Blu Greenberg
- Women & Jewish Law - Rachel Biale
- The Year of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs

Religion(Misc):

- The Battle for God - Karen Armstrong
- Dictionary of Angels - Gustav Davidson
- God Is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens
- The Great Transformation - Karen Armstrong
- A History of God - Karen Armstrong
- Holy War - Karen Armstrong
- Jezebel - Lesley Hazelton
- The World's Religions - Huston Smith

8 Things Tag aka It's All About Me

So, Ahavah tagged me. :) I feel all special now.

8 things I'm looking forward to:

1. My end of the month book store trip.
2. Mini break in the middle of July!
3. Finishing reading the Dresden Files again.
4. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
5. Losing at least another 50 lbs this year
6. Leverage Season 2
7. Reorganizing my books & comic collection. I'm a nerd, live with it.
8. Playing with my dogs tonight.

8 things I wish I could do:

1. Pay off my parents' mortgage, cars, etc. (So, you know, win the Lottery :) )
2. Learn to be patient and trust God. *headsmack*
3. Rule the World! Um, no. Seriously, smack everyone upside the head with the clue stick so we can stop hurting and killing each other.
4. Stop people from being cruel to animals.
5. Travel throughout the world. There are so many places I want to go to.
6. Sing. Sing well, I mean. :)
7. Pet pig!
8. Live on a farm in the middle of nowhere and raise a gaggle of really unusual children. :)

8 things I love:

1. God
2. My family (much as they may drive me up a wall - and I include our pets in 'family')
3. the church, my family through God, and all the wacky people in it. :)
4. History
5. Nature, and rolling around in the dirt
6. Water! (as in, the ocean)
7. Sharks
8. Books!

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Worked, dang it.
2. Had my car towed to Ford. Stupid gasket/battery/thingy.
3. Mistook a new rice steamer for a really bizarre toaster.
4. Attempted to teach my dog to fetch. He's got the catching the ball thing down, and the coming thing down, it's just combining the two.
5. Wrote fiction. I'm trying to get back into it.
6. Attempted to stalk Tank the Armadillo. He's clever, that one is.
7. Stole/borrowed moms bike since mines in the shop. Rode around neighborhood.
8. Listened to another episode of Our Life in Christ.

8 Shows I watch:

1. Supernatural
2. Leverage
3. Mythbusters
4. 18 and Counting
5. NCIS
6. Expedition Africa (Dear Benedict, the 'survivalist' I do not like you. Starting off your 'intro interview' by mentioning that on your first expedition you wound up eating your dog is not the way to win friends!)
7. CSI - All of them, even Miami, to my shame. I like Jonathan Togo, okay? Don't judge me!
8. Doctor Who! (And Torchwood, but I don't get BBCAmerica anymore, so that one must wait for DVD)

8 people that I tag! Uh, everyone I would tag has been tagged! So, if you read this, and you haven't been tagged, consider yourself tagged! Go for it!

I take it back, slightly. I tag Susanne and Coffee Catholic.

Hijab, Shoes and Interviews That Make Me Scream

Still not the 'post o'content'. I'm still working on that one. Trying to make it make sense, I guess. Sometimes that's harder than it sounds like it should be. :)

Okay, Amber playing around again.

Normal Amber:
Um, okay, I like this shirt. Some people, who all acknowledge that I shall never be a fashion maven, claim it too spotty. Whatever. This is why, if they want to critique my clothes, they shouldn't let me shop alone.

*sigh* al-Amira hijab. I want to like you, I really do. You are quick and easy. But you look funny, I have to wear a high-collared shirt to make sure there aren't any gaps, and, well, I still think it looks funny.

Shayla. I actually got this scarf at Wal-mart. Hmm...previous attempt, people mentioned that I needed underscarves that were colored to bring the color closer to my face. (My underscarves are all white at the moment). So, I found a $1 pack of wide stretchy headbands. I used the pink one to demonstrate, but it goes on over one of the white underscarves, and voila! Color! Also, boob coverage, with the shayla and all.

Boobs. Um, not to put too fine a point on it, but mine are not small. I do my best to down play them - I wear sports bras/tops under my clothes as much as possible, because regular bras tend to accentuate the breasts, which is, I suppose what they're designed to do. But it makes keeping shirts, etc. modest difficult.

What I'm calling khimar. If I'm using the word wrong, someone please correct me. This is what I wore out in public the other day. Two things: 1) Am I deficient somehow? How do you pin the scarf tightly and with the pin not just...being there, obvious? I cannot seem to manage this! 2) Okay, again with the breasts. This is a regular sized khimar, bought from HijabGirl. My understanding is that a part of the overall hijab is that the scarf is meant to cover your chest. Natch. I can still see the curve of my breasts to either side of the scarf. Is it because I'm built like a mack truck? I mean, I wear loose clothing, but there's only so much I can do! *waggles* I want my abaya & jilbab! I want to see if that makes a difference!

Coffee Catholic style! Meaning, a little hair showing, no underscarf. Um...I think it works better with bangs, which I don't have. Otherwise you get this, Giant Forehead of Doom!

And now for shoes! Because you all care about shoes, don't you? These are some of my favorite, not every day kind of shoes.


First up, spikey blue shoes! My love for these shoes is unending. I reserve them for special occasions.

Franken-shoe! I can't, actually, drive in these. They're too thick to push the pedals because of the heels.

Um...'shmex' boots. I do love these boots, but uh, yeah. I don't wear them at all anymore because of the way I walk in them, it's sort of counter productive to the whole...covering up thing.

Clunky oriental patterned sandals! Again, deep love for these shoes. I have flat flip flops in the same pattern too, but because I am short, I like these better.

And now interview of head banging irritation:

One of the women at work gave me her copy of the June 19, 2009 issue of Entertainment Weekly because it had Transformers on the cover, and she knows I'm looking forward to the movie. It was an interview with the 'love interest' of the movie, Megan Fox. Here're the highlights that pissed me off:

(After revealing that she'd been an extra in a scene in Bad Boys II - dancing in a bikini in a club, under a water fall)

EW: Wait, what?

Fox: Yeah, was still in ninth grade. I liked it at the time, because I was getting out of school. So I was like, F--- yeah, I don't care! And I got paid extra because if you allow them to put water on you, you get paid extra. I got probably $600.

EW: How did you feel about being sexualized like that when you were 15?

Fox: I thought it was awesome. I was going to a Christian high school and I wasn't a feminist yet. I hadn't sat back and analyzed society yet. I was 15! I just did what I was told to do.

EW: What did your parents think?

Fox: My mom was with me! I was always ubersexual, so she wasn't shocked. I was wearing the smallest clothes I could find. I would go to the mall like that - in a short, short skirt and a giant wedge heel.
....
(some mention of her stealing her mothers car when she was fourteen...movie stuff....)

EW: You've only done a couple of movies, so you're still mostly known as a sex symbol rather than an actress.

Fox: It doesn't bother me. I don't know why someone would complain about that. That just means that the bar has been set pretty low. So I can only be an overachiever. I think all women in Hollywood are known as sex symbols. That's what our purpose is in this business. You're merchandised, you're a product. You're sold and it's based on sex. But that's okay. I think women should be empowered by that, not degraded.

Emphasis mine, above. *head desk* *These* are the people that our kids want to emulate, because it's the way our society works! *growls* I have words, but they're impolite and, you know, cussing.

But, you know, frak it, women, people, who want to be modest, wear niqab, hijab, capps, whatever! We're oppressed! We're being objectified by covering ourselves up?! *makes little splorfly sounds* So much insanity.

Woodpeckers and Grasshoppers

Okay, this is not the 'post of content' that I was thinking about making, but I've got a bunch of nature pics, so you get a nature post.

These were taken on Wednesday, when I was cleaning bad tomatoes out of the garden I came across this big grasshopper. My dad called him a 'looger', but I can't find any such thing though the all knowing Google.

Saturday he was hanging out on our pool cage.

And today he was on one of the sunflower leaves.

Woodpeckers, of the juvenile variety. They're two of them, but I admit they're kind of hard to see. The video below *point* is my attempt to make sure you can see them. On the right, you can see one of them moving.

They're nest was in this big old dead tree. They've just started flying out and about.

Movie Post

I actually want to do a post with, you know, content, but that'll have to wait until I get home tonight. So, because I'm bored at lunch:

What're some movies that you *always* have to watch? I mean, you're flipping chanels, you see what's on, and you stop to watch it. Even though you've seen it a million times and can quote whole sections of dialogue.

For me, here's a few:

The Princess Bride
The Abyss
Fight Club