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

Beginning Faith Classes - What to Teach

So, as some of you might be aware, I'm supposed to help teach the beginning faith classes at my parish next year. When I say help, I mean teach, along with another woman from my RCIA class who's never taught before either. *cough* Anyway...

Um...our religious ed director has still not gotten around to showing us books or even giving us a hint of what we're to be expected to cover. And, this is driving me slightly mad. I like to be prepared! My contingency plans have contingency plans!

So. In an effort to feel slightly more prepared...

What are some things that you think should be covered in a basic/beginning faith class for kids who are (from what I've been told) around 6 years old?

Buddy B.

This is our Jack Russell Terrier, Buddy. He's 15, and we just heard from the vet that his kidneys are failing. There's something they can try, but given his age, they hold out no hope.

My mother just made the appointment to have him put down tomorrow. I have no idea why I'm posting this except to share my misery.

If you'll excuse me, I'll be over here, crying.

Jacob, Rachel and Leah

Just one of those random questions that pop up in my head.

Jacob was tricked into marrying the 'wrong' sister, Leah.

I get that the bride was veiled, etc. But...come the actual wedding night, shouldn't he have realized he was bedding the wrong woman? I don't think she kept the veil on the whole night...

The only explanation I've seen put forth for this is that Jacob was drunk (and I mean really, really drunk - like, nine sheets to the wind drunk) by the time consummation came around. That his father in law, Laban, got him purposefully drunk so he wouldn't notice.

It's Okay to Ask for Help

So, some of the replies on my whinging post about dating, etc. made me realize something.

I don't ask for help.

It just doesn't occur to me, when I'm trying to do something, to ask someone else for assistance, and if I hurt myself, I typically don't even ask for help then.

For instance, the stick through the foot incident: We live on 3 acres of land. Not huge, but not your typical back yard. The bushes that so maliciously attacked me were along the fence at the very back of the property. I was walking two of the dogs at the time, on leashes, because they can't be trusted not to go over the fence after a bunny or something. So, I had to limp back, with both dogs trying to help, sniffing the blood, etc. But here's the thing: *I had my cell phone with me*. I could have called the house and somebody could have come out to at least take the dogs which would have made the trip back easier. But it didn't even occur to me until my mother asked me why I didn't do it.

That's somewhat of an extreme example, I'm not usually bleeding when I do things on my own.

But it's typical. I don't ask for things. I don't ask for help. I should be able to do it myself.

I'm not the kid buttering up her parents for toys, and I'm not the kid hanging off their mothers arm screaming 'I want it!'. I'm the kid climbing up on the counter to get the dishes, or sitting there, quietly, *wanting* something and wondering why no one gives it to me. Because they should just *know* that of course I want it.

I want to get married. I want oodles of children. I want a wonderful husband that I love and who loves me back just as much.

But I've never bothered to ask. I've been alternately trying to do it myself, and sitting in my corner wondering why 'Dad' won't just give me what He knows I want.

So. I've got to learn to ask. Easier said than done, I'm guessing.