Took the car in to the mechanic to have the directional on the driver’s side replaced, the one on the pasenger’s side readjusted (finally)  and get the oil changed. The good news is the Taurus doesn’t require the entire headlight to be replaced just to replace the blinker (many newer cars do). The bad news is that the accident Glenn was in two years ago shattered the mount of the headlight on the passenger’s side, and since neither the insurance evaluation caught it nor did Glenn tell them that the headlight was out of wack it didn’t get replaced back then. So we now have to cough up $200 for a new headlight. Oh, and the tie rods are worn. And there’s a leak in the air conditioner. I believe I previously mentioned that all four struts needed to be replaced and the transmission needs work. We are looking at over $4000 of work for a car with a Blue Book value of less than $2000. *headdesk*

I’ve been battling a nasty cold for the past week. No strength to exercise yet, at the same time, I’ve been craving every comfort food I can get my hands on. My current fetish is chocloate milk. Thankfully I have skim milk and sugar-free chocolate syrup.

I missed last week’s colorguard practice because of the cold but managed to make it to the Abington parade last Sunday. Since Abington is next door to Rockland and they’ve combined most of their forces, naturally Rockland’s Defenders (the other corps. I was looking at) were there. My uncle mentioned he had checked out some of their practices but I didn’t see him in the hornline. Us former Light Brigaders did glean substantial gossip fodder from the drumline, however, but I’m not going to discuss that here. 😛 The truly amusing part came at the end of the parade. While we were loading up the equipment onto the bus a guy came over and started talking with members of our drumline. The guy was Mark. You know, the the guy I was supposedly flirtling heavily, and secretly wanted to have an affair, with? He was standing right in front of Glenn, who did not recognize him. And no, I’m not going to tell him even though it would give me immense pleasure to rub it into Mr. I See Everything’s face.

In other news, I seriously need to get a referral for a hearing specialist. I don’t know how or why but it seems the delta wave music that I listen to when I have my boughts of insomnia is triggering a buzzing in my left ear. I know it’s the music because whenever I stop listening to it for awhile (even if I’m blasting other types of music through my ear buds) the buzzing disappates. Plus, I recently acquired some delta wave tracks from another company. Unlike Dr. Jeffrey Thomspon’s stuff where the tones used to produce the brainwave activity are “inaudible”, this other company only masks the tones with nature sounds. You can still hear them. And one of the tones they use is identical to the one I hear when my ear buzzes. It’s mystery as to how this happened. I always keep the volume of my sleep music to one notch above “mute” so it’s not like it’s damage due to it being too loud. *shrugs*

Finally. In keeping with the tagline of my blog, I encourage everyone to go out and rent “The Girl Next Door” (the unrated version). Yes, I know it’s essentially “Risky Business” but there are enough differences to keep those who have seen that movie on their toes. And, IMHO, Emile Hirsch beats Tom Cruise hands down in talent, cuteness, and a few other things I won’t mention here (but I’m sure fangirls can easily think of). Oh, and Rebecca De Mornay’s got nothing on Elisha Cuthbert.

I received a call from my uncle last night. Tuesday afternoon a fire broke out in their computer room and took out the back end of their house. There’s an article here about how local firefighters  rescued three of their four furbabies. The fourth, Mohawk, was found hiding in the cellar after the fire was put out.

They’re currently assessing the damage. Thus far, it looks like the frame of the house is still soild, but estimates say it will be at least six months before they can move back in.

At least everyone is okay.

And I’m not a traitor, either! Three other members from the Light Brigade color guard went over to the dark side with me, including our guard captain, with one more to join once her wrist heals.

I marched my first parade with them this past Sunday, in Scituate. By the end of the parade I pretty much had the carriage to the two songs they played down. As long as our size doen’t change next Sunday, when we march in Abington’s St. Patty’s Day parade, I should be good.

I’m definitely going to be a busy Babs this year. The Crusaders have a much fuller schedule than the Light Brigade had — even back when I first began marching with them and the corps. was still reasonably sized. The link to the Crusaders’ site is to the right, if you’re interested in checking it out. I’m going to miss Wildwood, but if the stories of past DCA shows are true (And it’s possible. There’s a reason why they willingly transport the corps, as a whole, by bus.), then this year’s Labor Day weekend is going to be a blast!

Yes. I gained weight since my last weigh in, but what’s more important is that my body fat percentage has gone down —  to 30.5%. Woot! If I keep this up any day now I’ll be in the 20s! I’m also able to increase my goal weight by nearly 7 pounds. Sweet. Now I just need to pry Amber off my lap so I can go do my 40 minutes of cardio.