Navel Piercing Experience

I made a deal with myself that when I reached 130 lbs I'd get a navel piercing. I reached 130.9 lbs the other day (I'm still fluctuating between that and 135 lbs but that is fine with me, I'm still losing). So, last night I got my navel pierced at Body Bazzare in Sacramento. Dave did the piercing and he was awesome. Since I've struggled with a needle phobia and I was worried about the pain I thought I'd write about my experience.

I called Body Bazzare in Sac and spoke with Dave. He had several piercing openings. However, before I hung up and drove down I asked him several questions about how long he'd been piercing and his sterilizations habits. I was happy with his answers. I also explained to him that I might be a woos on him because I have been working on overcoming a needle phobia. He assured me that I'd do just fine.

After I hung up the phone I began to get anxious. I recognized the feeling as the same feeling I get right before I completely freak out about having my blood drawn. I really, really wanted my navel pierced though so I took some Valerian Root to calm my nerves and headed to the shop.

When I got to Body Bazzare Dave was in the parking lot on a break. He ended his brake and led me into the shop. I filled out a consent form, he took a copy of the driver's license. He prepared the room for my piercing then led me to the room. He showed me my jewelry options (they weren't great) and recommended the slightly curved bar. He put on his cloves, cleaned my skin, marked where he was going to pierce, had me lay on the table, removed the needle and bar from their packages and approached by navel with both.

I suddenly felt quite anxious. I didn't want to back out but I also didn't want him to do it. I told him I needed a few more minutes. He asked, "How many," and when I told him, "10" he was cool with it. I then remembered that I wasn't listening to music (which I usually do when I get my blood drawn) so I jumped up, got my phone and ear buds, put on some music and laid back on the table. I was ready to be pierced about 10 seconds after that so I told Dave, "Make it happen."

Dave did not clamp me. He told me before hand that he feels he does a better job and there is less swelling and bruising when he doesn't clamp the navel. He quickly pushed the needle through the skin at the top of my navel. I wanted to shout an expletive but realized it didn't hurt that bad. I definitely tensed up. It sort of felt like he was having trouble getting the needle through but I know he wasn't because he told me that he was putting the bar into the other end of the needle and the hole was created. He then shoved the needle the rest of the way through, the bar was in place, he threaded the end on and told me he was done.

"Can I get up now?" I asked. Dave told me that I could so I sat up, got off the table, told Dave he is awesome and that it wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined and started walking out of the shop. However, before I even got to the waiting area I started feeling dizzy so I sat on one of the sofas and tried logging into my yahoo account so I could give Dave and Body Bazzare a 5 star review and sing my praises of Dave. Unfortunately I couldn't seem to get the password right. Dave gave me a cup of water. My the time I gave up trying to get into my yahoo account I felt good, thanked Dave and left.

I was surprised that the actual piercing didn't hurt that bad. It was less painful than a paper cut or a bee sting and WAY less painful than either of the two times I had my ears pierced (my ear piercings were done with a gun). By the time I drove myself home (about a 10 minute drive) the new piercing was not tender at all. I did a salt water soak before I went to bed (I put the salt water solution in a shot glass, put the glass with the solution over the piercing and laid on my back on the floor for about 5 minutes.

Today the piercing did not bother me once. It has not bled (not even when it was pierced) and there is no discharge from the piercing.

69 Days In

The photo on the left was taken July 30, 2010 when I was my heaviest (158 lbs). The photo on the right was taken today (I'm 133.6 lbs).

Today I'm 69 days into my weight loss goal and 80 days since starting Nutrisystem (it took a few days for me to decide what my wieght loss goals would be). I'm pretty much right on track with where I projected I would be. See, the first few days I was tracking my loss then I had enough information to predict how much I was likely to lose each week and I ran a projection based on the infromation from the first few days before I officially set my goals.

Some days I gain some weight and other days I lose some. Overall I'm on a downward weight trend and keeping up with my projection so that is really good. It is sort of odd and refreshing to look back and the numbers from the previous weeks and think about how far I've come.

I told myself that when I hit 130 lbs I will get my naval pierced. I projected that would happen around day 91. I'm 133.4 lbs today and I'm on track to get the piercing on day 92 (day 91 is a Sunday). We are going on vacation that week so I figure getting my belly button pierced at the end of the week then spending a few days driving (in a modern car then in the Speedster) would give me quite a few days without much activity and would likely help the piercing start healing. I'm very excitted about this. I don't know how I will do when it actually comes time to layin the chair and have the needle jabbed through me but I figure I was able to donate the kidney to Dad so I can handle a hollow needle being jabbed through my belly button.

Sourdough Starter Day 3

 Day 3 of the sourdough starter. The first picture is before I fed the starter. The second picture is after I fed the starter. The starter smelled sour and sort of like poop. It tasted tart too. I read if it had pink liquid on to it means the starter went bad. There was no pink liquid and plenty of bubbles. So, based on everything I've read, I think this starter is doing well.

Sourdough Starter Day 2

 Here is the sourdough starter after the Day 2 feeding. I'm happy to see those bubbles on top.

Sourdough Starter and Water Kefir Soda

Last night I decided to try my hand at making sourdough starter the good old fashioned way. So, I mixed 1/2 cup white four with 1/2 cup tap water (that I boiled for 10 minutes then let cool to get rid of the chlorine) in a glass bowl. This evening I added another 1/2 cut white flour and 1/2 water (prepared the same way as last night). Before I added the water and flour this evening I noticed bubbles in the mixture and a thin layer of clear liquid on top of the mixture. I've read these are good signs. I look forward to trying to make rosemary artisan bread using this starter instead of store bought yeast. I read about water kefir soda on the Mother Earth News web site the other day and decided I want to give it a try. So, I ordered some water kefir grains from Amazon. They haven't arrived yet. I look forward to brewing my first batch of water kefir and seeing how it tastes. I am afraid the water kefir will taste a bit like beer (being that it is fermented). I can't stand the taste of beer. However, I was interested in trying it because I read it is a decent replacement for commercial soda (and I'm definitely addicted to commercial soda).

Leopard Print and Zebra Print Pillow and Leopard Print and Zebra Print Purse

As Promissed, here are photos of the leopard print and zebra print purse and pillow too. While I'm at it, below is statistical information on both.

Leopard Print and Zebra Print Purse

Size excluding handle: about 13.5 inches wide x about 7.5 inches tall by about 4 inches deep (at the bottom) and about 3 inches deep at the top

Handle size: about 11 inches tall

Outside colors: Black, Brown, Tan and Cream in squares of leopard print and squares of zebra print or tiger stripes

Lining Colors: Tan and Black

Features: Zipper closure at the top of the purse body. Three pockets without closures on one side of the purse. The larges pocket is about 8 inches at the widest and about 3.75 inches at the tallest. The two small pockets are about 3.75 inches at the tallest and about 3.5 inches at the widest. Three pockets on the other side of the purse. The large pocket has a Velcro closure and measures about 8 inches at the widest and about 3.75 inches at the tallest. The other two pockets do not have closures and measure about 3.75 inches at the tallest and about 3.5 inches at the widest.

Leopard Print and Zebra Print Pillow

Size: about 10.5 inches long by about 10.5 inches wide

Colors: Black, Brown, Tan and Cream in squares of leopard print and squares of zebra print or tiger stripes. The pillow has a trim of black cording.

My kitty Lincoln wanted to be part of the photo shoot so he jumped up and threw the purse over his sholder.

Leopard and Zebra Print Purse

I just finished my first item for sale on Etsy.com. It is a leopard print and zebra print purse. I'm quite happy with it. I made two small pillows out of the same fabric and I intend to make a bean bag chair from the same fabric.

Tomorrow I'll set up and take some pictures of the purse for Etsy and I'll post them here too.