SeeSea

Personally, I don't care for words drawn as part of an infinity symbol or a heart or the like - but that's JUST ME. Including an actual heart or rose or something would be more pretty, IMO, and easier to convey the sentiment without having to be right on top of it. Or a picture/object that reminds her of dad, or that dad may have liked. But, what @TrixieFaux said. It's kinda touchy to comment on something that's in memoriam.

Wow. Lax dress code at work. Maybe now you'll get that big raise.

My kitty Molly has 2 masses in her abdomen we found from an ultrasound today. They sent away cells for testing. It looks like one may be obstructing her stomach causing nausea and vomiting. They may have to do exploratory surgery to know for sure. She is 16 and a sweet little thing. I'm not sure what to wish for from the test results, other than that we could cause her as little pain as possible. God, animals just wrap their little furry paws around your heart.

^^^ THIS

Ah, scrubs - I didn't think of that! (No leg tattoos for me yet)

Sleep with no pants as long as it goops and put whatever pillows, etc., to keep yourself from rolling over in the night - that's 3-ish nights for me. I had to soak out off a shirt one time after sleeping in it the first night, and it lost some color but we're not sure if that's why. Hurray for touch-ups. Ruined? Likely not. [Edit to clarify - my sessions start late and run until the early morning hours and I pass out with the plastic on when I get home. My "first night" above is technically the second night, I guess.] As for work - loose pants. Buy a larger size, buy styles with front pleats for more room. Buy material that isn't rough (not chinos/dockers for example). Consider taping folded up paper towels or something above/around it (not on it) to passively lift the material off your thigh. Consider pants with a lining to reduce the effects of rubbing. Are you a woman - skirts/dresses.

I think the notion of having a scar and getting a tattoo that you want are not really related, unless of course you want lettering or something only marginally bigger than the scar itself. I'm not a tattooer, but it seems from what I read and my very limited questions to cover a scar I have, the only constraint would be the tattooer's comfort level and experience tattooing over scars since the skin is different. Look for imagery that you like, period, and a tattooer who does that type of imagery. They'll be able to design it in a way that it happens to cover the scar and not make it look like it was put down just to cover the scar. If you like flowers, they can design a nice cascade down your arm. If you like panthers, the placement would be awesome. Then you'll have a tattoo that you like without that constant reminder. I have a scar on my thigh that is sort-of shaped in the curve of meat that could have been chewed out by a shark. For about an hour, I thought it would be cool to have a shark tattoo, looking like it had just taken the bite. But that idea is kinda hokey. Maybe better suited to be drawn on with sharpies on a hot Corona-infused summer afternoon. (It was actually from falling off an impromptu 5-foot long gang plank from a dock to a boat when the boat shifted in the slip and the plank slipped off the back of the boat. No alcohol was involved. We were just running fishing gear back and forth off the boat. A nice hunk of meat was gouged out when my leg raked over the corner of the metal trim tab just below the surface. But the crabs under the boat got a nice feast!)

Sorry but I had to laugh! I love that "stubborn ignore" that you get when they know you're getting impatient. And you can't carry a bribery carrot in your pocket every.single.time. (And thank you for the rescue.)

<rabid chihuahua thrashing on shredded slipper> You're welcome :) I only dug deeper when I noticed that CR trashed titanium dioxide after EWG sung its praises. Then my BS-o-meter went off. ... and my tattooer recently posted a video of someone bitch-smacking the shit out of someone else and added the comment, "This is what I do to my clients who fry their tattoos in the sun before I get the final healed picture." O.O

More on my sunscreen quest. I thought I was done, until I saw Consumer Reports 2013 Guide to Sunscreens. I couldn't understand why Consumer Reports and EWG ratings were so different for the same sunscreens, until I figured out how they rated relative ingredients for effectiveness. Most of this is based on effectiveness of UVA. If the UVA is good, the UVB protection is also good. Note: EWG bases ratings purely on what's in the ingredients list and the stated SPF. Consumer Reports did a test with humans. My findings smell of marketing and politics. (Although I think I smell much better.) <tl;dr>: To get a good or top score, CR wants avobenzone (non-mineral based) and EWG wants zinc oxide (ZnO) and/or titanium dioxide (TiO2) (mineral based). Each seems to think the other is full of crap. Consumer Reports: --------------------- - rates every product with avobenzone with the highest UVA rating (5/5) if it's >3%. It's avobenzone or the highway. - rates products with ONLY TiO2 as bad (1/5) for UVA. If TiO2 is ~11% or higher, it will bump the rating to 3/5. ZnO doesn't seem to be considered useful even >14%. - If oxybenzone is included, it wants >3% EWG: ------ - Wants ZnO > ~20% for top UVA rating. Has to be at least 13%, many sunscreens are only ~4%. Will give a top rating even if only ingredient is ZnO. - any product that uses avobenzone as primary UVA blocker (with no ZnO or TiO2) gets no more than "moderate" for UVA protection. - if using non-mineral ingredients, wants homosalate >10%, octinoxate>7.5%, octocylene >10% for UVA and I didn't see any with a rating better than moderate. This doesn't take into account the EWG "Health Concern" rating. I only looked at the individual ratings for UVA. Since Consumer Reports is by subscription, here are the ONLY ones they rate 4/5 or 5/5 for UVA protection. They are all non-mineral based. - Coppertone WaterBabies SPF 50 - Equate (Walmart) Ultraprotection SPF 50 - Banana boat Utrla defense max skin protect SPF 110+ - Neutragena Ultimate sport SPF 70 [Edited: adding spray products] The above from the Consumer Report list are all non-spray, since spray is already suspect due to coverage issues and some other stuff I can't remember. Below are the spray products with good or best CR ratings for UVA protection. Again, ALL are avobenzone-based rather than mineral based. - Bullfrog water armor sports instacool SPF 50+ - Up and Up Target Sports SPF 50 - Well at Walgreens Sport SPF 50 - Coppertone Sport High Performance SPF 50 - CVS Sheer Mist SPF 30

That's what I thought, but to me, it really distracts from the tattoo. I thought about asking my tattooer to sign mine somewhere since it's a big piece and such a long process, but he will have a large number of possibilities to do it without it being obvious.

Is this signed or just a very realistic copyright-ish watermark? It looks so real. Bobby Tyrrell's intagram: Instagram

That's where they post pics of my grandkids, and I can keep up with best friends we rarely see. I agree it can be a huge time sink if you let it. That's what notification settings are for! ::shrugs:: The best: waking up on my birthday to a picture of my granddaughters on FB holding a poster that reads, "Happy Birthday Grandma" with their hand prints in paint around it.

That's ok, I just use the store brand and double it up.

Welcome, too!

^^^ Please say you mean 10 hours to go and not 10 sessions to go...

I refuse to sign in to anything using Facebook. FB already tracks everything you do when you are logged in, and even when you AREN'T. The only way to stop FB from tracking you (I think) is to use FB in a completely different browser and use that browser for nothing else.

Some of these are gorgeous - love the last one with her foot slipping out of the dress and the skull on her foot - there is a side view of the same one further up - love that one! Not in the same league, but ... https://www.facebook.com/Tattoomenagerie

((((hugs))))

Oh, let it go on just bit more for fun, k? ;)

COMPLETELY AGREE! I have very few looooong lines and they are generally a BIG SURPRISE when they come! LOL!

Well, THANKS there for that, my friend, LOL! ;) And I'm talking scales on FISH! ::facepalm:: I like your tattooer's attitude. Mine purposely avoided any conversation of time commitment ... he just said he couldn't estimate it based on how my skin would take the ink, how I healed, etc. He didn't really mislead me, but in my naivete, I had no concept of the magnitude of this effort. He asked me to book several sessions ahead...so I booked several ahead...which turned into several more ... If someone had said SeeSea, this is gonna take over a year of your life, sitting every 3-ish weeks, with 2-3 passes over every square inch of your back...I don't know what I would have done. So, in retrospect, I'm glad I didn't know and didn't have to agonize over that decision. On the other hand, it's trashed my spring, summer and fall running seasons and significantly damaged my ability to eat all the Reece's Peanut Butter Cups I want. And in other news, I continue to have a serious girl-crush on your back!

@Eilin - love Love LOVE! This is one of the best Monmons ever, and the placement is really nice. Congrats!

Sigh, I knooowwwwwww. I was just way off in my own internal estimation of how long this would take. Little teeny-tiny scales with little teeny-tiny shadows and little teeny-tiny glints of sun off of each one. Aughghgh! :rolleyes: Just file this in the bitch-bitch-whine-whine folder.

If I could hit Like over and over and over on this one!!!