Bonded and Reduced

There was a big milestone passed (literally) up in New Hampshire yesterday. It is one I hope we can laugh about with the perpetrator in a couple decades. The BRS, without coaching, walked into the bathroom, lowered her pants and did her business (in the toilet thankfully). This is a big deal with the imminent arrival of BR3. I had two kids in diapers at once; it is not for the faint of heart. We caught up with them yesterday and they were all sitting in the car, inexplicably. It seems my Favorite Son was mounting the new car seat for BR3 when the BRS decided she wanted in on the action. Thereafter she refused to leave the car so mom and dad sat next to her while the BRS re-distributed the coins from my son’s the cup holder throughout the car.

FBR was Puddle Dancing 

They eventually wheedled her out of the car but she was not pleased with the extraction. She was pitching a fit in the house when my son told her she should show her grandparents the blanket fort he and she had constructed. The BRS leapt to her feet and made a bee line to the blanket fort which she immediately began tearing down. This is a determined young lady. She was eventually pulled out of her funk when the slightly delayed shipment of new clothes and a pair of shoes from her grandpa and abuela arrived. She immediately took to modeling them and then rushed upstairs to hang one of her new outfits in her parents’ closet.

BRS Modeling New Shoes

I’ve dropped thirty pounds since my Christmas cookie over indulgence and I can really feel the difference. I’m now down to the weight I was when I retired from the Army. Many of the debilitating effects I was feeling and had assigned to getting old have disappeared. I’m still getting old but it’s a lot more tolerable with the missing weight. I even received a compliment from my Favorite Panamanian.

I finished off my quarantine march through all of the James Bond films with Spectre. I really enjoyed the time spent with the various incarnations of 007. It cemented my opinion that Sean Connery is still the best. I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed the watch, even the low ranking ones were a lot of fun. They should put together a film featuring all the opening scenes and the opening credits fomor the Bond films - mesmerizing. I rank the films, the actors and the Bond girls below:

Bond Films (best to worst although they’re all enjoyable):

1 - From Russia with Love

2 - Thunderball

3 - Casino Royale

4 - Diamonds Are Forever

5 - Dr. No

6 - Goldfinger

7 - Spectre

8 - Quantum of Solace

9 - GoldenEye

10 - Skyfall

11 - Tomorrow Never Dies

12 - License to Kill

13 - You Only Live Twice

14 - On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

15 - The World Is Not Enough

16 - The Living Daylights

17 - For Your Eyes Only

18 - Never Say Never Again

19 - Die Another Day

20 - Live and Let Die

21 - The Spy Who Loved Me

22 - Octopussy

23 - Moonraker

24 - A View to A Kill

25 - The Man with the Golden Gun

James Bond Actors Ranked:

1 - Sean Connery

2 – Daniel Craig

3 – George Lazenby

4 – Timothy Dalton

5 – Pierce Brosnan

6 – Roger Moore

Very Best Bond Girl – Judi Dench as M

Totally in Love with Luciana (First Loves Never Leave you)

Best Bond Girls

1 – Luciana Paluzzi – Fiona Volpe (Thunderball)

2 – Carole Bouquet – Melina Havlock (For Your Eyes Only)

3 – Carey Lowell – Pam Bouvier (Licence to Kill)

4 – Ursula Andress – Honey Ryder (Dr. No)

5 – Maryam D’Abo – Kara Milovi (The Living Daylights)

6 – Dianna Rigg – (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)

Name Wasn't the Only Miss with Chiles

Worst Bond Girls (listed worst to bad):

1 – Lois Chiles – Holly Goodhead (Moonraker)

2 – Tanya Roberts – Stacy Sutton (A View to a Kill)

3 – Grace Jones – Mayday (A View to a Kill)

4 – Britt Eklund – Mary Goodnight (Man with the Golden Gun)

5 – Rosamund Pike – Miranda Frost (Die Another Day)

I’ll start my next quarantine series watch with the Bourne series with Matt Damon. We’ll see how Jason Bourne stacks up against 007.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                            

BR3 – inbound granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals – female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn