Oh dear me...

At first glance, this would seem like a dirty post... so I'll probably make the title a bit more friendly. But if you're brave enough, do read the backgroun behind the seemingly innapropriate pictures and you'll see that it's not this post that's dirty... it's your mind (you little heathen, you!) :-P

(I got this info from straightdope.com... apparently a website where they answer questions, though you wouldn't think it from the address)

"I am saddened to report that DO NOT HUMP does not have any of the off-color significance that seems to give many of the Teeming Millions their principal reason to go on living. It refers to a common method used to sort freight cars known as "humping," which involves the use of a man-made hill, or hump. A track heads up the hill and branches into numerous parallel tracks on its way down the other side. To make up new trains, a switch engine pushes a string of cars to the top of the hump, where the cars are uncoupled one at a time. Having determined the car's destination, a worker in a nearby tower pushes buttons or throws levers or whatever to get the track switches (you know, those things where one track divides into two) lined up properly. The car is then given a nudge, causing it to roll down the hump and onto the right track.

The advantage of humping is that it's a lot faster than having switch engines shuttle back and forth all day making up trains. The disadvantage is that it's sometimes a little rough on the freight cars and their contents. Occasionally a car derails going down the hill, meaning the crew has to stop working and try to get the wheels back on the rails, which is not much fun, particularly in the middle of winter. What's worse is the possibility that the car may roll down the hill too fast and crash into the car in front of it, jostling or damaging both the cars and what's inside them. Special gimmicks on the rails called "retarders" are supposed to slow things down and prevent this, but they have been known to fail. Accordingly, cars with especially delicate contents are marked DO NOT HUMP, which tells the yard crew to set the car aside for special handling. This applies particularly to the tank cars used to haul hazardous chemicals, many of which have DO NOT HUMP stenciled permanently on their sides. "










So there you have it, folks. Now, go get your minds out of the gutter!!

He SO Totally Rocks.

This week the spotlight goes to reason #124897...

He always always ALWAYS opens my car door for me. ALWAYS!!! And almost always opens every other door for me when we're together.

We've been married for a year and he STILL does it.

*sigh

Talk about dreamy.

They do exist!

Okay - most of you know about Gremlins. You've seen the movie. Had the nightmares. Bought the t-shirts.

But OhMmGee... they DO exist!!! And they're back with a vengeance... Check this out:

A Pgymy Tarsier - thought to be extinct for the past 8 decades.

*shivvers*

It's not so crazy to be afraid of Gremlins anymore.

I've got the heeby-jeebies, now. You??

Band-Aids and Lumpy Orientals

They aren't cool. Lumpy Orientals, that is - they're just not cool (Band-aids totally are cool, btw... especially if they have pictures of Strawberry Shortcake or Scooby Doo on them).

You can't put a band-aid on your issues. It's the kind of "sore" that you have to rip open to let the infection out. If you don't, it may look like it's healed, but it's really just festerring inside and slowly making you very very sick.

McStudly and I had a conversation last night. It was VERY much needed and very beneficial. Did it make everything "all better"? Well... in a way, yes. But it took some "rippin open" first. And then we came to this (not directly quoted):

Mcstudly: "I don't think either of us realized that marriage would be this much work all the time."

Me: "I don't think it's supposed to be this much work every day. It seems to me that it's like cleaning. If you do a little maintenance every day... if you clean the dirty dishes every day, it doesn't pile up. But if you leave it for even a day or two, you're kicking yourself because now - what would've taken only a minimal amount of work - takes a LOT of work. I think that relationships are supposed to be worked at a little bit everyday. And I think if you put that off, or get lazy for even a day or two, it takes a lot of time and energy - more than normal - to get it back to where it was. Back to where it can just be kept up."

We agreed.

When your room was a mess, and your mother/father/guardian would tell (more like order in my house) to clean it up, it usually got a WHOLE lot messier before it started to look even remotely cleaner than it was when you started. And even though Momma Bear was the one that coined the "it gets messier before it gets cleaner" concept (she did in my book, anyways. Don't ruin it for me!), she'd STILL come in about 10 minutes after I've started and say something like "I said CLEAN the mess, Sarah, not fung shui the mess. Now get it done!"

So instead of shifting stuff around like those picture puzzles you play online - you know... the ones where can only move one block at a time - you have to take some of the puzzle pieces out and take a few steps back before you can take any steps forward.

You can't just stick a band-aid on the hard stuff. You've gotta clean out the bad stuff, first, and then put in a bit of medicine (can you tell I'm somewhat slightly addicted to metaphors? My bad... my bad folks), first... i.e. the band-aid = patience, the bad stuff = issues/arguments/trouble/disagreements/sin/yelling/anger/discontent, medicine = prayer and LOTS of it. Does that help, any?

So you gotta work through things. Not just sweep it under the rug and try to forget about it. Or you'll end up like I was a few blogs ago... with a lot of frustration, and a really lumpy rug.

... and nobody likes a lumpy oriental.

My B

I'm sorry.

I was having a really tough day yesterday. I wasn't just frustrated with McStudly, but there's actually a LOT going on right now.

Please pray for me, would ya? I can always use it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a much lighter note - it's THURSDAY!! Which means it's almost the weekend. That's freaking FANNNtastic!! I could sure use another weekend (even though this one won't be 4-days... it's better than nothing, right?!).

So... on this Thursday, what's going on with you? Are things good? Are they rotten? (Don't you DARE say things are fine - that's never an acceptable answer with me. Let's be real... "fine" is code for "I don't wanna talk about it." or "I don't really think you care, so I'm not going to waste your time."


I would't ask if I didn't care.







So for real, people. How are things in (insert your name here)-Ville?!

One Full Year

Okay - so Monday was McStudly and I's first anniversary. Can you believe it? An entire year!!





The day started off a little rocky. We slept in, and woke up to... nothing. The power was out. Yep - Happy Anniversary! Right?! It was out until about 3 or so. Nice.







Well, I got up and going while Mcstudly slept a little longer. I took Austin over to my parents' house (they were watching him so we could have a hott date that night *wink wink*), and then headed over to my Anniversary present.



Sunday night, McStudly gave me a little card with all the deets. It said "11/10/08, at 1:30, with Jeanne". Yesss!!! He got me a full body massage. SOOO amazing. And highly recommended (I think he ruined it for himself, though, becuase now I'm hooked). It was FANtastic! After the massage, I relaxed in the "tranquility" room with NO clue what time it was (and I didn't even care, really) and then headed into the ladies area where I sat in the steam room for a while and then hopped in the shower. I was taking FULL advantage of the comps, that's for sure!



When I finaly emerged from Robert Andrews, I went over to pick up Kyle's anniversary present, but it wasn't in, yet. He knew what he was getting, at this point, so there was no rush.





So I went home and slowly started getting ready. Okay, so I watched a few tv shows, first, but then I totally did start getting ready early. I straightened my hair out and fluffed up the back of it, then I slipped into my hott little black dress, and threw a sweater on with it. I think it made me look like an old lady with the sweater, but McStudly still thought I was hott. (pictures to come)





We went to Fogo de Chao in Baltimore City. TOTALLY amazing!

I highly recommend it to everyone!! It does cost quite a bit of money, but you SO get what you pay for! My drink wouldn't be half empty before it was refilled. The food was simply mathcless, and the $10 valet made it all so perfect!! Really, people. You've GOT to check it out. So what if you drop $130 in a single meal. If it's your anniversary or any other special occasion it's DEFINITELY worth it!!

After dinner, we swung by my parents' house again and picked up our anniversary cake (I totally forgot about it earlier when I dropped off the pup) and then headed home. The cake was still frozen, so we found some other things to do to fill our time... tee hee hee

Anywho - once we ate the cake (it was delicious, by the way), the night was over. By this time it was about 3 a.m. and I was pooped so off to bed I went.

It was a great night, and having the next day off was just icing on the cake. Err - extra icing?!

Honesty... the Best Policy?

I did something last night. It wasn't good.

In fact, it was something that I SWORE I would never do. But McStudly was at work and after bringing Austin home from the dog park and eating dinner by myself in front of the television, I found myself feeling awfully lonely.

That's when it happened.

I had been watching various TV shows we had recorded throughout the week, and also trying to track down the name of a song from the season finale of Army Wives this past week when the temptation struck.

I tried to brush it off, but it jsut kept kitting me over and over and over and over again, like some kind of mental version of Chinese water torture.


...and I gave in.


I turned off all the lights and went upstairs.


I could still turn back, now. It wasn't too late.



I went into the bathroom and locked the door on the hallway side (it leads into my bedroom). Then I went into my room and locked the bedroom door.

It still wasn't too late. Nothing was final.



I picked the two pillow shams up and laid them on the floor next to the bed. Then... I turned off the lights and climbed into bed.


It was at that moment, I realized that I had gone against everything within me that had been screaming for me to stop what I was doing and turn back. It had been done.



As I lay down and began to get comfortable, I reached my arm over the edge of the bed and hit the side of the mattress three times.

"Austin... Austin, come lay down, baby. It's time to go night-night."



Yes. I am ashamed to say that last night, I let the dog sleep in our bedroom with me, instead of in his crate in the other room. (What?! What did you think I was going to say??)


What kind of woman have I become? I SWORE that I would never do that. In fact, McStudly and I have had a few "intense moments of fellowship" over that very subject. But alas, I had given in to my loneliness, and thus - given in the little devil on my right shoulder.





Oddly enough, it went swimmingly!! He laid down on top of the pillow shams, after about 8 little circles (why do they do that??) and didn't get up. That's right - he slept through the night!! Right there. Not whining. No destructive mid-night searches for something to chew. No trying to jump onto the bed. Nothing. It was AMAZING!!!

I actually slept pretty well, for as light of a sleeper as I am, and with having a dog in the room. Granted, it still wasn't a great night's sleep (I'm still desparately awaiting that one), but it wasn't terrible, either. This morning, he woke up at one point, stood up, and looked the room. Then he just went and sat at the end of the bed. Real quiet. Real polite. He was real "good dog" material, this pup. That CERTAINLY couldn't be my dog! Could it?! Apparently, it could.


Then McStudly got home (he's working nights right now. He gets of at around 0530, and home at or around about 0600). Austin heard something and walked like a stalking Lion over to the bedroom door. He stood quietly... patiently... then he became a man-dog.


That's right. My little pup turned into my big guard-dog. He started lightly growling. Just a little... not too much. More like a warning growl.

He stopped.

He listened.


Then he growled again... a little bit louder this time. Showing that he wasn't backing down.

He stopped.

He listened.


Then he growled - much louder this time - as if to say "this is your last chance".

He stopped.

He listened. I listened.



I thought McStudly was on his way up the stairs, by now, so I got up out of bed and opened the bedroom door (since I lock it at night, he can't get in unless I get up and open it).


Austin TOOK OFF running down the stairs (apparently, by estimation of McStudly's locations was WAY off... he was jsut coming out of the bathroom downstairs). I stuck my head over the railing to try and see what happened.


As soon as he saw McStudly his ENTIRE body language changed. His eyes got all big and he started wagging his tail like he was a small propeler jet preparing for take-off. It was too cute.



So I went back to bed.


Too much cuteness for 6 o'clock in the morning.




SO yeah. Austin surprised me with how well behaved he through the night. And then McStudly took him for a walk this morning, and when I was getting ready to leave, I checked in on my the man-dog that had overtaken my little puppy, and he was loving his life, back in his crate for the day.





Will I do it again? I'm not so sure. It's hard to top such a perfect night with Austin. But I won't rule it out. After all, I kind've liked the company. :-)

The Fat Lady Sang

It doesn't matter, now.

... who you voted for, who you wanted to win, what your race, what your moral standings... it doesn't matter now.


Why? Because the election is over. The country has spoken (minus about 10,000 absentee ballots due to VA's huge-mongous screw-up), and they've elected a President. So it doesn't matter what you think.

It's time to start praying for President-elect Barack Obama, his family, and our country.

It's time to start respecting him. It doesn't matter if you voted for him, or even if you like him. He is going to be our leader. And, like it or not, he deserves our respect for that very reason. So let it go if you're upset, and take a chill pill if you're overly excited - Because none of that matters now.


You may be curious who I voted for. Does it matter? I'll tell you, but it doesn't matter. Even though I live in a very liberal state, I still voted conservative - I voted for Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. But like I said, it doesn't matter. They didn't win the elction, and I'm not crying. It's time to be proud of my country, not add to it's division.


America has spoken. And they said they wanted President-elect Obama. So now we've got him. And it's time that we all started to give him our respect. So here's to you, sir. May God lead and guide you in the way that you run this country. May you earn respect with foreign leaders and diplomats, and may you do all that you can to bring pride back to the hearts of all Americans.



*raises glass* "Cheers." *Takes a sip*



So, since like ALLL of the headlines seem to be about having an African American President-elect for the first time in the history of the United States of America, I figured I'd add to it, just for fun.

I won't lie and call this "Wordless Wednesday", (I mean look at all of the words!), but just for jollies, this is pretty much what our New History books will look like. I'm sure they'll be hitting the presses ANY day, now.

Whether or not color should matter, sometimes, to some people, it does.

Happy Hump Day!

Freebies for Voting!

Yep - you heard right! retailers all across American are giving away freebies to people who say they voted, or those wearing an "I Voted" sticker. If you voted via absentee ballot, you may be out of luck, but be sure to try asking, at least. I mean - they most they'll do is say no, right?

But here you go - the list of retailers offering Freebies to proud voters:

http://lifehacker.com/5075721/election-day-freebies-roundup






Go vote!