thotlady.com » Husband

Fiat or not to Fiat…

thotlady — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:01:13 +0000

…that is the question.

Whether Bogie likes it or not we need to buy a new car. Our Buick is a 1995 and our Toyota a 2001. So 17 years and 11 years respectively are pretty old vehicles.

Recently I have seen quite a few Fiat’s running around town. The new ones, called Pop’s. They are so cute. I fell in love with them.

Normally I wouldn’t even consider buying a new car, I always say only used cars for me. The depreciation and all that. But the price on these Fiats is too good to pass up and did I mention they are cute.

Plus our bank has a partnership with certain dealerships to give their members a discounted price on their cars, so the price for the Fiat is very, very good. Did I mention it is cute, okay, I’ll move on.

I have done my due diligence. Checked other dealerships, went on-line to browse the Fiat websites and I have just finished getting pre-approved for a car loan from our bank. Oh, and our bank gives you a .25% decrease on the interest rate of the loan if we buy the car from one of their partner dealerships.

I am going to visit the dealership on Saturday, hopefully they will have a car and color that Bogie and I can agree on. Keep your collective fingers crossed.

-thotlady

Back from Indianapolis

thotlady — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:18:10 +0000

I spent last week in Indianapolis at a parking conference. You heard me…a parking conference. It sounds boring doesn’t it, well you are right it was BORING. The only thing that got me through the boredom was knowing I was traveling up to Wisconsin on Friday to celebrate my mom’s 80th birthday with my family.

Everyone had a good time. Too much alcohol was had by many, not me, but many others. I did have my share, but I was pretty good at moderation. I did eat too much however, so I gained three pounds in a week. How does that happen? I hate middle age.

Thanksgiving is coming, do you see it right around the bend. I have yet to make any plans. Although it is Thanksgiving after all and what do you need to plan really? Turkey – check, green beans – check, pumpkin pie – check, sweet potatoes – check, stuffing – check and of course, mashed potatoes – check. I think it will just be Bogie and me this year. I will invite our host students, but they usually travel around the US during Thanksgiving week.

So, what is everyone else doing for Thanksgiving? The usual or something new and different? Gobble, Gobble.

-thotlady

Back from vacation…guess where we went

thotlady — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:28:12 +0000

You guessed correctly, we spent the past week in Seattle with Bogie’s family. His grandfather celebrated his 90th birthday with a party. His two daughters organized the party and it was a lot of fun. I hadn’t seen Bogie’s grandfather in a few years, so it was great to visit with him.

Although, I am not going to travel by air for a long, long, time. I hate flying. HATE.IT.

Not getting a seat assignment until reaching my gate, going through security, having a 3-hour layover in Minneapolis all added to my hatred of flying. I am not exaggerating. Sandwiched in between two people for three and a half hours with no leg room. Not good.

Now I am going to settle into a long winter’s nap. Oh, right it is still summer. I don’t know how you can tell, oh, maybe the 100+ degree days of heat, heat, heat.

Wow, I am such a complainer.

Positive things:

We visited with many of my husband’s relatives
Visited Pike Place Market on a beautiful sunny day
At at Iver’s…twice for me three times for Bogie
Visited Glass baby’s…beautiful glasses, but a tad too expensive for my pocketbook
Took the light rail into downtown Seattle
We even went out to the local pub for some beer, pizza and darts..lots of darts. A good time was had by all

Well that’s about it. Back to the salt mines. Photos coming later…I hope.

-thotlady

Grief

thotlady — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 02:25:00 +0000

Each night before I go to bed, I sit on the couch in the spot that my Brammy used to sit. Staring out the bay window at our neighborhood. We always said he was our neighborhood watch dog. Keeping us all safe from harm. Our ever vigilant sentry. He would sit and stare out that window for hours.

Each night when I came home from work I would slow the car and stop right in front of our house. I would look in the window and there Brammy was. As soon as he recognized me and the car he would stand up on the couch and I would wave to him. He would get very excited, jump off the couch, and he would be at the family room door as I opened it, so very happy to greet me.

All of that is no more. One thing I have discovered with the death of our pets is…you cannot share grief. At least, my grief and sense of loss does not lessen because my husband is also grieving. Each one of us grieves separately. I imagine my husband rarely shows me his grief because he worries that it will add to my burden.

There is no right way to grieve.

-thotlady

Quick visit to Wisconsin

thotlady — Wed, 18 May 2011 18:51:46 +0000

I recently took a break and spent a long weekend with my family in Wisconsin. It was great seeing everyone. It was a bit colder there than here, but that is to be expected. I live in the south after all. No photos to speak of, I did take a couple with my phone, but left the camera at home. Bogie did not go with me, he stayed home with our sweet dog, Brammy. I missed them both very much.

I find as time moves on that I like to leave home less and less. Is that normal?…I don’t really know, but I always want to come back home after a couple of days. Even though I miss my mom and sisters a great deal, I also miss my home. I don’t travel well. I don’t think I ever have. That’s not to say, I haven’t traveled, I have, a great deal. I have been to London, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Mexico, California twice, Seattle many times, Vienna, Geneva, Switzerland, Paris and even New York. It makes me tired just reading the last sentence. Most of this traveling was pre-dog ownership. I do hate to leave my puppies behind. Here is what is waiting for me at home.

oh, and him…

-thotlady

Catching Up

thotlady — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:21:10 +0000

It has gotten cold again here in Virginia. So I’m never quite sure what I should wear to work.
I am on another diet, stop making that face, I have lost 10 pounds in 4 weeks. I was hoping for 12 pounds (3 per week), but no such luck. It is much more difficult to drop the weight this time around. I think my age might have something to do with it. I said might, being that I am only in my 30′s. . Don’t you dare go over to my about page and check to make sure my age matches up.
We had some tragic news here at work on Monday. One of our employees shot his wife and then shot himself. She survived, he however, did not. They have a young daughter that was in the house when it happened. She was not harmed physically, emotionally though, only time will tell. I can never wrap my brain around this type of destructive and selfish behavior. It saddens me.
My hubbie Bogie is running in a 10K this weekend. His brother and his family are coming down to cheer him on. I believe his brother is also going to run. One of our host students from China is going to join us in cheering Bogie on. This is Bogie when he ran last year…I hope he has good weather.

Finally Aruba photos…

thotlady — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 21:10:20 +0000

…don’t faint.

On Bogie and my first day out exploring Aruba, we decided to head over to the other side of the Island to see if we could find a lighthouse that was advertised in one of the hotel brochures. We were told the lighthouse was near Baby Beach. We found Baby Beach on the map and off we went in our rental car. We drove and drove and drove a long distance (mind you Aruba is not that big of an island). Finally we started to see signs for Baby Beach.

Alas we made it…

Baby Beach

Bogie on Baby Beach

More Baby Beach...I just like writing Baby Beach

Bogie on the beach, carrying his sandals

There was a cantina on the beach and I had to go to the bathroom. Of course! It doesn’t matter where we are I always need to find the bathroom. I start looking around and a man in the back of a pick-up truck could tell I was in dire straights, he said the lady in the cantina had a key to the buildings behind the beach. So off I went to the cantina. When I asked for the key, the lady told me that the man was cleaning the bathrooms so they should be open. I walked back over to the buildings that looked like bathrooms. Both of the doors had padlocks on them and there was no one within sight. Then I noticed a smaller building behind the other building. At this point Bogie had joined me. We walked over to the gentleman and asked him if these were the bathrooms, he said, yes but it will cost 50¢, Bogie chimed in and said he had to use the facilities also. So it would cost us $1.00. A fair price indeed, since by now my bladder is screaming at me. I quickly went into the bathroom and Bogie went into the other bathroom. I was a little nervous, this was a pretty small shed. But to my surprise, they had flushing toilets and everything. Such a relief…in more ways than one.

When I exited the bathroom I realized I only had a $20.00 bill, so I told the man I would need to run back to our car. So, off I went, it took me a awhile, but I paid our bathroom debt. We then thought to ask the ladies working in the cantina if they could direct us to the lighthouse. They gave some very confusing directions, but I nodded my head and thanked them. Bogie asked me if I understood which way to go, I responded with I haven’t a clue.

As we were driving away I asked Bogie to stop near the bathrooms so I could snap a photo.

Baby Beach Rest Rooms

As I finished snapping this shot, a truck pulls up next to us and it’s one of the ladies from the cantina, she said to follow her and she would show us where the lighthouse is. In the back of my mind I thot…and that’s the last you ever saw of Thotlady and Bogie.

More to come…

Off with the old, on with the new

thotlady — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 20:14:23 +0000

I remember when I was in high school…really, I do. My friends and I were talking one day and I said “I wonder how old I will be at the turn of the century?“ So naturally we all did the math in our heads. Well some of us did it in our heads, the rest needed pencil and paper. When we came up with the age, it was staggering 43. Well, it was staggering to me. When one is 16 years of age, 43 seems like a life time away. And it pretty much is.

Now as the earth has completed another rotation around the sun, I am much, much, older than 43. I have lived over half my life. Somehow I can’t quite wrap my brain around that. So I won’t try, I will just move on.

What awaits me in 2011. Hopefully good things. Here are my wishes for 2011, in no particular order.

I want to have a wonderful, carefree vacation in Aruba in February.
I wish for my hubby and sweet puppy to have continued good health.

On a side note, many, many years ago I was told by a very wise person (I can’t remember who it was, but they were wise), “If you want to achieve your goals in life you should write them down on a piece of paper, so you can take them out and look at them every so often”. So I wrote down my long term goals. You want to know what they were don’t you? Okay, I will try to recall.

To own my own home
To finish my college degree (you can do this…you can see the finish line)
To find someone with whom I can share my life (back then I spoke in this highfalutin fashion)
To have a baby

Did I achieve my goals? Let’s see:

To own my own home -check (with Bogie)
To finish my college degree (you can do this…you can see the finish line) -check
To find someone with whom I can share my life -check
To have a baby

Three out of four ain’t bad. I do recommend writing down your long term goals. I did pull my list out and look at it from time-to-time. It kept me hopeful and on track. Now, if you are the type of person who does not like to set goals, who likes to fly by the seat of your pants, then by all means carry-on.

Back to my 2011 list:

Bogie and I haven’t spent much time together away from home, I hope we can change that in 2011, we are off to a good start with our February, Aruba trip.
I would like to get a tattoo, but I keep procrastinating. I would show you the tattoo, but then you might steel it and we would end up with matching tattoos and that is not going to happen.
I want to take another road trip to visit Wisconsin. It is a 15 hour drive, but I would like to visit in June. We shall see.
I will work on keeping our paper clutter at home to a minimum. Both Bogie and I are very bad when it comes to paper clutter.
Knit more. If that is even possible.
Smile more.
Thank people more.
And last but not least, get that face lift already…I am starting to look my age. YIKES!

Well, there it is my 2011 list. Boring isn’t it. I find that the older I get the less I expect. Why is that? Experience has taught me to expect less but appreciate more.

thotlady in thot

Running and then some

thotlady — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:19:27 +0000

My Bogie runs. What that means is he regularly runs to keep in shape. He also lifts weights. So, needless to say, he is very fit. Me…not so much. I walk on our treadmill, but not as often as I should. It goes in spurts.

Bogie has run in several races over the past few years. An 8K, 10K and most recently a half-marathon. You heard me 13.1 miles.

A week ago Saturday our fair city had a 10k, half-marathon and a marathon. This was Bogie’s first half-marathon.

When he signs up for a race, he joins a running group, to train for it. He was a little nervous a couple of weeks before the race. I guess that is to be expected, since it was his first half-marathon.

Bogie before the race

Unfortunately I had to work a home football game at the university where I work. I was able to see the beginning leg of the race, but could not be at the finish line. I wish I could have been there. He was amazing. Bogie finished in under two hours. 1 hour and 53 minutes to be exact. I was very proud of him. At the two mile mark, here is Bogie coming around the corner…

Bogie, (in red bandanna) hamming it up for the camera

He did a wonderful job and his mother, brother, SIL and nephews were all there to cheer him on. We were all so proud and happy for him.

-thotlady

Veteran’s Day

thotlady — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 00:52:15 +0000

Thank you to all Veteran’s on this commemorative day. And a very special thank you to Bogie who served in the Army during Desert Storm.

Bogie and our sweet boy, Bronte

-thotlady