6/25/2011 - 7/1/2011

The end of this week is the official halfway mark! Hooray!

6/25/2011 (Louisiana Saturday Night with the family! I must say, all their food has a nice kick to it, especially the hushpuppies!)

6/26/2011 (I shouldn't have had an instant grip of fear when I saw this screen...I am way too addicted to television and the internet.)

6/27/2011 (Picking up SIL's mama at the airport! The northbound HOV lane on 59 is a really nice drive. Lots of trees and twists and turns like a rollercoaster.)

6/28/2011 (Loved dinner out to celebrate passing Audit [me] and REG [friend on the right]. It was great!)

6/29/2011 (Call me 75% because that's how close I am to finally finishing the CPA exam...the true bane of my existence for the past three years. I got this!)

6/30/2011 (Dinner with the ladies! The inappropriate and absurd dinner convo and the amazingly hilarious waiter made for an excellent dinner! Cannot wait for the next one!)

7/1/2011 (Little duckies all in a row: Work buddy, me, co-worker. TGIF!)

Laundry, the bane of my existence

Okay, laundry is not the bane of my existence but it is the fungus among us that never can be killed!

Yahoo had a great article today about laundry and simple things you can do to help with stains, keeping the washer fresh, etc. Check it out here and see below for a quick and dirty overview.

1) Take shampoo + a clean brush and rub it along any collar that shows grime from your natural oils prior to washing.

2) Super grimy clothes can be dunked in a tub of water overnight to help loosen the dirt. I need to purchase a tub for future dirt-ventures.

3) To keep brights bright and blacks black, flip clothes inside out and wash on cold (but who doesn't already do that one!).
4) For stubborn food stains, use men's foam shaving cream on the affected area and let it sit for 30 minutes. If the stain doesn't disappear let the foam sit overnight.

5) Don't throw stained clothes, for which the stain did not disperse in the wash, into the dryer! It will make them ten times harder to clean!

6) But if you've already done that, try the following: soak the offending garment in a solution that is equal parts water and hydrogen peroxide for a half hour. Immediately wash after.

7) Add a quarter cup of baking soda to a wash to help with stale, musty odors common during the summer months (the water just sits in there and needs some refreshing on occasion!). Another trick is to leave the washer open after a wash, even if only for a short while. It helps that water left trapped in there dry up a bit. Makes a world of difference, trust me!

8) For dried bloodstains, do a short douse in hydrogen peroxide and rinse with cold water. Wash thereafter.

9) Deals with mildewed and soap-scummed shower curtains, not an issue for moi as I have a liner that gets replaced when it gets gross.

10) Vinegar, vinegar, vinegar...you may smell something awful and fumigate a room in 2.5 seconds flat, but you sure do a lot of good around the house. You clean mirrored surfaces (and can be used for others, too) and your apple cider cousin is really good for the liver (yes, you ingest it in unique and creative ways). And now, apparently, you do a world of wonders in the laundry room! A cup of vinegar is a great fabric softener in the rinse cycle and adding a little bit to a hand wash keeps the clothes from staying sudsy! That's a good one because I've had that struggle in the past!


On another note, my work buddy told me how she keeps her blacks so black and fresh looking even years after she purchased a garment...dye! She dyes them! How clever is that? So. It's so clever is what it is. I need to purchase said tub mentioned above and get to work on all the work clothes I own and still wear from when I first started working in January 2008! Waste not, want not, my friends. Waste not, want not.

6/18/2011 - 6/24/2011

6/18/2011 (Repeat of last Saturday's photo, but I had to share! Poor Jack just bakes in the sun!)

6/19/2011 (Gotta love my little boo! She's got quite the grip for a 5 month old! And I've got quite the schnoz to grab!)

6/20/2011 (Gettin' my study on.)

6/21/2011 (If only I could, Dove, if only I could.)

6/22/2011 (The perks of being in Corporate America. Check out my swag. Yes...they gave me actual money.  I was the back-row kid and it was awesome. I coerced my work buddy to be the same. And it was glorious.)

6/23/2011 (You know you're a nerd when you absolutely love using one of these adding machines. The sound of the printer whirring over your calculations...it's intoxicating.)

6/24/2011 (Just finished and loved  it. Did you know Dolly Parton wrote "I will Always Love you"? I had no idea. Tells you how much I know about my gal, DP.)

This is why I'm meant for another era

The article title read "Top 7 Mistakes Girls Make With Guys". I'm intrigued, of course, so I click through.

Scanning through, I agree with #1-#5: Let the guy call, don't talk about the relationship all the time, don't ask about past girlfriends, stop the babble, and don't cry when he leaves at the end of the night [they don't like that]. But then I got to #6.

6. This is an oldie, but a goodie

Don’t be so available. If you have been out a few times, the next time he asks, say you have plans. He’s not going to give up asking you out because you have a life. Furthermore, if he says he is going out with the boys tell him how cute you think it is, and that you hope they tear it up and have a wild time. You will score points with this, and he’ll be thinking about you while he’s out. I guess you could say you’re putting a little reverse psychology at work here, but this is almost always a fail proof tactic.

Oh, this bugs me. We should not have to do this. Why must we pretend to not be available? I have a real issue with this "game playing". But, as I've been informed, I'm what's been referred to as a "tide-fighter". As in, I try to fight what is absolutely inevitable and what millions of other people do all the time with no second thought. Or no second thought that makes them want to take action against it.

Well, I fight things like this. And this would be why I'm not cut out for Corporate America. Why I'm so unhappy so much of the time and why my mouth gets me into sticky situations.

Barring the work environment, the relationship and "game-playing" between men and women is just absurd these days. I respect modesty, most of society doesn't. I appreciate chivalry, most guys don't know what that means (or at least what it entirely means). No, it isn't chivalrous to hand me a towel and think that covers your quota for the week.

I'm meant for a different era. An era where men became men because of their life situations and societal expectations placed upon them. The definition of what makes a man has drastically altered with our generation, though. Our generation grew up with video games simulating real-life and pretend [this had to have an affect on guys]. We grew up with women pressing against the glass ceiling and seeing it raise higher than ever [though it is still there]. Women are more masculine and subsequently because of this, men have become more effiminate [think about it before you get upset thinking I just called guys of our generation girly!]. There is a sense of laziness when it comes to the timeline of life that was never there before.
 
I realize I haven't met every guy of our generation. I realize my expectations are...well, existent, which in and of itself is a problem. With no expectations, I'll never be surprised by idiocy and always will be by kindness.
 
I know this sounds bitter, but I swear it isn't! It's more just an observation that I like to discuss with whomever finds this topic [how our generation is changing societal norms and expectations] interesting and worthy of a conversation. Anyone game?
 
I should go back to school so I can have philisophical debates as part of my curriculum and get a grade for it. Haha. Which prompts another irritation I have: the current state of the higher education system. But that's for another blogate [blog + debate].
 
Cheers!

6/11/2011 - 6/17/2011

Nope, not done yet...but nearing the halfway point!

6/11/2011 (Finally made it to the halfway point of this book! The CPA one, too. Progress!)

6/12/2011 (Haven't played in nearly 8 months and only increased my age by 2. Oh-oh! I definitely forgot how much fun this is to play!)

6/13/2011 (Netflix, sometimes I really love you...okay, most of the time.)



6/14/2011 (So that's what the back of my hair looks like.)

6/15/2011 (High-larious british comedy show. Netflix "The IT Crowd". And while you're at it, look up "The Mighty Boosh".)

6/16/2011 (Annabellyboo! I know it's a shock she's only on here once so far...crazy!)

6/17/2011 (Got my high-end-ness on including a mini-facial. Sweated it off immediately upon walking out the door, but it was nice while it lasted.)



6/4/2011 - 6/10/2011

Am I done yet?

6/4/2011 (It said 101* when I first got into my car. Sick!)

6/5/2011 (Rock of Ages, baby! It was AWESOME! Face was totally melted by the immense amount of heavy metal guitar action. Glorious.)

6/6/2011 (Mm, mm, mm Mark Harmon with those pretty blue eyes. )

6/7/2011 (Yia Yia! Is so tasty. Excellent cup of coffee to close. Just delicious!)

6/8/2011 (Fabulous evening at Pinot's Palette with the only other person I know who loves the place as much as I do! Had such a blast!)

6/9/2011 (Me and Annabelly. She sure loves to snatch glasses off her Auntie's face.)

6/10/2011 (Sibling lunch at the Galleria! Next time we'll get the mom and pops to come, too!)

5/28/2011 - 6/3/2011

5/28/2011 (New hair, new (old) dress, I'm ready to disco. Bye, Carriecake!!! Let's send you out in style!)

5/29/2011 (Think I have enough reading material?)

5/30/2011 (Shopping fiend. I gots to watch myself! But, this was for the new hair. Free eyebrow wax on my birthday, whatwhat!)

5/31/2011 (I can't get enough of her! She's starting to talk now. Oh, she's just so cute!!)

6/1/2011 (I accessorized today! I felt so proud. I wore a vintage early 70's purple dress with this belt and some gold sandals. Rocking my new short hair and I knew I was ready to hit the dance floor. <3 my new hair!)

6/2/2011 (NCIS is such a great show! Definitely worth owning for future viewing.)

6/3/2011 (Adapting to the new 'do. Not gonna lie, it's way better than the last time I chopped it off but I forgot how much effort goes into keeping it from looking overly funky. I can rock a little funk, mind you...)