Fashion doesn't agree with me... #29

Only the most ridiculous duck lips for the most ridiculous glasses.

Big AND with pointy edges!

These take up approximately 1/3 of my face.
Just pointing that out for you.

Today I Learned:

"The bill divided and engendered a long-term change in the demographics of both parties. President Johnson realized that supporting this bill would risk losing the South's overwhelming support of the Democratic Party. Both Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Vice President Johnson had pushed for the introduction of the civil rights legislation. Johnson told Kennedy aide Ted Sorensen that "I know the risks are great and we might lose the South, but those sorts of states may be lost anyway."[31] Senator Richard Russell, Jr. later warned President Johnson that his strong support for the civil rights bill "will not only cost you the South, it will cost you the election".[32] Johnson, however, went on to win the 1964 election by one of the biggest landslides in American history. The South, which had five states swing Republican in 1964, became a stronghold of the Republican party by the 1990s.[33] Political scientists Richard Johnston and Byron Schafer have argued that this development was based more on economics than on race.[34]


Although majorities in both parties voted for the bill, there were notable exceptions. Though he opposed forced segregation,[35] Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona voted against the bill, remarking, "You can't legislate morality." Goldwater had supported previous attempts to pass civil rights legislation in 1957 and 1960 as well as the 24th Amendment outlawing the poll tax. He stated that the reason for his opposition to the 1964 bill was Title II, which in his opinion violated individual liberty and states' rights. Most Democrats from the Southern states opposed the bill and led an unsuccessful 83-day filibuster, including Senators Albert Gore, Sr. (D-TN) and J. William Fulbright (D-AR), as well as Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who personally filibustered for 14 hours straight."






-Wikipedia: Civil Rights Act of 1964






Well, I always wondered how that started... I'm sure there's more to the story, but back to work.

Corny

Mom and Dad were able to afford braces for all his siblings....
Sucks to be the youngest.

Fashion doesn't agree with me... #28

Glasses that ARE acceptable for Teh Megan!!!!
You can even see my eyebrows!

Like tinted Harry Potter glasses?

Teh Singing Cat Lady joins me again!

"Oh!  Check out the sides on these!"

Dinner date

The best invitations are ones where the dogs get to join us!  Teh Coast Guardian and Teh Humanitarian invited us over for dinner a few weeks ago (and I failed at sharing the photos because.. life).

They keep a basket of toys for their canine visitors, and Roofadoofs was quick to find the rawhide bone that was in the basket.

Ruthie getting the rawhide nice and gooey.

Phil was more interested in helping in the kitchen to potentially acquire tasty niblets of dinner.
Teh Coast Guardian is one of Phil's biggest suckers.

After he wasn't getting anything, he decided that he needed a turn with the rawhide... and by turn he meant he just wanted to keep it away from Ruthie.

Dinner wasn't the biggest winner, but the company was totally worth it!

Weekend Wrap Up

It was a nice "boring" weekend.

Teh Bear had to work overnight Friday and Saturday night, so it was fend for myself nights.

Friday night I enjoyed a How I Met Your Mother marathon.  After several hours of episodes and not moving from the couch except to let the dogs out, I called it quits and had the magical inspiration needed to complete my research proposal.

Thank you Ruthie for this pile...

This cuteness is what bribed her new forever family to pick her.

I noticed that my window had warning labels and I hated humanity for a little bit.

Saturday morning, I got up and took the dogs on a 2 mile run, knowing that it would help calm Ruthie down and then Phil wouldn't have to go on a walk later.

Obviously, my methods worked.

After the adoptathon, I headed home (all alone) to eat dinner and wait for time to pass until it was time to leave for the Monster Glow Dash 5k.  That time included watching HIMYM in particular, the episode titled, The Final Page (part 2), which made me have some tears leak from my eyes... a lot of them and I felt like things were finally starting to come full circle... FINALLY.

After a nap, it was time to start the process of being Glow ready.  I met the Glow Big or Glow Home team at Summerseat Farm and it was time to get our 5k on.

Glow accessories

Big budget signs.

Oh yeah.

The crowd starting to gather.

We were accidentally, on purpose, in the first wave (of runners).

We stood in the rain waiting for the run to start, and since it was DARK there were no photos after the run actually started.

Race assessment:
I think I'm done with "dark runs" especially if the trail is not paved.
It was DARK, like it was supposed to be.  But since the trail was a large field we just wound around.

Since we were running in a large field, in the dark, the threat of rolled ankles was EXTREMELY high, which was scary for us.  Also, the course wasn't quite 3.1 miles, which seems to be the case with most 5k's that I do.  We were approached by a lady who seemed to be on the planning committee and we strongly encouraged that if this became an annual run, that they definitely needed WAY more ground lighting.  While its cool to run in glow sticks in the middle of nowhere, the fear of hurting myself was extremely stressful and that kind of overrode the fun.

After the run, 2 of the 4 Glow Big or Glow Home team members had to go home, so our team coordinator just agreed that she was going to go home as well, which for me meant no one to go out and celebrate running an ENTIRE 5k in the DARK.  Boo.

My alternative to going home and hanging out by myself was to attend a halloween party hosted by a coworker, which easily won out.  I was already "in costume" as an athlete, complete with sweat and a bad hair do.  Completely authentic!

Mr. Kilt was showing off his sexy-walrus-face.

There was also UK based karaoke, which includes ZERO Journey songs.

By 2230, I was exhausted and I had eaten too many cupcakes and brownies and it was my bedtime.  I got home to a lonely Phil, gave him enough pettins for 2 dogs (since I'm not used to having only one dog again), and promptly passed out in bed.

Sunday morning, Teh Bear woke me up when he arrived home at way-too-early-am.  I tossed and turned until it was time to get up and start the day.  Church was first up, then I came back home and had lunch and waited on Teh Bear to get up.  I actually ended up waking him up and asking him if he was joining me for dog day at the Tiki Bar.  He was hesitant at first, but I didn't pressure him and he came through and ended up joining me.  After we were halfway there I realized that I had left my camera at home (same for the glow run), Megan fail.

First stop was the Pets on Wheels booth for a little under an hour (since we were kinda late so Teh Bear could shower).  Teh Bear and Phil stood guard while I handed out sticky-pads to passersby and another Greyhound lady talked to people walking by.

After we were relieved, we headed over to the Greyt Expectations tent to hang out.  After Phil marked all the possible things to mark in the xpen, I was exhausted and it was time to go.

Janey felt that Phil was a great headrest, Phil wasn't of the same mindset.

We were beside the "wildlife" critters guy.  As the day got warmer, the snakes, like this boa, got pretty active.
Maybe we should ask to borrow this guy to get rid of the mice at VX-1?

Philbo taking a snooze with a bit of sand on his nose.  /swoon.

I'd call this Phil's version of pole dancing.

Philbo begging for food.  It's kinda his thing now.

After arriving home, we rested for a little bit before deciding to go back out and get our Shop Kick kicks since Best Buy was 100 points.  After some scanning drama, we headed home and watched TV.  It was a good afternoon to wrap up a busy weekend.  I even finished the laundry this weekend!  It's crazy what havin solo time helps me get accomplished!



Linking up with all these ladies:

Dolla Dolla Bill Yall

Yeah, you've just been Limp Bizkit-ed, you're welcome for that blast from the past.

These eyes just need some tears welling up.

Today we're going to talk about money, one of my favorite, yet most loathed subjects in my life.  This chat is not due to the government shut down or the lack of the VA getting back to me on my GI Bill (which would be nice).  Really its about my poor life choices and the pendulum that is my life.

You see, last year, I purchased a budget program for my computer called You Need a Budget (YNAB).  I was totally into this program.  I mean, I would open the program every night and manually add all my expenses, I had figured out how to make it show my taxes (even though the program isn't really good at that, prob helps that my pay is the same each month), I was "budgeting" (we'll call it that since I was at least mentally setting funds aside as different categories (Phil got $$ each month, car maintenance got $$ each month, savings got $$ each month, etc even though I wasn't necessarily putting these dollas into different accounts, I knew they were there), it was a good time.

Except then, the dollas weren't really there anymore after a while, they had slipped away for something else (moving).
By the way, Christmas sucks.  Last year I said I was going to do simple things for people for Christmas and that was definitely NOT what happened...  per the YNAB program.

I was very critical of all the dollas while I was using YNAB, which is the purpose of budgeting, to be aware of where the money is going.  Then my life got stressful, and when life gets stressful, the dollas are like water, they just keep running (out).  I stopped tracking all my purchases in YNAB.  I couldn't tell you exactly how much I paid for a tank of gas (and I still can't).  I walk away from purchases and have to ask myself, how much did I just spend?  It's almost like looking at the time on your watch or cell phone.  You look and then you forget a second later and have to look again (maybe that's a mental problem I have, which is for another post).  I was internet shopping "for Phil" like a fiend.

It was is bad.

My stress levels have significantly went down since Teh Bear arrived, since most of my stress was related to the distance, yet the spending problem has now become a spending habit and its a very gloomy outlook from here and I know that things have to change.

There are things I know I need to take care of financially, like transfer my TSP to a Roth TSP, actually set up accounts for all the different avenues my money needs to go towards, starting tracking my purchases again, but the task is meticulous and painful for me.  I hate all things regarding organizing money, I just want someone else to do it!  I just don't want to have to pay someone else an arm and a leg (or a Phil's dental fee) to do it for me.  I'm really good at following directions, I just need someone else to tell me what to do, and maybe start the process for me.

I know there are other programs besides YNAB and I'm not even sure why I went with that program, knowing there are other FREE programs out there.  /shrug.  Even USAA has a money manager program that I know of, but don't use.

Part of the problem is that the bills keeps coming, and I've even started adding to them (hellllllloooo AMU master's program), and the money has to come from somewhere, and the money is there, it just comes from places I'd prefer it didn't.. like my savings acct when I feel like my credit card bill (from paying AMU) is getting too high.

Granted, there are smart decisions I do make and I don't mess with those.  There is money going to my retirement account each month, it doesn't get changed, ever.  Yurtle has her own account for her payment and insurance and some maintenance, that doesn't get messed with until her bills are due.  I have a savings account that money goes to every month, but it does get messed with and I feel guilty after I take money from it for whatever stupid shit needs to be paid that isn't me going on vacation.

Really, this Catholic guilt thing I could do without.  Thanks Teh Parents.

Anyone wanna be my financial planner/advisor/strategizer?  Dollas suck.  Why can't everything just be free?

Fashion doesn't agree with me... #27

Oh they come in pink OR silver.
You get to pick your fate.

Photobomb Patty is like, these girls are cray cray.
(please judge me for saying that).

Maroon or black.. oh the choices....

Halloween fashion.

Here's to having no shame and doing things "for the blog!" and for Teh Bear being such a good sport when Suzy (my Droid 4) sucks ass and refuses to take photos and for being a model with me, even though he refuses to acknowledge how spectacular my "selfie" skillz are.

And don't even deny that taking "selfies" is a skill.

Don't judge my hair.  I can't explain it, but just don't.

"Babe!  Babe!  Take my picture!  Please!  These HAVE to go on Teh Blog!"

"What's the face that Elvis always made?"

Teh Bear: "Ah!  There's a snake on your head!"
Teh Megan: "Don't judge my hair!  This is my natural state!"

He doubted my ability to selfie with such a tall "wig"

He's always serious business.

He was immune to my charms.

After we took these photos, I saw several people come up after we finished and were trying on all the foam wigs.  Teh Bear's comment was, "Great, now I'm going to get Southern MD lice."  My response, "ITS FOR TEH BLOG!"

You're welcome...

Five on Friday #8

UNO

RAIN!  SO MUCH GLORIOUS RAIN!  Many people have been complaining about the rain (since its been raining for most of the week), but it is delightful.  I've been sleepin' like a pro.  Its been so long since we've had such a good rain.  Ok, or maybe I lived for 2 years without a significant amount of rain and now any time precipiation comes from the sky I do happy dances...  whatever.

Speaking of rain, last night at midnight:05 I woke up to the sound of a dog peeing in my floor, which is definitely cause to turn the light on immediately (which never happens).  I sat up and there were no guilty critters, although Ruthie was standing there looking guilty (which may have been because she might have been drinking out of the toilet) but there were definitely a small puddle on the floor... which was coming from the ceiling.  Good game, Rain, good game.  I grabbed the bathroom trashcan and put it under the drip, which I thought would solve the problem.  1- the noise.. ugh.  I fixed that with a washcloth, 2- my ceiling is slanted, so the water started to go the direction of gravity, down... which meant that the trashcan was no longer catching the water.  SIIIIIIGGHHH.  After laying down a towel, I got back in bed and questioned my predicimate.  I texted my landlord so that way he knew ASAP.  By this point the water had started dripping onto the fan (which I had turned off in case this did start to happen), and eventually dripping through the fan.  Since the water had finally found a place to stop, I moved the trashcan and went back to bed after a few more text messages to Teh Bear.

Hopefully, my landlord gets in contact with the roof guy.  Since I've never had to deal with a leaky roof, when I realized what the problem was last night, my first thought was, "Well, they always put down pots/pans in the movies to collect the water.  I don't want to go downstairs, what can I use that is upstairs?  Trashcan!  Score!" 

DOS

LONG WEEKEND (which I forgot about until someone reminded me this morning)!  Teh Bear and I are both off, and the government is still shut down, so I have no idea what we are going to do.  I'm sure we'll manage.

TRES

Weekend activities include a meet and greet (which could be a bit damp, but fun) and church on Sunday and laundry and cleaning and homework and probably some Breaking Bad, The Office, and whatever else Teh Bear makes me watch turns on. 

QUATRO

Tonight I'm meeting Teh Advising Sister in Waldorf for dinner!  It's been about a year since I've seen her (she let me crash on her couch when I flew from Raleigh to Denver last Nov and she let Yurtle stay for the week we were on vacation), so we're due for a meeting!  Not the rain, the trucker's 495 blockade, the government shut down, or anything else will stop us from having a grand time!

CINCO

We might not be real life FB friends, but that's ok, I'll share this with you anyway because its awesome.  Don't even deny it.

We found eyebrows and mustaches in the halloween party favors at Target.  WIN!

Linking up with these ladies since it's FRRRIIIIIDAY: