Question 004 Would I follow My Own Blog?

Question 004 

From Anonymous

“If you were an outsider looking in, what would you think of your blog? Would you follow it?”

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Before I get started, I have to admit that I wonder why all but one of the questions have been anonymous (there are a few more I haven’t answered yet). I’m not going to take offense at anything that might be asked.

Okay, here we go…

At risk of sounding like I’m blowing my own horn, I like my blog. I like blogs that are like my blog.  Here’s why:

My blog includes several things that I really like.  It has true stories, photography, poetry, rants, and humor.  What you see, is what I see, feel, and have felt, in my personal life.  I think I’ve struck a balance in what gets posted.

• I'm not obsessed about having scads of followers.
• I don’t “pigeon hole” my blog for one type of follower. 
• You never know (because I don’t) what I’m going to post.
• I don’t post “filler” blog entries.
• It's a place where writers, photo geeks, humorists, and poetry lovers can all peacefully co-exist.
• I don’t post inflammatory political or religious statements. I won’t avoid the issues, but I’m not going to bring them up here.
• I keep it fairly clean.
• Most of my posts are fairly short. 
• First and foremost, I have had both the good and bad fortune to have lived a very interesting life. Many things that have happened to me fall under the truth, stranger than fiction heading. 
• I don’t think I’m a great writer, but I can tell a story, so that’s what I do.
• I fully realize that a percentage of my posts don’t appeal to everyone.  Another percentage of them suck.

One of the things I LOVE about my blog is the varied group of people who follow it.  I genuinely like and feel close to many of them. 

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Q and A 002 Women's Clothing

Question 002
From Powdered Toast Man

Have you ever worn woman's clothing that didn't involve it being Halloween?

Of course not! Well, actually I have…

Many years ago, I knew some folks that hosted a costume party 4 times a year. None of them involved Halloween. Written invitations were sent out via mail. In addition to the normal items included, there was also information relating to the theme of the party. If you did not dress appropriate to the announced theme, you did not get in the door. No matter how good a friend you were, you weren’t getting in. I had been to a couple of their parties; they were fun, but a lot of work.

My girlfriend at the time (not the one that almost got me killed) came running in from the mailbox shrieking with happiness. She told me that we got an invitation to one of the costume parties. She was beside herself with glee. I asked her what the theme of the party was.

“Pimps and whores” she told me.
“What’s so funny about that” I asked her.
“The guys have to be the whores!” she screamed while collapsing to the floor with laughter.
“I’m not going!
“Yes you are, because if you don’t, I’m going by myself!

I wasn’t at all happy about this. I finally rationalized that it wouldn’t be all that bad, because every guy there would be dressed like a prostitute, not just me. My girlfriend rented her costume; platform shoes, velvet suit, big hat with feathers in it, walking stick, etc.

The night of the party, I walked out of the house in a mini-skirt, fishnet stockings, heels, wig, full on make-up, fake nails, and knockers out to there. At the time, I wasn’t overweight at all, but I’m a big person. You can imagine how I looked.

The party was really good. Somebody took a bunch of photographs, had I gotten any of them, I'd attach one to this post.   YEAH RIGHT! It was hilarious to see the women trying to act “cool” and the guys trying to act “cheap.” I only knew that my spike heels were killing me. I eventually sprained my ankle and ditched them. A good time was had by all.

The party ended and we left. I threw the wig in the back seat of my VW and started home. We had gone about a mile when my throttle cable broke. Of course it was on a very busy and well lit street.  Don’t envision this happening in today’s world. Think about it happening in a world of no cell phones…

Picture me bending over the rear end of my bug, in my mini-skirt. On second thought don’t! I did have my own underwear on, but still, don't do it.  By the time I realized I couldn’t fix it myself, I had already been honked at several times.

We needed to get to a phone, in a big hurry! There were a couple of brightly lit stores that were pretty close by. They both had public phones, but I insisted that we just pass right by them and walk into the residential area. I stopped at the first house that had lights on. We called a tow truck and went back to the car and waited. Of course the tow truck driver couldn’t stop smiling while he hooked up my car. I explained the “rules” of the party to him, but he just shook his head and kept smiling. I’ve never gone out in public dressed in women’s clothing again. Wait, I mean I’ve never dressed in women’s clothing again.

Well Jamie, I hope that answers your question…


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I'm adding this after the fact...
Joe Cap mentioned something about whether or not this was worse than another incident where a girlfriend of mine almost got me shot. I forgot to mention that these two fine young ladies grew up together and were best friends.

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Q and 001 Buymebarbies

A few questions have been submitted via the above “ask anything” button.
Just one answer on this post.

Question 001     From anonymous
"How long have you been married to buymebarbies, is she your first and only wife, how did you meet and how did she get her name (buymebarbies)? Maybe that's a subject for some more stories!"

Answer:
Although I do have plans for posts related to these subjects, I might as well dive right in now.  Buymebarbies (Paula is her real name) and I have been married for less than six years. However, we’ve been together for over 17 years. Between us we have five children.

At Sea World, many moons ago

Some of you know the girl on the far right.

The last time we were all together for group photo

Paula is not my first wife, but she is most certainly my last. We met at work when she was 19 years old. I thought she was pretty cute and she thought I was crazy and not her type. I thought I was everybody’s type. Hmmm, maybe that’s why she didn't like me very much. She was right; I was a mess in those days.  Although her soon to be husband was someone I knew, we never really became friends.

Age 20

Age 25 (yup, I'm a bit older)

Fast forward 15 years. We eventually married other people, had kids, and became divorced. We still worked at the same place, but our paths didn’t cross that much. I remember telling my friend that out of the 1000 or so people that worked in our plant, I thought she was the best looking. She never believes I really said that, but it’s true. The photo below was taken soon after we got together.

I know better than to insert her age

During that time period I was the Labor Relations Specialist for our plant.  One day she asked if I would come to her unit and help her with some union issues. I did so and there was clearly some chemistry during our meetings. The first outright flirting salvo was fired by me, a couple of days later. 

Paula was escorting an attractive (female) contractor to our maintenance department. The two of them were walking through a door just as I was about to walk out of it. Later Paula said “I saw you checking that lady out.” I responded with, “What makes you think she was the one I was checking out?” I then walked away. Darn slick, right?

It wasn’t long before we were dating and falling head over heels in love. I still am…

We both agreed that the “Brady Bunch” was pure fantasy and that raising a blended family together, seemed like a minefield. So we kept our own houses and raised our kids together, but lived separately. The seven of us went to all functions together, vacationed together, and spent a great deal of time together. We had a lot of fun on our trips, with the seven of us in one vehicle and hotel room. We agreed years earlier that when the youngest kid graduated from high school we’d get married and that’s what we did.

I’ve never known a couple that has so much fun, just being together as we do. In many ways we are not alike and we don’t always think the same way, but it doesn’t matter to us. We are now retired and loving it.

Paula got the nickname Buymebarbies because that is what she does. She has bought and sold tons of the stuff. I’m not into it at all, but I do have to admit that the vintage stuff is pretty cool. She needs to start selling a lot more of it, because it takes up a lot of space…

Vintage stuff

Designer and vintage stuff

In addition to these full cabinets, she has a large closet and several large plastic tubs full of the stuff.

Today

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