getting there.

here's what (the-eve-of-our-florida-vacay-edition):

1. dear continental airlines: it should not take thorough analysis to understand your baggage policies. i am thankful that you have made it crystal clear that should i ever need to travel with antlers or animal horns, dry ice or a vaulting pole, i will incur a special handling charge. however, upon several searches, i was not able to ascertain your umbrella stroller policy. just a simple "yes, it's allowed and it will cost 'x'" would be appreciated. and if you can't oblige a weary traveler in that regard, then please train your rude and abrasive customer service people. i like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but no less than 4 of them treated me poorly. my dad's response to our airline choice was, "didn't they go out of business awhile back?" my response, after dealing with you for the past 24 hours: "they're headed that way."

2. i recently discovered my blog's stats bar. this link allows you to see what sort of google searches are bringing people to your blog. at the top of my list? "tying up my husband," "burlap advent calendar," "preggings," and "farrah teen mom braces." as you can see, we cover a wide range of genres here at the hodge podge lodge. from burlap to S&M to teen mom to maternity duds. all in a day's work for this humble blogwriter.

3. a few days ago, i decided that i needed to add some more art to the mini gallery wall in jack's nursery. i also decided that the lyrics to lynrd skynrd's "simple man" are really akin to a mother's wish for her son masked by a seedy bar-pbr-drinking type aura. i wanted to create some art with the lyrics of that song. so i did.

never mind that if you study the lyrics i painstakingly typed out into the background, you can see a spot where i misspelled simple as "snple." i might have been enjoying an ice cold hefe weiss at the time. after i finished the piece, i asked john for his opinion. "i feel like you're telling jack to be a simpleton or something," he critiqued. even though i absolutely doubt that visitors stopping by his room will assume i'm throwing out a "hey jack, stupid works," i can't get that comment out of my head. a total waste of an otherwise pleasant beer-drinking experience. damn you, john!