Married In Ohio

As you know, today is the last day for Half Nekkid Thursday. Today is our 330th and final post. California Girl and I have thoroughly enjoyed participating as posters and as followers. We want to give our heartfelt thanks to Osbasso for organizing and running it for almost seven years. That is a monumental achievement. California Girl and I wondered how to best commemorate our final HNT. We thought about taking photographs in a variety of places; but nothing seemed worthy. Ultimately, we decided that the best tribute would be to highlight our HNT photos over the years. For the finale, we created a Flash movie of all of our primary HNT photos. The picture changes faster than normal so it’s not too long.

We’ve also included a Flash movie of all of our alternate HNT photos. It’s slightly longer than the first movie; but, together they contain every still photograph that we’ve ever posted for Half Nekkid Thursday.

Happy New Year. To find out what Half Nekkid Thursday is all about, visit Osbasso. And while you are there, please thank him for creating such a fun way to spend the early hours of Thursday morning.

Miscellaneous musings from the mind of Midwestern City Boy (and sometimes California Girl).

• Amazingly, the Bengals have a chance to make the playoffs this coming Sunday.  And, better still, they don’t need any funky scenarios, the just have to win. Of course, when the two best players are rookies, strange things happen.
• I go to boxing at “lunchtime” even when I am on vacation. I’m never on vacation from eating so I’m never on vacation from working out either. I take Christmas off; but that is the only day. (We always run in Thanksgiving morning road race, and, it is our regular day, we work out on the 4th of July.)
• I hate having to work so long without any days off from January through May; but I love my long Christmas vacation; especially since both kids are home. Not having anything that we need to do (like go to work) is very relaxing. I had some errands this morning; but I was back in bed before 10 AM.
• California Girl and I still are not eating sugary snacks even though it’s the holiday season. We’ve actually become accustomed to it. We thought that it would be hard with the kids around; but it hasn’t been. They’ll eat cookies and other sweets if they are around; but they don’t put then on the grocery list. So, we’re not even tempted when we are around the house.

Every year for Christmas, one or both of us receive a gift, typically clothing, that we would never buy for ourselves. This year, it was California Girl who received the floor length “grandma” nightgown. Even before we became empty nesters, we never had much any use for night clothes. We keep robes handy for the occasions when someone comes to the door after we’ve gone to bed for the evening. The master bedroom has always been off limits even when they were smaller. Plus, we keep our home warm enough that it’s comfortable for any state of (un)dress. “Easy access” has always been the goal. Anyway, here is a photo contrasting the gift and something California Girl would be much more likely to wear.

We were going to post another split-image photograph; but, decided that one picture is sufficient. Instead, here is a photo of California Girl more typically dressed for bed.

California Girl and I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas. A the best this holiday season.

Midwestern City Boy & California Girl

As he does every year for the week of Christmas, Osbasso requested that everyone pick three HNT/blogger participants, but only three and then tell the world what you’d get them for Christmas, if you had the means to do so. We’ve done this every year since its inception and always pick three new people to receive our imaginary gifts. We’ll leave a comment or send an email to everyone sometime before Christmas to make sure that they see their gifts.

Our three Christmas wishes go to:

Chickie: I know that you will be a fantastic mom; but, if I could, I would give you a crystal ball to help navigate the perils of parenting. Children are the best things ever; but, at times, parenting can be difficult.

Osbasso: An extra special thank you for everything that you have done organizing and keeping HNT going for so long. We’ve really enjoy participating.

SapioSlut: A “rewind” button for the evil that has befallen you this year.

And, as always, here is some gratuitous half-nekkidness for those of you who read this far. Happy holidays from us to you.

Happy Holiday HNT. To find out what Half Nekkid Thursday is all about, visit Osbasso.

Miscellaneous musings from the mind of Midwestern City Boy (and sometimes California Girl).

• I upgraded to the latest version of WordPress last Wednesday. It’s mostly the same as the previous version from a visitor’s perspective; but the administrative interface has been streamlined, and is a lot more compatible with Internet Explorer.
•  You probably noticed that I hung up some Christmas lights at the top of the page. I’ve wanted to add lights in the past; but, never could find any that weren’t to gaudy/overpowering, so, I’m glad that I finally found some.
•  I did almost all of my Christmas shopping online this year. Free shipping and I didn’t have to fight the crowds at the store. I probably won’t even have to go to the mall to get the remaining items. What did we do in the days before the internet?
•  We’re both on Christmas vacation for the rest of the year!

Out weekly photo sessions are mostly all fun and games; but, occasionally, there is some “work” to be done. Like change the batteries in the remote control. Or check California Girl the ingredients on the lubricant we we’re using. It was “not tested on animals” so presumably it was tested on people; which is probably an interesting job. And, it really did smell and taste minty. Anyway, here are today’s photos. We’re posting them “early” (at least for us) since we are both on vacation.

As he always does the third week of December, Osbasso requested that this week’s HNT feature a Christmas tree. We know that we’ve done silhouettes before; but we like that style for a Christmas tree HNT post. Plus we wanted to see how our new camera does in low light. We’ve also include a photo of us in front of the tree that is relatively “tame” (at least for us) that shows a better view if the tree.

For some fun in front of the Christmas tree that never goes out of style evening talk to your significant other. To find out what HNT is all about visit Osbasso.

Miscellaneous musings from the mind of Midwestern City Boy (and sometimes California Girl).

• Our new camera is an Optio S1. We got it to replace the one that our screen went bad on. It doesn’t have all of the features; but it is the smallest camera that we have ever owned. (Which, of course, is why we got it.)
• For some mysterious reason, I had to completely uninstall and reinstall iTunes in order to update to the latest version. The regular update failed with a cryptic (and incorrect) error message. Decades after computers became mainstream, the best remedy for most issues is still to uninstall, reboot, and reinstall.
• And speaking of updates, I upgraded to WordPress 3.3 on Tuesday. It should be transparent since most of the changes are in the administration area; but please let us know if you notice any weirdness.
• It is only Wednesday, and I already have Christmas vacationitis. It is going to be a long three days. As always, we’re on vacation the last two weeks in December. Friday cannot be here soon enough. I already have my “out of office” greeting for my telephone and email ready.

In addition to the goodies from Pure Romance, we also got a new ultra compact digital camera. It doesn’t have as many features as our “main” camera; but it is a lot more portable. You can’t take any pictures if the camera was too inconvenient to carry; so, we always like to have a small, cheap camera that fits easily into a pocket or purse. Strangely, one feature the new camera as that the last several we have owned have lacked is an infrared remote control. The remote is an “optional accessory”; but amazingly, it works with leftover remote from our old Optio 750Z. We need to replace the battery so that it will work from a normal range; but, it was an unexpected surprise. Anyway, in keeping with our tradition of taking NWFW photographs to test our new cameras, here are our first photos. In the top picture, California Girl is applying some X-Scream to the appropriate places. And, in the second, she’s waiting impatiently for me to get back in bed. She has some on her naughty bits as well.

P.S. What do you think of the new camera’s color representation?