If I weren't blogging right now, i'd be in the closet with about 19 loads of clean laundry and that is a scary, scary place. So i'm here with you out of total fear, I admit it.
Also. There are a surprising number of men who read here, and I have a question for you which you absolutely will probably not want to answer. It has to do with a car theory of mine, which is simply: It's not cool to check out another man's car if he is in it.
Mike has one of those trucks that is ridiculously captivating to other men. I like it too, and he lets me go 'mudding' in it:
(Here, Caden-3yr helpfully points out that I managed to lose a hubcap on my latest adventure)
Now. Here is my car. Just as gorgeous! (Also great for mudding, but not as powerful as Mike's so I usually take his.)
This really isn't supposed to have anything to do with my penchant for skidding and flying through - or getting stuck in - mud, but they're the only car pictures I have. My point is that the cars are gorgeos and lovely and Mike's is... cooler I suppose.
But.
Whenever Mike drives his truck, life is normal. Whenever I drive Mike's truck, men behave like idiots. (And it has absolutely NOTHING to do with me, which I'll explain in a minute. I'm kinda cute on a good day, but that's it. I own the Mother of Four look.)
When I drive my car, sunroof open and windows down (i LOVE that wind blowing, summer sun stuff), life is normal. All is well with men and women alike. I am minding my own business and life is good.
I CANNOT do that in Mike's truck without the following reaction from high school boys all the way up to older men: hoots, waves, honks, hollering (yes, hollering), proposals of marriage, they FOLLOW me, stare and just generally make big fools of themselves. It's 100% Truck-Induced Male Insanity.
Again, it's not me. I'm just not so Babe-ish that men would become morons at the very sight of. I know, I know. There are some women like that, and i've NEVER been one and that's okay. No one gives me a second look when i'm in my car. And I like that! I'm driving to the store and look! A carful of frat boys has NOT followed me across town! LOVE THAT! I like my life like that!
Ahh. But in MIke's truck all bets are off, and I am prepared to switch lanes, roll up windows and flash a wedding ring at a moment's notice. Not that it helps. Because it's really the truck they're after, even though some of them get so confused they start flirting outrageously with the woman with the stretch marks and Mother of Four attire that they'd NEVER notice in her own car.
When Mike drives his truck, he says he gets a few doubletakes, but that's all.
SO.
WHY can the men of my town behave themselves when Mike is driving that truck and not when I am?
I think it's not cool for them to look at another guy's truck that way. I have no other ideas or theories, and i'd love to hear any y'all have.
*both cars have car seats
* I don't know what they are exactly. Cadillacs of some sort.
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Your Comments
I think HolySister's nailed it. Women in cars, men in cars, men in trucks, birds in the air, ho-hum. In which context guys will mildly take note of something worth appreciation ("Man, that truck is huge!", "Sweet ride!", etc.), but something would have to be exceptional to garner exceptional attention. Like this:
http://www.strangevehicles.com/images/content/6142.jpg
Or this:
http://www.strangevehicles.com/images/content/113480.jpg
Or even this:
http://www.thecarfinders.co.uk/images/LamboGallardo-Spyder-W-SA-TD-1280x960.jpg
No, what's exceptional in this case isn't really the truck itself, though it's a key piece. It's a woman with the self-confidence to be a woman doing a very guy thing. Not a woman trying to act like a man, and not some floozie in a low-rider mag either. But a real-life, everyday woman being her self-confident womanly self driving a good-sized respectable truck made respectably muddy, with the implication that she had the cajones (figuratively speaking, of course) to take it off-road and muddy it up good like that?
Yeah, that'll turn a few heads, even without the mud.
Yep, it's you, girl! The people before me have already said it. A woman confident enough to drive a "man truck"! Not trying to be anyone else. Just a woman.
Laundry.....I can't EVER keep up. It's constantly growing even when I get it in a small pile. ugh... BUT...on the other hand, I'm glad I have it to do. It means I got people in the house with me that I love. It's theirs.
Hi,
I am with Holy-Sister on this one, because I have driven that truck without Holy Mama and got no reaction whatsoever. I have also been a passenger in the truck with HM at the wheel and witnessed the reaction. It is definitely the combination of the truck and H-M that makes the difference.
J-Mom
Well now I gotta learn how to drive that new yellow truck my hubby just bought. Of course, it probably wouldn't garner any attention for me (even if I actually wanted it to) since where I'm going, every woman drives a truck because it's all anyone owns. The woman driving the truck has lost its novelty.
So the real question is, do you go mudding for fun? Or is it...um...unintentional? I must say, this is a sport I've never tried in my little Neon. :)
Oh, and another thought. My husband, until recently when he sold it, owned a sporty little Celica. With or without me (and I never drove that thing if I could help it) he would get guys challenging him to race. They'd pull up beside him at a stoplight in a cheezy little car like a Civic or something and rev their engines. It was hilarious. They wouldn't look at him. Just sit there and rev their puny little engine. Sometimes he would just laugh and ignore them, but once in a while he would take off and leave them in his dust.
Silly men.
Well, I am waiting to see what the guys have to say on this question yet, but in my personal opinion, I think that women are a real puzzle to men and they feel left in the dark as to what the heck we are doing half the time. So when they see a women that understands a man (ex. mud, sweet truck, pretty lady driving sweet truck...) then you become somewhat of a missing link to the man's world of trying to relate to women. Maybe they feel that there is hope out there when they see you (pretty as can be with that enchanting sassy look) driving around in an awesome truck, w/ mud, that's important, and you don't have massive arms and a butch haircut....woooohooo! Man's dream come true! Am I right guys?
Well Holymama,
all I can say is that even if I'm wrong...I still really would love to go mudding with you! With soo many women out there that like to keep their cars perfectly clean and they mind they're p's and Q's so well.... you are a hero to me and have offered me hope that there are women out there that I can relate to! I wish you lived down the street, I know some great places to go mudding in......
Are you SURE it doesn't have a little bit to do with you? I think you may be underestimating your own bodaciousness. It's not the truck they're proposing to - it's YOU IN THE TRUCK. It's the combination that's so powerful and alluring. Guys? Back me up here? Babe in a truck - much better than just a babe or just a truck? At least sometimes?
And speaking of powerful, I know the laundry mountain you're talking about and if you don't do battle with it soon, you may lose pets and children to it. I'm just saying. That thing grows FAST.