Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

I saw this on facebook and had to share it. So true.

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE the Progressive Insurance commercials with Flo? Seriously, I love them! I can't believe the actress that plays Flo hasn't shown up in any of the new sitcoms that started this week.

A friend sent me this video of a tsunami filmed by someone in a car. Its captivating!

A friend sent me this and I thought it was funny.

I was supposed to be off work today but a client wanted to come to town for a 2nd showing of a home I showed them, so I met her and her mother at 1:00. Although I had the entire morning to get things done at home and have a little 'me time', I found myself looking at the clock every few minutes to make sure I wasn't running late for my 1:00 appointment. She didn't end up writing an offer on that home, but she did decide to go up in price in order to try and get what they really want. I think they're serious!

Here's hoping everyone has a great weekend!

Family matters

Me neither

Just because

Weekend highlights

There isn't much "highlight" from my weekend...

I worked all day on Sat. but Spouse & I and Steven & Thad went to Joe P's for a dinner party that night. Joe made a fabulous prime rib roast, baked potatoes, and a penne side dish. Spouse made a roasted veggie medley with eggplant, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, red pepper, and onion. Steven & Thad brought dessert. We had a delicious dinner and a lovely evening.

I worked all day Sun too. Steven & Thad went to dinner for their 11th anniversary, so Spouse & I were on our own for dinner. We decided to go to the Cottage Cafe for their Sun evening dinner special: turkey dinner with gravy, stuffing, and a vegetable of your choice. I had zucchini and yellow squash, and Spouse had creamed spinach. It was really good! The turkey was tender and moist, just like Thanksgiving. So often we eat out with others, and when we eat at home its usually in front of the TV, so it was nice to have a meal out together, just the 2 of us.

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

The offer I wrote for my client last weekend (when I was supposed to be off work) got ratified this week, so that makes sale #5 for me. It feels good to think I'm getting the hang of this. But just when I get to thinking I'm comfortable, something new comes up. I'm now working with a client who wants to purchase a vacant lot in a residential community, upon which he'll build a house in a few years. Believe it or not, there's a different sales contract for land.

A friend sent me this photo.
At 1st I thought "He's kind of handsome", and then I noticed the mirror on the wall.

I'm scheduled to work Sat & Sun this weekend so we don't have many plans. Joe P is having a small dinner party on Sat night so we'll take a side dish and go to that. Otherwise, I'm not sure what Spouse will do with his free time. Hopefully he'll be productive and not sit at home in front of the TV all weekend.

I saw this posted on facebook and thought it was worth sharing.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend!

Yet another banana!

As I was coming from the car to the front door the other day I saw something on the door step that gave me a chuckle.

Another banana!
Only this time it wasn't porcelain or frosted; it was real. And cold. The person(s) behind the banana mystery had left a cold, real banana on my doorstep.

This made me chuckle for a couple reason. One, its funny to me that someone would go to all the trouble to perpetuate the banana mystery. Two, the fact that this real banana was personally dropped off at our house and was still cold gave me a very strong clue toward the identity of the person(s) responsible.

The porcelain banana was left in my laundry room but I'm not sure when, and there were lots of people in our house then. Spouse's family stayed with us, Anne Marie from Philly had stayed with us, and we'd had friends over for dinner so it could have been anyone.

The frosted banana was shipped to my office from NJ. Literally anyone could have sent the banana to a friend who lives or works in NJ with instructions to send it to me.

But this latest banana was hand-delivered and was still cold when I got home from work, which tells me it was kept in a fridge and delivered very shortly before I got home. This had to be done by someone local.

I have yet to confront/expose the anonymous banana sender, but rest assured that I'll write about it when I do.

Just because

Happy birthday Steven!!

Today is my good friend Steven's birthday! Here's a photo of us taken last Nov on our cruise.Happy birthday Steven!!!

Weekend highlights

Since I had an appointment for a 2nd showing of a house at noon on Sat, Spouse & I went to the car show when it started at 10am. The weather was very chilly and overcast. Unlike past years when everyone was in shorts and t-shirts, this day they had on jeans and jackets. We walked around and admired the lovely cars and chatted with a few friends we met along the way. This year's theme was "In the lap of luxury" so many of the club members with multiple cars brought their most luxurious models. There must have been a dozen Cadillacs which delighted me immensely, a few Lincolns, and even a 1960 Rolls Royce. We left at 11:30 as it began to rain, so I could drop Spouse off at home and then meet my client at the house. I felt bad for the guys at the car show.

My client brought her architect brother along for the 2nd showing to give her ideas. She liked the home's size and location a lot, but its style was a bit too modern. Her brother and I both had some great ideas to make the home feel more cottagy. She promised to call me later that afternoon with her decision. I had a good feeling!

My plan was to pick up Spouse after the house showing and go to DE Pride, but it was raining pretty steadily by then. Since the entire event is outdoors, we thought that if we waited for a while the rain might pass on and we could go to Pride later when the entertainment was scheduled. So we met up with Steven and Alisha & Jack for lunch, then hung out at home for a while. I played a few turns of WWF and tidied up the house a bit while Spouse took a nap. My client called to say they wanted to write an offer on the house I'd shown her twice so I met them at the office to prepare the offer. By the time we finished it was 5:00 and it was still raining so we gave up on attending DE Pride and seeing Taylor Dayne perform. That night we went to our friend Doug's surprise birthday party at their friend's house. They had great food and we had a good time.

I was supposed to work on Sun but my colleague asked me to switch Sundays with him so he could be off next Sun. This gave me an entire weekend off (with the exception of the showing and the offer writing). Our friends Koset & Jim were in town and texted me so we met them for breakfast. Afterward they invited us to their house since we'd not been there before and we talked until noon. I hoped the weather would clear up so we could go to the beach in the afternoon but it was cool and overcast instead. Again we relaxed at home for a while until it was time to have dinner at Steven & Thad's. Thad's mother was visiting so they invited us and Robin and Joe P over for dinner. Spouse was helping to set the table for dinner in the sunroom and looked into the kitchen window and made a comment about being the 'zany next door neighbor' from a 1950s sitcom stopping by to gossip, and we all cracked up! Joe P took this photo.We had a delicious meal and a fun evening!

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

My friend Jared sent me this:I love how its done in 'traditional' needlepoint!

Earlier this week Spouse & I went to dinner with our friends Deb & Greer and Bob & Michael. We met Bob & Michael at Greer's birthday party a few weeks ago and we seemed to click with them. This week we had dinner at Planet X, one of my favorite local restaurants. The weather was pleasant so we had a table on the porch, but for some reason there was no breeze and we all became uncomfortably warm. So after dinner we walked to the boardwalk to 'cool off' with the ocean breezes and an ice cream cone! It was a very nice evening.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend! Its the car club's annual Beach Ball car show on Sat. I didn't renew my membership in the club this year or pay to participate in Beach Ball (car show, banquet, parties, etc.) due to funds, but I am definitely planning to attend the car show as a spectator. Click here for photos of last year's Beach Ball. I even requested off work to enjoy the car club, although I will take an hour or so at noon to show a house to a client for the 2nd time. Hopefully it will be worth it.

Also on Sat is DE Pride! This year talent is pretty amazing, especially for this relatively small Pride event. The headliner is Taylor Dayne!! I loved her back in the late 80s/early 90s and even saw her in concert. Also performing are Jonny McGovern, Calpernia Addams, and Pepper MaShay. In addition to the talent I always find it nice to wonder around the festival and see lots of friends.

Sat night Spouse & I are going to our friend Doug's surprise birthday dinner so that should be fun too.

My current pet peeve is when people say "navy blue" because its redundant. Navy is only a shade of blue so there's no need to distinguish which color is a shade of. There's no navy red, navy green, or navy brown, so don't say "navy blue". Just say navy.

Here's wishing everyone a great weekend!

My clients in the news

Last week a writer from CNNMoney called our office. He said he was writing an article about couples who were taking advantage of historically low interest rates and buying their retirement homes now, rather than waiting a few years when they actually stop working. He wanted to know if we had any clients in this situation.

My colleague confirmed with me that 1 of my clients was doing that exact thing, buying their retirement home now, and asked me if I thought the clients would be willing to be interviewed. I thought they probably would so I called and asked them. They said yes so I provided their phone number to my colleague who then passed it onto the writer.

The result is this short article. I was a little disappointed the writer didn't mention me or at least my agency's name, but I suppose he was trying not to show any favoritism. Still it was exciting for me to see MY CLIENTS and the home I found for them featured in the article.

I do but you don't

I began reading this article with the intent of being satisfied that the number of people who favor same sex marriage is going up. After all its title is "Near Split in US Over Legal Gay Marriage".

And while I was encouraged that half the people polled are in favor of marriage equality, I was simultaneously disturbed by the hypocrisy of the mother who "thinks the world" of her daughter's same sex partner and believes they should have equal rights, but can't support marriage equality due to her religion.

The writer is kind, in my opinion, by suggesting that "its complicated" and that "Americans are grappling with it". Maybe I'm overly sensitive to religion-based hypocrisy because of my own family's estrangement, but really... how "complicated" is it? You either believe in equality and vote for it or you don't.

Some may feel like the mother in this article, that gays should have equal rights in everything except marriage. But that really wouldn't make them EQUAL, now would it? Getting the same rights through an alternative measure (not through marriage) inherently creates a separate class.

Some seem to think that same sex couples should simply move to a state that offers same sex marriage. Can you imagine how preposterous it would be if that were truly implemented? What if 10% of the US population moved to the 6 states and the District of Columbia where they can legally marry? Even more preposterous is the idea that such a suggestion might have been made to African Americans 50 years ago when they sought legal equality.

The other grossly overlooked piece of the puzzle is that same sex couples who are married in the 6 states plus the District of Columbia where same sex marriage is legal only receive equal STATE rights. They still do not get equal FEDERAL rights.

Yet somehow these well-meaning people like the mother in this article allow their religion to override their consideration and respect for their very own daughter and her partner. The mother concludes the article by saying “We had to bring them to the house and hug them and love them and tell them these things and not let that keep us apart.”

In my opinion, this should keep her and her daughter apart. My parents and siblings chose their religious beliefs over their relationship with me and in a twisted way I'm glad they did. At least they aren't hypocrites. At least they don't "think the world" of me & Spouse in their home and then vote against our equality. My family's behavior is at least consistent with their speech.

It seems to me that some people want to act hypocritically and then excuse it or try to reduce its impact by saying "its complicated". Well, important decisions frequently are complicated but that does not mean we have any less responsibility to do the right thing. The true measure of one's character is how they act in "complicated" situations.

You can read the article here and feel free to share your thoughts with me by commenting on this post.

Just because

Weekend highlights

I worked on Sat. Afterward Spouse & I had hot dogs at Steven & Thad's for dinner. I left early for Legends show. Spouse, Steven & Thad, Joe P, and our friends Koset & Jim and Doug & Jim all came to the show. Koset took this video of my performance. Not long after the show, everyone left but Koset. He and I decided to hang out together and we really had a good time! Koset took this photo of me and Karla who performed as Donna Summer.
I took this picture of Karla and Koset.

Sun I worked. Spouse went to the beach with Steven & Thad and Joe P. Anticipating the season finale of True Blood that night on HBO (which we don't have but Steven & Thad do), Spouse offered to cook dinner and make dessert for them if they let us watch the show at their house. They don't follow the show like we do, so bribery was in order. Chris & Jason came over for dessert and the show. Spouse made a trifle for dessert and had me write True Blood on the top with gel icing.

Since I worked yesterday I was off today. I slept until 9am, watched a little TV while I drank my coffee, played several turns of Words With Friends (WWF), did several loads of laundry, had lunch, and then went to the beach. It was a beautiful day: sunny, low 80s, and low humidity. After returning home and having dinner with Spouse we settled onto the sofa and I played several more turns of WWF while Spouse watched TV. The original film 'Hairspray' by John Waters was on so that was going in the background as I played my turns. I love that film!

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

Last Sat at what I thought was my last performance of Legends, I learned that we were doing an encore Legends performance tomorrow night! I've had SO much fun doing the Legends show, I'm happy to do an encore performance tomorrow night.

Last night I learned from Steven that the 'Words with Friends' (WWF) game he plays with Joe P and Jack & Alisha on their iPads and iPhones is also available on Facebook, so I started playing on Facebook. OMG, I'm completely addicted! I have 20 simultaneous games going on already! Its similar to Scrabble, a game I played a lot as a kid.

The weather is supposed to be gorgeous this weekend. But there'll be no beach time for me this weekend. I am scheduled to work both Sat & Sun. I hope I get some good new clients to work with to make it worth it.

Rick Perry

OK, I know this is Photoshopped but its still funny.

Just because

Another banana

You may recall my discovery of a porcelain banana in the laundry room. No one claimed responsibility nor has anyone cracked under the pressure of my interrogations, so who placed it there remains a mystery.

The other day a small box addressed to me arrived at my office, delivered by the UPS man. There was no return address. I wasn't expecting any mail order deliveries so I wondered if it was a gift from a client.

I opened the box and pullled back the decorative tissue paper to reveal another banana!

This time the banana was 'frosted'. I'm sure you're familiar with Christmas decorations and ornaments that have the appearance of having been rolled in fine sugar crystals. This treatment is known as frosting. Spouse & I have frosted apples, plums, pomegranites, grapes, and pears we put in a glass bowl at Christmastime. Well, now we have a frosted banana!

Of course there was no return address on the box; just the zip code from which it was sent. I'm guessing the sender first sent the banana to a friend with instructions for the friend to then send it to me so that the zip code wouldn't give away the identity of the sender.

How 'special' do I feel to now have 2 bananas from an anonymous donor???

Given the texture of this latest banana, I'm changing this post theme from "the mystery of the porcelain banana" to "the banana mystery".

Obviously I'll keep you posted about future bananas.

Weekend highlights

Sat I worked until 3:30. I left early so I could go home and run through my Legends show routine a few times before heading over to Steven & Thad's cookout. Spouse made potato salad and helped Steven & Thad get ready. Here's a photo of my back and ass in the background and some of the food in the foreground.
From left to right: Steven's macaroni salad, Steven's black bean and corn salad, and Spouse's potato salad.
They had a great turn out! Jason & Kevin, Chris & Jason, Jack, Allen, Joe P, Robin, the Bobs, Rusty and other friends and neighbors came. The food was great and we had fun talking and laughing. The weather was perfect for a cookout. I left at 8:30 to go to the Blue Moon for the Legends show. Our friends Marty & John and our neighbors Jim & Barb came to the show!

On Sun I went to work again and Spouse met up with Steven & Thad, Joe P, and Allen for the annual Drag Volleyball game. For years now 2 teams of volleyball players dress up in themed drag and play. There's always a dramatic introduction and a 1/2 time show too! Here's a photo from this year's game:That evening Spouse & I met up with another bunch of friends for a birthday/cocktail party. It was fun to hang out with this group of friends again as well as meet some new friends. Afterward many of the guys went to a big dance in town but Spouse & I picked up an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery (an early birthday treat for Thad's upcoming birthday) and took it over to Steven & Thad's and visited with them and Allen and Joe P.

This morning Spouse & I had a quick breakfast, packed our stuff and arrived at the beach at 10:15. The weather was mostly sunny, breezy and about 80 degrees. Steven & Thad and Allen were already there, and shortly after we arrived Joe P showed up too. We had a great day hanging out at the beach. We saw lots and lots of friends, including the guys from the previous night's birthday/cocktail party. The sun disappeared behind the clouds for an hour or so, but came back out again later. We'd brought lunch so we were able to stay until 4:15. What a great beach day! Once back at home we showered, dressed, and headed over to Steven & Thad's for dinner. Steven used the leftover chicken to make chicken enchiladas which we ate with the leftover salads. We ate outside in their yard and enjoyed the great breeze until it got dark and the bugs started biting. We went inside and had cherry pie and watched "True Blood".

It was a terrific holiday weekend filled with friends, food, celebrations, beach, and work.

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

Tomorrow night is the last night of Legends show series. I'm really sad to see it come to an end since it has been such a pleasure to perform in it. I'm happy to be in the very last performance tomorrow night though.

This video had me completely mesmerized!

I had 2 settlements this week, 1 on Mon and 1 today, so you know that THAT means... commission checks!!!

Its hard enough when an adult feels they are transgender, born in the wrong gender body. But this amazing story is about a 10-year old who has made this same discovery. Even more amazing? Her parents understand and support here. Watch the video here.

This is Labor Day weekend and I am scheduled to work on Sat. I'm supposed to be off on Sun but I am showing property to a young couple who work opposite schedules and are only off on Sun together. Although my office is open 1/2 day on Mon I'm not going in. I'm hoping to spend the day at the beach, weather permitting.

Here's wishing everyone a fun and safe holiday weekend!

There comes a time

Last night we went to the fabulous Miss Coco Peru perform her latest show "There comes a time..." at the Blue Moon. Miraculously I was able to get Spouse off the sofa to come with me and we met Steven & Thad there.

I always look forward to seeing Coco perform because its always hilariously funny, smart, and fresh. She never recycles old stories or material from previous shows as some comedians do. This is my 5th time seeing her perform at the Blue Moon. Read about last year's show here.

I was really surprised when she walked onto stage with a new, short hairstyle! I'd only ever seen her with her classic Flip. But the new hairdo was just a part of her act and not a permanent change. In fact, after the show she came out to greet guests and have her photo taken wearing her classic Flip which suits her so well. Many thanks to my friend Marty who took this photo with his phone and emailed it to me!

One of the funnier bits in her routine was her dislike of skinny White gay men who behave like sassy Black women, doing diagonal 'snaps' and saying things like "Girrrrrlllllll" and "No she di'nt". Its not nearly as funny reading it as it was when Coco was telling it.

That's the thing about Coco: she isn't just a drag queen, or a comedienne, or a storyteller, or a singer. She's ALL those things... she's a real entertainer. Everyone in the audience was thoroughly entertained last night, I'm sure of it.

Coco travels so look at her schedule and go see her!!