Housecleaning

Business and pleasure

Today was my day off, and as is often the case, my days off are a mixture of business and pleasure.  When you work in real estate you get used to spending at least a little bit of your 'day off' working.

I started my day by emptying the dishwasher and loading it again, wiping the counters, and emptying the kitchen trash and recycling.

Then I opened my laptop and logged into my work email and the MLS system, sent some listings and research to a new client, and returned a few voice mails left the previous night.

Then I took Marvin for a short walk because it was already uncomfortably hot outside although it was only 10am. I vacuumed the 1st and 2nd floors of our house and then changed into my swimsuit and packed a cooler bag with water bottles.

At noon I stopped in my office to drop off some keys and print some pages of a contract.  At 12:30 I stopped in at 1 of my favorite sandwich shops and picked up a Cole Turkey Wrap (Turkey, cole slaw, cheese, Thousand Island dressing in a wrap) to go.  

Next stop:  the beach!

At 1:00 the thermometer on the car read 98 degrees when I parked at the beach parking lot.  I knew it was hot, but since it was my day off I wanted to go the beach anyway.  In addition to my sandwich I brought cold water to drink and an umbrella for shade.  It turned out to be a great day!  I saw several friends and the water was warm enough to go swimming.  On my way home I passed a bank with a digital thermometer that read 102 degrees.  I had the roof closed and the A/C on.

Just because I had chores to do and needed to do some real estate work, I still got to enjoy a couple hours at the beach thanks to mixing business with pleasure on my days off!

Preparing for family

I'm off work today and I've been cleaning like a fiend because we're expecting company this evening.  Not just any company, but family. My cousin Jeni, her son Tristan, and 2 of their friends are coming for a visit.

Tristan and his friend are driving Jeni and her friend across the Bay Bridge and dropping them and a tandem bike off so Jeni and her friend can bike the rest of the way (about 75 miles) to our house.  Tristan and his friend must return home for an appointment, and then will drive to our house later tonight.  They're going to stay through Sunday.

Spouse & I are really excited about their visit!  Although we saw Jeni within the year it was for just a few hours, and we haven't seen Tristan in about 3 years.

So I've vacuumed and dusted and put fresh sheets on the beds and fresh towels in the bathrooms and cleaned the kitchen and run the dishwasher and threw away the dead flowers and consolidated and rearranged the remaining flowers left over from the wedding, all so we have a chance at fooling them into thinking we live like "normal" people.

Weekend highlights

Fri night's buffet for charity at Hobos was great! It was also the restaurant's 2 year anniversary. The buffet was vegetarian and delicious. Unbeknownst to me, my friends Colin & Don from DC were there when I arrived so I joined them at their table. We ate and drank and talked and laughed and had a ball! The owner and chef Gretchen asked us to move from our small table to a large 1 so she could bring some folks over to join us. Although I wasn't crazy about this at 1st (since we were already having so much fun), it turned out to be great. The folks she brought over to join us were young and fun and we continued to have a great time. We closed the place down, then walked across the street to Blue Moon to catch the end of the Divas Show. Once that ended I bid my buddies a good night and headed home. After all, it was a school night for me.

Sat I worked and Spouse went to the gym. That evening we met up with Steven & Thad, 1 of the Bobs and Joe P for dinner at Conch Island. The food was good and quite reasonably priced compared to most of the restaurants nearby. After dinner, our group walked over to Blue Moon (even Spouse!!!) and hung out for a while, listening to music and talking. I was surprised to not run into anyone I knew but it was likely because it was still rather early for a Sat night. Spouse & I headed home and watched a little TV before going to bed.

Sun morning we got up early and drove to VA for Mother's day. We visited with Spouse's mom, she opened her gift (jewelry) from us, then we made a quick visit to Macy's with my gift card left over from Christmas. I got a red and white gingham shirt. We made a reservation for a late lunch/early dinner at Taco House, and met Spouse's sister and her husband and kids there, as well as Spouse's brother and his wife. We had an excellent meal with the added bonus of getting a short visit with the owners (and our friends) Juan and Gloria. Afterward we all returned to Spouse's mom's house and visited some more before heading back to DE.

Today I am off work, since I'll be working next Sun. I started the day by pulling the weeds from the beds surrounding the house, tossed some laundry in the washer, took a shower, then met a realtor friend for lunch. After lunch I went to Blue Moon for a sound/key check for the songs I'm singing in the upcoming series of shows, then ran a few errands. Once back home I did a little housecleaning and then relaxed a bit before Spouse got home. Of course when he got home he found me watching TV and assumed I'd done nothing but loaf all day! I quickly cleared up that misconception.

Weekend highlights

Sat I worked until 5:00, then Spouse & I had dinner with Steven. (Thad out of town.) We went to a Chinese restaurant near Steven's house that we liked a lot. There are several Chinese places closer to our house but we don't care much for them. We had a nice time hanging out with our friend.

Sun was a very productive day! Spouse & I spent 2 hours cleaning the house (which really needed it), then I spent another hour cleaning the screened porch and its furniture. There was so much pollen everywhere that I wound up using a plastic scrub brush to brush-down the furniture before sweeping. Then I washed and dried a couple loads of laundry and ironed 2 pairs of pants and 6 shirts. After showering and having lunch, we went for a lovely convertible ride. When we returned home Spouse took a nap and I caught up on some email. That evening we met Steven & Thad, 1 of the Bobs, and Joe P for dinner. Thad brought doughnuts back for us from Maple Doughnuts in York, PA so we shared them as our dessert after dinner. They were absolutely delicious, and come in a multitude of flavors. My favorite is Boston Cream.

Friday fragments

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

A friend sent me this, which cracked me up!

We've all seen the 'People of Walmart' photos. My friend and frequent blog hilarity contributor Jared sent me this hilarious video about Walmart and Homeland Security!

Our state tax refunds arrived in today's mail! It took less than a week from the date of e-file for them to issue and mail the checks. I will happily deposit them this evening on the way to dinner.

Today is housecleaning day for me. I should split it up and do some cleaning over a few days, but instead I'm doing it all today. Man, do I miss having a housekeeper.

My friend Wayne sent me this hilarious video! Enjoy.

Have a great weekend!

Friday fragments

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

Big Ella & I participated in 3 local Christmas parades and received trophies for our participation. Here is the trophy from the Milton Christmas parade.

I'm thinking about using some of the leftover wood from the addition to make a shelf in the garage to display Big Ella's trophies and plaques.

Today I cleaned the entire house again. Man, do I miss having a housekeeper! But after 4 hours the house is clean and tidy. We're having company on Sun, and we'll be gone alot tomorrow so I decided to tackle the housecleaning today.

I got this from my friend Jared, who always supplies me with funny stuff.
I got this from my good friend Kathryn, and it made me laugh out loud!
Spouse went for his weigh in last night and lost 1 lb. Considering all the food-related holidays and events this time of year, I'm proud that he's still losing weight and not gaining. His total weight loss now is 72 lbs. He says "none of my clothes fit anymore".

I got my hair cut yesterday. I told the guy to cut it 'pretty short' because I like how low-maintenance short hair is, and because the last time I got my hair cut really short, I received lots of compliments on it.And truth be told, shorter hair also takes a few years off most people, and since I had a birthday this week, I thought I could stand to lose a few years.

My friend Wendy sent me the following photo, which I found to be sweet. An abandoned dog took shelter in a nativity scene with the baby Jesus.

How funny is it that the dog is a German 'Shepherd'. (Giggles)

Maid to order

When I was laid off one of the cost-saving things we did was to discontinue the housekeeper. (Insert big sad face here.) I volunteered to take on the majority of the housecleaning since I have more unscheduled time than Spouse.

Today was all about cleaning, but not because the family is coming for Thanksgiving. Unlike the last 14 Thanksgivings, the family is NOT coming to our house for Thanksgiving this year. Spouse's niece (a freshmen in college) has a part-time job and has to work on Fri, and his nephew had surgery on his knee (due to a football injury followed by a fall) and can't get around very well. So we're going back to VA to have Thanksgiving at Spouse's mom's house.

The reason I'm cleanin' like a demon is because we are having some friends over on Sat for a tree trimming party. Instead of spending hours and hours hanging ornaments by myself (Spouse loses interest after 10 minutes), I thought it would be fun to invite friends to help me hang the ornaments and have a snack and drink. So today I cleaned the entire house, all 3 floors, which took almost 6 hours.

I did take a break for lunch and met up with my realtor friend Andy. It was really great to chat about real estate and regular stuff. It was very generous of him to spend 2 hours with me, although the time seemed to fly.

Tonight Spouse & I will pack up the car and head to VA, returning Fri night.

Weekend highlights

The weekend started as all good weekends do with Fri Night Dinner with 'the usual suspects'. Afterward a couple guys from dinner joined me for karaoke since my friend Trelynda was hosting karaoke in the lounge at Saketumi. It was fun!

One of the cost-cutting measures Spouse & I agreed to was to discontinue our personal trainer visits. (This alone will save us over $400. per month.) So instead of his Sat morning workout, Spouse & I got up at 8:00 and went for a 2+ mile walk on the boardwalk. It was lovely weather, sunny and 68 degrees. There were lots of other morning walkers too. It was top down weather so after our walk we went for a drive, then had lunch on the screened porch. A little later we decided to check out the clearance racks at the outlet stores. Spouse got some new clothes that actually fit, including a pair of dress khakis for $8. and a sexy Kenneth Cole v-neck t-shirt for $7. It was so pretty outside that I suggested a walk around the large pond near our house, which extended itself into a walk through town, and then to the bay and back. I'm guessing we walked at least 5 miles that day, but enjoyed every inch. Later that evening we met Steven and one of the Bobs for dinner at Cafe Azafran. I had baked goat cheese with roasted peppers, olives, and herbs with pita (YUMMM) and a fabulously seasoned lamb skewer over field greens. We had a great meal and a great time with our buddies.

Sun morning we met Steven for breakfast and wound up talking for nearly 3 hours! Time flies when you're gossiping. (Just kidding.) Afterward Spouse & I went grocery shopping. It was another gorgeous Indian Summer day, sunny and 78 degrees, so we went for another walk on the boardwalk, then returned home to do some housecleaning. (Another cost-cutting measure was to discontinue our housecleaning service, saving us $300. per month.) For dinner we made fabulous BLTs using bison bacon, romaine, and grape tomatoes roasted with red peppers and mushrooms in EVOO and balsamic vinegar. They were DEE-LISH!! Then we watched a movie from Netflix: Valentine's Day. It was chocked full of stars (Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Carter Jenkins, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, Taylor Swift, Shirley MacLaine, George Lopez, Julia Roberts) so I expected it to be great, but it wasn't. It was okay; occasionally funny, occasionally romantic, generally entertaining, but not terrific. I did like that the very sexy Bradley Cooper and Eric Dane (both former Crush du Jours) turned out to be gay. That was an unexpected twist.

I absolutely adore Indian Summer weather like we had this weekend. I think of it as Mother Nature's way of saying 'I'm sorry' for the chilly weather we had in Sept. when it shouldn't have been that cool. Regardless, I hope for more such weather before I need to pack away my shorts.

Crush du Jour: Ben Pamies

Film Festival: day 0.5

Last night (Wed) was the opening of the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival. Here is the festival synopsis of the film I saw.

Kisses
On the fringes of Dublin two kids, Kylie and Dylan, live in a suburban housing estate devoid of life, color and the prospect of escape. Kylie lives with five other siblings and her overworked mother. Next door, Dylan lives in the shadow of an alcoholic father and the memory of an elder brother who ran away from home two years earlier. After a violent altercation with his father, Dylan runs away from home and Kylie decides to run away with him. Together they make their way to the magical night-time lights of inner city Dublin, to search for Dylan’s brother, and in the hope of finding, through him, the possibility of a new life. Lance Daly’s
vision of Dublin, as seen through the innocent eyes of our protagonists, is a kaleidoscope of magic, wonder and mystery. But as the night wears on, and Dublin takes on a darker character, the two kids have to rely on the kindness of strangers, the advice of Bob Dylan and their trust in each other to survive the night.

I enjoyed this film and found it more interesting than the synopsis above. The actor playing Dylan wasn't that great, but I believe the actress playing Kylie has an acting career ahead of her. Although the ending was predictable (the kids eventually return home) everything leading up to it was interesting, cleverly shot, and not predictable. On a Netflix scale of 1-5 I would give this film a 3.5.

Just in time for the film festival, our area is being hit by a veritable monsoon. Beginning yesterday morning we've had rain and driving winds without let up. Forecasts are calling for 50-60 mph gusts!

I typically enjoy being one of the 1st in line at 7:00 am Thurs morning to chat with other indie film enthusiasts while we wait for the box office to open at 8:00. (Being 1st in line guarantees I'll get tickets to my desired films before they sell out.) Today was a completely different story. Rather than standing in the monsoon-like weather for an hour, we early birds were given paper numbers and told to wait in our cars. When the box office opened we went inside and got in line by number. So there was no chit-chatting about films prior to the box office opening, and I missed it.

After securing tickets to all of my desired films (YES!) I went to Duncan Donuts for my traditional post-ticket-purchase coffee and donuts: 1 Boston cream and 1 chocolate glazed. (Yes, I get those same donuts each time. Hey, traditions can be fun!) Since Steven works near the theatre and Duncan Donuts I told him I'd be there a few minutes after 8:00 in case he wanted to meet me there. As I stood at the counter placing my order with Olef, the foreign exchange student, Steven snuck up behind me and poked me in the sides and yelled "Gotcha!" I nearly jumped out of my skin. We enjoyed a brief breakfast together before he scooted off to work and I went home to shower.

After my shower I tidied up the house a bit before the housekeeper arrived. Oh yeah, we found a good housekeeper and she and her crew came today. I left for today's first movie (details in tomorrow's post) shortly after they began, and returned home from the theatre just as they were leaving. The house looks GREAT and I was super-excited to finally have the entire house clean.

I'm going back to the theatre for 2 more films this afternoon/evening, then meeting up with Spouse, Steven & Thad, and The Bobs for group trivia afterward.

Crush du Jour: Armon Adibi

Friday fragments

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

Its day 2 of our NYC trip and our plan is to visit the Cloisters today. I've heard its amazing.

The garage/bathroom/closet/dressing room addition should be finished when we get back from NYC. Well, not completely finished since the old driveway and sidewalk won't be poured yet, but practically finished. I suspect we will sleep in our bedroom when we return Sun night, and use the bathroom once its cleaned. I am practically GIDDY over the idea of moving our clothes and shoes from 3 separate closets into our new closet/dressing room!

Next Tues a guy is coming to give us a quote for regular housecleaning every other week. We had a housekeeper when we lived in VA and we felt it was a worthy expense, but when we moved here we just couldn't afford it. But things have changed and now we can afford it. We do not want to spend our evenings and/or weekends cleaning. We are active people who have lots of houseguests. Its time to get a housekeeper again. I hope we like this guy who's coming on Tues.

Have you seen those new Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets? Its a sheet that contains detergent, fabric softener, and anti-static you toss in the washer AND dryer.

Spouse picked them up at the store (because he loves gadgets and this is sort of like a gadget) and I must admit they are pretty nice. Saves me from having to measure liquid detergent (which I always seem to get on my hands) and remember whether or not I tossed a dryer sheet in the dryer. Print a coupon and try them yourself. Now, if I could just get Spouse to empty his pockets before throwing his pants into the hamper.

This video made the rounds on Facebook this week. I think its very good. Imagine if straight people had to ask for their community's permission to marry? As obsurd as it sounds, that's exactly what is happening for GLBT people in states where same sex marriage is put on the ballot for community vote.

Crush du Jour: Robert Gonzalez

Weekend highlights

Sat morning Spouse went for his work out while I fed and walked the dog, drank coffee, and watched several back-to-back episodes of 'Sell This House'. I love this little Sat morning routine.

Spouse and I ran a few errands including stopping in at the stained glass studio. Unfortunately they did not have the right glass colors in stock, but they offered to order what was needed and have us come in later to approve the colors. I also inquired about classes and found that its a full day (10am-5pm) where you learn the techniques, how to use the tools, and actually work in the studio with them. I love this idea, rather than several weeks worth of 2-hour classes. I think I'm going to sign up for this at some point, perhaps in Jan or Feb when there's not much else going on.

We had lunch and then went to Steve & Thad's to see Thad's vintage hat boxes (I will borrow a few for the car show) and to visit. We had a nice time seeing their house, talking about Thad's upcoming birthday party, and just getting to know each other better. Afterward we went to a state Democratic fundraiser held at the pavilion at the beach. The 'Beach Jamboree' was fun and we saw and listened to short speeches by the Governor, Lt. Governor, former Governor, and many other Democratic politicos. The food was good, too. The tickets were a gift from our friends Scott & Dave who are very politically active. Afterward we had a relaxing night watching TV.

After breakfast on Sun, Spouse went to the store while I stayed home and did some housecleaning. As much as I am enjoying watching the progress of the addition, it is a dusty process. We have given ourselves lots of leeway with housecleaning during this process, knowing that deep cleaning every weekend would be a huge waste of time. So our weekend housecleaning is more about trying to minimize the tracking around of dirt and dust. When the job is done we'll hire someone to clean the entire house thoroughly.

Then we met up with Steve & Thad, Bob, Jason, and Mark at the beach. It was a beautiful day! It was in the mid 80s but the humidity had dropped and there was a nice breeze coming off the water so it was a perfect beach day. The after effects of hurricane Danny left the water warm but kind of wild. The waves were much higher than normal and looked kind of dangerous, so we only got into the water about knee high. But it was really fun to be on the beach with friends on such a beautiful day. After showering and feeding/walking the dog, we met Steve & Thad at the Miltonian Pizzeria & Wing House for pizza and wings. What a great way to end a great day!

Later that night I watch Design Star and was kind of unimpressed by the team's answer to the big backyard challenge. I thought the finished yard looked nice, but I agreed with judge Candace Olsen who said everything looked purchased rather than designed. It looked nice and the homeowners were happy with it, but it just didn't look like 4 aspiring designers had 'designed' a backyard retreat. Despite Dan's mistake with the budget, Torrie was sent home for her lack of leadership as the team captain.

Crush du Jour: Jason Giambi

Weekend highlights

Spouse & I had a rather low-key weekend, with nothing concrete on our schedule.

Spouse went to his 9am personal trainer appointment on Sat and I did a little vacuuming, loaded the dishwasher, read some blogs and email, and watched 2 episodes of "Sell This House".

When Spouse got home we put on some SPF, picked up some sandwiches, and headed to the beach. It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time hanging out with Rusty, Chris, Steven, Bob, and Bob. (Bob and Bob... the Bobs... Bob squared...) Upon returning home we both showered and I watched some TV while Spouse took a nap. Later we met up with Steven, Bob, and Bob for dinner at Rigby's. Yes, I know we just had dinner there the previous Sat with Ron & James, but its really become one of our favorite places. We had a delicious meal and delightful conversations with the guys! Steven, Bob and Bob went out afterward; Spouse & I watched TV at home.

We had a very relaxed, laid-back Sun morning. After breakfast Spouse & I watched TV, spent some time on the computers, and just chilled until about noon. We went over to the storage place to start up Big Ella and take her out for some exercise. Man, just the sight of this car makes me happy!
Driving her around provides me with such enjoyment that I have a smile plastered on my face. Spouse noticed my permanent smile and asked rhetorically "Aren't you just the luckiest guy?" to which I answered "Yes!"

We had lunch at home, Spouse was on the computer again while I went to Homo Depot to look at paint chips and design magazines. I bought a sample of the floor tile, the shower tile, and the accent tile, then matched up hundreds of paint chips to them. When I came home I set up this "color story" so Spouse could try to visualize how it will look and decided with me on a paint color.

The natural wood at the top is the wainscotting material and the white wood beneath it symbolizes the white painted, tall baseboard molding. The large piece of tile underneath is the floor tile, and the smaller piece on the right is the shower tile. We'll have a variegated, 2 inch travertine in the shower floor (which includes the color of both the floor and shower tile) but I did not purchase a sample of that. On the lower left you can see the glass mosaic accent tile that will be in the shower room as well as a decorative border around the tub. We narrowed down the paint choices to 4 shades of green and a terra cotta color. As you can see, we're going for an organic, nature-inspired, restful color scheme.

Later that evening Spouse & I broke our "no fast food" rule and ate dinner at Taco Bell. I know, right? We both wanted to try their new Volcano menu, which we liked. Since it was a gorgeous evening we went for a convertible right.

About 9:00 I met up with Steven and one of the Bobs at a local watering hole for karaoke. Flotilla DeBarge was guest performing a few numbers before karaoke started, and she was great! Steven took videos of me singing "Mambo Italiano" and "Breakin' Up is Hard to Do" and uploaded them to YouTube when he got home last night. The lighting is so low you can't see me. At all. But that's okay; I wasn't really dressed to be filmed anyway! I had a lot of fun with Steven and Bob! I got home at 11:15 and talked with Spouse for a few minutes before hittin' the sack.

Crush du Jour: Gareth David Lloyd

Memorial Day

Its been a great Memorial Day weekend: the official start of the summer season here at the beach. As I mentioned on Fri, this is the 1st Memorial Day weekend in years that we have not had company, but it has been a great long weekend none-the-less.

Sat morning after having our coffee and walking the dog, Spouse & I pulled all of the porch furniture (4 rockers, 2 love seats, 2 side tables, and a bistro table and chairs) into the yard and scrubbed them all down. Then we used the leaf blower to blow all the dust, dirt, leaves, cobwebs, and other assorted bug stuff off the porch. We discovered an easy way to clean dusty cushions: with a scrub brush.
Ours came from the Dollar store. It worked great and brought those cushions back to life. The weather was absolutely spectacular (warm but not hot, clear skies, no humidity, nice breeze) so it was a good day for doing this. When the furniture was dry, we put it all back on the porch and sat and rested for a few minutes.

Then it was on to the back/screened porch. We removed the furniture, used the leaf blower to blow the debris out, scrubbed the cushions, and wiped down the posts. Its a much smaller porch with less furniture so it went much quicker. It felt really good to get our porches and porch furniture cleaned up and ready for the summer season.

Then we put together our new convertible bench/picnic table. We saw it on one of those home shopping channels and couldn't resist it. Its a bench that converts into a picnic table in seconds! Here's an unflattering photo of me sitting on the bench:
Then, in mere seconds, with a simple lift, I convert it...

...into a picnic table for 4 adults or 6 children.

Pretty nifty, eh?

Later that evening we took the convertible car to an indoor/outdoor dinner party at our new friends' Kathy & Jill's. It was a gorgeous evening so we enjoyed assorted olives, cheese and crackers, and cocktails (Cosmos for me) outside on their deck and screened porch. Kathy & Jill are terrific hostesses and served a fabulous dinner of flank steak, salmon, grilled veggies, bow tie pasta with gorgonzola, and green salad with goat cheese. Everything was so tasty! We met lots of great/fun people too.

Sun morning after breakfast and walking the dog, I made 2 pans of Paula Deen's corn casserole to take to George & Steve's cook-out.

The weather was warm again but more humid, but we still drove to the cook-out with the top down. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone, and the corn casserole was a real crowd pleaser as usual. Despite the fact that the invitation read "come at 2:00 and we'll eat at 3:00", they didn't get the burgers, hot dogs and chicken off the grill until 4:30, which meant we had to forfeit the cocktail party we were supposed to attend later that evening. But we had a lot of fun.

Today the weather was quite changeable. We had sunshine, humidity, sprinkles, clouds, rain, thunder and lightening, all within the last 8 hours. Spouse & I decided to do some much needed housecleaning before showering and heading out the door. We made a stop at Home Depot to look at some tile samples, then tried out a new place for lunch we heard about yesterday at the cook-out. Over lunch we discussed some of the details of our upcoming trip to NYC. It seems as if just overnight our roses started blooming, so before it started raining today I took these photos. (Click to enlarge.)

Here are some other cute things (the names of which I can't remember) we have blooming right now.

I hope all of these will survive when they are transplanted, in preparation for the addition. Spouse & I aren't 'good gays' in the sense that we don't love gardening and don't know much about caring for plants. But fortunately we have the internet and friends who know.

I find it curious that my 3-day Memorial Day weekend had nothing to do with remembering fallen soldiers.

I really do appreciate the sacrifice made by those brave men and women, but for some reason it seems to have nothing to do with my thoughts and behaviors during Memorial Day weekend.

Here's hoping that all of you had terrific Memorial Day long weekends!

Crush du Jour: Michael Churchill

Satisfying Saturday

I certainly enjoyed a satisfying Saturday.

Spouse & I slept in until about 9, had coffee and talked about our day. We decided to have a late breakfast out, which is sort of unusual for us, but enjoyable none-the-less. After so much crappy weather lately, it was a welcome relief to find the sun shining brilliantly and the temperature significantly warmer. So, down went the convertible top and up went my spirits!

After breakfast we ran a few errands, then came home and did a little housecleaning. Spouse took a nap and I went to the gym for an hour: 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill followed by 30 minutes of arms, chest, and abs. Sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and remember what I used to see and think to myself "Hey, you're getting there!" Other times, like on Sat, I see guys at the gym with nice big arms and pecs that stretch their t-shirts tight and I think about myself "Boy, you've got a long way to go".

Working out has become infinitely more enjoyable since the purchase of my mp3 player. I'm likely the last gay on earth to buy one, but whatever: I'm a late adopter. An hour goes by lickity split when I'm jammin' to Miss Jackson's nasty grooves. (FYI - 'Rhythm Nation' is great for the treadmill.) I also lip-synched along to RuPaul and 80s disco hits. I have to remind myself to only lip-synch and never sing out loud while listening to my mp3 player. Although I have a good singing voice, no one wants to hear a queen singing while pumping iron. Upon returning home I shuffled my music and reloaded the mp3 player for next time, then hit the shower. When I got out of the shower I noticed in the mirror that my face was a little pink from being in the bright sunshine with no sunscreen. I didn't care.

It was so gorgeous I tried to think of any reason to be outside. I took the dog for a walk. I considered pulling some weeds or trimming some of the neglected landscaping but decided against this since I'd just showered. Instead, I took Big Ella out for a little exercise. As usual, I received multiple high-fives, thumbs up, compliments, and questions about Big Ella's birth year. She never fails to make an impression.

Then Spouse & I walked to a local Mexican restaurant to meet up with our buddies Doug & Jim. The restaurant is tiny, with only 6 tables for 4 and 4 tables for 2, so when we arrived at 7:00 Doug told us the wait would be 90 minutes. I thought he was joking, but he confirmed he was not. Normally Spouse & I wouldn't wait even 1/2 that long, but since Doug & Jim invited us to dinner and had picked the place, we just decided to go with it. We sat at the bar and ordered margaritas, which were fabulous, and then ordered chips and salsa and the guacamole sampler, which was also fabulous. The sampler contained 3 varieties of guac: shrimp and garlic, tomato and onion, and goat cheese and pine nuts. Dee-lish! It took every single one of those 90 minutes before our table was ready, but the time flew by since we were eating and drinking and talking with our buddies. We all enjoyed our meals, too.

After 2 large, potent margaritas I was glad we'd walked instead of driven to the restaurant, because I was certainly not fit to drive. Spouse, me, and my tequila buzz watched TV for a little while and then went to bed.

A very satisfying Saturday, indeed.

Crush du Jour: Fred Goudon

Friday fragments

Well, its Friday: the 'appetizer' to the coming weekend.

This weekend we don't have any social plans, other than meeting up at some point with our friend Tim who will be in town for the weekend. We do have one priority for the weekend though: clean this disgustingly filthy house!
Now, I'm no Mommie Dearest by any stretch of the imagination. But we haven't done a good, thorough housecleaning in several weeks, and it shows! I can't stand it any longer.

Street reconstruction continued Mon-Wed of this week, from 7:30 am - 7:30 pm. For some reason, there has been no street work done yesterday or today, but I don't mind, as it is nice to have some quiet again. Here is the 'view' from our porch:

This is our yard, looking from the driveway:

You can't see it in the photo above, but one of the heavy pieces of construction equipment cracked our driveway. I spoke to one of the engineers yesterday who gave me his business card and promised they would 'make it right'. Here's what we see across the street:

Thanks to Smallville gay activist Bob over at I Should be Laughing for posting this fantastic video of SF Mayor Gavin Newsom speaking out on how separate is not equal. This ties in nicely with this post. Any idea how we can encourage more straight politicians to become our advocates?

I have been having terrible luck with electronics lately. I booted up an old laptop and was prompted to perform a windows update, which I did. Now the laptop won't boot up anymore. I bought an inexpensive mp3 player and loaded some fast-tempo music that will be good when I'm on the treadmill. I know the music loaded, but for some reason I couldn't get it to play. Somehow Spouse (the only person less tech savvy than me) got it to play. Our new camera keeps giving me a "battery exhausted" message, despite putting fresh batteries in it several times. My friend Nick explained that the camera's battery setting was set for a higher voltage battery, so all the lower voltage batteries tricked the camera into thinking they were dead. I bought the higher voltage batteries, but still get the message intermittently.

My friend Kevin sent me this funny website called F my life that has provided me with countless chuckles so far today. Check it out! I dare you to not find something funny.

Wishing everyone a fabulous weekend!

Crush du Jour: Alex Loynaz

Change in plans

Sat morning I showered, dressed, fed the cat, made the coffee, and then checked my email. And there it was: the email notifying me that the MLK Jr parade had been cancelled due to the frigid temperatures. I was disappointed, but when I thought of the high school kids in their marching band uniforms that are not designed for single digit temperatures, I concluded that the parade organizers had probably done the right thing.

But the parade was literally the only thing we had planned for Sat. With it cancelled, and with the extremely cold weather, I feared Spouse & I would stay (warm) in the house all day long and be tempted to eat all day long.

To fill our time I thought about suggesting to Spouse that we each spend an hour or so cleaning and tidying up the house. Knowing Spouse I knew that suggestion would not be met with excitement, even though we both know it needed to be done. So, I did something a little devious instead.

I suggested to Spouse that, since it was a cold day, it would be great to make a big pot of chili or beef stew. He agreed that would be good, but we didn't have the ingredients for either. So I suggested we venture out into the cold to the grocery store and get what we needed. "What else have got to do today?" I asked, and he agreed.

On the way to the store I suggested we invite our neighbors Claudia, Jim & Barb over for stew and then watch a DVD about a storm that devastated our area in 1962. He agreed, then declared that if we were going to have people over for dinner and the movie, we'd need to do a little housecleaning. I agreed, and suggested it wouldn't take that long to whip the place into shape.

So, we cleaned the house and I didn't have to twist Spouse's arm into doing it. I got him to suggest it by first getting him to agree to have our neighbors over for dinner!

Feel free to use this 'patented technique' anytime. You're welcome.

So, we made a hearty and tasty beef stew with potatoes and veggies, plus 2 cans of Pillsbury Grands biscuits. Biscuits aren't that hard to make from scratch, but I don't think any taste better than Pillsbury Grands, so why go to the trouble and mess of making them yourself? Claudia, Jim & Barb enjoyed dinner, we all enjoyed our conversations, and then we watched the DVD.

Despite the cancellation of the parade, Spouse & I had a great day and a lovely evening, and we didn't snack all day long.

Crush du Jour: Paul Johansson

Preparations

Happy Friday, everyone! As I mentioned last week, I took off work today in order to prepare for our holiday open house tomorrow night.

Today has been (and still is) all about baking. Thank you to those who sent the recipes! Today I made a batch of chocolate chip pecan cookies, a batch of cranberry oatmeal walnut cookies, 2 'holiday' pumpkin pies, and a big pan of sweet potato shuffle.

I still have yet to make the coconut cheesecake squares, the butterscotch cheesecake squares, the chocolate chip brownies, and the peanut butter chip brownies. I ran out of eggs, so I'm off to the grocery now.

If the evite responses are to be believed, we'll have about 45 friends and neighbors here for the party tomorrow night. I'm excited!

Tonight we're having dinner with 'the usual suspects', and tomorrow will be all about the housecleaning. Then we're off to a birthday party tomorrow from 2-5, then back home to set up for our party at 7:30.

Remember, its not too late to submit your Christmas tree photos!

Crush du Jour: Matus Valent

Somewhat lazy Sunday

Despite going to bed before midnight last night, Spouse & I slept in until 10:30 this morning! It was raining and dark, which always makes a person want to stay in bed.

I'd wanted to get the white lights put on the wrap around porch today, but since it was raining, Spouse said he didn't want to do it. I reminded him that we could wrap the lights around the porch railing while standing on the porch, and therefore not get wet, but he didn't want to. Then I remembered he'd had back pain all week, and standing outside in the dampness for an hour might not have been a good idea.

So I vacuumed the main floor of the house, unloaded the dishwasher for the dozenth time in less than a week, and tossed several sets of sheets in the washer. I finally got Spouse to help me carry the Christmas tree down from the attic to the living room, and we assembled it together. That was as much as he wanted to do on this lazy Sunday, and although I could easily have strung the lights on the tree (and the porch, for that matter), I reminded myself that there is a kind of beauty in just taking it easy on a rainy Sunday.

Then Spouse used left over turkey meat to make a turkey/vegetable/rice soup that smells awesome, while I ate left over dressing and watched him. Then I took the last of the turkey left overs and made turkey salad.

We've both read our emails, and I just updated my 2007 Christmas card list and now have my 2008 Christmas card list! I love writing, addressing, and sending Christmas cards. I have a ritual that I love to follow every year. I probably won't start the cards this week though, because Mon after work is my work out, Tues after work we'll put up the lights on the porch and/or tree, Wed night is my mens discussion group, Thurs night is the Lewes Hospitality Night, and Fri after work we're leaving for a weekend in VA. So I may start the cards next Sun evening, or the following week.

Its hard to believe my 5-day holiday weekend is nearing its end. But December will feel like a short month because I have 4 days of leave to use before the end of the month, so I will probably take a day off every week. Plus, I'll be off 2 days for Christmas in addition to the 4 days of leave. I have a feeling December will fly by.

Crush du Jour: Erik Eidem

Day off

I'm off today. My company does not allow us to carry over any unused leave, so I realized I need to use up some days so I don't lose them. I chose today, knowing it would be helpful to have this day off because of our family's arrival tonight.

I've made a list of things to do today, nearly all of which revolve around getting ready for our family's visit for Thanksgiving. More cleaning, making beds, checking the guest baths for supplies, laundry, and general straightening up. Thank god we did the bulk of the house cleaning and all of the grocery shopping last Sun. We'll probably have to go to the store again though, since they're coming tonight and staying through Sat. Those rug rats eat like its their last meal.

If you're like me, you look forward to Thanksgiving and the other holidays. However, if you happen to be in a bit of a funk or are having trouble getting into the Thanksgiving mood, I urge you to read this, for it will surely make you do a 180. When you really stop (the madness) and think about it, we all have much for which to be thankful.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Crush du Jour: Jed Hill