Friday fragments

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

Mon the stained glass people called to say our 3 window inserts were finished. They came that evening and installed them.

Whereas they aren't exactly what we pictured, we still like them and we got a great deal on them.

Spouse & I are both off today for 'Good Friday'. I scheduled a locksmith to take a look at a lock that stopped opening, and a landscaper to give us an estimate on fixing our yard up. Since the construction I think the grade of the yard isn't right for draining water to the street, and we have little to no grass left; its all weeds. So we'll see what they come up with.

Please take a moment to watch this video of a truly inspirational young man. He truly puts challenges and limitations into perspective.

Still no replacement for our totalled Honda CRV, but our friend Bryan said he thought there would be 3 possibilities for us at the auction today, so we'll see what he comes up with on Mon.

We're going to VA on Sat morning for the Easter weekend. We're meeting our realtor Betsy at noon to see another condo, then meeting Kerry & Hugh for lunch at 1:30. Then my old friend (and gay mentor) Patrick is coming to see us at Spouse's mom's house later that afternoon. I haven't seen him in about 20 years (that story will be forthcoming) and he and Spouse have never met. It should be a spectacular day!

Sun is Easter so we're planning to return to the old church where we used to be members so we can see the building improvements and many old friends. Later we'll have a big Easter meal with family and head back to DE. The weather is supposed to be very good this weekend (sunny and warm) so that should just make the weekend even better.

I hope everyone has a nice Easter!

Crush du Jour: Daniel Robinson

Weekend highlights

Fri night we had dinner with 'the usual suspects', then watched a Project Runway marathon. Since we play team trivia on Thurs nights, we always DVR Project Runway. We watched 3 episodes back-t0-back, without commercials, thanks to the DVR.

Sat Spouse went to his work out and I relaxed with my morning coffee and watched HGTV shows. Then we went to the post office to submit our passport applications. Normally you have to have passport photos taken some place else, but since it was National Passport Day at the post office, they offered passport photo services right there. We had filled out and printed our applications in advance so we just had to sign them, have our photos taken, and pay. It cost us $230. for 2 passports with photos. Then we had lunch and went to the grocery store. Our friend and used car dealer Bryan called us to take a look/test drive a car he'd gotten in recently (2008 Kia Sportage), but we didn't care for it. Spouse took a nap and I took Big Ella out for some exercise. I made Paula Deen's corn casserole (always a crowd-pleaser) which we took to a potluck. There were about a dozen guys there, of which we only knew 3 before we arrived. Once back home again we watched a little TV before going to bed.

Sun Spouse slept in while I watched home improvement shows on HGTV and TLC. Then I decided to get some things done. I started by unloading the dishwasher, then reloading it. Then I folded and put away a basket of Spouse's laundry, emptied the recycling bin, cleaned out a closet, looked for a photo album in the attic, and pruned the rose bushes. Spouse & I went for a little ride, had a bite to eat, got the car washed, and stopped at Home Depot where we bought a sturdy plastic shelving system and a sturdy cardboard box. Once back at home, I put together the shelving system in the garage and moved my tools onto one of the shelves. Then I changed a burned out light bulb in our lamp post. Then I removed the books from 3 bookshelves and packed them all in the cardboard box, then collapsed the book shelves and slid them under the bed in 1 of the guest bedrooms. Then I popped in at the stained glass studio to check the progress of our 3 windows inserts. Spouse & I had pizza for dinner, then watched "2012" on Rick & Nick's giant home theatre screen. Aside from a couple implausibilities, we liked it. The special effects were great!

It didn't rain over the weekend as predicted so that was very nice, but its raining today. I don't care - I'd rather have clear skies on the weekend.

Crush du Jour: Robson Green

Weekend highlights

I had a relaxing Sat morning drinking coffee and watching HGTV while Spouse was at his personal trainer appointment. When he came home we had brunch (steak and cheese omelettes) and then went to a store to try to use a Christmas gift card. Only, I didn't see anything I really wanted, so I decided to hold onto the gift card for another time.

Then we went to the stained glass studio to check in with the artist about the back-ordered glass we've been waiting on for months. It still hadn't arrived so Spouse & I picked a different (in-stock) piece so they could finally get started on the big diamond-shaped window we commission 6 months ago. While there, we worked with the artist to design the 3 rectangle window inserts for the windows over the tub. We are very happy with the way the design came out, and they had all the glass we need in stock. So, hopefully it won't be too much longer before we can take down those temporary paper shades and install our stained glass window inserts.

For my birthday last month Spouse gave me an mp3 player. So Sat afternoon I read the directions and loaded it up with music I already had on the computer from the 1st mp3 player. I had one before that was very inexpensive and broke a month or two later. Despite it being cheap, I returned it and got my money back. My new mp3 player has more sorting/playback options and is much nicer.

Sat evening we met Steven & Thad at Ruby Tuesday for dinner. They are dieting too, so it was a good place for us to have dinner. The salad bar is the best!! Steven also had coupons for buy-one-get-one-free, so that was a nice bonus. Then went to their house to watch "500 Days of Summer". It was pretty good, but one thing really bothered me about the film. The male lead's young sister (probably 12 years old) was completely ridiculous providing her adult brother with sage relationship advice. There was absolutely no need for that character, and giving her wisdom far, far beyond her age was just unbelievable. However, at one point the screen split in 2 and on 1 side the story continued with the word 'Expectation' under it, while on the other side the story continued with the word 'Reality' under it. I found this clever and a very effective way to communicate what sometimes happens in people's heads early on in dating. After the movie we watched an episode of "Jersey Shore", which was incredibly bad on an unprecedentedly monumental scale. But we had fun hanging out with our friends.

Sun morning after breakfast I went to the gym (my 3rd work out this week). Spouse & I went to get his car washed since it was coated in road salt from Friday's snow, but their was a HUGE line at the car wash so we gave up. We did our grocery shopping for the week, and then came home and roasted chicken, steak, and veggies. We really like doing this 'cook on Sunday, heat up on weekdays' kind of thing! We have meals for every day this week, and then some. Despite the temperature just hovering around freezing, we decided to take Jordan for a walk around the neighborhood. The sun was out and we bundled up warmly so it wasn't too bad. Later we went to Bob's for chili and game night. However, our conversations were so interesting that we never played any games! We just talked until after 9:00. We had a good time.

I was looking forward to my weigh-in this morning. Typically when someone starts a diet they have a dramatic 1st week weigh-in. Steven's was 9 lbs and Spouse's was 10 lbs. Mine was very disappointing though. Despite depriving myself of all kinds of goodies this week, sticking to my healthy eating all week, AND working out 3 times, I only lost 2 lbs. Naturally it made we want to immediately order a large meatlovers pizza and eat the entire thing. By myself. But I didn't. Instead I tried to remind myself that my goal was to reduce my portion sizes, eat less processed foods, eat more fruits and veggies, and work out at least twice. So, looking at that, I was very successful. But my expectation was that by doing the above, I would also drop 6-8 lbs, which I did not. Although initially discouraged, I remain committed to my goal.

Crush du Jour: Danny Dyer

Fun and productive weekend highlights

Sometimes we spend our weekends having fun. Sometimes we spend our weekends doing productive things. But my favorite weekends are when we have fun AND do productive things. That was the kind of weekend we just had, and it was great!

I had a relaxing Sat morning drinking coffee and flipping back and forth between "Sell This House" and "My Big Amazing Renovation" (shows Spouse would rather not watch) while he was at his personal trainer appointment. After I showered, fed and walked the dog, and ran the dishwasher, Spouse came home and we went to lunch before doing a little shopping. We bought an old, dark-stained oak chest of drawers from an antiques and collectibles shop for our bathroom.
This will give us easier access to all of Spouse's health and beauty products. Although I'm usually not a big fan of oak furniture, this piece is stained dark and really coordinates nicely with the wainscoting and vanity.

I changed the sheets on our bed and then put on the new king size duvet and bedskirt we bought last summer, right after the addition started. Its amethyst in color, with a bronze border, and looks really nice with the area rug in our room. Since I still loved the queen size comforter set we used to have on our old bed, we decided to swap out a lesser quality comforter set upstairs with the one from our bedroom, which included taking the mattresses off the beds to change out the bedskirts. Definitely a 2-person job. Next I put up some temporary (paper) shades in the bathroom and closet windows so Spouse would finally start using those areas. Despite the fact that no one is looking in our windows, and even if they were they wouldn't be able to see us from the street on the 2nd floor, he feels every window should have a covering. I am temporarily obliging him while the stain glasses panels are being made.

Next we went to the storage unit and finally brought Big Ella home to live in her new garage. We'd been planning to do this for 2 weekends, but were unable due to my being sick one weekend and the film festival and rain the following weekend. She fits beautifully in her safe and dry home, with plenty of extra room for storage.

Our friend and neighbor Jared went with us to a glass blowing exhibit at Deb Appleby's studio. Then we had cocktails and a great dinner at Rigby's. I had pumpkin risotto with wild mushrooms, Spouse had beef stroganoff, and Jared had pasta bolognese. It was a really enjoyable night.

Sun morning Spouse & I had breakfast, then did a little more shopping at Wal-Mart and our fabulous Dollar Store. On the way home we stopped at the stained glass studio to get an update on our window inserts. They'd ordered a specific glass color they needed and had been told it was on back-order. Then when the supplier was ready to ship it there was some problem with having it delivered. The long and the short of it is that it will be at least another month before the window inserts are ready.

Once home, Spouse & I sorted through all of his health and beauty products, which had been temporarily stored in laundry baskets when the addition project began. Some stuff went into the trash, while the keepers were placed in clear, rectangular, plastic containers (from the Dollar Store) and then into the drawers of the new chest. We propped a vintage etched glass mirror on top to see if we like it before mounting it over the chest. Then I placed clean towels and new rugs (from Wal-Mart) in the guest bath, in preparation for our Thanksgiving houseguests. I washed some dishes and wiped off the counters before going to Five Guys for burgers and fries. Spouse was in the mood for cheeseburgers and I was in the mood not to cook them or clean up afterward.

And while all of this was going on, our yard guy Ray powerwashed the exterior of the house, our bikes, and all the porch furniture from both porches. What a difference! Its unbelievable how dirty the exterior of the house got from the neighbor's construction last year, the street reconstruction earlier this year, and our addition. But it looks clean and beautiful now.

So that was our fun and productive weekend. What did YOU do?

Crush du Jour: Pascal Elbe

Weekend highlights

We had an absolutely superb weekend!

My friend Lisa arrived Thurs early afternoon. I showed her around town a little bit, gave her a map, and let her wander and explore while I worked. When she returned we had a nice (late) lunch and then visited for a while on the screened porch. Lisa is a big fan of porches and rocking chairs, so we had her covered! Spouse came home and joined our chatfest for awhile, and then we met up with Steven & Thad and The Bobs for dinner, followed by a game of group trivia. Our team won 1st place, and we received $25. off our bar tab!!

Fri morning Lisa wandered and explored some more while I worked. Then we met up for lunch with her longtime friends Chuck & David who coincidentally were in town this weekend. They were very nice and we had a lovely, long lunch. I returned to work and Lisa read and napped. Later Spouse came home, the 3 of us spent time on the porch, and then went to dinner at Dos Locos. We each had pumpkin margaritas which were DEE-LISH!! Once back home we watched a little TV before going to bed.

Sat morning Spouse went to his personal training appointment while Lisa and I enjoyed talking and laughing over coffee and a bagel on the porch. Once Spouse returned, the 3 of us walked to a rummage sale at a local church, where I bought a small piece of art for a quarter. Then we walked over to the historical complex for an arts and crafts show where we were tempted by lots of beautiful things. Then we had lunch at Arena's restaurant followed by a trip to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for our dinner.

As Spouse cooked, Lisa and I nearly collapsed from laughter as we listened to an old cassette tape of us, made in 1977. That's right, 32 years ago, when we were 13 years old. One day Lisa and I met up with our friends Terri, Krista, Brian, Gary, and Wayne in the music room after school. I brought my tape recorder and recorded our "jam session". We attempted to play and sing and handful of the worst songs of the 70s (complete with lots of John Denver), although none of us appeared to know all the words to any single song. It was absolutely HYSTERICAL to listen to this many years later. Every once in a while Spouse would look at us as if to say "You two must have been insane!" It sure was a good laugh!!!

A little while later another friend from school arrived at our house just in time for cocktails on the porch. Bill went to high school with Lisa and me, and was also in Dominants! with me during my senior year. For dinner Spouse made rigatoni with sausage, homemade meatballs and homemade sauce. I used tomatoes from my neighbor's garden to make caprese salad, and we had garlic bread too. We had a wonderful meal, then sat on the porch and talked, laughed, and reminisced. Around 11:30 we decided we had better move indoors so that our laughter didn't disturb the neighbors. We finally went to bed at 2:45 am!

Sun morning the 4 of us had coffee on the porch, then walked to a local diner for breakfast, followed by a walk through town. Then we drove to the glass studio where we spoke with the couple making our stained glass window inserts. Lisa and Bill also looked through their items for sale and asked some general questions. The proprietors encouraged Lisa and Bill to take a day-long stained glass course with me. Then we returned to the porch and talked and laughed some more. Bill brought out his guitar and played and sang a little until it was time for them to pack up their things and head out.

After they'd left, Spouse & I went to Lowes and Home Depot to look at light fixtures. All of the lighting in the garage, bathroom, and closet/dressing room is recessed except 1. I wanted to have 1 decorative fixture that will be seen when you turn the corner and walk into the new section of the bathroom. Unfortunately we did not find anything we both felt was 'just right', so I am going to look online. I hate it when I get a picture of something in my head and know that it will be perfect but then can't find it anywhere. When we returned home Spouse took a nap and I plowed through 3 days of unread emails, Facebook posts, and then posted my addition photos from last week.

Then we went to Steven & Thad's for dinner. We had chili and salad (both delicious) followed by chocolate cake and ice cream we'd brought. We had a really nice time and I was surprised how quickly the time went by. We returned home, watched a little TV and went to bed.

It was a weekend full of good (old) friends, good food, good laughs, good porch-sitting, good cocktails, good weather, and good times.

Crush du Jour: Fernando Macia

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

Stained glass

Stained glass is a pretty significant element of our house. There are 6 installed stained glass light fixtures and 3 stained glass lamps, and there are 5 stained glass panels mounted inside windows. When designing the garage/bath/closet addition we decided to repeat the stained glass element because we like stained glass and because it would further tie in the new portion with the existing house.

Spouse saw an ad in the local GLBT magazine for a stained glass studio that sells pre-made pieces, makes custom pieces, and gives lessons. The studio is only about a mile from our house, so we stopped by one day and met the owners, a married couple whom we liked right away. We explained our project, looked at their pre-made pieces for sale, and browsed their huge glass selection.

I took digit photos of our existing window inserts and emailed them and our new window dimensions to the stained glass couple and asked for estimates. They gave us an accurate estimate on the window insert we want duplicated, and a rough estimate on the other, different pieces. They asked us to come back into the shop and look at some glass samples they pulled out for us, so we went in again last Sun. They also said they wanted to see the window inserts in person (to check my measurements and assembly technique) so we made arrangements for them to come by yesterday evening.

They really seemed to know their stuff. We talked about lead versus copper, mounting versus hanging options, etc. and they seemed to understand my concern for staying within our budget. Because we live in a small historic town where homes are more expensive that those in the non-historic areas, some tradespeople think that money is 'no object' for people who live here. Well, it is certainly an object for us, so I have found it good to mention "working within a budget" whenever dealing with tradespeople.

Here is the side of our house, before the addition. Notice there is a diamond shaped window between the 2 rectangular windows in the dormer on the 3rd floor. (Click the image to expand it.)
There is another diamond shaped window between the side door and a rectangular window on the main floor. Both diamond shaped windows have stained glass inserts with the same pattern: a tulip. More on the tulip motif later.*

Here is a close-up that shows the different colors and the different patterns of clear glass used.

So we are going to have the stained glass couple (SGC) duplicate the diamond shaped window insert above but make it larger for the new, larger diamond shaped window in the dressing room (on the left, below).

When all is said and done, from the side of our house you'll see all 3 diamond shaped window and they will have the same tulip pattern and colors. Pretty nifty, eh?

Here is our house from the side/front, before the addition. Notice in the peak on the 3rd floor there are 3 rectangular windows.

Here are the 3 stained glass inserts in those windows:

Here is a close-up:

Also visible from the front of the house are these 3 new window, located over the tub in the bathroom part of the addition.

At first we thought we'd have the pattern duplicated from the 3rd floor window inserts for these 3 windows, but then decided against it. We started thinking it may be too many tulips, and since the 3 inserts above have a lot of clear 'air bubble' glass in them, you can see through them pretty easily, which is not so great for windows over your tub.

So when we spoke to the SGC in the studio on Sun, we asked them to help us design a complimentary window insert using the same colors, but less clear glass and no tulips. They assured me there was no extra charge for custom designing, just the materials used and time to assemble them. So Spouse & I designed simple, sort of geometric pattern using the same glass colors as the other windows, along with some clear glass, and a diamond in the center. The SGC will make 3 of them, which will be hung in the lower sash of the 3 windows over the tub.

When the SGC came last night for the measurements, etc. they had a drawing of our custom design, and I must say I think its terrific! I should have snapped a picture of it while they were here, but I didn't think of it, so you'll just have to wait until the window inserts are done to see it.

*Now, for the story behind the tulip motif. Our house was built in 2005, which was also our town's 375th anniversary. As a part of the 375th anniversary celebration, the local garden club planted 10,000 tulip bulbs in public areas like parks, libraries, and government buildings. They chose tulips because tulips are very Dutch, and our town was originally a Dutch settlement in 1630. So when the stained glass inserts were designed for this house, they chose the tulip motif to commemorate the house's completion during the year of the town's 375th anniversary as a Dutch settlement.

Crush du Jour: Jonathan Agassi