Mother-in-law

Well, if you thought I was whiny, spoiled, or ungrateful for complaining about all the noise, dirt, and inconvenience of getting our street paved, you'll really think I'm whiny, spoiled, and ungrateful with this post.

Let me start by saying I love Mother-in-law. Really, I love her dearly. Although 79 years old, she is far from being a typical 'old lady'. She doesn't crochet doilies or knit afghans. She's very active with lots of senior social groups and rarely misses an opportunity to go somewhere. She has a great sense of humor and we have a good time together.

For nearly 13 years now she has loved and accepted me, which is more than I can say for my actual mother (and father and siblings) who disowned me when I came out and informed them I was leaving their conservative religion.

But despite how much I truly do love Mother-in-law, sometimes the woman can get on my nerves.

Every time we see her she offers us something to eat and/or drink, which is very thoughtful and hospitable. Since I am trying to lose weight I try not to eat between meals, so I usually tell her 'No, thank you'. She always responds by asking me if I'm sure, and then proceeds to list for me all the food and drinks she has to offer. I politely respond by telling her 'I am sure' and that 'I don't care for anything'. She'll leave it alone for a few minutes, but will invariably ask me several more times if I'm sure I don't want anything to eat or drink. Sometimes she will go through the list again. I want to say "Read my lips: I do not care for anything to eat or drink. Thank you" but of course, I'd never do that.

Every time we see her she tells us how much money she has recently given to her 2 deadbeat sons, both of whom are in their 50s. Spouse has spoken for both of us numerous times, letting her know we do not care to hear about that anymore. We came to the conclusion long ago that she will continue to give them money as often as she wants to. What she does with her money is her own business. Nobody has a gun pointed to her head. We've reminded her that if she doesn't want to give them the money they request, she can say no. But she doesn't say no, which is her prerogative. But then she insists on telling us how much she 'had' to give them. Sometimes I'm tempted to scream "You didn't 'have' to give them the money!!! You are the one in control!!!", but of course I'd never do that either. She always ends with "Listen, I have enough money for myself, but I don't have enough money to carry those two." If I weren't afraid she'd see me, I swear I could lip-sync that exact phrase as she says it. And I could. I've heard it enough times.

Every time we see her she gives us a recap of what is going on with her friends, whom Spouse & I privately refer to as 'the hag brigade'. "Maryann's daughter is moving to North Carolina...", "Gloria went to the doctor this week for her knee", and "Loretta is thinking about a reverse mortgage..." etc, etc, etc. We've never met these people, so getting an update on what's going on in their lives means very little (if anything) to us. But the worse part about it? She tells us the same things over and over again! At first I thought she couldn't remember whether or not she'd told us, so once I said "Oh yeah, you mentioned this to me last time we were here". But without missing a beat she responded "Well I'm gonna tell you again", and proceeded to ramble on and on about the happenings of these people we don't know or care about.

Two weeks ago her neighbor had a ceramic tile floor installed in her kitchen. Upon hearing this from Mother-in-law, one of the hag brigade snarled "Ceramic tile floors are cold and slippery!" So Mother-in-law asked me what our kitchen floor was made of, and I answered that it was ceramic tile. She asked if it was cold and slippery, to which I replied "Ours is cold because its on a concrete slab, but your neighbor's kitchen has a crawl space under it so it may not be as cold. Its only slippery if its wet." Since her neighbor got a new kitchen floor she decided she needed (read: wanted) a new kitchen floor too, so we took her to the flooring store to order the same laminate floor she loved in our previous house. Just 2 weeks later (this past weekend) she asked me the same question again about ceramic tile floors being cold and slippery. First, I already answered the question 2 weeks ago. Second, what difference does it make now? She'd already ordered the laminate floor! She called last night to tell us the new floor had been installed, and how much she loved it. I bit my lip and said nothing when she told me "I'm glad I didn't get a ceramic tile floor because people say they're cold and slippery".

She likes to keep abreast of what's happening, so she watches political TV shows and reads tabloids. Those are her information sources. She'll read or hear something sensational and then repeat it to us as if she's reporting the news. "They say Barack Bahama is a Muslim" she announced. And yes, she really did call him Barack Bahama. Spouse replied "No he's not! Where did you hear that?" The tabloid. Last weekend she reported "That guy can't be in the president's cabinet 'cuz he didn't pay his taxes. Why didn't he pay his taxes? He couldn't afford it?" Spouse recommended that if she is going to read tabloids, she should consider them to be for entertainment purposes only, but she responded "But sometimes they get it right! They said Edwards had an affair on his wife - the one with cancer - and he did!" Spouse also suggested she watch CNN for politics instead of Fox News, but she said she likes to watch Bill O'Reilly because "he's so good-looking". Hard to argue with that kind of logic.

I know I should sound more grateful to have such a loving and accepting Mother-in-law, and I really am grateful for her. And as I said, I love this woman dearly, really I do! But sometimes she can get on my nerves.

Crush du Jour: Matthew "Jett" Schaefer

Weigh in

You may have noticed a lack of posting recently on my Non-diet/new eating patterns/lifestyle change. This is mostly because I haven't had anything significant to share.

You see, I started off with a BANG, loosing 9 lbs. after the 1st week. I knew better than to expect this to continue, and figured I'd loose a pound or 2 each week. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

But that's just not happening. Despite maintaining my weekly personal training session AND adding trips to the gym 2-3 times a week for cardio and weight lifting, I seem to be stuck. And not stuck where I want to be.

Here's my progress:

• Starting weight: 204
• after week 1: 195 (-9)
• after week 2: 193 (-2)
• after week 3: 191 (-2)
• after week 4: 193 (+2)
• after week 5: 191 (-2)
• after week 6: 191
• after week 7: 191
  

You may think that 191 is a perfectly respectable weight for a 45 year old man (although I've been told I look 32) who works out, but I don't think I'm tall enough to weigh that much. I'm 5' 9", and at 191 I still think I look 'heavy'.

I must admit that I have 'treated' myself a few times with french fries and desserts. Maybe this is the cause of my plateau. So, I'm going to 'treat' myself less and try to increase my cardio (calorie burning) at the gym. Usually I do 20 minutes on the treadmill, random difficulty at 3.5 speed, followed by 30 minutes of weights. Perhaps I should reverse that to 30 minutes on the treadmill and 20 minutes on weights.

Hopefully I'll have better news to report after next week's weigh in.

I know many of you are also working out and trying to lose weight. How are YOU doing?

Crush du Jour: Alan Valdez

Green

Its St Patrick's Day - are YOU wearing green???

And if you still want more yummy green goodness, check out last year's tribue to St Patrick's day.

Crush du Jour: Danny Care

No compromise on equality

I could not agree more with the position on marriage equality stated in the article below!!

Lowenstein: We must not compromise on equality
By Jenna Lowenstein

When I sat down to write this post– an argument for marriage, rather than civil unions– I thought about a lot of things and revisited a lot of arguments that have defined the two sides of this debate comprehensively. Civil unions and domestic partnerships create separate but equal institutions. Marriage is about more than an ideal– it’s about concrete federal rights. Marriage is about privacy, and privacy is a civil right.

We’ve all heard these ideas, recycled and revisited, and they’re all correct. I agree that civil unions are a separate and (un)equal institution, and that marriage guarantees federal rights that aren’t attached to civil unions and that there’s a penumbral right to privacy enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. I agree.

But I think there’s something more fundamental that we often overlook.

Because I thought about this longer and harder than I probably needed to, I sent out a message to my followers on Twitter and asked if anyone had suggestions. I knew I believed in marriage equality, but I didn’t know how to make the same argument that I’ve made hundreds of times more interesting this time around.

I only got one response to my tweet (which is pretty shocking considering the rate at which my friends normally tweet), and it was deceptively simple: “I don’t think it’s particularly novel,” the person wrote, “but… it’s the right thing to do?”

My friend’s point, as I’m choosing to interpret (or over interpret) it, was that this issue is about equality, plain and simple. And he’s right. Its the equality, stupid!

We live in a country founded on the tenet that all men are equal. Period. If we decide that we should push for civil unions, if we decide that’s the responsible battle to fight because it might be easier or faster or might not ruffle as many feathers, than we need to be willing to decide that we’re ok with compromising that founding ideal.

I don’t know about you, but I’m certainly not there yet.

The idea that there is a trade-off for any rights movement– between principle and compromise, revolution and assimilation, absolutism or gradualism, belief and strategy– is what forces this debate, but I think the answer is easy.

During the debate on ENDA last summer, Congressman Rush Holt gave a floor speech in which he quoted Congressman John Lewis quoting Martin Luther King:
“Mr. Speaker, our distinguished colleague John Lewis often reminds us of the words of Dr. King, “The time is always right to do the right thing.” Dr. King warned us against the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. I am concerned that when we break apart legislation, some pieces fall on the floor to get swept into the dustbin of history or to be considered only years later. We should not do this to members of our society who need and deserve the same protections as all other Americans.”

I think Holt’s and Lewis’ and King’s point is spot on. We can compromise on taxes and on infrastructure funding and on health care costs. But we cannot– we must not– sell out the fundamental right to equality.

Crush du Jour: George Newbern

Weekend giggles

Crush du Jour: Joel Rush

Friday fragments

Tonight we'll have dinner with 'the usual suspects' and then come home and watch a movie. Tomorrow morning we're heading back to VA for the weekend. Some friends from NH will be in town so we will enjoy seeing them after quite a while.

Spouse & I decided to go ahead and get bids for our garage/bath/closet addition. At this point we only have a vague idea what it may cost, so we've given 4 sets of plans out to 4 builders and explained what we want. In a week or so we should have an idea of what this project will cost and we'll have a better idea when we can start it, and what may have to be sacrificed if the estimates are higher than our budget. This should be quite informative and interesting!

This morning at 7:30 the street crew arrived with a very loud piece of machinery that turned the street into gravel. So much for "construction starting on Monday the 16th". Fortunately Spouse was on his way out the door for work when they started, so he was able to get his car out. We thought we had until Mon to park in our driveway.

We had light snow flurries this morning for about 30 minutes. Now at just after 5:00 the flurries are back. Man, I am SOOO ready for spring!

Have a great weekend!

Crush du Jour: Scott Adkins

Street

As I've mentioned before, we live in a very small historic town, which later changed its status to become a city. It still looks and functions like a small town.

Our street is only about a 1/2 block long, and there are just 4 houses on either side, all with small yards. It is a one-way street due to it being so narrow, and there is no on-street parking. It used to be a gravel alley, which was eventually paved.

Our little street has no curbs, sidewalks, or storm water drainage so when it rains the water runs off into our yards, which is fine, and it puddles in the low areas of the street, which is not fine. The latter has become troublesome. When the water forms large, shallow ponds in the street it requires dog walkers to walk in neighbors' yards' to bypass the ponds. When vehicles drive through the ponds it splashes water everywhere. And in the winter the ponds have frozen, creating a dangerous environment for drivers and pedestrians.

So last summer several neighbors and I attended a city meeting where street improvements were discussed. I learned that the city had planned to repair and resurface several streets with too many patches or potholes, and planned to completely replace our street after storm water drains had been installed. Hurray! We'll be able to see our tax dollars at work. We were told the project would start in the spring, but we'd be notified prior to the start of construction.

On Tues several construction guys walked up and down the street locating all the utilities and spray painting the street, driveways, and yards with neon yellow, orange, blue, and pink.

On Wed more construction guys arrived with blue prints, surveying equipment, and short wooden stakes with colored flags on them.

Today several pieces of heavy-duty construction equipment were delivered, along with some huge steel platforms. They were delivered to the vacant lot across the street from our house. The lot is owned by someone, but I guess the city has decided they will use it as a staging area.

So much for being notified prior to the start of construction. Or, maybe they don't consider this "construction". Maybe this is simply construction foreplay.

The start of this street re-construction project stirs mixed feelings in me. On the positive side it will be great to have storm water drainage and a new street surface that won't turn into a giant pond when it rains.

But on the negative side they are going to straighten out the direction of the street, which will shorten our driveway by about 10". Also, I am NOT looking forward to all the noise, dirt in the air, and inconvenience.

They will be completely ripping up and removing the existing street, so jack hammers will surely provide an annoying soundtrack to their work for a few days. Then there's the beeping sound from the bulldozer and front-end loaders when in reverse gear. Then there's the clanging and clanking of steel and concrete as the drainage basins are installed. For most people who leave the house to go to work, this isn't a big deal. But to people like me who work at home, it is a much bigger consideration.

Let's not forget about all the dirt that will be stirred up and blown around, either. Our house, porch, porch furniture, and cars will be covered in dirt daily, just as they were when a nearby construction project took place.

Oh wait - not our cars - they won't be covered in dirt because we won't be able to park them in our driveway! That's right. Since construction will begin at 7am and go til 5 or 6pm each day, we will not be able to park in our driveway during those hours, unless we want to risk being blocked in the entire day. So we will have to park our cars on alternate streets and walk to and from our house.

They estimate this will take 4-6 weeks, but I am betting it will take at least 8 weeks. Project are rarely completed by the estimated date, due to weather/rain and other conditions.

Reading back over this I sound like a crotchety old man! I suppose I should look at the bright side and think about how nice it will be when its all over.

Crush du Jour: Brian Carr

What would YOU do?

A few months ago when Spouse & I were back in VA, I went to Freddie's to sing karaoke, have a few cocktails, and hang out with a few friends. It was fun!

Spouse had asked me not to stay out too late, so I decided I'd leave the bar at 11:30 which would put me back at his mom's house before midnight.

At about 11:15 I sang my last song, and then began saying my goodbyes to my buddies so I could get out of there by 11:30. As I was heading toward the door, a woman reached out and touched my arm and complimented me on the song I'd just sung. I smiled and thanked her sincerely for the compliment. She introduced herself, but I don't recall her name now. Then I looked at the man sitting next to her and I immediately got a sick, uncomfortable feeling.

I knew that man. It had been almost 20 years since I'd seen him last, and the years showed on his weary face, but I recognized him. It was 'Larry' (not his real name), one of the Elders to whom I had confessed my homosexuality almost 20 years ago.

My mind was racing. What is Larry doing at Freddie's, a primarily gay bar? What time is it?Who is this woman (not the woman he was married to 20 years ago) sitting next to him? Am I going to be late? I wonder if he recognizes me? Should I say something to him? Did I wear a jacket in here?

Larry looked at me and said "I bet you don't remember me."

"Yes, I believe I do." I replied. "You're Larry Miller." He closed his eyes as he smiled, and said "Wow, you've got a good memory!"

I decided against reminding him of the humiliation I'd undergone in front of him and the other 2 elders so many years before, as I poured my heart out and then waited for the consolation that never came. In fact, my memory was quite clear when it came to him and that terrible time in my life. It was traumatic and emotionally draining. But I wasn't mad at him at all. Not now.

"Its been a long time" I said.

"It has" he agreed. "You look good... happy."

"Thank you, yes I am. Happier than ever." I immediately regretted saying that, for fear that I might sound like I was overcompensating for something, the way people do when they are lying.

"Well that's good" he replied.

The tension was so thick, and I really wasn't sure I wanted the conversation to go any further, so I decided to end it. Quickly.

"Listen, I hope I don't sound abrupt, but I'm running late so I really have to go now." I turned back to the woman and said "It was nice meeting you." Then I looked back at Larry and said "And it was a surprise seeing you again."

I slipped out the door and up the street in the cold night air to my car. That's when hindsight kicked in.

Why hadn't I asked Larry how he was doing, and what he was doing? What did I have to lose?

But then I began to answer that question in my head. There were lots of possible answers. The woman could have been his sister, cousin, or some other female relative. They might not have known Freddie's was a primarily gay bar. Larry might still be an active member of the JW religion, in which case he is not permitted to socialize with me. He obviously knew my status.

But it was Larry who initiated the conversation with me. It was also he who commented that I seemed happy; something an active JW shouldn't do if speaking to someone who is no longer a JW, which he also shouldn't be doing.

Fast forward a few months to today. For some unknown reason the situation above came back to my memory. I hadn't thought about it since it happened, but today I recalled it again.

I decided to do a Zabasearch on Larry's name to see if it would return any address or phone information, and voila! There it was: Larry's name, address, and phone number. His real name is uncommon, and there was only 1 response, in the same general area where he lived 20 years ago. Also, the date of birth on the record would make him about the right age. I knew it was him.

So, if I want to call him, I can. But do I want to? Is there something I want to say? Something I want to ask him? Is there something I want to know? Might I unknowingly be opening Pandora's box by calling him? Might this call upset my peaceful, comfortable life? Might I be better off letting sleeping dogs lie?

I'm not sure I've ever been this indecisive before in my life.

What would YOU do, and why?

Crush du Jour: Justin Baldoni

My Lifetime movie

Very often for lunch I have a meat and cheese sandwich (usually turkey or ham), followed by a handful of nuts and a handful or two of dried fruit. I love nuts and dried fruit, and think of them as more healthy choices to accompany my sandwich. Typically I follow the sandwich, nuts, and dried fruit with a tall glass of water.

And that's when it hit me: an idea for a terrific Lifetime Movie Network movie! (Or 'Lifeline' Movie Network as Spouse's mother calls it.)

Here's the plot:
A mentally disturbed man kidnaps a pretty woman from the parking lot of a grocery store. He chloroforms her then slides her in the back seat of his car and drives off. He brings her to his house located in the rural outskirts of town. There are no nearby neighbors, so screaming for help when she awakens is pointless. He locks her in a 'cell' he's created in his basement whenever he leaves the house for work, but allows her to move about the house while he's at home. All the doors have locks that must be opened with a key from both the outside and inside so she can't escape while his back is turned.

The sick man doesn't mistreat the young woman, he just wants her to love him, cook and clean for him, and be his wife. Since he's mentally ill he does not understand that kidnapped women generally don't fall in love with their captors and marry them.

The young woman is grateful that he is not mistreating her, so she agrees to cook meals, clean the house, and even eat dinner with her captor. This goes on for two weeks. She is pleasant to him, and even suggests she could give him a grocery list so he could get the necessary ingredients for her to make him some of her favorite recipes. The mentally ill man begins to think his plan of winning over the young woman is working. He takes the list to the grocery store the next day.

The woman makes her captor her "world famous chili", only she loads it up with lots of salt and spices which will make the man thirsty. For dessert she gives him a fruity pound cake that contains lots of dried fruit. Raisins, cranberries, blueberries, apricots, apples, pears, pineapple - every dried fruit she could think of.

The man eats the chili, then the cake, and washes it all down with a large glass of water. She eats very little of the chili and none of the cake, explaining that she wants to keep her figure. The man assumes she wants to keep her figure for him, and is pleased with how well his plan is working.

Shortly after the dinner though, he feels thirsty again, due to all the salt and spices in the chili, so he has another large glass of water. Later, despite feeling very full, he has another large glass of water. Unbeknownst to him, all the water he's drinking rehydrates the dried fruit, causing it to expand in his stomach!

In minutes he feels bloated and uncomfortable. Eventually he is so uncomfortable he thinks he must use the bathroom to get relief, but it doesn't help. The rehydrating fruit continues to expand in his stomach, leaving him moaning in pain.

As he exits the bathroom, the young woman is standing outside the door, ready. She cracks him over the head with a frying pan and he drops to the floor. She reaches inside his pocket and pulls out his the keys, unlocks the door, and escapes in the crazy man's own car.

Thanks to all the quality films shown on Lifetime, there is no shortage of washed-up actresses to star in my movie: Valerie Bertinelli, Melissa Gilbert, Meredith Baxter-Burney. I can't decide!

So, how do you spend your lunch break?

Crush du Jour: Sean Harley

Terrific weekend

We had a terrific weekend! We just had a few things planned so much of the weekend was spontaneous.

First, the weather: Sat it was 75 degrees and sunny, and Sun it was 80 degrees and sunny; quite a change from the 26 degrees and several inches of snow we had on Mon! Needless to say, all the snow is gone now.

A month ago I'd taken Big Ella to a restoration shop to get an idea on the cost of a paint job, and was rather shocked at the $18,000. estimate. But our friend Rick told us that he had gotten very good results from Maaco, so Sat morning I drove Big Ella to the Maaco in Salisbury, about an hour away. Spouse followed me in his car. Long story short, the guy at Maaco quoted me under $5,000. for the exact same work. To be sure, I asked him to describe the process to me so I could know for sure that I was comparing the same work. Spouse & I agreed it was the place to have the work done, so I paid a deposit and left Big Ella there. In about 2 weeks she should be STUNNING!

Afterward we went over to our friends Randy & Dean's house. We met their new puppy, then went to lunch at a great little bistro where Spouse had a filet mignon tips pinini and soup and I had ahi tuna sliders and a goat cheese salad. Tres magnifique!

When we returned home we immediately changed into our workout gear and went to the gym. Since it was so pretty outside, we decided to go for a nice long walk (to the beach) when we got back from the gym. It was amazing to have such warm weather in early March, and this just added to our enjoyment of the walk.

We both showered and then headed over to our friend Ray's house for movie night. Once a month a group of guys gets together to watch a movie (the host picks the film), discuss/comment on it afterward, and enjoy some snacks. Ray picked "Flawless", starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Robert DiNiro, which we saw many years ago when it came out, but enjoyed it again.

Sun morning we took Jordan for a nice long walk, which she enjoyed immensely. It was only 9am but we could already tell it was going to be warmer than the day before. After talking for a while and enjoying a nice leisurely cup of coffee, we went shopping. Since it was already in the 70s we put the roof down on the convertible. We saw lots of people wearing shorts, including me, despite my wintry-white legs.

Nick solved the great mystery of why our camera keeps indicating "batteries exhausted". He said we needed to change the battery setting on one of the menus because it was set for a battery that has stronger voltage. Since we were using batteries with lesser voltage we needed to change the setting. I had no idea the camera even had a battery setting! Nick suggested buying a rechargeable battery station, which made a lot of sense, so our first stop on Sunday's shopping spree was to buy the rechargeable battery station. We got one that recharges AA and AAA batteries, since we use AA in the camera and AAA in the mp3 players.

Then we had burritos at Moe's.


At our next shop-stop we saw that the parsons chairs we'd been looking at for months were finally on sale. They only had 2 left, but lucky for us, we only wanted 2, so we bought them. They are dark brown (faux leather) and can be used in our dining room or living room when we need extra seating. As we walked out of the store Spouse suddenly remembered we were NOT driving the CRV, into which the chairs could have easily slid. I laughed and told him not to worry, that I'd already thought of that and knew the chairs would fit upside down in the back seat of the convertible. And they did. I also got an mp3 player for $19.99 so Spouse & I would each have our own mp3 player at the gym.

Our last shop-stop was the grocery store. Nothing exciting to report about that, unless you think getting those 'Steam Fresh' veggies that steam themselves in the microwave for $1. each is exciting.

When we returned home Spouse took a nap and I tried to load a 'workout' playlist onto my new mp3 player. Instead, I accidentally loaded our entire music library onto it, so now I have to figure out what I did wrong.

Since we had a filling lunch we weren't hungry for dinner, so we just had a light snack before going to Rick & Nick's to watch a movie. We had introduced them to the Donald Strachey gay detective film series a while back and they enjoyed "Third Man Out" and "Shock to the System". So the 4 of us watched the 3rd film in the series "On the Other Hand, Death" last night, which we liked, and look forward to the release of the 4th film in the series "Ice Blues".

It was a terrific weekend, which ended too soon. But isn't that always the case?

Crush du Jour: Nick Adams

Friday chuckle

Adam and Steve couldn't figure out why everyone referred to their industrial park as "the gay industrial park"...



Crush du Jour: Sean D Sullivan

Make Me a Supermodel, Season 2

Although it is totally NOT something I would normally be drawn to, last year I was enticed into watching Bravo's new series Make Me a Supermodel.The reason was because the trailers for the show indicated that one of the contestants, Ronnie Kroell, was an OUT gay man. I thought Ronnie was attractive so I decided to watch the show as long as Ronnie remained on it, fully expecting him to be eliminated early on simply because I was rooting for him. This often happens to me. Tammie Brown and Victoria Parker were my faves on RuPaul's Drag Race, but were the 1st 2 to be told "Sashay, away".

Ronnie did very well in the competition and made it all the way to the finale, so I wound up watching the entire series. Surprisingly it wasn't half bad.

I thought the photo shoots were very interesting, as many of them were at actual locations, rather than in a studio. I found Ronnie to be smart an articulate - not just another pretty face. Last summer Ronnie worked on Hillary Clinton's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Unfortunately, just like Hillary, Ronnie came in 2nd place, but has been modeling ever since. I wish him all the luck! Visit Ronnie's MySpace page.

So, a few weeks ago I saw the trailers for Make Me a Supermodel (MMaS) Season 2 and decided I would definitely watch it, because I enjoyed last season, and to see if there were any other OUT models.

Last night was the premier of Season 2. Don't worry if you missed it; Bravo always re-runs the episodes throughout the week, so you can catch it.

The first gay I spotted was Chris, a blond feminine-looking male who proclaimed that he had an advantage over the other models because he "can look masculine or feminine" when he wants to. However, the judges and I both decided he just looks feminine all the time. Although he was not eliminated last night, I believe he won't be in the competition much longer.

But then came the 'sweet spot' I'd been hoping for: Shawn.

After their first photo shoot, Shawn and the other models were relaxing at the group house and telling things about themselves to help the others get to know them. Colin says he's never modeled before; Salome says she was raised Mennonite, etc. When its his turn, Shawn shows his wedding ring finger to the models and says that he's "been married to a man for 7 years".

There we go! That's what I was waiting for.

Today I checked Bravo's MMaS website for Shawn's bio and was delighted to read this: "Shawn is currently working in Sales in Pensacola, Florida., where he lives with his beloved husband of seven years."

Bravo!, Bravo.

So, as you can imagine, I am now fully supporting Shawn (gotta give mad props to those who have the courage to be OUT in the public eye) and hoping he will be the winner. In the meantime, I will enjoy the interesting locations, fashions, hair and make-up, and personalities in Make Me a Supermodel, and I suggest you do the same.

Crush du Jour: Mark Consuelos

Wednesday update

Sun night and Mon we had snow. It was very windy, causing the snow to drift so I really don't know many inches we got. The wind also made the screens rattle in the windows. I woke up several times thinking the dog or cat was getting into something, but it was just the wind. Both Spouse & I had a 'snow day' on Mon, which completely floored me. I mean, I work for a company with clients all over the US, Canada, and some in Europe. It didn't snow everywhere! But some folks had to work in order to produce our clients' scheduled events, and I worked a little too. But mostly Spouse & I had a nice day watching TV, looking at the snow, and eating snacks.

Speaking of eating snacks, you may have noticed there was no weigh in last Tues. That is because I didn't lose any weight. Same goes for this Tues. I seem to have plateaued; or maybe its those snacks! I'm usually not a 'snacker', but for some reason we both feel like snacking on a snow day.

Work has been really busy this week, hence the sparse posts of late.

We had a wonderful time at our young friend Emely's Quinceanera! I got upset at first because our NEW camera was not working correctly. For some reason it kept reading "Batteries exhausted" even though I changed the batteries out with new ones 3 times. Can anyone explain why this would happen? Fortunately my good friend Kerry is never without a camera so I got these photos from her.
This is Emely with her brother Javier and her parents Ana and Jose.

Here is Spouse, Emely, and me. (Ssshhh... don't tell Spouse I posted a photo of him.)

My dear friend Kerry, the source of these lovely photos.

Spouse's mother Evelyn, Spouse, and Kerry's father (and our friend) George.

Emely's mother Ana told me the cake came from Wegman's, and had a vanilla layer, a chocolate layer, and butter cream icing. I was disappointed that we left before they got around to cutting the darn thing!

During the delicious sit-down dinner, the DJ began playing a mixture of 80s songs and Mexican songs. Then, as is the Quinceanera custom, the DJ played a waltz and Emely danced with her father and 2 uncles, each for 15 seconds or so. As one passed her off to the other they would twirl her around. It was so cute!

Then many others joined them on the dance floor. Above Kerry is dancing with Emely's father Jose. Behind Kerry you can see a screen where a photo slideshow was playing. Kerry did a fantastic job of showing Emely with her family and friends at some of their many activities. It was really beautiful.

Emely's uncle Jorge and aunt Terri 'cut the rug' too! (I love this picture!)

It was such a warm and loving affair! Everyone was smiling and laughing; there was no 'family drama' or competition. We were so happy to have been invited and to be able to make it back to VA for the party.

Crush du Jour: Jimmy Clabots