Pop goes the Pyrex

Today Spouse stopped in at the Walmart located near his office on his lunch break. He picked up a few food items that are less expensive there than at our location grocery stores, and picked up a medium size round glass Pyrex bowl with a snap-on lid.

We already had 3 of the smaller round glass Pyrex bowls plus many small, medium, and large plastic bowls with snap-on lids so I inquired of him what had triggered this purchase. With me unemployed at present, this seemed an unnecessary expense, even though my Spouse loves him some kitchen gadgets.

So as Spouse was heating some 'Steamables' (frozen vegetables that steam in a bag in the microwave) he went on to explain that plastic food containers usually stain if you put tomato sauce in them and warp if you put them in the dishwasher more than once or twice. Eventually they crack, especially if frozen. He likes the glass Pyrex because they don't stain or warp. You can heat food in them in the microwave and they're dishwasher safe.

Just as he finished his thorough explanation (which was uncharacterically long for him), he opened the 'Steamables' bag and poured the perfectly steamed broccoli into the new glass Pyrex bowl and POP!!! The bowl exploded, sending shards of glass all over the counter top and kitchen floor.

He and I looked at each other, our mouths and eyes wide open in shock. Then I said "Yeah, well a plastic bowl will never do that".

After wiping the counter top and sweeping the floor I put the glass shards into a brown paper bag. Sometimes people toss broken glass into their kitchen trash can which is usually lined with a plastic bag that will easily be sliced open by the glass. Tip: put broken glass into a paper bag which is far less likely to be sliced open, then throw the paper bag into your outdoor garbage can, not your kitchen garbage can.

Since the glass Pyrex bowl was brand new and we still have the receipt, I think I'm going to take it and the surviving snap-on lid back to the store with the receipt and see if I can get the money back.

Hey, every little bit helps!

The ghetto gym

As I mentioned last Fri, Spouse & I joined a gym.

We used to belong to a nice gym very close to our house. A family membership cost us $85. per month, with the ability to cancel at any time. When summer arrived we became so active walking around town, walking the boardwalk, and playing beach volleyball that we stopped going to the gym and cancelled our membership. Spouse always claimed he didn't like the gym because it was crowded, but I rarely found that to be the case. I think it was crowded once and he just never forgot about it.

So a couple of weeks ago we joined a different gym, a little farther from our house. A family membership there is $60. per month, with the ability to cancel at any time. I'm surprised that Spouse tolerates this gym because I hate it.

Its located inside a community center and is very dark and dreary. The walls in the circuit training room are painted a mocha color and 3 of the walls have no windows. The walls in the weight training room are painted chocolate brown and there are no windows, just a single glass door. And as if the dark colors and lack of windows weren't bad enough, 1/2 of the ceiling lights don't work! Some of the fluorescent tubes are burnt out or just flicker. The 1st time I went there I flipped on every light switch I could find, to no avail. Many of the switches didn't appear to control anything at all. It is so dark and dreary I find myself feeling depressed just walking up to the building.

There's no lockers or showers. You hang your coat on rolling rack near the entrance, and if you are a heavy sweater you're just out of luck. You'll have to drive home in your wet clothes unless you want to go into the bathroom to change without showering.

The circuit training room is so cramped with machines that some of them are actually out in the hallway. The machines are so close together you can barely walk between them. Its a total fire hazard in my opinion. There are 4 treadmills and none of them have a holder for a water bottle. Its so ghetto!

The parking lot is behind the building and there's no sidewalk leading to the front entrance, so you have to walk on the street (where cars drive) to get to the front entrance to get in. This normally wouldn't be a huge concern except that we've had super cold temperatures and the snow and ice just won't melt. There's a rear door that leads from the building to the parking lot, but they keep it locked at all times, even from inside.

When I arrived on Mon all 4 treadmills were in use by women who knew each other and were gossiping/talking about someone else. When I arrived yesterday I got a treadmill next to a mature (read: ancient) man who tucked his t-shirt into the waistband of his sweatpants which were pulled up just below his armpits. Not a good look. I wanted to use my Tim Gunn voice and say "This disturbs me..." I've probably only seen 3-4 people younger than me at this ghetto gym. The vast majority are 'retired'. One day the flat screen TV was tuned into the conservative, right-wing channel. It just seems like every time I go there something irritates me.

I guess I should feel fortunate to belong to a gym. During periods of unemployment most people reduce or eliminate unnecessary costs like gym memberships. In our case, we stopped going to a personal trainer in lieu of the ghetto gym, but I really don't like it.

I've heard that a new gym will be opening next month that will be open 24 hours and only costs $20. per month, but you have to sign a year's contract and pay a $49. joining fee. When it opens I'm going to take a look at it. I gotta get outta da ghetto!

Real Estate school

Normally my Mon post is entitled "Weekend highlights" and I share what I did over the weekend. But for the next several weeks my weekends will be spent in real estate school, so I'll tell you about it.

The school is located 80 miles north of where we live, which means a 90 minute drive in both directions. Fortunately its a straight shot. It started snowing at few minutes after I got up Sat morning so my drive was not an easy one. At 1 point the snow was really coming down hard and made visibility difficult. I was only able to drive 40 mph for a while, making me worry I'd be late for my 1st class. Fortunately the weather let up and I got ahead of the storm, able to get back up to speed. I arrived with several minutes to spare.

There are 19 students in the class, which runs Saturdays and Sundays only. After we all did a short introduction of ourselves and why we were there I was surprised to find that just a couple of us are planning to be full-time agents. Several want to be part-time agents on weekends and evenings while working their regular 'day jobs'. Another guy is a property manager who's boss wanted him to get licensed as a realtor. Another woman currently works as a receptionist in a real estate office and by law is not allowed to give out information about properties over the phone unless she's licensed. I guess I expected the majority of the students to be planning for a career as an agent.

When the syllabus was handed out several students noticed that the final test was scheduled for March 5 instead of February 13. We were told that the website had incorrectly listed the course as ending on February 13, rather than March 5, which was very disappointing to many of us.

The course is divided into 3 sections: real estate principles, real estate math, and real estate law, each with its own instructor. The principles instructor is a woman named Ruth who has been in real estate since 1968. That's right, over 40 years. She's very knowledgeable and has a sense of humor, so that's nice. The math instructor looks to be 150 years old and proceeded to tell us that he is asked to teach all the time because he's brilliant. Well, if you can't be modest you might as well be brilliant. He also appears to have a sinus problem because he repeatedly pulled a dingy, wrinkled hanky out of his pocket and blew his nose and cleared his throat. Repeatedly. The law instructor is a practicing attorney with his own practice. I've never heard someone so dull or monotone. The math and law sections of this course are going to be hard.

Ruth gave us the option of taking a 1/2 hour lunch and skipping 2 of our 15-minute breaks which would allow us to leave an hour earlier than scheduled. We unanimously agreed to this, which will allow me to get home before dark. Not that I have a problem driving at night, but I think everyone would prefer to drive in daylight if given the option.

The introduction to real estate principles was just a review for me. Spouse & I have bought and sold so many properties (for our personal residences and for investment purposes) that I was familiar with everything they covered. This made for an easy 1st day.

Then we were given a math test. It was all word problems and they were extremely hard. Here's an example of one: "John purchases a distressed property for $35,000. which he plans to fix up and sell for the market price of $125,000. He wants to make a 25% profit on the sale after paying a 6% realtor commission, $850. real estate taxes, and 1.5 points on the mortgage. How much can John spend on the renovations?" Even with the use of a calculator I thought my head was going to explode.

After returning home, Spouse & I had dinner at home and watched TV. I read the 2 chapters in the principles book we were going to cover the next day.

On Sun the drive to school was uneventful. We covered the chapters about real estate terminology, responsibilities and structure. After lunch we covered multiple types of insurance. Again Spouse & I had dinner at home and watched TV.

My life is going to be different from now on. Even after real estate school ends, at least part of my weekends going forward will be spent working - very different from the way I used to spend my weekends. But I'm not sad about this. Its a necessary part of my career transition, and having some weekdays off will give me the opportunity to do things and go places when its not as busy as on weekends. However, as accepting as I am of this, I can't ignore the fact that Spouse & I will no longer have that guaranteed time together every weekend. We'll need to figure out how to socialize with friends and spend quality time together in the evenings rather than just on the weekends. Less TV and more other stuff.

Friday fragments

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

We had a slight dusting of snow overnight. Fortunately the temperature rose above freezing and the sun came out this morning so it all melted away already.

Sometimes there are 2 TV shows I'm interested in watching on at the same time. I'll watch 1 and then switch to the other during the commercial breaks. I hate it when BOTH shows run commercial breaks at the same time! Anyone else?

I came across this photo and burst out laughing. I can't even IMAGINE how this happened!!

Spouse & I have joined a gym. Since we had to give up our pricey personal training sessions neither of us has felt good about not exercising. And with Spouse's weight loss goal he really has to exercise in combination with proper diet. The new gym is located inside a community center. I don't like it very much because its cramped, has very poor lighting, and just has a general dreary feeling about it. But its close to our house (convenient) and is the least expensive around so I will tolerate its depressing atmosphere for a few months. But once I'm working and making money again we want to go back to our personal training sessions.

Spouse went back to Weight Watchers last night for the 1st time in almost a month. He'd missed 2 sessions in a row because of Christmas and New Year's Eve and skipped one session because he was busy. The good news is despite all of the holiday parties/food/goodies/etc. he only gained 1/2 a lb. I think that is amazing, and he was rather pleased about it too. So now that the holidays are over he is back on the Weight Watchers wagon and will resume losing weight. His total weight loss since July is 74 lbs.

My 1st day of real estate school is tomorrow! I'll be going from 9am-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays for 6 weekends in a row, so 5 weeks from now I expect to have passed the pre-licensing course and be ready to sit for the state/national licensing exam a few days later. However, most likely the hardest part for me will be deciding on an agency with whom to associate myself. Unlike traditional jobs where compensation and benefit packages are quite similar, realtor compensation and agency perks vary quite a bit. I will likely have to 'interview' the agencies and use a spreadsheet to compare the compensation percentages and agency perks. I'll need to add to that my general comfort level with the principals of the agencies in order to make the right choice for me. In general I've been very encouraged by the feelers I've put out there.

Sometimes I wonder if making such a huge career change should make me more nervous than I am. I hope I'm not that nervous about it because I truly feel its the right direction in which I should be moving.

My friend Lisa sent me this funny video. Quite clever!

Last night Spouse & I watched a really cute film called 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous. It takes place in beautiful New Zealand. We really liked it! It was cute, touching, and the end wasn't predictable. Stream it or check it out on Netflix!

Here's wishing everyone a terrific weekend!

GLBT news

There have been some positive developments on the GLBT front this week and I want to share them with you. Too often we hear about the negative and hateful developments so I think its good to balance them with positive news. Just click on the following links to access the articles:

1. Rhode Island is moving forward toward marriage equality
2. New Jersey signs new, toughest law against bullying
3. OutMilitary.com: the new social networking site for GLBT soldiers

DMV fail

Today I drove Big Ella to the DMV for her biennial safety inspection and registration renewal. Since I drove her in 3 different Christmas parades with no issues within the last month, I wasn't expecting any problems. I cheerfully motored over to the DMV 20 minutes away and was happy there was no line for the inspection.



I was not so cheerful when the inspector informed me that Big Ella had no brake lights. Yikes!! No brake lights could be a huge problem. Big Ella failed the inspection.


I recalled having this same issue in Sept of 2009. My mechanic said it was a loose wire, which he fixed for a nominal fee. The brake lights worked during the parades a month ago because I can see them illuminate in the rear view mirror, since they are mounted up high on the fins.

So I dropped Big Ella off at the mechanics and informed him of the issue. We also discussed a few other updates the car should have since she's already at the garage. I should hear back from the mechanic by Fri, letting me know Big Ella is ready to be picked up and re-inspected. Since my severance has stopped let's hope it doesn't cost too much.

Blue and orange

No, this post is not about Howard Johnsons.

Today I've had the post-holiday blues. I just didn't feel like doing anything, and I felt a little depressed. I'm sure its nothing to worry about and will hopefully be gone tomorrow.

So rather than dwell on my blues, I'll share with you my orange... my recipe for the orange cranberry bundt cake I made for Joe P's retirement party.

Prepare a box yellow cake mix according to the instructions EXCEPT:

• substitute orange juice for the water
• add 2 dashes of orange extract
• add 1 tablespoon orange marmalade
• add 4 ounces dried cranberries

Pour batter into a greased bundt ban and bake. Once cool, remove cake from pan and glaze with a confectioner sugar and warm water glaze.

This cake is super easy and super delicious! If you give this a try, please let me know how you like it.

Weekend highlights

Fri night our friend Jody had a New Year's Eve potluck at his beach house. We met him at the beach this past summer, along with several other friends from DC and Baltimore who also came to the potluck. It was our 1st time seeing many of them since the summer and we had a great time. The food was amazing, too. Afterward most of us from the potluck headed over to the Double L bar, where we met up with several of our local friends too, to ring in new year. Even Spouse went to the bar, which is quite unusual. We talked, talked, danced, and had fun. At midnight we all toasted with champagne and wished each other a happy new year. At 12:30 we called it a night and went home.

We slept in until 9:30 Sat morning, then began preparing to have company. Steven & Thad hosted a retirement party at our house for our mutual friend Joe P so we cleaned the house and set up for party. In addition to Steven & Thad and Joe P, several other friend's of Joe's came such as Alisha & Jack, one of The Bobs, Chris & Jason, Allen, Deiter, Jim, Rick & Candy, and Rick & Nick. Thad brought balloons and made decorations out of 'vintage' photos of Joe P.

We had Spouse's cranberry/orange glazed turkey, pasta with meat sauce, pork and sour kraut, antipasto, potatoes au gratin, homemade cheesecake, pecan tartlets, and my cranberry/orange bundt cake. Everything was SOOO good, and we had a great time.

The last of the folks left just before midnight.

Sun morning we had breakfast at the Long Neck Diner with Steven & Thad. It was a rainy day so after we got home we just relaxed the rest of the day, watching TV and putzing around on our laptops. That evening we met up with Steven & Thad and Joe P for dinner at La Tonalteca. It was the perfect end to our holiday weekend.

Friday fragments

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

Spouse was off work today for New Years so we went grocery shopping at 8:30 this morning. We're having friends over for dinner tomorrow and we needed to get a fresh (not frozen) turkey to roast today. We went to 4 different grocery stores and only 1 of them even had fresh turkeys. Spouse roasted the turkey and it smelled/looked amazing! Others are bringing food too. I made an orange/cranberry bundt cake.

Tonight we're going to a potluck dinner for New Year's Eve. I made sweet potato shuffle and corn casserole, my no-fail dishes. After the potluck we might meet up with some friends at a local watering hole, and we might stop in at another friend's casual New Year's eve party. There's certainly no shortage of options for us this New Years Eve!

My friend Bob sent me this, which gave me a chuckle. (Click to enlarge.)
My friend Jared sent me this:

and this...

Did you hear/read about Pat Robertson's idiotic claim that the recent heavy snow is God's punishment for Americans who were traveling to do something gay? How incredibly stupid is that?!?! Doesn't he realize that many hetero travelers were on their way to celebrate the baby Jesus' birthday with their families? How is that 'gay'? Its amazing to me that anyone even pays attention to that nutjob anymore.

I hope everyone has a FUN and SAFE New Years Eve!!

A most unpleasant task

The time had finally come so today I had to register at the unemployment office, a most unpleasant task.

Since I'd never been there before and wasn't sure exactly where it was, I entered the address from the website into mapquest before leaving the house. However, when I got to the street the addresses didn't match up. The bldg numbers were 5 digits and the one I was looking for was 3 digits. Since the numbers were getting smaller, I continued driving up the street. When I realized I was no longer in the same town, my suspicions were confirmed that the mapquest directions were sh*t. Fortunately I was able to reach a friend on the phone who gave me the correct directions. I arrived at the office at 10:30.

As if your spirits aren't low enough to begin with heading into the unemployment office, the office itself couldn't possibly be any more bleak. Large fluorescent light fixtures, dingy beige walls and asbestos tile floor, and hard plastic chairs appropriately sized for 9 year old girls placed too close together for anyone's comfort, the legs of which were latched together so they couldn't be moved. A sign on the door instructs visitors to take a number and complete the paperwork while you wait to be seen.

They were serving number 95 when I arrived, and my number was 55. When they reached 100 the numbers started over again, which meant there were 60 people in line ahead of me. Apparently the recent extension of unemployment benefits had resulted in a boatload of people coming into the office to apply for extensions. F*ck. Me. Hard.

Being the eternal optimist that I am, I told myself that there were 6 clerks working today and that the numbers would go by quickly. I was wrong. I waited 3 hours for my number to be called, despite the fact that several people apparently gave up and left. There were several times when numbers were called and no one got up to be served.

A private security guard milled around, occasionally chatting with the clerks and occasionally informed applicants that they were not allowed to stand. That's right, not allowed to stand! Several applicants were told by the security guard they would have to take a seat.

Some applicants brought their children with them, and at 1 point the children and some other non-related adults were apparently talking too loud for the comfort of 1 of the clerks who stood up and make a loud "Ssssssshhhhhhhh" sound at them.

I was completely appalled by the cavalier, lackadaisical attitude of 5 of the 6 clerks. Only 1 clerk processed the applicants quickly and efficiently. The other 5 would process and applicant, then get up and disappear for 10-15 minutes. 1 clerk did this, then returned to her desk, shuffled some papers around, put on hand lotion, walked over to the window and looked out, then returned to her desk and had a personal conversation complete with laughter with the clerk to her left. Another clerk would process 1 applicant, then slide over behind the cubicle partition (out of sight) for 10-15 minutes, then slide back over and take another applicant. It was as if they felt absolutely no urgency at all, despite the room full of applicants waiting hours for service. As if the 3 hour wait wasn't long enough, this terrible inefficiency made the wait excruciating.

The processing of my claim took barely 2 minutes, as I had filled out the paperwork completely and legibly. The clerk just needed to ask me some questions (which could have been on the paperwork for me to fill out myself) and the process of calling in weekly was explained to me. Then as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief that it was all over, the clerk notified me that I now needed to go to the office across the hallway to register with Employment & Training! F*ck. Me. Harder.

I filled out more repetitious paperwork and was then instructed to sit at 1 of the computers and follow the tutorial for entering my info into the system. This appeared to be so that employers could search the unemployment applicants and vice versa to fill vacancies. Once this was completed an hour later, I was instructed to wait for a counsellor to call my name. 10 minutes later I was escorted into the counsellor's office who confirmed my address, SSN, and asked if I wanted to stay in the same industry. I lied and said yes even though my intent is to become a realtor, but I want to collect unemployment while I'm in school and not earning money so I figured it really didn't matter. She gave me websites to use for job searching and signed off on my application, which took an additional 20 minutes.

I arrived at 10:30 am and left at 3:00 pm: 4 and 1/2 f*cking hours to register for unemployment benefits! Thank god I only have to do it once. I'd have to be severely medicated to go back there again.

Procrastination

I have the tendency to procrastinate when it comes to unpleasant tasks or things I just don't want to do. You'd think that dealing with the consequences of procrastinating a few times would cure me of the habit.

Take for instance the time I got a parking ticket for accidentally backing into a parking space with a sign that read "Front end parking only". (It was dark and I didn't see the sign indicating the unusual request.) When I found the ticket on the windshield I muttered something vulgar under my breath and shoved the ticket in my pocket. Later the ticket was pulled from my pocket and laid on the dresser, where it sat for a few weeks. I saw it every day and kept telling myself I needed to pay it, but didn't. When I finally went to pay the ticket I found that the fine had doubled because I had not paid it by the due date.

But in contrast, I've also found that sometimes procrastinating is good! I remember finding out that I had accidentally double-booked myself to be in 2 places the same weekend. I knew I needed to tell 1 or the other person that I could not make it after all, but I procrastinated. Then, a week before the double-booked weekend, 1 of the people told me they'd need to cancel our weekend together because he had to work on Sat unexpectedly. My procrastination allowed me to avoid the uncomfortable cancellation conversation, and prevented me from cancelling with the other friend, leaving me with nothing to do on that weekend.

So although most people have a negative opinion of procrastination, I am not so sure it is entirely deserved. Maybe its one of those things that just isn't black-and-white. Maybe instead of thinking that procrastination is always a bad thing, its more realistic to take each situation on a case-by-case basis. Obviously there are some things like paying bills that should always be done on time, while other things like social over-commitments could wait to see if they work themselves out.

Perhaps having a rule against procrastination isn't necessary. Or perhaps I'm simply justifying a bad habit. What do you think?

Blogiversary

Today is this blog's 6th anniversary, or blogiversary as I like to say. Believe it or not, I have been writing Tales of the Sissy for 6 years now. Its hard for me to believe!

I'd like to thank those of you who 'follow' this blog and those who stop by from time to time. It means a lot to me that you care to read and comment! Obviously what you read here is from my point of view, but I do my best to remain as factual as possible. Sometimes its even entertaining.

Weekend highlights

Spouse & I had a nice holiday weekend. Most of it went as planned, with one disappointing exception. Because of the east coast snow storm the Newlyweds had to change their flight and they were not able to meet us for dinner Sun evening. I was so looking forward to seeing them, catching up on what has been going on with them, and just being with them.

However, on the bright side one very nice surprise happened on Thurs. We had time for dinner at the Lebanese Taverna. The food there is wonderful and we hadn't been since before we moved here 4 years ago. There was no wait for a table when we arrived, something that's never happened to us there before, and we enjoyed a fantastic meal. We started with hummus and felafel, then Spouse had chicken Fatteh and his mom and I both had chicken Shawarma. We have no such restaurant near us so this was a real treat.

On Fri my dear friend Kathryn met me at Spouse's sister's house where the family and some friends had gathered for a casual meal and to celebrate Spouse's mother's birthday. We had a lovely catch-up session along with a lot of laughs!

Sun was the day it snowed. Apparently the storm was very hard to predict so the DC area was bracing for the possibility of 6-12 inches of snow, which would absolutely shut down the entire area. Spouse's mother was beside herself, and talked about it all day. (Her OCD appears to be advancing with her age.) However, we only got flurries in the DC area, while our home got several inches followed by gusty winds.

On Mon when we got home I shoveled both driveways and the front porch, then relaxed with Spouse and caught up on my email. Later that evening we braved the elements and drove to Steven & Thad's for dinner. It seemed to take forever to get there because we got stuck behind 2 plows and got stopped due to a fender bender. They had lots of Christmas dinner left-overs so we were happy to enjoy a tasty meal with our friends and not have to cook.

Merry Christmas

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Friday fragments

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

Here's a little sexy Santa eye candy.

President Obama signed into law the bill repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) on Wed. This will eliminate the discriminatory discharge of gay and lesbian service members. It will likely take a full year to implement the new law.

My friend Jared sent me this crazy photo.

I don't know WHAT this is, but it looks like a statue in a shopping mall of a man wearing a Santa hat taking a dump. CRAZY!!

Generous Jared also sent me this, which cracked me up!

And this one, which I'm not sure I really 'get', but made me laugh anyway.

Check out this new Christmas song about Delaware! We may be small, but we're proud. Thanks to my friend Bob for sending me this.

My friend Kathryn sent me this funny video with a new twist on ventriloquism. You'll love it.

Here's some more sexy Santa eye candy.

Its Christmas eve so I'd like to share with you my favorite Christmas song of all time. Take a minute to check this out: Merry Christmas, Darling by The Carpenters.

Home for the holidays

We're leaving this morning to spend Christmas (plus a few days) with our family and several friends in northern VA. Here's our tentative itinerary:

• Thurs: Arrive by noon, lunch with Spouse's mom, grocery store, visiting, dinner, meet several friends for karaoke at Freddie's Beach Bar.
• Fri: Visit, meet our friends Kerry & Hugh, George, Kelly, and Lisa for lunch, relax with Spouse's mom in the afternoon, then celebrate her birthday and Christmas Eve with the family and our friend Kathryn at Spouse's sister's house.
• Sat: Christmas breakfast with Spouse's mom in the morning, then an early Christmas dinner with the family at Spouse's sister's house.
• Sun: Free time in the morning, then an afternoon get together with our friends Ron & James and Mike & Clark, then dinner at the Taco House with the Newlyweds.
• Mon: Pack up and head back to Delaware.

With 4 full days, we should have ample time to spend with both family and friends. Although Spouse's mom keeps the heat turned up WAY too high for our comfort, we've scheduled lots of outings and time away from the house to cool down. We're bringing long sleeves and sweaters for the outings and shorts and t-shirts when we're at her house.

Here's hoping that your holiday is warm (but not hot) and joyous!

More holiday yummies

Yesterday I made an eggnog cake. It was super easy and very good.

Start with a boxed white cake mix and prepare it according to the instructions on the box but with 2 exceptions: use whole eggs instead of egg whites, and substitute eggnog for the water. Bake it in a Bundt pan if you have one, and drizzle with a glaze made of confectioners sugar and warm water. That's it - its that simple!

Some people (like Spouse) aren't crazy about the thick texture or intense flavor of drinking a glass of eggnog. That's why this cake is so great. You get a less intense flavor of eggnog with the texture of cake. Even Spouse said he liked it a lot.

Give it a try and let me know how you and your family/friends like it!

My 1st time being paid for it

I really do appreciate the diversity that exists among my friends. I don't want all of my friends to think, act, or look like me. I enjoy the other viewpoints and experiences from those who are different from me.

Several years ago, while reflecting on the previous night's big holiday open house we'd thrown, I said to Spouse that I wanted a drag queen friend to round out my circle of friends. That seemed to be the only category I could think of that was missing at our party the night before.

Fast forward several years to the summer of 2010. One Thurs night I agreed to accompany some friends to the Blue Moon bar/night club for cocktails and karaoke, hosted by the local celebrity Mona Lotts. It was a lot of fun and Mona was especially kind to me after she heard me sing. I continued going there for karaoke most Thursdays and became 'friends' with Mona on facebook. But it wasn't until early Nov when the tourists were all gone that we really became friends. There were about 6 of us at karaoke 1 night and Mona joked that it would be her and me singing to the tables and chairs. We talked about our lives, jobs, partners, etc. and I truly found her to be an interesting person. Before I realized it, I had a drag queen friend!

Then 2 weeks ago I sent Mona a message suggesting that she and I sing a duet of "Baby Its Cold Outside" at karaoke, now that it was appropriate to sing Christmas music. To my surprise she wrote back and said that she and Tim (1 of the club owners) had just been talking about that exact same thing! So that week Mona and I did our duet which turned out nicely. At the end of karaoke Mona and Tim asked me if I was willing to perform the duet with Mona in the club's big Christmas Show the following week.

Of course I said yes. All week long I practiced the song at home, we sang it together at karaoke on Thurs night, and then practiced it with a little choreography on Fri afternoon to get ready for the show Fri night. As I was about to leave the rehearsal Fri afternoon, Tim asked if I would do him a favor. I said sure and asked what it was. He wanted me to don a Santa Claus costume and join Mona and the other performers on stage for the show's finale. I laughed and said okay.

When I arrived at the dressing room Mona and the other drag performers had finished their make-up but were still wiggling into their girdles, styling their wigs, rethinking their jewelry, and putting on their glamorous gowns. Although I'd watched RuPaul's Drag Race on TV, I'd never witnessed this firsthand. Mona introduced me to everyone and asked Miranda to show me the Santa costume. When everyone was dressed we went over the performance schedule and my queues.

I watched the 1st several numbers from out in the audience, then slipped out the back and met Mona in the dressing room. We got our mics and then positioned ourselves to go onstage. I was wearing black dress pants and a red sweater. Mona was wearing a green antique satin 2-piece skirt/blouse set. We were introduced, our music started, we took our places on stage and sang our duet. The audience was very appreciative and generous with their applause.

Back in the dressing room Mona changed her hair and outfit for her next number while I struggled to get all 12 pieces of the Santa costume on over my clothes. There was plenty of room in the costume, it just wasn't easy to bend over once I'd put on the big padded belly to get the rest of the pieces on, but I did. I stood next to the stage entrance so I could hear what was going on inside. Then, dressed in full-on Santa 'drag', I joined Mona on stage and waved to the audience as 'snow' fell from the artificial snow machine, catching the lights and looking amazingly real. It was pretty spectacular!

Back in the dressing room I got out of my Santa drag and talked to the girls as they removed their false eyelashes and fingernails, girdles and make-up. I was truly amazed at the transformations as each 'lady' became a man again. Each breathed a sincere sigh of relief when they 'untucked'. Tim came in bearing envelopes for everyone, containing their payment for performing in the big Christmas show, including me. Although I'd sung in public many times before, it was my 1st time being paid for it (and dressing up as Santa too, I guess). I also received an invitation to Tim's holiday party which I am very excited to attend. I'm hoping to get Spouse to come with me.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the duet or of me in the Santa drag, so you'll just have to imagine it from my wordy description above.

It was REALLY a fun experience to be involved in the big Christmas show, both singing with Mona and dressing as Santa Claus. Its also been a lot of fun to get to know Mona and Tim better and to think of them as friends. I wonder what else is in store for me?

Weekend highlights

This past weekend we went to Philadelphia with Steven & Thad to see some of the famous Christmas sights. (All photos may be clicked to enlarge them.)

We left at 9am and arrived in Philly at about 11am. Our first stop was Macy's, located in the old Wanamaker's bldg. We watched the famous Christmas light show (narrated by Julie Andrews) which was really cute.

Immediately afterward we listened to Christmas songs played on the world's largest working organ. Not that I'm a huge organ music fan, but I think Christmas songs sounds wonderful on an organ. Then we had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant called Viet Nam, an old favorite of Thad.

Next we stopped at Termini Brothers Italian Bakery (one of mine and Spouse's favorites) inside the Reading Terminal Market for a little something sweet. Spouse had a chocolate chip cookie and 2 biscotti while I had a dark chocolate disc filled with macadamia nuts.

Then we headed back to Macy's to walk threw the Charles Dickens Village. There was a huge line for it and it turned out to be kinda lame. (I would recommend the Christmas light show and the organ music, but not the Dickens village.) Then we left Macy's and went inside Kenneth Cole for Spouse and inside LaCoste for Thad. We also walked through some bldgs to see the Christmas trees. I found this one to be gorgeous.

Afterward we stopped in at the Christmas Village, a collection of open air stalls selling Christmas ornaments and decor, hats, gloves, scarfs, and gifts. Spouse got 3 cashmere scarfs for $20.

Then we went to the Comcast headquarters lobby for the huge, impressive 3-D Christmas video display on the lobby wall. We arrived 20 minutes early. Here's Spouse, Thad, and me waiting for the show to start.

The 3-D show was so life-like!

It was really cool!

After being on our feet all day we finally checked into our hotel and relaxed a bit. (Steve got us gorgeous rooms at the Hyatt at Penn's Landing for $70.) Although it wasn't in the most convenient location, it was really nice, and our room was on the 17th floor and had a lovely view of the river and Ben Franklin bridge. Spouse & I watched the Christmas boat parade from our room.

Then the 4 of us met up with our friends Joe P and Allen for dinner at Maggianos.

We decided to order from the Classic Family Style menu and the 6 of us shared caesar salad, chopped salad, spinach and artichoke dip, stuffed mushrooms, chicken parmesan, lasagna, pork medallions, veal and mushroom ravioli, peppermint ice cream cake, and tiramisu. OMG!! Needless to say we all left there stuffed.

After dinner we went on a self-guided driving tour of the over-the-top Christmas decorations in South Philly, where Spouse's family is from. That was really fun!

Sun morning we had breakfast at South Street Diner, then did a little shopping at Ikea and then stopped in at Kindy's (over-priced) Christmas decor store before heading back to DE.

We had a great time with our buddies in Philly!

Friday fragments

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

Yesterday it snowed. We got about 2 inches which accumilated quickly since it had been so cold recently. The snow was beautiful and it gave me an opportunity to discover that the traction control on the Mercedes works!

Ever wonder what books writers choose to read? Here are 80 authors' selection of their favorite GLBT books of 2010.

Spouse is still doing well on Weight Watchers. However, his weigh-in and meetin were cancelled last night due to the slippery roads so he doesn't know how much weight he lost this week.

Spouse was excited when he found these new Special K crackers in the grocery store. They were lower calorie (etc.) than the reduced fat Triscuits and Wheat Thins. However, his excitement was short-lived when he opened the box and found the crackers were the size of postage stamps!

My friend Susan sent me this hilarious video which shows how the nativity story would occur if it happened in current times. You gotta love this!