mr. mom

I just don't know how I ever had time to have a job.

I had the furnace guy in this morning. I have been calling exterminators for estimates and have one coming out tomorrow morning. Met a guy in a parking lot to sell my saxaphone to. Updating my resume and networking, getting my home office organized... sheesh - I barely have time to blog.

No daytime TV or bonbons for me

What is the first thing one must do after getting laid off -- other than the obvious... find a job -- why, clean of course!
A good deep clean. A change of seasons clean. A new beginning clean.
There are several good reasons for this. It lifts your spirits, improving your outlook and giving you an upbeat attitude to better move on. It cleanses the Chi in the home and you will feel that difference and so will others who visit.
Plus if you're home all day and your house is a mess - now how would that look.

All I had to do was ask

What is that saying?
Be careful what you wish for?

Welp - I've got all the daytime access to the internet I could possibly want now.
From home.

Yup.
Just count me another casualty of the depressed economy.

Anyone need any odd jobs done around the house?

oooo

I just signed in from my desk here in my warm, dark cubicle.

The IT people must be mucking with the settings.

Let's see how long this lasts.

Access Denied!!

Apparently my company has decided to shore up our firewall.
No more blogging from work.
I can't access my blog, and I can't read yours.

Now, I admit to being a person of habit. For example, I just finished paying the bills tonight. I printed the confirmation page, took all the paper bills (I have some I have switched to electronic) and stapled them three times down the left side. They will be filed with last months and the month before that, and before that.
I do it this way every time.

I blog at work. In the morning I draft at lunch I post. I do it this way most times. I have to be a little flexible here as they are actually paying me to do something other than blogging. But generally, it gets done during my work day.

I am going to need some time to adjust people.

While I am adjusting here are a couple shots from our march on New Haven CT on Saturday.

Preparing to Protest

We spent last night and this morning getting ready to protest.

I made us some 'equality' hats.






While I was testing our signs for water exposure (it's like a monsoon out there right now)...



my creative wife was still working on her sign this morning.

Eating crow

Isn't that a silly saying? I bet it tastes like chicken.

Ok, so yesterday a friend asked if we were going to join in on this protest thingame-whatsy going on tomorrow -- evidently all over the country -- in peaceful opposition to the goings on in California. (prop 8 for those of you under rocks).





But I said we had things to do. We have yard work, and house work, and several projects in the midst. We have no time for protesting... and the last thing I wanted to do was stand out in the rain with 12 people I don't know. You know how these grass roots things can be. Small, underfunded, poorly attended. I just wasn't interested.

I even did a little research on the whole movement. For goodness sakes - it was a website started just last week by some woman on her lunch hour.

I mean really... call me when you have something real going on.

Welp, after gentle prodding by a blog friend, and finding out this morning that the HRC is now endorsing this nationwide event, and I hear that LMF is now on board as well... I'm listening.

It seems there may be something real going on.

Who knows... maybe we'll make some history.

I do...

It occurred to me after reading the post of good friend, and checking our messages on the answering machine last night -that I may have been remiss not mentioning that yesterday was the first day same sex marriages could be performed in Connecticut.

Yay CT!

The messages on our machine were from two couples looking for my officially-elected wife to perform wedding ceremonies.

Yay for weddings!

It struck me they both used the word 'marriage' in their messages. We could always tell in the past if it were a gay or straight ceremony based on the language of the message.

Yay for marriages!

As for us... no, we did not get married yesterday.
A girl's gotta plan you know.

Reality is not on TV

People - it's a show. It's entertainment. It is not real and never will be. If you think you are watching something real - you need to get out of the house more often.

I abhor reality TV. It's why I liked the LWord right from the start -- when you were all complaining about how UNreal it was -- that's exactly its allure. That's what makes it entertainment. Because I don't live in a town where my UPS delivery person is a hot 20 something who will most likely sleep with me every time I get a package. I am watching to be entertained.

My latest rant is based on a commercial I saw just last night for the yet more crap in the reality genre.
Loosely -- it's about millionaires disguising themselves as regular folk and hanging out with poor people. In the end, they reveal themselves and give away piles of money they apparently don't really need. Everyone cries - fade to commercial.

If you even think the word philanthropist I may have to slap you.

Philanthropy is the act of donating money, goods, services, time and/or effort to support a socially beneficial cause, with a defined objective and with no financial or material reward to the donor.

How can giving be altruistic when 10 million people are watching you do it. Applauding you. Thinking how great you are.

Don't misunderstand. I am not advocating the anonymous donor. There is nothing wrong with helping someone and actually seeing the appreciation in their eyes and feeling the warmth of their hug. Even telling the story to a friend - no harm in that.
But in front of a viewing audience... cue the crying.
Because people - this is just sad.

Friday

tip-o-day

Time to bring in your screens for the winter.
It's not essential that they come in - but it not only helps them to last longer, it will brighten up your home by letting in more light.

Remember when you are taking them in and washing the windows for winter it's also a good time to wipe out your sills. If you find you have hard to remove stains on them or on the exterior window casings, try the Magic Eraser. I have had great success with this little gem on our aluminum window trim.

Your children are everyone’s future

Child rearing is more than molding children into tiny versions of ourselves. We need to teach reasoning and decision and selection. Many parents are already very good at this with their toddlers, and it can be as simple as choosing an outfit, or selecting a paint color for their room.
So why is it we fall apart as parents when our children are old enough to vote?

There has been a lot of talking over the last couple weeks around and about the recent elections and their process. And as much as I try not to listen, all this talk has uncovered a family phenomenon that disturbs me.

Parents who try to get their adult kids to vote along their party lines, and even publicly disapprove when they do not.

Parents, please –don’t underestimate and certainly don’t abuse the influence you have on your children – even when they are grown. You must know that by trying to make them acquiesce to your way of thinking only one of two things can happen.
They will bend– thereby losing their own conscience and most likely becoming apathetic.
Or they will rebel – by simply choosing the opposite. Unfortunately that decision will not be made of rational and intelligent reasoning. It’s simply falling back into the psychological play of the persuasive parent and indignant child.

These are people, people. They have their own minds. Right or wrong, with you or against you – they think.
That, my friends, is the greatest gift of being a parent. To have spawned, sheltered and released a person who can think, and be, and is whole.


Allow me to give you an example:

Let’s be in the living room of a typical American home. You see a strapping young man pacing – sick with worry, weak with fear, visible sweat on his brow. He is about to tell his conservative parents he is gay. And he is anticipating their rejection, their anger, and worst - their disapproval.
You feel his pain don’t you?
You’re already mad at his parents for not being accepting and supportive, aren’t you?

Ok.
Now… let’s be in a different living room down the street.
Another strapping young man, feeling the same fears, the same doubts and only really wanting his parent’s acceptance.
But this boy’s parents are liberal lesbians, and he is about to tell them… he is a Republican.

People – could you just let you children grow into their own adulthood. Create a loving and accepting environment where free thinking is encouraged. Where to live under the same roof with someone who doesn’t vote your way is comfortable, even applauded.
Help them to reason their own views. Not to follow yours.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. But it does fall.

It's all the talk

You're all writing about it... everyone is talking about it.
There is really not much more that I can add.

We did trace out the states on a white board so my enthusiastic wife could color them in as the results poured in.
Tho more fun than that was watching Ferris try to name them. We raised him to be a true New Englander - anything in between Pennsylvania and California is sort of a gray area.


He did surprisingly well tho, so I guess the tuition is paying off.


We are Obama supporters and so we toasted* at midnight. Congratulations to us.
For those of you who stood with McCain, I offer you cheer now instead of condolence. It was a good race, a good campaign. We all stood on our sides - and now we are one again, moving forward.

Peace.

*yes, I do like a little 'splash' in my bubbly.


Oh, and ... I do send my condolences to all my pals in California. I was surprised and and saddened by the outcome of Proposition 8.

a political reprise

My patriotic wife and I voted today. We got to the busy polls at 6:03.
Then we went to Starbucks for our free coffee!

Today will be all about election coverage, on tv, on peoples blogs, on the internets.
So, how about something a little different...

I will tell you a story.



My gifted wife is painting in oils these days. For a long time she had been working in watercolors enjoying the quick freshness of the process as well as the result. But lately her work has been larger, with brighter colors and broader strokes. Really she is doing some beautiful work these days.

Painting in oils is a completely different process. The paints are thick and luxurious and take a long time to dry. She may paint vigorously one day, and need to leave it the next to set up.

Here is a glimpse of her studio, and her latest piece.
I love hanging out in the studio with her. Sometimes I will watch TV there, or work on the computer. It's a very cool place. It has great energy. It used to be our daughter's room, and still carries some evidence of her.
I love all the stuff in there... her paints, her easel, that sexy apron she wears sometimes to paint in...

I even love the way her palette looks - with its random squirts and smears of color. She uses this pad of waxy type paper for her palette. Squeezing out her colors and mixing them into different shades and hues. I find this process delightful. Plus it makes clean up a breeze. Oil paints don't require the daily clean up as water colors do, since they don't really 'dry' overnight, and remain quite malleable for a time.



I truly love this part of my creative wife. I love watching an idea bubble up inside her and then explode over a canvass. It's no wonder really that our daughter is also an artist. She paints as well, but is also an accomplished sculptor. So much creativity swirls in our house... in this room...


So much so in fact, that really should this have been a surprise??


Can you see it? Do you need a closer look?