One of the favorite parts of my day is early morning, be it weekday or weekend I’m usually up between 5 and 6 AM. Don’t get me wrong, there are a FEW days I’ll sleep in until 7 or 8 but those are the exception, certainly not the rule.

I especially like Spring, Summer and Fall mornings – getting the dogs out and fed then fixing my morning cup of coffee and sitting on the back deck listening to the morning’s music. It’s amazing just how loud the birds all are – it’s really interesting to hear all the different songs going at the same time. Then there’s the deep melody of the wind chimes coming into play; the whistle of the train in the distance; even the “white noise” of the traffic on I-85 seems to play into the morning melody.

It’s almost like listening to the world coming alive as the sun rises.

Family…Food…Friends…Fun – in no particular order at all, these are really things that make life worth living.  This was a GREAT Easter weekend and I had a blast.  Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt with some of the younger members of our family and extended family and Sunday we had Easter dinner with my best friend and his partner.

Saturday morning sort of had me worried – I mean it was supposed to be in the low 80′s and it didn’t get there fast enough – the day actually started out kinda cool and overcast but that changed just in time!  We had Ian and Nicky with Audrey; we had April and Shannon with Aden along with April’s mom and her new beau; and we had Isabella (Isa) and Antonio (Toni) all over for lunch and the hunting of pastel, plastic candy-filled eggs.  Apparently the warning I’d given the twins earlier about letting the little ones get a chance at the eggs must have fallen on deaf little ears.  We had to reign them in a couple of times so that Aden and Audrey could get some too.

The weather was great and we had a simple lunch of hot dogs, chips & hummus and beans – had to have something the dwarfs would eat!  Sadly, Audrey wasn’t feeling well – the poor thing was coughing up a lunch – so Ian and Nicky left a bit early to get the baby to the doctor.  Keith later told me Ian or Nicky had called to let us know that apparently Aud was having an asthma attack – egads but she was feeling a bit better.  After the rest of the folks left, the twins and I hung out until our 4:30 showing of How to Tame Your Dragon (in RealD 3D) – side note – it was a SUPER movie and I swear the 3D effects actually seemed better than those in Avatar.

Sunday we futzed around the house doing some gardening and cleaning of the pond and Keith did some cooking.  Ben and Tim came over after going to the annual Easter event, ‘Monument on Parade‘ and we had a nice dinner.  Keith made cauliflower and blue cheese soup, a delicious green bean/red onion/olive/hard boiled egg salad, leg of lamb roasted with fingerling potatoes and olives and for dessert a yummy Meyer lemon crepe cake that he found in the Easter edition of Martha Stewart Living.  Although I didn’t really eat my lamb (it’s just a me thing – I think the idea of a baby animal coupled with the musky smell/taste is just something I can’t hack) I did wolf down 2 bowls of the soup and ate everything else — yes, yes I put my NutriSystem on hold for the day but, I’ll be back to it tomorrow.  (Hell, I’m just proud I’ve gone from 232 down to 215 in about 2 months – YAY ME!)

Now, I’m winding down my day on the back deck with a glass of Barefoot Moscato (thank you Nicky for turning me on to this – I think I like it even better than my normal Chateau Morrisette ‘Our Dog Blue‘!!) and my laptop (yay home wi-fi) blogging about my fantastic weekend filled with family, friends, food and fun!!

Now, if only I knew of someone who was kind and trusting other than myself.  Hehehe – Happy April Fool’s Day everyone.  So far I’ve seen quite a few good ones, I especially like the ‘Google has changed it’s name to Topeka’ one and the office cube covered with dixie cups taped to the desk and walls – the ones all over the desk are filled with water….should make for an interesting clean up!!

Can’t really plan anything here for my hubby cause I know he’s an avid reader……

When certain household members with the last name McAllister process a Change of Address at the Post Office and they (Post Office) apparently ‘ass-u-me’ that this means anyone with the last name McAllister is moving and mail and packages don’t get delivered to where they should!  I want my two eBay packages NAO PLOX!

I guess it’s a good thing I checked on the delivery status of something that was supposed to be delivered on Monday and that Keith noticed his name was crossed out on the Pottery Barn catalog and pondered at not receiving any mail recently addressed to him….no telling how long this woulda gone on.

Way to Go!  USPS, I applaud you and you inability to read/process things correctly…..and you want what kind of rate increase next for your outstanding customer service?

• Yes, it would be nice to have another little miniature dachshund but then we’d REALLY need to get the kennel license.
• No matter what else I can count on in life, wearing a white dress shirt will guarantee that some item of my lunch gets spilled or splattered on it (really need to invest in those Shout wipe thingees).
• Petty people will always be petty people.
• Our elected officials worrying about making sure universities do NOT include sexual orientation in their EEO statements when we have much bigger things (i.e., budget shortfall, potential lay-offs, crappy roads, etc. etc.) is really stupid.
• Not all PhD’s lack common sense – just a really good number of them.
• You’re a PhD/MD really? WoW! Take a look around you, they’re a dime a dozen around this place.  Not impressed.

Well, we’re not quite that picturesque (we’re MUCH better dressed – though my fondness for plaid is certainly up there with Grandpa Walton’s and there aren’t that many of us) but, there is a certain je ne sais quoi about our arrangement to have our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter move in with us for a year.  We offered to let the kids move in to A) Be able to pay down some debt and get their credit cleaned up and B) Save some money during the year to hopefully have enough for a down payment on their first house.

We (Keith and I) weren’t really in a position to be able to stroke a check to make all their debt go away and, frankly, I don’t know if we would have done so if we were in a position to do it – sometimes life lessons have to be lived through in order to learn from them.  What we did have is a bit of extra room in the house so we were able to accommodate them moving in, it just took a bit of re-arranging things.

We turned the TV room into their bedroom (we brought the TV downstairs to the living room) and turned the spare bedroom into Audrey’s (the granddaughter) room.  It gave us an excuse to get rid of some of the furniture we were no longer fond of anyway hehehe.  So we’re a bit more ‘snug’ than we were with just the two of us and the dogs/cats but hey, we’re able to help them out and as an added bonus, we get to see the baby more – YAY!

I think the flip side is that everyone is having to make adjustments for the lifestyle they were previously accustomed to.  I guess everything is all about compromise and finding common ground and all that.

Oh what adventures I’m/we’re/you’re in store for oh vastness that is the internet!

But, is it art?

 So I think (read as hope) that today’s visit at Davis & Nyczepir will be my last follow-up visit.  It has been about 2 years since my braces came off and I’m tired of the whole ordeal.  I mean it’s like any other doctor appointment – you wait for about 30-45 minutes or so, you see the doctor for maybe 5 minutes while he looks at the retainer and yer done. 

I have absolutely no regrets about getting the braces and I’m kinda glad that I didn’t have them when I was a youngster.  The 2 years FLEW by as an adult – though I can tell ya, I cursed the metal brackets MANY times when I wanted to eat out.  There really is no delicate way of trying to pry food out of those things and you hate to excuse yourself from the table every few minutes.  Leafy green things (spinach, kale, turnip greens, collards, salad) were the absolute WORST for me, not to mention 2 years of no popcorn or chewing gum.

My big thing now is remembering to wear my retainers at night when I go to bed.  One of the three of them is fixed so no worries there and putting the other two in my mouth really doesn’t take any effort – it’s just REMEMBERING to do it.  I need a little night time check-list like a 5 year old I guess.

As I said, I have no regrets about doing it – it is really amazing the amount of confidence it gave me.  I don’t cover my mouth like a little Geisha girlwhen I laugh anymore either which I REALLY like.  Now I have to work on making them super, uber white (I guess about 40 years of tea, smoking, and coffee do tend to take their toll on how lustrous your chompers look) – maybe one of those Zoomlaser whiteners?  Then again….lasers…..in my mouth…..mmmmaybe notsomuch.

Happy Valentine's Day

 OR

Happy Birthday to Keith

Actually, it’s BOTH - that’s right!  Today is Valentine’s Day AND it’s Keith’s 51st birthday!  For his birthday, I got him 3 David Austin ‘Jude the Obscure‘ roses – which REALLY do smell like guava – I have NO idea how that happens but, they really, truly do smell like a lush tropical fruit.  I also got him some new Green Pans which are sooooooooo freaking amazing!

I’m realizing (and have for some time actually) that this is more than just a line from an 80′s Culture Club song (God I miss the 80′s music, it just ‘seemed’ better to me back then).  It seems as I get older that there isn’t enough time for everything that I want/need to do.  I would like to think I’m pretty good at time management but after factoring in work, household duties, yard-work, etc. there just doesn’t seem to be that much time for a lot of other things.  There are books I want to read; friends and family to call/catch up with; visits to the gym; yard projects to start; interior renovations to begin/complete; and TONS of other things I would like to do but never seem to have the time for.

I think part of the problem is that I get ‘stingy’ with my ‘personal’ time.  Waking up at 4:30 in the morning to go to the gym then coming home and getting ready for work – working all day M-F and then getting home about 5 PM, I feel like 12 of my 24 hours are gone just like that *snap*.  Next, factor in 1-2 hours to unwind from work, eat, play with the dogs, pick up around the house plus 8 hours for sleep each night and I’m left with only about 2 hours per day….TWO HOURS?!?!  I refuse to be one of those people who live my life by a day-runner type pocket planner but MY GOD how else do working adults find the time to DO things they WANT to do after doing everything they HAVE to do?

Part of the ‘problem’ seems to be that – and my mother always told me this would happen – as I get older, time goes by faster and faster.  I swear, it seemed like it took FOREVER before I was able to drive (16); then FOREVER before I would graduate high school (18); FOREVER until I was legally able to drink (21) and now…I just can’t slow time down.  I totally understand what she meant now….of course then, I didn’t get it – kids never appreciate what their parents tell them until they get to ‘that’ age.  She also used to tell me that ‘Youth was wasted on the young because they don’t appreciate it.’  Again, I TOTALLY get that now mom!

LOL I remember my best friend, Ben, and I talking about how we would either kill ourselves or get married (to women) when we reached 40 – because older gays are pretty much ostracized in the gay community.  Now that I’m almost 40 (well about a week away) I cannot imagine doing EITHER of those things.  I, for the most part, really like my life and wouldn’t change a thing (except for moving from Woodland Heights – Richmond to Walnut Hill – Petersburg).  I do, quite frankly, worry that I won’t have enough time to accomplish everything that I want to do/see in my life before its over.  I have no doubt that the next 40 (or however many there will be) years will go significantly faster than the previous 40.  I guess the moral is that you have to make EVERY day, EVERY moment count.  UGGGG what is this I’m having some sort of mid-life realization/crisis thing???  Will it make me a better person?  Will I finally MAKE time for everything that I want to do.

I realize that after I retire (thank God I work for the State and have a nice deferred compensation plan, pension, and other benefits – I won’t be one of those retirees eating cat food LOL) I’ll have a lot more ‘free’ time for travel, gardening, reading, yada yada but, I want to make sure I can do some of that stuff – hiking up to Machu Picchu – while I’m virile enough to do it.  (Wow…like 40 makes me ancient and incapable of walking/hiking LOL….NOT).  Oddly though I know I’m aging, I still think and feel like a child most times – mom always said I suffered from PPS (Peter Pan Syndrome) – well I’m rambling now, guess I’ll go get more coffee, get Keith up, and be about the business of the day – God knows there is stuff to be done!