Last day of the quarter

Today will be a fast paced, somewhat stressful day here at the office. It's the last day of the quarter, and I'm just ready for it to be over. Plus, my long weekend is only a couple of days away!

In lieu of today; I'm making a list!

LOVE

Hanna

my family

Romy

friends

laughing till it hurts

honesty

puppies

sunsets

lying on the beach

the ocean

riding with the windows down on a spring morning

a day relaxing at the pool by myself

big snowflakes

oatmeal

Hate

liars

rude people

bugs

global warming

indifference

fake people

stress

weeds in flower beds

religious nuts

avocado

animal abusers

people who victimize children

Weekend Wrap Up

WOW! I had a GREAT weekend!! I headed to Louisville for my parents housewarming/ stock the bar party. It was off the hook! Hanna and I got into town at about 10pm on Friday night. Saturday morning I got up and helped a little around the house to get everything ready for the party. It didn't take long, and before I knew it, I was lounging around the pool working on my tan. It was great just relaxing, hanging out with my family. Tina & Lisa also made the drive to celebrate the new home! It was wonderful to have them there to share in the celebration!

The party started at 7pm. People started rolling in, and before I knew it there must have been easily 100-140 people there. There were people everywhere! I have to admit I was the 1st one to drop a drink, but I really wasn't even drunk yet! I wanted to take pictures at the party, but once I started drinking, I forgot all about the pictures. They had a band playing by the pool, and bartender setup making anything you could dream up. I think there may have been more booze there than at an actual bar. Everyone knows that I'm a lightweight, but I was able to hang till the end!

Sunday morning started out slowly. I was a little groggy, but managed to help do the after party clean up. Then, I somehow managed to end up right back in the pool! The whole family came back over for Mathew's 3rd birthday party. We ate some pizza and just hung out together again. Hanna and I finally got on the road at about 4:30. Hanna REALLY didn't want to leave, but she was really happy to be home after the 3 hour drive. Now I'm ready for Thursday to get here! I get to make the drive all over again, and spend more time with my family & friends.

Whitney & Joey

Tony & Lori

Heather "LuLu" & Lisa

Headed to Louisville

TGIF!!

This week has sure been a long one! I really don't have much to talk about today. I'm just ready for 5:00 to hurry up and get here. Hanna I will be heading home to Louisville this weekend to spend time with family and friends. I can't wait to see everyone! My parents are having their housewarming party on Saturday night, and it should be a huge event. They are expecting between 150-200 people! I'll be sure to take some pictures. Be sure to watch facebook for some drunken posts! :)

GLEE

I am so excited about Glee, the new show starting on Fax this fall. I watch everytime I see a commercial, can't get the songs out of my head from the pilot episode, and just love characters! Plus, I have been hearing that some really big names like Eve, Josh Groban, Kristen Chenoweth and Victor Garber are gonna be on the show! I'm really excited! Here a video of some of the songs...

KITCHEN FLOOR COMPLETE!!!!

The floor is no longer the thorn in my side! Beth came back over last night and helped me to complete the kitchen floor. It was a much easier process than on Tuesday night! I had some final trimming to do before slapping down the floor glue. Then, we just had to put back down the quarter rounds and move the appliances back into the kitchen. What made it PERFECT was this morning when Hanna got up. She ran to look at the floor, had an astonished look on her face, and said, "Biya, I love it! I really do! Good job!" I love my little girl!

Beth showing me the tricks of the trade!

Me actually doing some "hard" labor!

The completed kitchen floor

The kitchen floor that came from HELL!

As you know from my post yesterday; my goal was to install a new kitchen floor last night. hahaha Yeah if only my night had gone as planned...

It started simple enough. Beth showed up at the house at 6pm just as promised. We got started right away taking up the quarter round along the floor, and started working our way across the room taking up the existing laminate floor. Everything was going great until we got to the fridge! Before we could remove the floor under the fridge, it had to be moved out of the kitchen. We tried to roll it into the dining room only to discover the house MUST have been built around this F*@KING thing!! We tired it in every direction but it wasn't working. We began to panic! Then we thought about it a little more, and decided maybe if we take the doors off and empty the fridge, it will fit through the wall. Great plan, but wasn't completely thought out. We unbolted the fridge doors, and unhooked all of the wires running through them, but still hadn't removed the food. Yeah... it came crashing down onto the floor! Once it was all emptied, it was still to heavy to lift. I made a few calls, and finally found some STRAIGHT FRIENDS WHO KNEW WHAT TO DO!!!

THANK GOD FOR DAVID AND SHERRIE! They came, helped us get the fridge out of the room, helped measure and start cutting the floor, and taught a few tips about the gluing process. We finally stopped working about 9:00. I was exhausted; not from actually working hard, but simply from the stress of manual labor!!

Beth is coming back to the house tonight to help me finish the floor. Tonight should be much easier. The floor isn't cut out all of the way yet, but that should be easy compared to moving the fridge! Here are some photos walking you through the intense process last night!

Here is the before shot of the beautiful floor that has been discontinued.

David & Sherrie helping to cut the new floor.

The new floor starting to go down.

Another angle...

A shot of the dining room with the stove & fridge in pieces.

Installing a new kitchen floor

So tonight is finally the night I'm gonna get the new kitchen floor installed. It's actually very bitter sweet. The laminate floor that is currently in the kitchen looks so good with the exception of the spot next to the fridge. It started leaking about a year ago, and like an idiot, my X and I believed the issue would just go away if ignored. hahaha It didn't. Thankfully, it didn't do any damage to the sub floor, but the laminate floor under the fridge and just in front of the fridge are shot! I went to the store to purchase a replacement box of flooring, however, it is no longer made! I found this out with 2 different purchases (one of which was an online only order).

So I have been beaten down by the laminate flooring gods! I turn my back on you fake wood!! My friend Beth is coming to the house tonight after work, and we hope to get it completed within about 1-2 hours. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let everything go as planned. Once the floor is complete, I will just need to finish staining the fence.

My house projects are all SO CLOSE to being completed!

I am lion, hear me ROAR!

Last night

Last night was freaking CRAZY shit! A severe thunderstorm came out of no where and dropped what felt like 3 feet of rain in my neighborhood. The tree in my front yard was bent all the way over, and I was certain that I was gonna snap! I just kept thinking, OMG, I'm trying to sell the house! I can't afford storm damage!! Thankfully, God heard my panicked prayer and spared my home from any damage. Satellite service was interrupted for about 30 minutes, but we never lost power. Thankfully, Twitter never went down so I knew there weren't any tornado's. I guess the worst "damage" was from the pond filling with water under the liner. I had to hook up the hose and drain the unwanted water out. Easy enough considering the alternative!

Here is a pic of the pond. The fish could only swim inside the red area. The camera couldn't really catch the liner floating due to the glare from the water.This was Hanna chilling during the storm. She told me she put on her princess clothes but they look like PJ's to me.

Oprah Takes Employees On Vacation!!!

OMG I TOTALLY wanna go to work for Oprah!!

In honor of Oprah's 55th birthday, she is hosting a 3-day party in Barcelona, Spain followed by a 10-day Mediterranean cruise for her 1700 employees and their families! She's gonna pay for everything, including transportation, food and "special activities" totaling to $5,400 per person!!! The Harpo crew will travel from Barcelona to Italy, Turkey, Greece, and Malta on a Norwegian Gem liner booked specifically for the occasion.

Talk about jealous!

Weekend Wrap Up

Good morning all and HAPPY MONDAY! I had such a great weekend, and it's hard to believe that it went by so quickly. At least we know we still have another 5 full days of work to look forward to!! My weekend was pretty damn good! It started on Saturday morning helping a friend move. Ok, that did kind of suck, but it was a small price to pay for all of the help my friends have shown me these last couple of months. The move was actually pretty easy with the exception of the temperature! OMG it was HOTTT! Hanna went with me, and was the best helper ever. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful little girl!

Once we finished with the moving adventure; we headed home and hit the pool. It was so nice to have a weekend without a ton of projects planned around the house. That doesn't mean I still don't have a ton of things to do... I just chose to ignore them in lieu of Father's Day! We spent a few hours at the pool hanging out with the neighbors, and then headed back home. After some careful thought, I decided to cut the grass so I could enjoy Father's Day without ANY WORK!

Sunday was a glorious Father's Day!! Tina came over and stayed the night on Saturday night, so I was able to get up early and go jogging. Wow it was hot! I wasn't able to do my normal 3.5 miles. I'm certain I would have passed out if I tried! It took me forever to cool back down. Hanna was thrilled that we were gonna spend another day at the pool. I packed up the cooler and off we went. After a few hours, Hanna was begging to go back home because she was tired and wanted a nap (once again I have an angel)!! I watched a horrible gay movie called Open Cam. Actually, horrible doesn't even properly sum it up. I'm not sure words properly describe this film! Then back to the pool for a few more hours. By this point, the water was so warm it wasn't even refreshing anymore! Hanna and I ended the night with some Papa John's pizza.

Here are a few pics from Sunday night.

IT'S BRITNEY BITCH!

The best Britney videos of all time!!

Britney Spears - New Music - More Music Videos

Britney Spears - New Music - More Music Videos

Britney Spears - New Music - More Music Videos

Britney Spears - New Music - More Music Videos

lunch time

Some great things should NEVER change. I remember back in the day when I was 1st beginning to live on my own, as I struggled to make to without the support of the parental figures, one of my favorite foods was ALWAYS the Pizza Hut pepperoni pan pizza with bread sticks. I may have not always had the funds to put gas in the tank or food in the pantry, but there was always some extra change hidden somewhere to get me some Pizza Hut with my roomie Teri Hedrick!

I love that you can now roll up to a Taco Bell/ Pizza Hut and order your favorite food without even getting out of the car. Not that drive thru is anything new, but OMG, think how wonderful life would be if every Pizza Hut had a drive thru!

So needless to say... lunch was excellent. I don't even think I will mind later as I work a little harder to burn off the extra calories. Besides, everyone needs a little grease from time to time! YUM!

TGIF!!!

So far today is a great day! I feel good, am forcing myself to have positive thoughts, and (best of all) IT'S FRIDAY!!!!! I am really excited about the beautiful weekend ahead. I have to help a friend move tomorrow morning, but it's not expected to be a bad moving experience. After that, Hanna and I will be spending the weekend lounging by the pool. I'll be sipping on some vodka or some other adult beverage, and Hanna will be sitting on her apple juice on the rocks. It's supposed to be in the 90's in Nashville this weekend, but will feel like it's over 100 with the heat index. Don't worry- I'll be sure to keep Hanna lathered up in sunblock!

So if your Friday isn't the best it can be; I surely hope these images below will bring a smile to your face.

Here is my princess Hanna with G.G.

And some really cute puppies I found on the web. Oh- I want a cute puppy!

And who in the world doesn't love butterflies?!?!


HAVE A WONDERFUL FRIDAY!!
TGIF!!!

My night

Tonight has been a pretty good day after a disappointing day at work. I was a little worried after picking up Hanna from daycare. She was in a fowl mood! Today was water play day at daycare, and she was just plain tired. We got home and I cooked some dinner (pork chops, rice & broccoli and mashed potatoes). It was delicious and Hanna agreed! After dinner, I finally got to cut my hair and OMG it was needed! It feels wonderful to be hairless again. During my hour of grooming, I did some thinking about my childhood. Life was so much simpler.

I was thinking about when I was about 5 years old. I remember my Sito (Lebanese for grandmother) coming by to pick me up and taking me with her to the store. I can't really remember many details, but I do remember that it was special. I wasn't always the best kid, but I was always her angel! I miss my Sito. She passed away when I was about 16, but I'm certain that I am still her angel!

gaga for Gaga!

One of the best Lady Gaga videos!!!

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version

This helped to brighten up my day! I hope it has the same effect on my friends! Special thanks to Maggie for her help teaching me how to post a video!!

My current mood

If you are following this, then you most likely know me well enough to know that I'm a roller coaster ride of emotion. My current mood is reflected with the pictures below!

Bradley Cooper

Thanks Bethany for the suggestion!

YUM!

Eight tips for liking someone better (or disliking that person less)

So I just read this on yahoo and felt it was something worthy of posting. I think I need to try some of these tactics!

Some people are part of your life, whether you want them there or not. What if you don’t have the warmest of feelings for your boss? Your mother-in-law? Your next-door neighbor?
It’s easy to come up with a mental catalog of all the ways in which that person could change to be less annoying, domineering, passive-aggressive, arrogant, etc.—but the fact is, you can’t change anyone but yourself.

Here are some tips about how to help yourself cultivate more friendly feelings. It’s quite a strain to hide feelings of dislike; if you can manage to change your feelings, you’ll be much happier. It’s hard, but not impossible.

1. Seek contact. This is a bit counter-intuitive. If you don't like someone, you probably feel like avoiding that person, but because of the psychological phenomenon known as the mere exposure effect, we tend to like people better the more we see them.
2. Do nice things for that person. “We prefer to see those to whom we do good than those who do good to us,” as La Rochefoucauld observed.
3. Give that person a brief touch. Subliminal touching, i.e., touching a person so unobtrusively that it’s not noticed, increases people’s sense of well-being and positive feelings.
4. Lighten up. Joke about whatever annoys you, and if you can manage it, laugh about it with that person, or poke fun at your own reaction. Nothing neutralizes bad feelings like a good laugh. This can be tough, however.
5. Act friendly. We think we act because of the way we feel, but often we feel because of the way we act. So act the way you want to feel. This is uncannily effective—just try it.
6. Resist criticizing that person. When you voice your complaints, they assume a solidity in your mind that’s hard to eliminate. When your thoughts remain unspoken, they can more easily be changed.
7. Remember happy shared experiences. Recalling good times elevates mood and will help warm your feelings.8. Be grateful. Reflecting on reasons to feel grateful, instead of reasons to be angry or annoyed, will help change your view.

RYAN REYNOLDS!

All I can say is OMG!!!

LADY GAGA & MARILYN MANSON

I LOVE this mix of Lady Gaga's Love Game featuring Marilyn Manson. Click the link below to go to Perezhilton.com to hear the song.

http://perezhilton.com/2009-06-11-world-premiere-gaga-manson

selling my home & looking ahead

So I'm in the process of trying to sell my house. IT SUCKS! The amount of work that I completed within a 2 week period has been mind blowing. I HATE MANUAL LABOR! OK, I think I need to repeat that...

I HATE MANUAL LABOR!!!! I never imagined that there was so much work involved. I have been working my ass off pulling weeds, planting flowers, redoing the pond liner on a 1200 gallon koi pond, painting the trim inside and outside house, cleaning like crazy, staining the fence...the list goes on and on. Not to mention that I still have to replace the kitchen floor due to the leaky fridge & finish staining the fence.

Here's a pic of the pond just after it was completed a couple of weeks ago.

To check out the listing, just go to http://www.realtracs.com/ MLS # 1091523


Trying to do all of this while maintaining my sanity and also still be a good full time dad is just hard. Now that the house is officially listed, I am now able to relax just a little (yeah right)! Seeing everything completed that I have wanted done for the last few years is so sad. I don't want to sell the house in the 1st place, but am left without many options since the "divorce" or whatever you wanna call the end of my 9 year relationship since us gays can't officially marry. I keep telling myself this is the best option for me and Hanna. I want her to live a better life than average life. Still, I will miss my neighbors, my privacy, my pond, the lake right next to my house, being able to let Romy out whenever she wants. I think I will even miss the dreaded yard work once it is gone.


Life will be different soon enough. I'm hoping I still have what it takes to be able to tolerate apartment living. It has been about 10 years or so since I was last in this place. I keep telling myself that I am a much better person now. I am an adult. I am capable. I am determined. I AM SOMEBODY AGAIN DAMN IT! But I am also a little scared about the future. This is all new territory for me. I haven't been single in more than a decade. I know know that I don't need someone by my side to be successful or to make it through the storm. The last couple of years as a couple (hahaha) have taught me that. I KNOW that I am strong enough. I just hope I will be a good dad, and a good person who can contribute to society. I have given up on the childhood wishes of being famous. I won't give up on being my own personal success!

Geting started...

So I have been reading blogs for a while now, and would like to think that my pointless ramblings may actually be worthy of reading. I know that most of my friends are tired of hearing the same things over and over from me, so maybe somewhere out in cyberspace, someone will listen. Since this is my 1st crack at blogging; please be patient while I get going.