Snowy Dallas

The house is chilly.  The plants are covered in snow and ice.  It's been a cold week in Dallas.  My car was on the top of the parking garage at the office.  I had to wait until until my car warmed up on Friday before I could see out my windshield.  Although, I was one of the last people to leave work, which meant there was very little traffic on the snowy roads.  I love my all wheel drive!

When I got home my husband had a fire going.

The kids were on the couch in front of the fire.

I know it's cold Trigger.  No need to get up...

And we made spicy meatballs for supper.

Meatballs with cheese hidden on the inside.  Who doesn't love a surprise?  Especially when that surprise is Mozzarella.

I hope you're staying warm where ever you are in this great big world.  If not, then light a fire and make spicy meatballs!

Last Stand Against Same Sex Marriage in Texas

I just read this article in the Texas Observer, here, and it's always shocking at the disconnect between what's happening in my circle versus what's happening in political circles.  There's a group of our fellow Texans that still believe their time, talent, and treasure needs to focus on "protecting" traditional marriage from (gasp) the gays!

Of all the things my elected state officials could do - this is what they are doing?  They're celebrating the 10 year ban of gay marriage in Texas?   They even brought a wedding cake.   I wish these people would focus on something else more positive.

Sometimes I'm not certain everyone understand that the USA is a republic not a theocracy?  Our elected officials do not rule in the name of God.

Grandmother's Mixer

This month my grandfather decided he needed kitchen counter space more than he needed a stand mixer.   My aunt suggested he see if I wanted the mixer before he donated it.   I did.  My parents gave us a KitchenAid mixer as a wedding present - it's such an important kitchen appliance; the mixer is a real workhorse.  I don't need two, but I like having my grandmother's mixer in my home.

A few years before she died my grandmother's stainless steel Sunbeam mixer stopped working - it had a 50(ish) year run before it went kaput.   She replaced it with this mixer.  Perhaps I can get 50 years out of this one?

My husband and I make fun of our current kitchen.  The tile, the walls, the cabinets, the countertops, the backsplash, and the appliances are all beige.  Now we have a beige mixer to complete the monochromatic environment; the previous owners would be so jealous. The beige KitchenAid actually makes me smile when I see it out, but my husband has already informed me that the mixer cannot live out on the countertop.

I will think of my grandmother when I'm using it.  I like that.

Fatherhood: The Beginning

For more timely play-by-play on our Glorious Gay Days: follow me.

To maintain expectations, the soonest we could be pregnant is July 2015.  We're still looking at about 13 months before baby(ies) is/are under our roof.  We have attorneys, contracts, egg donors, embryos and a surrogate to get ready before July.  Yesterday, my husband and I went and donated our part of the baby making equation.

It was incredibly awkward and a little bit funny.  We each were given our own "collection room".   They were cleaning my room - so my husband went in first.  A few minutes later they came to get me. There was a sink, a brown vinyl recliner (no way in hell I'm sitting in that chair), a small television, and a DVD player in my collection room.

While I was waiting on my room, I received a text from one of my straight buddy Ryan: "Good luck today.  Don't take too long in there, but don't be too fast either.  The important thing to remember is that the nurses are out there judging you."

I was giggling at the situation.

The "collection room" had a very clinical feeling, which is appropriate; however, to help me out they placed on the table two DVD's of men flexing their muscles and posing for the camera.   I read the backs of both DVD's but it wasn't that interesting.  Clearly a straight person picked out the DVD's catering to the homos in the collection room.  However, someone accidentally left a movie for a hetero male in the DVD player.  I was curious - I was still giggling on the inside, and my husband won't know I was watching a movie for straight guys - so I hit play.   The title was something like Young Babes II; it must be good if they made a sequel...

The situation could not get any more awkward, right?   I just handed over a urine sample to a very beautiful young nurse. Two nurses had just taken a lot of blood out of my right arm, which meant my right hand was cold.  A cold right hand was not helping me for the task at hand...let's just say I am not ambidextrous.  I think this would have been easier if my husband was in here too.

I was standing. (Because I was not sitting in the community chair in the collection room.)  My pants were down around my ankles. I punched the triangle on the DVD player.  I was still trying to warm up my right hand when the "movie" started.  Oh my.  The movie was insane; it was staring very large men and very skinny women.  I was in a trance.  I kept watching.  My hand was still cold.  Burr.  I could hear the nurses outside in the hallway.  I started thinking about Ryan's text: The important thing to remember is that the nurses are out there judging you.   I heard my husband in the hallway he was already finished.  Was I taking too long?  I tried to focus. Focus.  Focus. Focus.

All the sudden (surprise!) I needed the collection cup, but I wasn't close to the collection cup. The small room now seemed enormous.  I waddled over (my pants were down) and grabbed the cup just in time to get most (but not all) of the collection.

Fatherhood here we come.

Texas, Welcome to the Modern World

I would like to officially welcome my beloved state, Texas, to the modern world:

Travis County clerk issues first legal gay marriage license in Texas

Finally.  Thankfully.  

Let's take a moment to reaffirm: Our love is equal to, not less than, any other couple in this great (stubborn) state; all citizens should have the right to marry.  All citizens.  All Texans.  ALL.  Everyone.

The Box Gave It Away

Even though we have security cameras, my movement of this box from the front porch into the house went undetected by my husband.  Good.  I was trying to fly under the radar, because my husband wants me to wait until we're pregnant BEFORE I begin to decorate the nursery.  He's so logical.  That's no fun.

Decorating comes from passion.  It's not logical.  I saw a painting on Etsy. I thought it would look lovely in our nursery.  So I purchased it and timed the shipping to arrive while my husband was away on business.  Mwhahaha.

I did not think this through.  I hid the painting upstairs, but my husband found the box stacked for recycling in the garage.  Busted.  I was in the shower when my husband walked into the bathroom carrying the boxes and asking about their contents.  I took him upstairs...

 

To the alley:

The Book of Mormon

We finally saw the show everyone has been talking about since 2011.  Our parents are trendier than us, since both sets of our parents saw the show a year ago on Broadway.  We caught the show in Dallas.  On Valentine's Day my husband and I went on a double date with his parents to eat at Al Biernat's (my very favorite restaurant) and watch The Book of Mormon.

It was a very smart show.  I was prepared for the vulgarness of the show, but I wasn't prepared for the smart point it was making about religion.  We laughed a lot.  And I thought a lot about religion.  It was perfect night at the theater.

As an aside, speaking of vulgarity...someone in our section of the theater was passing horrendous gas.  It was so unpleasant and awkward when the odor hit our nose.  And Dallas has been so warm that there was not a lot of air moving in the theater.  Yuk.  I don't know the most polite way to handle that situation, but I wanted to stop the show and make an announcement encouraging everyone sitting to our left to please take a bathroom break.  It was terrible.  But the show must go on...so my review of the Book of Mormon was affected by the environment in which I saw the show.

Freshmen Are Smart

According to The American Freshman national survey: Support for same-sex couples having the legal right to marry has increased 6.5 percentage points to 81.5%.

The Best Use of Blue

Hello Lapo, you had me at "turquoise walls and sapphire-striped floors..." Can we be friends?

My subscription copy of Architectural Digest arrived in the mail today, and I immediately flipped to this spread of Lapo Elkann (who's a rich and famous person I do not know).  What I do know is that I love his fearless use of blue, and I think he needs to be my friend.  I want to see those floors with my own eyes!

Sweet Seven

Presley, the one who turned me into an uncle, turned seven years old last month.  Over the weekend we celebrated her birth at a "School of Rock" birthday party.  She's taking electric guitar lessons at the school, and she invited 20 of her friends to a party where they split into two groups and learned songs to perform at the end of the party.

It was loud.  It was fun.  Presley was happy.

In 10 Years?

Our surrogate asked us the following question: Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

I answered with the following:  I see myself living in the same house (after extensive remodeling) with our children!  Maybe my parents will have bought a house in our cul de sac, and our nieces will be baby sitting our children while my husband and I go on date night to a Taylor Swift concert.

Our surrogate and her husband thought that was funny, but I wasn't being funny.  That's really going to happen!

Self Doubt

I wish I could see myself as others see me.  This past week at the firm's annual All Hands meeting my managing director presented me with an award.  Me?  Of all the people at the firm he said that I embodied the values our firm appreciates most.  He said the nicest things about me, and I wish it was recorded because once I realized he was talking about me - I went into shock mode.

I started thinking about all the other consultants he could be speaking about.  It couldn't possibly be me?

Although, it was me.  He called my name.  He awarded me.  The audience stood and applauded me.  Me?

I couldn't believe he was awarding me because I have a secret...

...sometimes I go home and wonder if I'm any good at my job.  It's a familiar thought in my week.  I go home and think I should start looking for a new job.  My job is demanding.  I fight battles every day.  I don't win all the battles.

This isn't a cry for help blog post.  I'm not a fragile person.  Truthfully, I wish I could see myself as others see me, because I think others see me better than I see myself.  I've never felt smart enough, talented enough, athletic enough, handsome enough to do most things.  At times I can still feel like the elementary version of myself, which was struggling to read, write, and spell...sometimes I feel like everyone else is on chapter 5 and I'm still reading the first paragraph.  It's a familiar feeling in my week.

I do the best I can do today, and I have hopes of being better tomorrow.

Perhaps I cannot appreciate my strengths because I'm focusing on my weaknesses?  I don't know.  What I do know is that winning the award makes me feel like I shouldn't doubt myself so much.