I've Been Keeping A Secret

I didn't feel like mentioning this until now, but my sister had been pregnant for the previous 9 months and had a baby last Friday!

See, I can be sneaky sneaky (not that anyone has ever accused me of NOT being sneaky).

Her name is Hailey Marie and she's GORGEOUS. I don't think all babies are cute, but she really is adorable, and I feel very flattered that her middle name is Marie - I can only assume it's to honor me, her aunt (alright, fine, my mother and sister also have Marie as a middle name).

And let me say, this little girl is very lucky...and not just because she has fantastic parents (and aunt)...she dodged a MAJOR bullet. Her mother, my sister - seriously - looked like a gremlin when she was born. Hairy, and I mean hairy...like on her ears. I feel that I can say this because she turned out to be a freakishly attractive person (without an above average amount of hair). She just had a rough newborn stage. To this day, I feel safe saying that she was the most beautiful toddler I'd ever seen.

Anyway, I'm glad I finally had an appropriate time to mention my sister being a hairy baby.

I'm flying to see my sister and her expanding family from February 8 - 13. This is the first grandchild on both sides of our families. A couple people have asked if I feel sad because my little sister got married and had a baby before me...and to that I say a big, "Hells no". My sister and I are on different timelines. We've actually been lucky in that way. Many sisters compete to accomplish more than their female siblings, but we've always had such different life plans that our lives are like apples and oranges.

Anyway, I'm posting a couple pictures of the little diva. Doesn't she look smart? I bet she's a Democrat. We've got to have a female president sometime...might as well be President Hailey.

Blizzards Are Fun

We had a short blizzard on Sunday so The Boyfriend and I took the opportunity to make our first snowman. St. Louis rarely gets the perfect snow for activities of this sort. It was heavy and wet...the kind that when we were done our yard looked as though it hadn't snowed on part of it. Very reminiscent of childhood.

We only had baby carrots so the nose is really stubby, and the mouth was made out of cat food so it's only a matter of time before the feral felines in our hood attack it for a snack.

I'm So Tired of Putting Up a Wall

Ok, LITERALLY, I'm tired of putting up a wall.

I tossed the idea around with my pal, L, to put up some sort of door and frame/drywall a section of our basement to create a studio space so that the kitties cannot contribute to our projects. Plus, I go through phases of desperation to build something tangible. This was definitely tangible.

L and I, combined, possibly hold all the knowledge there is in the world. That may actually be a gross overestimation, but we have yet to find a project or task that we could not accomplish together. We also get along really well while doing them.

So we set out at 11:30 to see if we could take measurements and get supplies to raise a wall and hang a door. We went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore (it's a store that sells used construction materials, with all the proceeds going to build Habitat homes) to find a door. After 30 minutes, we settled on a fabulous, and not just because it was $30.00, solid wood door with a double paned window.

On to Lowe's...
We planned our supply needs carefully (no offense to the kind folks at Lowe's, but as a female and gay man, we thought we should be prepared so we wouldn't have to ask for help...we really like to be taken seriously whenever possible).

We entered the store and went on a whirling dervish of gathering 2x4s, drywall, masonry screws/adhesive, drywall tape, and joint compound.

L had plans with his boyfriend, I had plans with The Boyfriend...but we couldn't stop. We arrived at the house and began construction around 4 pm. By 10 pm the wall was done. Mostly done. The next day I hung the second side of dry wall and over the next week applied three coats of joint compound. But enough of my feeble tale...I'll let the photos speak for themselves!

Please do not judge us by the disorganization of our studio space...that clutter in the background is because I wouldn't organize my stuff until the room was liberated from the cats.

Me (and my double chin) chiseling the indents for the door hinges. I was a bit overzealous for my first chiseling project.

The door is hung...L peeks through.

L saws wood wearing my biker goggles from Burning Man. I really need to invest in some safety gear.

The finished frame. If you look really closely, you can see The Boyfriend in the background lending moral support.

L poses behind the finished wall with Nova...for what is the first and last time the little one will be on that side of the wall.

View from the inside out.

The wall with it's first coat of joint compound.

I'll post more pictures as the wall progresses.

Trust me, I can assure you it's lovely.

What Is A New Years Resolution?

Main Entry: res·o·lu·tion
Pronunciation: "re-z&-'lü-sh&n
Function: noun
1 : the act or process of resolving: as a) the act of analyzing a complex notion into simpler ones b) the act of answering : SOLVING c) the act of determining
2 : the subsidence of a pathological state (as inflammation)
3 a) something that is resolved b) firmness of resolve
synonym see COURAGE
(I took out a couple lines of definitions that didn't apply to what I'm writing about...and they were boring)

I hate New Years resolutions, mostly because I break them and beat myself up about my lack of commitment. One would think that if we have areas in need of personal growth that we could do that ANY time of year. While this is true, I think it's easier to find a clear starting time. With this said, I have no New Years resolutions, but I do have a couple areas where I require growth...and my starting time happened to have been January 1.

Checking My Messages
This seems like a small feat, but I have SERIOUS issues with checking my work voicemail, as well as my cell phone. I'll look down at the phone (either one - the cell with it's obnoxious little envelope, the work phone with the mounting number of new messages) and feel dread. I don't want to take the time to check them, and procrastinate until the anxiety and guilt become unmanageable. If I know that I'll be carrying around a whole bunch of self-loathing, why don't I check them? By the time I get around to it, I may have 12 messages on each. I'm not performing as well as I could in either my professional, or my personal life.

So far, I've kept up on checking both phones. Simply, I check the messages and return the calls immediately after I see I have them. Seems simple, but I'm keeping an eye out for slipping in my resolution. It feels really good, and I hope I can make it a habit.

Healthier Me
It's no joke, I've gained 20 pounds in the last year. For a while I blamed it on my car accident last April...but that's a load of crap. It's mostly out of laziness and lack of energy...AND, if I were working out and eating well I would have more energy. Oh the irony.

It may seem like an odd first step, but I quit my gym. That's not the end...I JOINED the YMCA. My old gym was convenient when I lived and worked near it, but I don't go now that it's out of the way and parking is horrific. The Y is on my way to and from work. The old gym didn't have a track, pool, or steam room. I'd been doing the same workouts for seven years. The new gym has these things and I look forward to starting different activities.

It's rumored that a habit is formed after practicing it for 10 days. If I check my messages consistently for 10 days, and wake up motivated to do something active each day, then I should be on the road to overcoming these challenges. I thought it was interesting that in the definition of resolution, the synonym was COURAGE. I think it does take a certain amount of courage to change things about us. Don't we all strive to be better than we are? I guess some people don't...but I don't hang out with them. :)