Crock Pot

I made the BEST Swedish meatballs last night!
Even better than IKEA's.
Yea, I'm not kidding.
I LOVE my crock pot! When I was back visiting in Utah last month my aunt brought over her crock pot filled with yummy pork chops-mmmmmmmmmmmmmm
When I got back to Oakland I immediately went out and bought one. I used it nearly every night for about two weeks. Now I'm down to once or twice a week.
Love me some meatballs!

Fire Pits!

Here's my pal Robin. She's the cute one on the right (forefront). She's on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle today! She and some fellow burners have offered their skills to the city of SF to construct fire pits for Ocean Beach.

Go RH!

My Profile Picture

I've snagged Maggie and Hopey from Love and Rockets as my profile picture.
I feel like I'm a little of the both of these two.
I always wanted a tattoo of them on my arm but I could never figure out which drawing of them I should pick...

The young Punk Rocker girls in love like this one with the green back drop.

The confidant yet obnoxious 20 somethings like this one with Hopey yelling down at someone...

or...
The older in their 30's Maggie and Hopey like this drawing....

What's up in this last picture? Are they living in their car? I've done that.

I guess my decision has been made.

A Hard Stretch...

I've gone through a hard little stretch. Starting on Feb. 25th --the year anniversary of the untimely death of my good friend Tedd.

But it's ending today with the signing of the loan papers which will bury our debt into our mortgage--never to be seen again.

Only paid.

Well actually it really ends next week with a check to me $$$.

That check will be gone in minutes to the vet as I have a dog who is now regularly having seizures. The one pictured with me in this picture at the Albany Bulb. Her name is Gabe. She had a seizure a year ago. Then two just this week. Here we are staring at the sculpture of a woman made out of drift wood. When you get up to it it's like 20 feet high. Very cool.

Kimm and I refinanced our house through my depression. Luckily it kept me occupied.

Other fun things that kept me busy over the last 3 weeks have been taxes, court, and lack of work. It's been a bumpy ride.

But it's ending and Spring is almost here! I'm hopeful of a quiet and powerful equinox.

How 'lesbian' is that for ya?

Albany Bulb

This is one piece of sculpture from the Albany Bulb.

Lots of sculpture--All made from what washes up on the bulb from SF Bay.

I'll be posting more pictures soon.

This is my new favorite place.

Funny how you can live somewhere for so long and ignore all it's corners.

OUCH!

I bruised by shin. No really I damaged it--BUT GOOD!
I was painting a room for a client. In the process of pushing a small scaffolding on wheels across a canvas, the wheels got bunched up in the canvas and the scaffolding came to a grinding halt. My legs did not and I plowed shin long into it's sharp metal step.
The pain was surreal. I grabbed an ice pack out of the lunch box and fell on their couch with my leg up on the arm. All I could do was moan in agony. I couldn't even cry. I couldn't even CATCH MY BREATH--it hurt so bad.
This was a week ago. I am STILL limping. It STILL hurts like HELL!
I don't care how many of you guys have been kicked in the balls or how many of you fine ladies have given birth--
NOTHING is worse then cracking your shin at 90 miles an hour.
I can't even guess when this golf ball size lump on my leg will go down.
And of course I keep hitting it on everything.
Is this some kind of curse?

GRRRRR

More on this at another time...

Blue Herons

Our beautiful Blue Heron's are back!

We get so excited when we see them. It means Spring is on the way. Here's a picture of one of the two sitting on our neighbors roof. This morning both of them were sitting in our other neighbors trees-one Heron in the pine tree and one in the Acacia tree. A very angry hummingbird was buzzing around the one Heron in the pine tree. I love how there is so much diversity in mammals. One bird can be so big and another so small. It was like watching a chihuahua annoyed with a great dane.

These birds are HUGE. They stand more than 3 feet high and their wing span is more than 5 feet.I'm hoping someday to find their nest so I can watch the chicks when they hatch.

When Kimm and I were camping in Monterey last year we saw several pairs of Blue Herons nesting with chicks in some pine trees. When the neighbors saw us screech our car to a halt and jump out with binoculars they told us that the Herons come back every year to nest. These people get to watch it from their living rooms. Must be nice.

Exercise!

Do I want to be this old woman someday? The answer is YES!

Back to the Bump and Grind

I've made it back to the delightfully naughty Bay Area!

Here's a picture I took of the Y on the mountain in Provo. Many of you will recognize this. It's taken from my mom's kitchen window. You can see it through a negative space of the house behind hers. I was thinking how strange that was to see the Y from her kitchen window. Then I realized, if I remember correctly, I saw that Y out some window of every house I ever lived in when I was there. Maybe ALL the homes in Utah Valley have a view of the Y. Creepy.

Anyhoo, I'll just sum up the adventure....

Mom still quite ill but slowly coming through it.

Younger sister who has worked tirelessly for the Republican party was to sit at a table with Orrin Hatch at some dinner. I tried to envision her excitement by thinking how I would feel if I was to even be in the same ROOM as Nancy Pelosi. He ended up being out of state for an operation. Hopefully on his brain-- (Sorry K... I couldn't resist)

And some snow on the ground but nothing I couldn't handle. Which was good because all I brought were my Converse tennies.

Other than that. I ate a lot of fattening food and I barely left the house.

Zion...The Beehive State

Well it's official. I bought my ticket back to Utah for another visit. I haven't been back since my Dad's funeral two years ago.
Here's a picture of three year old me. My mom is holding my little sister in the background. It was X-mas 1969.
This is not the best picture. But you can see the smile on my Mom's face. She and my Dad adopted me when I was 6 weeks old. Then one year and some months later they added another baby who became my sister Keri.
When my Parents adopted me they were 45 (mom) and 47 (dad) years old. They'd already had 6 children of their own. I love my parents. They gave me the best life. I owe almost everything to them. Except my Homosexuality--I owe God for that one.

My Mom has had some debilitating health problems for many years now. Every time I go back to Utah I wonder if it'll be the last time I see her.

It's not easy for me to go back there. I won't go into all of the MANY reasons I hate Utah...But in two words---Mormons and snow.

I do love my family though-even for all of their Latter Day Saintness. And it'll be good to see all of them. Although all of us kids grew up in California almost all of my brothers and sisters live in Utah now. So when I go back it's a real wholesome family fest! They ultimately remind me of where I come from and who I really am.

Maybe just to be on the safe side I should bring my
Dyke Doll and wear my upside down cross.

L is for Loser AND Lesbian

I know I haven't been posting much lately. But with animals like this around it's hard to do anything else. We're constantly being awe struck by their cuteness.

I'm still obsessed with finding another career. I might have even decided on one. But it's a big step and it's the most important thing I'd ever do so I'm not going to tell you what it is. I'm afraid I'll change my mind and then you'll be all like..."She's never going to amount to anything."

Proof

There really is a god.

This post is also proof that I'll never stop acting like a 13 year old boy.

Japanese Tub Finished

So we finished the tub finally. You have to put the two pictures together. We also bolted down the toilet and replaced the vanity and sink.
I'm so glad it's finished.
But now what?

On another note. And this is long overdue..I'd like to thank N. for giving me her BRAND NEW IPOD. With friends like that ..who needs a Jesus?

Japanese Tub

Here's the empty space in our clients home where we have since put a cute little Japanese corner tub. It hasn't been easy. I'll post pictures of the finished product when we're completely done.

This particular job has made me wonder how much longer we can do this kind of work. Every joint in my upper body hurts.

Can anyone tell me about some new careers I could choose from?

Wu-Tang Clan

Wu-Tang Clan - M.E.T.H.O.D. Man

Do you think your Wu Tang sword can defeat me?

I really love Wu Tang. I just found this on YouTube sorta by accident. I thought I'd put it on. Listen to how this guy flows...AAAHHHH YEAAAHHH!
Old Dirty Bastard RIP.

I wonder if I could get contacts in that color?

While driving through our neighborhood on the way back from our NYE party we came across this hapless soul.

The balloons that she's holding say 'Happy New Year 2007'.



Happy New Year Everyone!

Happy New Year

After gathering together with our friends in SF we high tailed it down to the 'Dog Patch' to see this band for our NYE celebration.
'Browntown and the Porch Honkies'.
Happily we've know and loved these kids for many years as members of other bands. But this line up is Extra special!
They started out the set with Cheech and Chongs 'Earache my Eye' then wound thru some Zepplin, Skynard, Van Halen and Areosmith just to name a few. It was a great Fucking show! They kicked our collective asses.
I played with the guitar player in another band called 'Mighty Tight' many years ago. In fact ..I was reminded.. the warehouse we were in was the same place that Mighty Tight had played years earlier where I fell into the drum set during our rendition of Skynard's 'Simple Man'. Cracking my guitar but recovering enough to tell J. the drummer to "Keep going!" Too much Wild Turkey 101.
Good Times.
Happy New Year Everyone!

JB

RIP JB.

He also has a great X-mas album. We listen to it every year.

Favorite X-mas album

Christmas with the New Christy Minstrels and

Merry Christmas from the Supremes.

I love those two albums. They have been by two favorites since I can remember.

Just look at Diana Ross in that hat--HOT!!!

I remember on the back of that album is the three of them riding a sled in the snow.

And I think a young Kenny Rogers is in that line up of the New Christy Minstrels. Awesome!