A post in which I have a date for the first time in months!

I just plain didn’t feel like working today, but of course I had to.

I chatted back and forth with Logan some today and we set up a date for dinner tomorrow night. We’re going to have sushi, which I am glad he likes. We do have this first awkward date to get through and then I can relax a bit.

On the way home I stopped by Hobby Lobby again – I had forgotten to look for Grandma Shumate’s calendar last night. I got one tonight, and it’s really pretty. I called Eve to check on her and ended up meeting her and Dad for supper at Lieu’s. It was a revelation to me that they would ever eat there, but she seems to really like it. We enjoyed dinner. Dad is really excited about giving Cole his Christmas surprise, even if it isn’t officially a Christmas gift. I’m excited too. Dad is going up to see Grandma Thursday, so my timing was perfect. I gave Eve the calendar for Dad to take to her. I didn’t go back to their house to visit tonight – I had stuff to do around my house. If we end up back at the house tomorrow night I want things to be nice. I changed the sheets (just in case) emptied the garbage, and did some other minor stuff.

I sent Justin a text to tell him I was once again contemplating seeing a younger guy, and I called him to talk for a while. He wished me well.

Just before I got into bed I tried on the Date Jeans, and they fit! So all signs thus far are good. I looked up his astrological sign today – he’s a Leo, and Virgos and Leos are suppose to make very strong partnerships if they can work through the early stuff. So this is not only the first date I’ve had in months, he’s the first guy I’ve seen since Michael with whom I’m astrologically compatible. Stupid, I know, and I don’t really believe in all that, but it’s nice to know anyway. I’ve been trying to keep myself from getting terribly excited, but it’s difficult. I am nervous. The last couple of times getting shot out of the saddle have been hard on me.

I just can’t believe it’s only Tuesday! I’ve had a full week already!

I got a text from Logan right before I got into bed, and we sent them back and forth until I signed off and went to sleep. He is such a sweet guy. I am encouraged.

A post in which I shop until I just about drop

I woke up this morning feeling out of sorts, for no good reason at all. Apparently I am mildly psychic, because when I got to work, I found that one of our attorneys had taken a huge dump in my in-box. Lovely.

I did hear from Logan today, which was nice. We sent a couple of texts back and forth.

After work, I was determined to brave the mall when it would hopefully be less busy. I don’t really need anything there now, but I had told Dad I would pick up some things for him. But I decided to make my way there shopping. I’m looking for this meshugeneh ornament display that Russ wants. I know exactly what it is, and can picture it in my mind, but unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any in the real world. I went by a couple of places, and ran into a guy that I knew at Hobby Lobby. He seems to be the only one besides Russ who has actually seen one of them, but they didn’t have any. There aren’t even any online.

I did get Brenden taken care of, which was a good thing, since his had to go in the mail. I was buying Dad and Eve’s present when I called Dad to ask for details on his errand. It turns out they were very close by having supper, and he asked me to meet him at Best Buy. Dad is getting me a laptop this year for Christmas, and he wanted to go ahead and get it.

That was a great idea. The problem is that I know about as much about buying a computer as I do about administering a pap smear. I had a list of things that Rod had told me to look for. Because Dad had told me he would have to do this without me, I gave him the list. Which of course he had left at home. So he kept asking me which one I wanted, and of course I had no idea. We did eventually get sales help though, and between the salesman’s input and Dad’s memory of the things on the list, we ended up buying the one Dad liked. Which was fine. I had called Billy about it, and he seemed to think it would work.

Since I was headed for the mall in a hatchback, and Dad had just paid almost as much for this computer as we paid for my first car, I sent it home with them in the trunk to be picked up later. Then, I braved the mall. It wasn’t really too bad at all tonight. I was able to get in to my destination store, where I proceeded to spend an obscene amount of money for some floop-a-doos. But hey, that’s what he wanted, and if it makes the recipient happy, I suppose it’s worth it. She’s had a rough year.

I left the mall shortly before it closed. I still hadn’t had anything to eat. I ran by the library to drop off an overdue book, and was heading home with great relief when I remembered that I had to go to the grocery store. I was too tired to even mutter obscenities. I went through there, got what I needed, and crawled home on my knees. Well that’s what it felt like anyway.

I got in my jammies, fed the cats, and threw some left-over spaghetti in the microwave. I ate it, brushed my teeth, and crawled gratefully under the covers. At some point, I have to change my sheets, but it just plain wasn’t getting done tonight.

A post in which I relax a bit

Russ had vaguely mentioned the flea market today, but when I got up around eight, I really didn’t feel like doing much. I had three hours until I was to meet them for brunch at Stax, but Russ told me to come on to the house before if I wanted. I had thought I might, but not. I was thinking about Logan. I wanted to call him, despite thinking I should play it a little cool. I was wondering how long it would be before he woke up when I got a text from him. I happily corresponded with him by phone until I was almost late for brunch.

When I got out of the shower, he was still texting. I got in the car and called him. We talked until I got there. It turns out that he likes older guys. He has been in a relationship of a year-plus, also with an older guy. That’s pretty impressive to me, since I was never able to hold anything together until my thirties. Also, he’s out to his parents, and has introduced a boyfriend to them before. All very good things. He sounds as if he has a good head on his shoulders. Plus he gets my jokes, and he likes a talker because he isn’t one. Since I would pretty much kill another talker like a Siamese Fighting Fish in a relationship that is a good thing. He also enjoys morning sex – a rare and precious gift in the gay community, and one I have seldom had the luck to encounter. We both regretted not going home together the night before, in a way. But of course my life is too complicated for that now.

When I got to brunch, there were a lot more people there than I was expecting! Chris and Kendel were there, which I knew, but Marty and Petal were there (yay!), as were Jazz and her Sir. Of course Joanne and Rob were there. Lady Beth came too! I was so excited to see her. I ran up to give her my protocol greeting, and was in such a hurry my knee went down on the curb and I fell over. She had to catch me to keep me from busting my head open on the pavement. Or just plain bowling her over. Smooth. Really smooth.

As usual when you have tons of people at a table, no one could really speak much to each other during the meal. I did talk to Chris and Kendel a bit. Chris is on vacation over the holidays as well, and we made plans to get together.

After brunch, everyone kind of took off for home. They had been in town for the Leather Ball. Russ told me that the Sunday supper for tonight was cancelled. We went back to their place and said goodbye to Joanne and Rob.

I had planned on more shopping today, but didn’t do it. It was so relaxing just to hang out with Russ and Billy. After last weekend, I felt like I deserved it. Billy and I watched last week’s glee, the Christmas one, which was incredibly sweet. We both cried through a lot of it. Russ was trying to put together a swing-through visit to Jeff and James’s house, or to get them to come by, but that didn’t happen.

Russ and Billy and I just went out for Thai, and then back to the house for the Fox Sunday night lineup. The Christmas Family Guy was on tonight, which I watched with great relish before heading home and to bed.

A post in which it is a very long and very interesting day

I got up this morning determined to get some shopping done. But first, a trip to the flea market was in order. I went ahead and got my fruit for lunches next week, so I won’t to worry about that, but there was nothing else there but junk. Not helping. I’m getting vintage things for several people on my list this year, and the flea market is not helping me a bit. I wanted to get the hard people out of the way first, and the antique stores won’t be open evenings next week, so I made the rounds.

I scored big for Justin’s present in the first store. I was really happy with what I found for him, and it spoiled me for the rest of the day. His was so perfect, but none of the rest of the stuff I found was. I found a TON of glass today (two Mayfair sweet pea bowls - two). Had I been shopping for myself I would have been thrilled, but as it was I didn’t buy most of it. I did find two Bubble berry bowls, and two dinner plates, marked so cheaply that I just couldn’t let them go. I bought them. I also found a Floral coaster (one of my favorite patterns) for only $1, and I just had to have that.

Floral or "Poinsettia" coaster in green, by Jeannette Glass, circa 1931-1935

The Jadeite shortage continues, and what I found today was incredibly expensive (one milk pitcher was $90) (!!). Not looking good for Amanda. But I picked up a couple of things for Jeff and James that I was reasonably happy with, and I have a back-up gift for Amanda that I can get if I don’t find anything better.

I stopped at a Greek place and had a delicious salad with plenty of Feta cheese on it on my way home. I stopped off to drop the recycling, which I had packed that morning so I could do that while I was out. By the time I got home, it was about four, and I was beat. I took a badly-needed nap. I’ve already felt crappy on Thursday, and I’m trying to soothe down the Epstein-Barr so I’m not sick all through my vacation again this year. That really sucked last year.

But Donnie’s party was tonight. I woke up feeling better, and started stirring around. I wrapped the gifts I was taking and got cleaned up. I called Eve to check on her on the way out to Greer, and I called Russ and Billy too. Chris and Kendel are coming in to town this weekend for the Leather Ball, which was tonight also. If they had been at the house, I would have dropped by, but there was no answer.

I got to Donnie’s just as the party was about to hit full swing. It was a madhouse this year! It’s grown steadily and it’s finally outgrown the house. There were over 50 gifts in the gift exchange this year, and it was pretty unmanageable. I missed my gift getting opened, but it was a hit, and was stolen twice and out of the game within the first twenty or so minutes, which was gratifying. I finally just went out into the garage/smoking area because it was so crowded. I still had two gifts stolen from me, and ended up with a gag gift. That was fine. There was a woman there named Mo who liked it, and I gave it to her.

Other than the madding crowd it was a nice party. Nicole was dressed up like a sex kitten, and had on these fabulous leopard print spike-heeled go-go boots. Kimbley looked smashing in an animal-print wrap desk and spike-heeled black suede boots. I didn't wear my kilt. It was supposed to get cold, and plus I just wasn’t feeling it. I got to see Karen and Billy, which is always good. I hollered at Dan’l on the way by him once, but didn’t really get the chance to talk to him. I never saw Jim. I got to see most of the people I wanted to see, though, and if I didn’t get a chance to talk to Donnie, I did get a chance to give him the ornament I picked for his gift – he gave a gratifying reaction of appreciation. I don’t usually get to talk to Donnie at the party anyway. He’s the belle of the ball, and good for him.

Shortly after I got there, Mark had made a bee-line to me to tell me that they had someone they wanted me to meet. That was fine with me. I’ve kind of had some kind of Quasimodo thing going on lately, and I am so not too proud for a fix-up. I smiled and nodded at him a couple of times from across the room, when neither one of us could really get to the other. He finally just came out onto the porch with me and we started talking. He’s nice. His name is Logan. He’s only 25 (yikes), but he seemed to be attracted to me. We went back in to Donnie’s den, which had somewhat emptied out by then, and talked for a while. He’s a great kisser too.

Eventually I headed on out. I didn’t make a pass at him. I’m trying to do this right. Plus, Donnie and Mark just seemed to take it as such a foregone conclusion that I would take him home that it rankled me, just a bit, although I can undestand the assumption. I have his phone number. I’m going to talk to him and get to know him a bit before any hanky-panky. Dammit.

But it is nice to have something romantic on the radar. It’s been a while.

A post in which THE COOKBOOK IS DONE!! YAY!

The cookbook is done!!! It’s DONE! And it’s good. I’m proud of it. There were a couple of recipes that didn’t make it in, but I ended up with 56. That was more than I ever intended to do. I called the printing place today to find out if they could get it back to me by next Friday. They told me they could. I wasn’t quite finished when I initially called them, and so I asked if I could turn it in on Monday. There was a pause “Sure.” The woman on the phone said. I didn’t like that pause. So I jumped on it, did a quick edit on a couple of pages, put together my table of contents, and hand-numbered the pages. I couldn’t figure out how to get them to number automatically, and it was going to get complicated. They are telling me that it’s no problem to have it back by next Friday. I emphasized that it had to be finished on pain of torture and death. The title is Kindred Cooking – What to Whip Up for Hungry Hedonists. I was limited to what was in stock for my binding, which I was a bit disappointed in, but I’m still pretty excited. When I dropped it off, it was like a weight had fallen off my shoulders.

I called Miss Kat tonight, forgetting that she and dana were in Florida for the week. Shortly after I talked to her though, Russ asked me to the house tonight. Joanne and Rob are in town and were already there. Russ did a Rankin-Bass Rudolph tree this year, and it is lovely. It's my favorite tree he's ever put up. We ended up going to get Chinese buffet, which really didn’t seem to agree with any of us.

We were packed in the car heading home (those of us in the back seat thought) when Russ abruptly decided to detour to Kohl’s. Well I needed stuff from there anyway. He’s looking for an electric pressure cooker, which they didn’t have, but I was able to pick up Lisa and Carl’s present while we were there - and bonus for me. It was quite handy to have Rob there as my ‘straight guy consultant’ on Carl’s gift. Now that the cards and the book are done, and the tree is up, my next focus has to be on serious Christmas shopping. I have a lot of gifts left to buy.

We went back to the house and hung out for a while, but I have a long day tomorrow. I toddled off home and put myself to bed.

A post in which I feel pretty crappy

I woke up today after another crappy night’s sleep. I’ve been sleeping poorly recently, I think because of stress. My spankin boy was supposed to come by to see me today, but didn’t show up. Probably just as well. I really didn’t feel good at all. I decided to stay home today.

After a champion’s breakfast of leftover spaghetti, I settled in for some sleep. I woke up still feeling bad and addressed the rest of the Christmas cards I had. I ran out for another box of cards, and managed to find a box that was marginally acceptable at the Kmart near my house. Amazingly, they have stopped selling religious calendars, so I’ll have to get my calendar for Grandma Shumate elsewhere. They also didn’t have a Gamestop card or a Home Depot card for sale. So much for getting any Christmas gifts off the list. They did have a little surprise I picked up for Miss Kat.

I went over to BiLo near my house to get stamps, but of course since it was Christmas and people were actually buying stamps, they were out. I really hate that store. I dropped the stuff at the house and ran over to the post office in my neighborhood for the stamps. This was one of the few times I could take advantage of the 'ladies-who-lunch' hours they now keep. They did have stamps, thank goodness, probably because they aren’t usually open any more.

When I got back to the house I felt too crappy to continue cards right away. I had a small lunch and lay down for a while. I actually slept for another hour or so. When I got back up I finished the cards, except for those errant few that you have to track down addresses and stuff for. And that was pretty much what I got done today.

I lay down a while to finish out the afternoon, dozing off and on, and then got up and got cleaned up later in the evening. I went to the post office and dropped off the completed cards. I then went by and got some french fries that I really didn’t need for supper.

Scrooged, one of my favorite Christmas movies, was on tonight and I watched it. I think Bill Murray was great (as usual) in this, ruthlessly spoofing the excesses and tackiness of TV. That satire still feels fresh, even if his “good” gift on the gift list (a VHS machine) is now hopelessly dated. I really like Carol Kane in this. I wonder what happened to her. It’s always a chuckle to see flavor-of-the-month (at the time) David Johansen in this too. I took some Ibuprofen and by the time the movie was over, I felt semi-human. Hopefully I can sleep this off and feel better tomorrow.

A post in which I take dinner in again

I got a good bit done today. I got some work done on the cookbook, which really needed doing. It’s due on the 18th, and I have no idea if there’s even any place to get it printed and bound in town. I also got in touch with Lisa about Christmas for her and Carl. I also talked to Paul today about what to get for Brenden. He’s getting to the age that I won’t really be able to buy for him any longer – this year it’s a Gamestop card.

I talked to Eve today a couple of times. She was finally discharged and got home around 2. Apparently the meatball sub was a hit last night, because she asked for another one tonight. I love Bertolo’s Pizza. The people there are incredibly nice, and I love supporting local business. Eve has apparently gone off Capri’s for a bit, and after they gave me meat sauce the last time I went over there, they’re kind of on my list too. I had baked spaghetti tonight. It wasn’t as good as Capri’s but it was fine, and the portion was enormous, and much cheaper than Capri’s. Dad insisted on paying me for both nights’ supper, despite my protests.

I had planned to be out again tonight. The Christmas things are piling up, and I have got to get on top of that pile or it’s going to bury me! To that end, I had packed up the Christmas cards and my address book. I went in BiLo (since they were just around the corner from the restaurant) to pick up a box of cards since I didn’t buy any last year after Christmas as I usually do, but they didn’t have any. Great. I didn’t have time to go anywhere else, and that meant that I couldn’t finish the cards tonight. After I took supper in and we ate, I sat and did Christmas cards over there while we listened to TV. That kind of killed two birds with one stone. I was able to make serious headway into the cards. I’m also cutting down that list, which has gotten ridiculous through the years. Some of the people on it I haven’t seen a long time.

By about 8:30, Dad was ready for bed, and frankly so was I. I toddled on home, relaxed for a few minutes, and turned in. It’s been a really long day.