Someone Schedule an Intervention, please.

It's official, I have hoarder's syndrome. I'm so done with packing stuff up...and we've been throwing MOUNTAINS of it away. We couldn't even be bothered with a garage sale or Goodwill. The workers at the renovation site next door have been poring through the various mountains, in the mornings usually, for the past few days, making off with dusty, broken, or stained booty. I'm sure our neighbors will be glad when we are done with the purge, and the mountains of ephemera stop appearing on the curb.

Well, I just have to draw the line somewhere, and that line, apparently, is books. I just can't part with them. "Oh, I read that in 1974, can't throw away!" or "that's from your past stockbroker life, Steven; do you really want to lose all memory of that?!" are my usual refrains. This lovely pic is some textbook from Steven's college in Wuhan, and the gold embossed IBM/fortran embossed artwork makes this one a keeper. I have such low standards. Does anyone know what those kind of early computers are called? I know they have some clever name, but it escapes me... 

So Many Moms, So Few Grandchildren!

I am lucky enough to have FOUR Moms! Count 'em. That's my Mom, Pat (the one who gave birth to me) on the left, Mom #2 BC (stands for Betty Campbell) my Mom's partner since 1976, in the middle, and JingXia, Steven's Mom, on the right. My fourth Mom, Norma, is my stepmother since 1974 and was in the other room. I should have made her sit down for a complete Maternal Quartet. And the song they sometimes play is about Grandchildren, naturally. Not ours...but BC has many neices and nephews with young kids, Steven's brother has a son, Karen and Jay have neices and nephews too. I was just talking to my Mom on the phone, and she said she was glad we didn't have any for her to worry about! It's not too late yet...JingXia wants to know if Steven and I are going to adopt (and I don't think he ever answered her)...hmmmmmm (that's what my sister Tricia says when she wants to change the subject). And, by the way, my Mom was adopted as a newborn in 1932 by a 56 year old lady (my grandmother I never knew) who died when Mom was only 26, I think. So, she KNOWS its not too late...at 40 we're decisively spring chickens, well, when compared to 56!

The exurbs

It's cool that Karen's place is big enough to have so many people for dinner...we all sat around one big ol' table! They live WAY OUT, 52 miles from us (and we are 7 miles from downtown ATL), near Lake Lanier.

The Postmortem on Christ's Birthday

Posting a bit late about this year's Christmas, but I only just now uploaded photos. We were all at Karen and Jay's house this year, and it was fabulous. Steven and JingXia and I took the dog and went up on Christmas Eve and spent the night, which was alot of fun, hanging out with Karen. Their house is great, wonderful place to have a big bunch of people over to eat. And look at all that yummy stuff we all made!

My, but we are green!

It's going to be hard to not call up Tricia and Scott or Larisa and Carlos or Dawn and Preston and Cole or Todd and Christopher or Tricia and Karen, or my Mom and BC, or (ok, i'll stop here...) and say "Let's go have a drink!" or "Let's go to dinner!" Even though we don't see you guys all the time, geez it's going to be hard being so far away. Well those 600 miles just melt away on a pretty day like this..y'all all please come back to Ohio (your city won't be gone, I promise).

Tiki tiki tikitown

Last night was my maiden voyage to Trader Vic's in the basement of the Hilton downtown. All these years in Atlanta (since '76), and I'd never been. Scott and I had Mai Tais, another Manhattan for me, while Tricia and Larisa had Fogcutters (I think), and some other drinks I can't remember. Steven doesn't drink, but had spectacularly garnished diet cokes. The only thing I have to say is swank Swank SWANK! It is another time there. And a fun time to visit. Brush up on your Trader Vic's history: www.tradervicspaloalto.com/restaurant/history.html

Hello loverly new oven...

It's shiny. It's digital. It's stainless. 

clean Clean CLEAN!

Swanky new dishwasher is all installed now. I love those old cool pine cabinets. 

my mei mei and jie jie

That's Mandarin for younger sister (mei mei) and older sister (jie jie). This is my little sister Karen, who was in the city finals--THE city finals, mind you--of the Atlanta Lawn & Tennis Association (ALTA). I'm very proud of her. She is the ONLY one in our family that is a natural athelete. Me, I have to force myself to get off my ass and walk the dog. And that is Tricia, my older sister next to Karen, with the glasses on. She is Ms Entrepreneur, and has carved out a nice life for herself running her own business (she sits on her ass all the time too). 

Getting my therapy on?

Are blogs like therapy? I know they are like exhibitionism, narcissism, and voyeurism all rolled into one big yeasty mess--but that's another post for another day. But I suppose if blogs help you get things off your chest, they are definitely therapeutic. This lady is JingXia, Steven's Mom, who has been living with us for nine months now. I love her to death, but I can't communicate with her (she doesn't speak English), and right now she is cooking like crazy. I love her cooking, but it is a bit heavy too often, and right now while i'm painting the house, it is killing me to share my new paint smell with her Chinese/fried/stew smells. Well, her heart is in the right place...and she really only seems to be here to serve, doing our laundry, all the cooking, sweeping the driveway everyday, all kinds of things to take care of us. But goddamn i wish i could communicate with her. We can't seem to get through to her that we'll never sell this house if it always smells like a chinese restaurant in here. People like to go out for that, not live in it. Well, I have to remember that most of all, I'm glad she is at a point in her life that she can spend time with her son, Steven--it really is a gift. I have to just keep telling myself that this house WILL sell and that sometime soon we WILL have a fabulous VIKING range with an INDUSTRIAL ventilator above, to suck all my petty feelings away. 

more bourgeois materialism

Bye bye lovely mod house. I'm going to miss this house. I know it's not good to get attached to things...but this place embodies my attachment to some very important people, Steven chief among them. And lots of memories of dinners, parties, time by the fire, friends and family and neighbors. I hope we'll find something mod in Athens, though not much seems to have been built in the heyday of mid-century craziness. 

And hence the title of the blog: Green Acres is the Place for Me!

Farm workin' is the life for me. This is Windy Hills Farm, an old dairy facility that has been converted to a horse farm and the offices of Hilferty. A renowned museum exhibits planning and design company, i'll be going to work there in 12 short days. Check them out: www.hilferty.com

 

more bourgeois materialism

I know i can't worship an oven, but isn't it beautiful? Will be installed tomorrow. 

So Far Away...

We went to Europe in August with Dawn and Preston and Cole...and it seems like it was so long ago and far away. And Ohio seems so far away. Even though we don't see those guys that often, i'll miss them a bunch. Y'all come visit Ohio soon! 

No hair is really best for me...

Well, at least very little hair. Thanks to all the Walters in my family, i'd be a donut head if i let my hair get any longer than this. Posting this lovely pic so i can copy and paste its URL to make my profile picture. Glad to know all this you say? 

Moving's a bummer :(

Why oh why didn't we replace our crippled 20 year old dishwasher years ago? Feast your eyes on crap we're doing because Miss Jackson (our real estate agent) is cracking the whip! Well, not really...we're happy to finally make our kitchen fully updated, all stainless appliances, solid surface counters, lovely track lighting...and we're happy to have the objective advice of our agent. This beauty will be installed on Thursday, along with a new wall oven, by Bob Carroll's Neighborhood Appliance Store of Decatur GA in 2 days. 

More on selling the house

I just have to post this pic of the hot new frames i'v installed around the bathroom mirrors. This took care of a mulitude of little nagging problems my inner Martha relentlessly messaged me on: silvering wearing away around the edges, especially where water splashes at the bottom, lovely little sixties plastic stars at the corners NOT holding it all together on the wall, etc. I hope some new owner is going to like our crazy stripes, cause we ain't about to get rid of them. Besides, Liberace called and told us we'd redefined the concept of "eye candy." Originally, the stripes were our clever, skillfull way of making our canary and robin's egg blue 1963 bathrooms feel a little more up-to-date, without obliterating them. It worked--noone even notices the yellow toilet or the brite blue toilet anymore in a bathroom of these stripes.

Why do I continue to believe I am Susiehomaker?

Getting our house in the ATL is wearing girlfriend out. My back hurts, my nails look like hell, and the checklist keeps getting longer. Well, it is definitely worth it to bust a move getting everything perfect before we go on the market. 2 weeks to go...hope i get it all done. Good thing i now have this blog to keep me occupied while I let the paint dry on the roller. 

What a back-to-nature STUD!

Ok, so since this is the man who makes me think, write, hike--and just live in general--better and better everyday, I thought it is probably time I write my first post about you, Steven. He's super smart (has FOUR degrees), has great instincts (the only partner i've ever had who didn't require sitting down to go over a few things, such as basic tenets of nesting and arranging stuff in pleasing ways. Feng shui comes naturally to him), can make plans for the future WHILE living in the present (i'd not be saving any $$ if it weren't for this man), loves plants and pets (the dog and the cat like him better), and cooks effortlessly (and simply and with an accent on health). What can I say? He is just about the closest thing to perfection that I've been lucky enough to find. And just look at that face! Love you, Mister. 

Tai Chi qi gong, not cerebral palsey

And that's Trotsky, my 13 year old dog behind me. Steven has taught me many things, including the beauty of acupuncture and tai chi. Ok, sincerity and clarity just called and said i need to write more about Steven. Bye for now. 

Is it time for me to write?

Jesus Christ, it's the end of xmas 2005, and i find myself creating a blog because i want to respond to a post from some one that I guess i have a "blog crush" on. A great guy, healthy, sane, and smart, carrying around familial baggage that brings him down (we all have that dude, at the risk of sounding insensitive, move along). I'm gay and feel like I have dealt with it all from my family--alot of good and alot of bad.

Also, I'm moving to Ohio in the dead of winter, in a week and a half, and find myself prone--again--to self reflection and wondering why, where, what, etc..

I count myself as a lucky one...I am healthy, happy, have a committed partner who loves me, a good career, etc. And who in the world doesn't need to write and process what happens to them and make it something for the world to see, complete strangers even?

Well, who knows. Maybe i'll continue with this thing.