Happy weekend...

Hi Steve,

I'm sitting here in my jammies, munching on celery with some eggplant babaganush dip and a tablespoon of the Thai chicken lettuce wraps that I made today for lunch.  I love it.  Very tasty, and no carbs!! (Or very few).  This, and a half ham sandwich was my dinner.   Also, tonight I sit alone, because Pete worked all day and then came to see his mom at her nursing home with me, for a Family Dessert Party, and then he asked if I would mind if he went back to work for awhile.  I don't mind.

I, on the other hand, have been too tired to do much today.  I've been working all week, and I'm nearly finished painting the large guest bedroom----though today, I made the tragic mistake of walking into Lowe's....man, that place is like a candy store....I love it....(I like it much better than Home Depot).  I wanted to look at their wallpaper section----something Home Depot doesn't have----and I tossed around the idea of doing some wallpapering on the slanted walls that are on the gables of the house, and intrude into the guest bedroom that I'm trying to get all spiffed up.

But, I decided against that when I saw all the sample bottles of OOPS PAINT----man, that stuff is so friggin' awesome.  I mean, those tiny bottles of paint that normally cost $2.68 each are cheap enough, and cool.  I painted our entire hallway (2 coats) with 2 of 'em.  Can't beat that with a stick.  BUT, the chick working at the paint counter said she had a church order them and then cancel, so if I wanted to take a bunch off her hands, she would mark them all down to $1.50 each!!  HOLY CRAP YEAHHH!!!  I'm a sucker for paint.  I really am.  It is just such an easy way to transform a room.

So, since I moved my mom's living spaces all around in her basement apartment, I figured why not paint her kitchenette and living room walls?  The paint chick had a bunch of several different colors, so I got 7 small bottles of a pale yellowish color for the kitchen, one bottle of a darker gold dining room color (to use as an accent color on one wall), and a bottle of a pretty green for one wall in her living room space.  Then I saw this really awesome rust-orange color, a little darker than terra cotta, and I thought, "Hmmmm, that might look cool on the walls of the bookshelf behind the books..." on our stairway.  It's a built-in shelving space that basically holds every one of my 250+ books.

So, since I already have a nice beige (half a can left over from the kitchen), I can paint around the bookshelves with that, and then do the inside walls with the rust-orange color.  Got 6 tiny bottles of THAT color too.  Kinda adds a "pop" to the otherwise boring looking stairwell. (with emerald green carpeting no less).  Sigh.  I SO want hardwood floors.  AND, as luck would have it, the chick threw in a whole can of "oops" paint, that she actually RE-tinted for me, to be the greenish color I wanted, and only charged me $12 for it----and it was a $37 dollar can of paint.  Yeah, she saw me coming a mile away.  One born every minute.

Anyway, I will have to take some pictures to show you the stuff I've been doing. (Unless it's boring you to tears of course).  Sorry about that, I do get carried away with decorating stuff.  I mean, really, when you think about it psychologically, since I experienced first-hand the horror of 9/11, (which really was like a total Armageddon), I decided that the rest of the world can go bite my ass and I'll just make MY part of the world pretty, and peaceful, and happy.  Screw everybody else.  They can all go blow each other up or shoot each other in the face with bazooka's for all I care.  I want and deserve a happy place, with nice things to look at, that make me feel calm and peaceful and content.  I am in my "nesting phase" of life, dammit, and I intend to make every moment of it count.  (Gadzooks I cannot believe I will be 45 years old in April).....yuck.  That's just bizarre.  Middle age.  Grey hair.  ZOINKS!! Not liking it ONE BIT.

Sooooooo Mister Perry-my-sweet-troubadour d'jour, Te Amo.  (I've been watching Rosselini movies on TCM tonight...Italian with subtitles).  I don't mind subtitles one bit.  Pete doesn't like 'em though.  In fact, most guys I dated before him didn't like 'em.  And one boyfriend I had HATED black and white movies, because they were "boring looking."  Sheesh. When discussing the amazing lighting techniques and the chemistry of actors, and all the symbolism, and all the awesome movies I've seen actually FAILED with him, I just decided to try this......Oh REALLY, Mister-Churchy-man-from-college, I said, you are unfairly judging a book by its cover...would you do that with the Bible too? (He HATED people who misinterpreted Biblical stuff).  He didn't answer, just gave me an annoyed look.

I sincerely wonder why I had such an unlucky love life for most of my life.  (snort)!!  Giggle.

Yeah I'm a pain in the ass sometimes, but that's what makes me so gosh-darned lovable dammit.  I challenge, I point things out, I offer differing perspective.  What can I say?  I have a brain.  I use it.  Feh.  Those guys were just meshuginna.  (pardon my pseudo-Jewishness, but it IS Pesach you know). ....Passover.  Easter. Whatevah.

Pete and my mom both wonder what the hell I will do once every room in this house is decorated.  I said, "Start over again and change it all." hehehehehehe  They just groaned.  Well, hell, what kind of answer did they EXPECT?!  Ask a stupid question...(shrugging shoulders).  Shiksa Goys anyway.

So tomorrow Pete is apparently taking me away on a surprise overnight trip someplace.  We leave at 9 a.m., and he won't tell me where the hell we're going.  I have my suspicions.  It's either DC or Ohio.  I saw the computer calendar that he left up on the screen, and it said, "Cherries" on it for tomorrow, which could mean the Cherry Blossoms in DC....which I love....and miss....and haven't seen since we met.  Or, he knows I want to see the Arnel Pineda Journey film, but it's only showing in Columbus Ohio.  So, that is a possibility too.  Hard to say.  I'm leaning towards the DC idea though.  What else would "cherries" mean on a calendar?!  I haven't told him that I suspect it, or that I've seen the calendar.  I'll let him surprise me with it.  It's just nice that he thought of it, ya know?  Not many guys do that.

Ah well, I read Neal Schon's latest Facebook thing today----yeah yeah, I said I would unfriend him, but it's like a train wreck, you can't help but look at it now and then.....I guess he had a bit of a spat with some guy back and forth in the comments, who once "stalked" his new woman, Michaela Silahy, and then he completely blew off MY whole idea of letting karma get his mother in law for the slander she wrote about him on her blog.  I say, leave it alone, let it go, focus on your life and being happy and let go of the negativity.  He said he wants to spend the rest of his life NOT having to deal with slander and stalkers.  Well, my thought is this....stop perpetuating it, and maybe that can happen.  Does he NOT realize that he brings it on himself??  Really??  

Does he NOT think that by dumping yet ANOTHER wife for somebody younger, prettier, etc., doesn't leave people feeling somewhat angry and bitter?  Does he NOT understand that his actions have consequences?  I mean, 5 kids, and he doesn't GET that?!  Too many women to pay alimony to??  How did all that HAPPEN to him, I wonder.....(good lord that man is a hot mess).  The flipside of this coin, however, is this Michaela chick....she must be a hot mess too....I mean, if she LIKES the fact that he has no respect for women at all, then how much self-esteem does SHE have?!  AND since he cheated on his wife of 2 months WITH HER, what makes her think that he won't do it all over again TO her?!  Gimme a break. (Rolling my eyeballs).  They dated 15 years ago, I guess, and then each married somebody else----so, they are BOTH fickle humans.  Do you really think that will change?!

They really do make quite a pair.  Can't wait to see what happens when he finds the NEXT flavor of the month, and how Michaela will react to being dumped....and, of course, the reaction of HER mother.  hehehehehehe  Patterns in life are difficult to break sometimes, I do realize that, but that one should be so blatantly obvious, how could you possibly MISS it?!  And why not ALTER the pattern and change the outcome, by doing something NOBLE, and GOOD once and awhile, like respecting women, keeping your penis in your pants, and being the change you want to see in the world?!  Leading by example?!  Growing up to be an adult?!  Avoiding drama instead of constantly creating it??!

He also claimed to have "more talents than just guitar."  I'd sincerely like to debate that with him sometime.  More talents, alluding to what, sexual stuff???  As if anyone cares.  More talents as in, knows how to use Facebook?  You Tube?  Teh Internets?!  He certainly cannot claim such a thing when it comes to women.  Sorry, silly Neal, "more talents" as in, how to ruin relationships with the people most close to you, isn't exactly something that others wish to aspire to.

So, apparently, from what Neal said on Facebook, his answer to the problem of all the drama in his life, is to keep the court room crap going with this woman, just to make "an example" out of her.  But what Neal doesn't seem to GET is that HE is the example of what women loathe in men.  I guess everybody ELSE is wrong, though, and he's always right.  Sniff.  That got him far in life, didn't it.  Lost several wives because of his uncontrollable penis, alimony up the ass, he's been estranged from his kids, he's got ex-mother-in-law's who hate him, then a $50K lawsuit for stealing Michaela away from HER husband----and he dissed his BEST FRIEND---namely YOU Stephen---and then wonders why you won't talk to him anymore?!!  Jesus.  But he's "always right."  Yep.  This guy is a piece of work.

You're so much better without him in your life.  Seriously.  He truly is like a train wreck.  It's a shame too, but super talented people often have an Achilles' heel of some kind that makes them a tragic hero.  I guess women, egomania, immaturity and sex addiction are Neal's.

On that note, I will say goodnight to you, my gorgeous hunk of man meat.  :)  ROWR ROWR!!!

Love you more than Babaganush and celery....but it's a close THAI to the chicken wraps....hardiharhar.

----Rebecca