School - finally!

The kids finally went back to school today after 3 consecutive snow days. I was about to lose my sanity with those two cooped up here all day. It was very cold on Monday and Tuesday, but they should have just pushed school back a couple of hours. It wasn’t that frigid out there (of course I used to live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and in Ontario – so I know a thing or two about cold and snow). It was ridiculous for them to call off classes yesterday – it was really nice out there. We played outside for a little over an hour making snow angels and then we had a snowball fight. After that, the kids shoveled the drive and walk areas for us and our elderly landlord next door. I tried to mend her mail box which someone had slid their car into and damaged. At least it is upright again. :o)

When Brian got home from work last night, we took the kids to this big sledding hill in Dublin. It was a lot of fun. Brandon reminds me of myself as a child. He has no fear…he just takes off running and plops down on his inflatable sled. He screams all the way down and then runs up the hill as fast as he can to do it all over again. He would have stayed out there all night if we would have let him. Of course once the sun went down, it was time to pack it up.

So here I am in a nice quite house…aaaaahhhh! I read the paper and drank my cup of coffee without the background noise of kids fighting, slamming doors and the Disney channel blaring. I even snuck back into bed for a little late morning nap. I’ve been making up for my lazy ways though…lots of laundry to do and dishes too. I spent about an hour or so cleaning up the living room, kitchen and downstairs bathroom. It’s amazing how messy this house gets. I didn’t sit on my ass the past three days – I cleaned every day! Still it took me an hour to re-clean it all up. I just finished tidying up my room and putting away the clean laundry. I had fun doing it though because I was having a mini-show tunes sing-along while doing my chores. Rent, The Rocky Horror Show, Avenue Q and Miss Saigon! Music is always a great motivator.

Well, we made it to payday. I can hardly believe it myself. Last night was rough putting together some sort of dinner – but being the super Mom that I am, I pulled it off. No one starved. I finally sat down with Brian and told him how I was feeling overwhelmed. I even told him how I wanted to go back to work. He was very supportive but I didn’t expect he wouldn’t be. Now the hard part is making it happen. We filed our federal taxes on Monday and we expect a sizable refund soon. That will certainly help the ball rolling.

Brian wants me to consider making SpeakOUT its on 501c3 organization. I could apply for a grant from the Legacy Fund (and other sources) which would provide us with financial support. It’s a lot of work. I’m not sure I am up too it. We both agree that it is more than a long shot that I will finally get a job at one of the existing GLBT groups, so this might be the only way to make my dream/personal goals become reality. What do you all think of that idea?

I spoke at the Ohio Dominican University Tuesday. About once a semester this awesome teacher/nun, who teaches a sociology class, asks me to come speak to the students in her class about GLBT rights and advocating. I had a tough group this time…very focused on the religious side of the arguments. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem too interested in getting involved, but some of the students took notes. Maybe they were afraid of a pop quiz! LOL No one came up to talk to me at the break, but sometimes people are too shy. I’m hoping on of them will email me. I like speaking to her class – especially since Ohio Dominican PAYS me $50 to speak for just an hour!! It would be so awesome to get paid that every time I went somewhere. Of course, I’ll spend that money on SpeakOUT related expenses and not on myself. I’m going to use this check to pay for 3 months of internet!! YES, I’m finally going to be able to have internet here at home so I can send out my weekly updates on time and work on many other SpeakOUT projects which require access to the World Wide Web.

TV Chat: So did you watch Lost last night? I really enjoyed it. There were a few surprises, and even more weirdness revealed. I enjoyed Juliet’s flashback episode too. Even though the flashback made me feel sympathetic to her character, I still think she is the real bad guy on the Other’s Island (and not Ben). Really though, I am just glad to see the show back on the air again. I know a lot of people have given up on it, but I still never miss an episode. 15 more new episodes to look forward too – yippee!

My patience with Gilmore Girls is almost tapped. I only tune in these days out of habit. It really has run its course in my opinion, which is too bad since it really was a great show – a couple of seasons back. :o( Was I the only one who was annoyed at the big build up in the promos regarding Luke coming to the ER to be with Lorallie, only for the actual episode to be a total let down in that department? I’m sick of Christopher’s whining. Get over it already! Also, didn’t you think Richard was going to die when he said, “I think I’ll rest my eyes.”? I did – and if he had it may have made the episode more interesting. Don’t get me wrong – I love Richard & Emily – but if this is the last season, it would be a good plot twist.

I’ve been watching Scrubs non-stop the past couple of weeks. Now that Comedy Central is airing the show, it feels like it is always on somewhere. Their musical episode was cute – but it was no Buffy. Still, who couldn’t help but love the “Guy Love” song between JD and Turk? I’ve decided that Zach Braff is a genius. I love him on the show, his movies are great and he knows his music! You should visit his blog sometime. He has a lot of interesting things to say.

My Newest TV Obsession: Dirt on FX (Tuesdays at 10PM). This is Courtney Cox’s new show about a tabloid called Dirt. She is basically playing a more glamorous version of her reporter character in the movie Scream, but what can I say? She plays a good bitch! This show has very interesting characters and I’ve been sucked into watching repeats of it late at night. Check it out!

The TV show you ought to already know about and love…but probably haven’t and don’t: Psych on USA Network (Fridays at 10PM). Seriously, this is a good/funny show. In its second season, it is a show about the son of a retired police detective. The son has a photographic memory and is great at solving crimes, but he is kind of a slacker so no one really takes him seriously. He comes up with the gimmick that he is psychic and now the police begrudgingly hire him and his straight-laced best friend as consultants. The two leads have a “JD/Turk” like chemistry and are both entertaining to watch. Psych likes to have quirky-fun episodes; my favorite (so far) is when Sean & Gus go to a Star Trek convention. If you can catch it on a repeat, you won’t be disappointed! Also, stick around for the last minute or so of the show when the credits are rolling…they always have a funny little singing skit which cracks me up! Hmmm…maybe Psych should do a musical episode?! Don’t worry this isn’t a watered down version of USA’s The Dead Zone. It is light and fun and a nice way to spend an hour – especially after being totally depressed by yet another sad episode of Monk, which airs right before it.