Sunset Muscles

 I was checking out one of my favorite sites to admire muscle men today and was bummed to see the message from the founders that after 26 years of being online and providing a haven for gays to admire muscle men, they are officially taking the site offline after the end of September.

It's truly an end of an era for me.   I can't remember when I started checking out profiles on there but it had to be in the late 2000's, early 2010's sometime.   I never did create a profile on there since I wasn't in the demographic that was being celebrated but they had something called an admirer's profile that I created a few years back.

I never did meet anyone from bigmuscle.com but nonetheless it was nice to admire the eye candy every now and then.   They cited the changing legal landscape and their nearing retirement as primary reasons that it was time to hang it up.

It made me think of another site craigslist that hung up at least the hooking up part of their website a few years back due to the changing landscape of things.    There were murders that were happening from folks meeting randoms on Craiglist that was the nail on its coffin.    Now I did meet a few guys on there, most notably Mitch, who's the only one I've kept in touch with.    I was really bummed that ended though when I think about it, I thank my lucky stars that I didn't meet a truly psycho person in my years of hooking up.

Speaking of hooking up, Anthony is still in the picture and he's pretty much the only person I've been hooking up with.   It'll be almost two years actually.    We've been discussing introducing him to Dom.   They actually have three things in common.   They're both in their 60's, both teachers, and I learned in recent months that they are both doll collectors.   

I think they would get along actually.   I believe Anthony has a Facebook account so if we connect there that may make it easier to show Dom his profile.    Plus maybe Anthony can buy some of Dom's doll collection.   LOL actually Anthony was like a kid in the candy store when he saw Dom's collection.    As I said before I guess I have a type.

School Haze

The 25-26 School year officially kicked off on the second week of August which was on 08/11.   The school system Dom worked at unfortunately has been playing games and Dom was not set up to select substitute jobs on the system.   So he hasn't been working for almost three weeks now.

Let me back up a bit to explain what led to this mess.   Back in April Dom sent an email to the administration of the school saying that he was looking into possibly becoming a sub teacher for the 25-26 school year.   Towards the end of the year, Dom thought about and changed direction and mentioned that he wanted to return as a teacher.   A member of the admin team which Dom clashed with in the past said that since he sent a letter to the admin expressing looking into being a sub teacher that they would consider the letter to be a letter of resignation and he would not be returning as a teacher.   Dom was livid.

He was weighing out his options all summer and decided that he would come back to the school as a sub.  So there was no preparation done by the admin to allow him to pick up sub positions and that is where we're at.

The first day of the new school year, Dom reached out to the principal and they talked about the letter.   Principal claimed to agree with Dom that the letter he sent was not a resignation letter.   He mentioned that the school board was having a meeting the next day.   The principal stated that during the board meeting they would discuss reinstating Dom as a teacher.

It just so happened that the board meetings are recorded on YouTube.   We both watched the video and there was no mention of Dom at all.   Nobody from the school reached back to Dom and he still isn't able to sign up for sub classes.

So he applied for another teaching position at a different school and he's been getting the run around from that place as well.   Supposedly they are "desperate" to fill the position.    He reached back to the admin of the new school a few days later and they said that the principal would need to schedule a time for the interview.

Dom's planning to head to the unemployment office today to see his options.   The thing is he wasn't fired from the job, they just chose not to set him up for subbing or reinstate him as a teacher.   So I'm not sure what the unemployment office will be able to do.

In the meantime Dom's had a bunch of his expensive doll orders coming in that I've had to cover.  It's been frustrating but I thank goodness that I'm able to (for now).   But he is really needing to stop doing anything else or actually sell some of what he has until the job situation is resolved.   Preferably he should stop even after getting a job and try to save more.    But I know that won't happen.

Thank goodness I'm not a huge spender and do not spend my whole paycheck.   If we both were spenders we'd be in trouble.    But it is nonetheless frustrating.

Forced Rearrangements

 About two or three years back, Dom and I were discussing making some rearrangements in our kitchen and kitchen nook rooms.    To start the kitchen itself is a very tiny one.   Dom and I can barely maneuver around that space when one of us is washing dishes (usually me) and the other may need to go over to a shelf near the back or pull something out of the fridge.    The entryway is also made narrow by an angled shelving unit that was added to make more storage space.

The nook area is slightly larger, about the size of a small bedroom.   But it lacked the extra space to store food items or various smaller appliances that were needed.    We had a tall metal shelving unit in our basement that we thought would be better suited to go into the kitchen where the fridge resided.

In the nook area, we had an old rolling shelving unit Dom owned that was occupying one side of the nook area and another wider shelving unit on the other side.   We discussed moving the fridge over to where the old shelving unit was.

We also had an old wooden table that I owned with chairs that was in the middle of the nook.   It unfortunately was overflowing with food boxes, storage containers, pots, and other random items.   We also had various other items like extra bags from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods as well as packs of towel papers surrounded the table and some under the table.   In short it was a mess.

On one of our few trips to Ikea, we saw a free-standing wooden kitchen island with an overhang for pots and pans that we thought would be perfect to replace the wooden table and provide some additional storage.   Ikea wanted around $600 for the set which we thought was a bit high.   We said that we would save up for it.

So we made slow progress of making any changes at all.   Dom was also starting his descent into having health issues, including not being able to walk like he used to.    Over the course of a few weekends, I decided that I would work on moving the tall metal shelving unit from the basement to the nook area where the old rolling shelving unit was.

I didn't mention that the metal shelving unit was full of other stuff that was added to it over the years.  So I had to work on removing everything from the shelves before I could move it.   So I basically worked to find new places to put those items.   Dom happened to get some folding tables that he originally was planning for his dolls that made a perfect spot to put some of the items.   Other items were placed on smaller tables or cabinets nearby that were available.

It was another weekend or so before I finally attempted to move the metal shelving.   I tried maneuvering it around the stairs but it was too tall to angle it around the next level of stairs, even after opening the back door that served as the midpoint between the basement and main floor.   I realized that I would have to bring it in through the front door.

It was a bit unwieldly but I managed to bring it over from the back of the house all the way to the front.   I used the sliding washer to keep the front screen door open as I hoisted it over the front stairs and bought it in the house.    It made its way into the main hallway where it remained for another week or so.   During that time I cleaned it off the best way I could.

The plan with the old rolling shelving unit was to move it into the basement where the tall metal shelving unit used to be.   But alas that did not happen.   It wound up being moved into the main hallway while the metal shelving made its way to where the old rolling shelving used to be.

Things remained that way for another six months or so.   When Dom and I went to the Chante Moore concert in Joliet, we went to Ikea the next morning.   We once again saw the free-standing wooden kitchen island which reinspired us.   But I couldn't bring myself to paying $600 for it.

Something told me to check out Amazon.   I was glad I did.   I was able to find another unit which included two stools for just under $200, more than a 66% savings.   The only wood part was the table itself and the wood was much thinner than the Ikea brand.   But it boasted two overhead shelves in addition to hooks over a bar to hang up to a dozen pots and pans.   I was especially happy about that since a lot of our pots and pans made their home on the stove.

So I purchased the Amazon unit and then worked to dismantle the old wooden table and moved it into the basement (where it now resides in the laundry room).   The unit arrived but before putting it together, I cleaned up the area since it was full of dust and cobwebs that settled over the time the table was there.

Dom and I were able to put the unit together in about 2 hours and we were so proud of the results and how it looks.   We vowed not to fill the wooden table with junk.    We were good for about 3 months but unfortunately that promise went out the window.

So the only remaining steps were to somehow move our existing fridge from the kitchen over to the nook area where the metal shelving now resided and then move the metal shelving where the fridge resided.

We weren't really in a hurry to make the switch since it was a hassle even getting the fridge into the kitchen with the tiny opening and angled shelving.

Life of course has a funny way of making things happen.   A week ago Dom started telling me that the fridge was not as cool as it used to be.   I tried moving things around the freezer to open up the airways thinking they were being blocked.   That didn't work.   I tried adjusting the temperature of the fridge and that didn't work.    In the meantime the fridge was slowly dying and the freezer was getting colder and colder.

We decided that it was time to get a new fridge.   We settled on Home Depot after by coincidence his Mom and nieces purchased a new fridge there after their fridge broke down.    We had the standard top freezer fridge that almost made it eight years.    When we first moved in we inherited a french door fridge which we hated.   We mostly weren't a fan of the freezer which always seemed to run out of space.   It wound up having issues after a year and a half and we wound up getting the top freezer from a Sears Outlet store.

We settled on a side-by-side model that I thought would work for us.   With the limited space, I thought the 33 width model would work for us.   The space around the fridge could only fit a 34 width model, not the standard 36 width model fridges that are usually designed.   Delivery of that model was today.    The younger of the two delivery folks came in and did measurements and after consulting with the older partner, they concluded that the fridge would not fit in the narrow area.   While I accounted for the width of the final fridge space, I didn't account for the entryway space.   

I was going back and forth in my mind what to do.   They were suggesting I just get a top-freezer instead.    The funny thing is like I said earlier, Dom and I discussed having our fridge (before it died) move over to the nook area.   Dom however wasn't feeling that idea anymore for some reason.

But we needed a fridge so knew we would have to scramble.   If we went with their suggestion, they would be happy because they wouldn't have to hoist the new one.   However it would likely be another week or so before another fridge would be ready.    Also we really wanted to try the side-by-side fridge.

We agreed to have them place the new fridge in another part of the nook area and then remove the old one.    Removing the old one proved to be a challenge.   For some reason they could not get it to fit squarely through the angled shelving.

The older delivery guy was trying to get me to agree that they did all they could.   I wasn't certain they did and Dom was trying to point that out as well.   But I was resigning that we would have to quickly move things around but still be stuck with a dead fridge in the kitchen without doors.  The older guy suggested we get someone to saw it in half.    But that made no sense.  

Finally I asked them if we cleared out the sink area and the angled shelving, would they be willing to slide out the fridge that way.    They were against it but I offered them $100 each if they would do so.   Dom wasn't thrilled about it but they went along with it as long as I accepted responsibility for any damages.  Money talks.  Thankfully they were able to get it out.   Sadly I only had $184 total in my wallet which they accepted.    That was a mess but I'm glad we don't have to deal with the old fridge just sitting there unused.

 So in the end we wound up rearranging the old metal shelving to go where the old fridge was and the new fridge is now where the old metal shelving resided.   It's funny how things almost are where we were talking about having them a few years back.   Now will the old rolling shelving unit ever make its way to the basement.   That's a problem for another day.

We're slowly rearranging things back in place and the new fridge is cooling off nicely.   After this post I will be getting ready to head out to the church for their open-mic karaoke night.   I need to sing my heart Louise after the day I had.

Baby, I'm Falling...

 Falling out of the bed apparently.   My Saturday morning started off unexpectedly.  I don't know if I was dreaming or having a nightmare but I felt myself spinning.   Next thing I knew I rolled off the bed, hitting my head on the nightstand and knocking one of Dom's dolls with me.   I nearly knocked over the CPAP machine as well.

It's not at all how I expected to start the day.   I had Dom panicking as well as he got up to turn on the lights and then reach out for me from the side of the bed to help me up.   I quickly got up and was holding the right side of my head with the palm of my hand.   I was feeling a dull ache from hitting my head.

Needless to say both Dom and I got out of bed.  The plans for today include going to Meijer's (maybe Walmart since eggs are slightly cheaper there) and then Walgreens to pick up Dom's prescriptions.

Afterwards Dom and I plan to head to the church to meet Don and Juan.    We'll then carpool over to Katherine and her wife Sherry's home for their second annual get-together at their place.    They are an elderly couple that's been together for almost 20 years.   Both of them sadly have their health issues (don't we all) but they're making it work.    

So the get together starts at noon.   Katherine was mentioning that folks should carpool since space would be limited.   I messaged Juan earlier in the week and asked him about Dom and I riding with Juan and Don to the event.   He was game.   Yesterday evening he messaged me asking me what time we wanted to meet at the Church.

In my mind I was thinking I didn't want to get there too early.   Dom on the other hand was fine with arriving right at noon...*LOL*.    So we compromised and I told Juan we could meet at 1:30 PM.   

I knew I made a mistake when Juan didn't respond back.   I was thinking I hope I didn't give him an aneurysm.   I went to the restroom and felt my phone buzzing.   I had no idea why it was buzzing since it didn't flash that a call was being made.    It ended up Juan was calling me on Facebook messenger.   It's a good thing I didn't answer as I was having my nature call.

I saw Juan messaged me saying I needed to call back since the get together was starting at noon.  I was thinking great I guess they wanted to be there at noon as well.    But we compromised and agreed to meet at the Church at 12:30 PM instead of 11:30.

So as soon as I'm done with this post, I need to do some baking.  I have a zucchini that I will use to make a zucchini bread.    I made one last weekend that was so good.    The get together is a potluck so that'll be my contribution.

In dedication to my fall, I'll leave you with one of my favorite Mya songs...Fallen.

And as a bonus, let's add some Alicia Keys to the mix.   

Let's hope that falling is not my new norm anytime soon.

I'm Still Here

 It's been a week at work.   The Sev 1's were sev-ing.   And life was life-ing.    But I pushed through it.   It's funny how time is going by so quickly.    As crazy as things gets, before I know it, another week has gone by.

Hemingway this oldie but goodie clip from MadTv got me laughing extra hard.

Debra Wilson was playing Beyonce and did the most with the rendition of the music video they shot for their remake of the Bee Gee's Emotions.    It played on the fact that a lot of the focus in Destiny's Child was on Beyonce.    So many gems on this skit.   MadTv did Debra wrong not paying her worth.   She was so hilarious in all of her skits.

Another funny ass commercial that brought me back was a condom commercial for a brand called Trust.   Basically the guy in the commercial was supposedly packing so much that he needs a condom the size of a tall umbrella and proceeds to use a condom to wrap up a lady's umbrella after a rainstorm and catching the attention of many passerby's.   I think I might've blogged about the commercial before in my old blog.    Anyway...it's still hilarious more than 20 years later.

And apparently when looking at this video, there was another Trust condom commercial that came up.   It was kind of funny too but not as funny as the Trust Umbrella commercial.   The really funny part came near the end of the commercial.   Homeboy was banging though.   I was fanning myself along with the ladies and I will admit I cracked up when the second lady purposely dropped her water bottle so she could get her bottle capped with the condom as well.

With the commercials, I had to see if Trust Condoms was still in business after all these year.   They have a slick website that shows that they are.   The brand is primarily sold in various African countries.  Fun times.