merry christmas

hope this finds all well. we've had a cold christmas this year, which has been sort of fun. started a fire in the fireplace and we've opened the presents and had a cup of hot chocolate. my boss gave us some really nice schokinag drinking chocolate and we put it to the test this morning. we've opened the gifts and everybody is pleased. rachael got her ipod and ford got a nice leather coat. tracy got some red leather boots and a leather briefcase. i got some great kitchen knives and a leather coat. tracy bought tickets for all to see the dead sea scrolls in february. rachael gave me an ambulance limited cd (we saw them in new orleans at voodoo fest) and ford gave me a box of photos. her mom took the bulk of the photos so it was fun seeing old pics of my baby growing up. she's back in with us now...we're talking about getting the studio set up as an apartment for her.

time for a bailey's and coffee.

cheers all...tom

let them drink wine

had a wine tasting party last friday. i guess about 40 or so showed...we counted 25 empty wine bottles the next morning. the sterling 2001 cabernet was the winner, but since that was our contribution, we disqualified ourselves. a sterling 1999 cabernet tied with the toad holllow zin for second, and brian and kathy shared the stash of minis...brian choosing the amber drinks and kathy the clear. i was surprised that the boone's farm blue hawaiian didn't fare any better than the one sympathy vote that it got.

the cat got into some stray cheese that was left around and puked from one end of the house to the other. fortunately tracy saw fit to clean it up as i continued to slumber. i napped on the sofa until 1 or so on saturday and then got ready to go to biloxi for a christmas party. after dinner and drinks we threw some money into the coffers of the casino....they looked like they could use it better than i. spent the night, had a shitty breakfast, and made it home before noon.

made a pot of chili and put a fire in the fireplace. brian and melissa came over after they put skyler to bed. brian and i sampled the bushmills black label that nitram brought as my christmas gift. did a side-by-side taste test with the bushmills white label. the black bush is so good. i need to have nitram over for a taste or six.

All your base are belong to us

ok, so i know i promised 'why i love mobile' for my next post, but i ran across this and couldn't resist the urge to blog: All your base are belong to us

weekend winding down

friday - tracy and i drove around and checked out few buildings for the studio...still leaning towards the dauphin street place. i think we'll try to get it moving this week or next.

saturday - decided to finally paint the front porch. of course, nothing is as simple as it sounds. there were several boards that needed to be replaced. the shitty tongue-in-groove boards from lowe's were too thin so that meant a trip out to mobile lumber. one joist was rotten so i scabbed in a patch there and then shimmed up a couple others where the footers had settled. everything sanded and primed by about 5 pm. started painting at about 7. it had dried enough this morning for us to realize we don't like the color. rain all day so can't put on another coat. (oil based paint is a bitch to work with.)

sunday - slept well under the influence of paint fumes and bushmill's. showered and blew sawdust, paint chips, and other building materials out my nose, all held together with a sticky base of mucus. rained all day. went to lowe's with my brother jon. he was in search of tools to demolish a chimney which were easily located. street flooded with all the rain. napped on the sofa until the cat jumped on my balls. dinner in a while with brian and melissa. skyler and rachie asked for spaghetti, although i don't know who thinks they heard a one-year-old say spaghetti.

next time - - - why i love mobile

good hope

a lovely shot of me in south africa. odd that the arrow is pointing towards my ass, don't you think?

saturday

saturday morning is here. tracy and rachie plan to do some shopping today. i'll be painting the front porch. have to replace a couple boards and do some sanding, but this job is long overdue. with a christmas do planned we do need to get a couple things in shape around here.
haven't heard from elise in a few days. i assume she has been working and hanging out with holly. i guess she is happy living with her mother and the mother's new boyfriend.
time to crank up the sander and the saw and wake the neighbors...

wine

tracy and i went to a wine tasting last night. the event was a silent auction to raise money for the leukemia society. a few folks from work were there...penny, tony p, dale s, jacob a, brandon s. wetterer was expected but didn't show. it was put on by a bunch of the health nuts that jog around town for fun. tracy donated a portrait session and made a few contacts. now we just need to get the studio open. saw monetta, an old friend. she is just a crazy as ever. wants tracy to do portraits of her dogs. need to remember to invite her to the street party next year.

no work today...three day weekends are good. finished off a couple of tasks at work that have been looming so that feels good.

ciao....strorg

my daughter rachael 

my daughter elise

thursday

nothing much to report. been a busy week. ten-hour days and an hour commute each way makes for a long day, but i'v got a three day weekend coming up. might dig up some pic of the girls and post.