A little Friday progress

Sorry no post on Friday morning. There really wasn't much to say. But I'm posting some progress photos tonight since people have been asking. Here's the front room. No more floral border. New ceiling, all freshly painted and spruced up. I haven't put all the furniture back in yet, since they are still working in the kitchen.

Looking back the other way. Plantation shutters are on the way for those windows in the back. And... a big ghost orb in the center of the screen. I'm still figuring out my new camera. I've noticed it gets a lot more dust on the lens than my old one.

Another view. I had that hall over on the right completely refloated and painted. It goes to my office and guest room/bath. They had splattered "texture" on it before, and by "texture" I mean it looked like someone coated it in mud and stuck their fingers and toes all up in it. It was lump-nasty. Still trying to decide what to do about that front door.

Not much going on in the kitchen, other than the granite and sink are in. Back splash goes in Monday. I started replacing the door handles on the cabinets tonight. 43 of them. Taking much longer than I anticipated. I think I've done 10 now. Oh, and for my Mom and Karlene - yes, the blue and white wallpaper in the cabinet is on the agenda. That comes down next week, too.

Master bath. Wall tile went in today. Most of it, anyway. Tub is reframed and new fixtures are in. It's going to get a paneled surround. Again, plantation shutter on order for the window. With a super wide frame to make it look bigger.

The new shower. Looks much better than the old one, dontcha think? I'm happy with it. Frameless glass will finish it off. As you can see, I went with marble, rather than travertine. And granite for the border.

My swimming pool. This tub is 5' x 4'. I was lucky to find new chrome fixtures for it. Can't wait to go for a dip.

New granite and - ahem - the wrong sink. They put in the one that came with the granite when I had a fancy one in a box sitting next to the door for them to use. So far, that's my only gripe with the installation. They offered to put it in, but I figured this one is ok and I can return the other for some moola. Cabinet doors are in the trash. Having new ones made that will match the tub surround.

My shampoo cubby.

One last view. No more brass framed glass sliders. I think these are much better. And no, that's not where the toilet goes! It is just visiting this spot for a bit.

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Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Are you smarter than a mosquito?

Apparently I'm not. I've got one in my office as I type this, and he (or she, I can't remember which one bites) has bitten me three times. So far. I can see it, but I've missed about 5 swats so far. It's a quick one. Ugh.

In other news, Mikey cooked up a yummy steak last night. Mostly 'cuz I made him. He didn't want to be on the blog. But I put him on anyway. Mikey and Andrew now live right around the corner from me, which is convenient. Easier for harassment purposes. Of course, that means Mikey has dropped in frequently to harass me, as well. Always fun.

Robbie. He heard there was free steak, so of course he showed up.

Stephen was very excited to show me his Garden Angel he made in school. The angel is him! Good to teach kids a little narcissism early, I guess.

Karlene and the boys are very excited to be all moved in their new place. Turned out good. Except for that white switch plate on the end of the island, which is driving Karlene batty.

Freshly refinished antique hardwoods are the perfect place for matchbox cars.

If I had the money to completely remodel my kitchen instead of the modest work I'm doing, I'd get me one of these puppies. I'm so jealous. Awesome restoration job.

Stephen's favorite part of the new house? The stairs, "because I can slide down them on my butt! Watch!"

New room!

New hardwood floors are also good for a game of "grab Al's ankles" and make him pull you around. I guess this is why they call them ankle biters.

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Is it really not Friday, yet? I'm rhet for the weekend!

Amazing what a little paint will do...

The green monster is gone. Looks like a totally different house, which is exactly how I envisioned it when I bought the place. Remember my first set of photos said you had to have a little vision?

I'm getting the cheapest part of my remodel done this week... paint. This room is almost done. Got the ceiling re-textured in my front room, and that's getting painted up all pretty today. Had my hallway re-floated, and that's being sanded right now. Messy! Can't wait to see what it all looks like later on.

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I also went over to check out Karlene's new casa last night, since she's all moved in. Took a few photos over there, but I'm savin' em for tomorrow.

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Congrats to Annise Parker for making it into a run-off for Houston Mayor against Gene Locke. I'd be ok with either one of them, but I'd like to see Annise win. The media seems to be focusing on Republican wins in Virginia and New Jersey as a signal that Republicans are going to take over... but Democrats - an African American and a lesbian winning over the conservative Republican in HOUSTON? Now that's news, folks.

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I'm also happy we don't have a Mayor named Peter Brown this morning. :-)

A little more 'ween...

Here's a photo I took of the Monopoly slot machine I won big on Friday night. I had already won $60.00 on an earlier spin before hitting this $360.00 jackpot... so it was just over $400. Of course, then you have to calculate the $50 or $60 I put in it to win this much... but still a tidy little return.

Jon was traveling in Argentina this week and sent me some Buenos Aires stalker shots. In this one, he did double duty with balls and a stalker shot all in one. Bonus points.

Argentinian convenience stores make for convenient stalking.

As does the Buenos Aires Airport. Thanks, Jon!

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to post this photo of Halloween'd out Goth Claudia. Nice. My question... did she have the necklace laying around?

C-dub sent me some ball photos yesterday. How 'bout them monkey apples? They're nature's ornament, ya know.

Ball-o-rama.

Even more balls. It was a ball bonanza.

Russell sent me this find from the Pride Parade in Atlanta last week. Aside from the excellent stalker photo qualities... what's with the inflated banana over there?

I'm not sure if this was a Halloween costume or not, but this is the dude from Glee hanging out with some purple drag queens.

And the Glee kids from the World Series the other night. Love this show. There was much debate yesterday on an email chain about this photo. Some of my friends were arguing whether or not the dude on the far right looks better with or without his mohawk. I'm going to go with he doesn't need a mohawk, but he shouldn't be bald, either.

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On another Gleeful note, I will leave you with this remix of the Glee cast doing "Don't Stop Believing..." I heard it this weekend in New Orleans, and it instantly became an iPod staple. It's kinda long, but worth it. Enjoy!

New Orleans for Halloween

Had a great time in New Orleans this weekend... here's the proof:

I bought a new camera while I was there, and this is the very first photo I took on it. Stumbled across a wedding at Jackson Square. No idea who these peeps are, but I had some of their only wedding photos, and they don't even know me.

Aww. All the best to the newlyweds...

The view of Harrah's Casino from my hotel room. I won $400 in here on Friday night. Well, actually Saturday morning, but who's counting? ME!

Here's Marc and Randall all dressed up for the big party Saturday night. Marc was supposed to be a military guy. Although I'm not sure military guys wear those tank tops with little stars on them. And nobody figured out what Randall was, but he sure got lots of attention.

Sam and I were Boy Scout leaders. Sam was in charge of the Panama Canal Zone troop.

There's Randall, hiding behind his lips.

The scene at the party.

Lots of Houston peeps were there. Here's me and Mat. I ran into all kinds of friends from all over the country. It was fun. Gary and Michael were around, but everytime I saw them it was too dark to take a picture. Hmmm.

Another crowd shot. I think Batman in the lower right just realized he shoulda had a V8.

Tony over there on the left was in from NYC. He's a New Orleans Halloween staple.

Stephen was down from Dallas, and I snuck up on him while he was deep in conversation on his cell phone.

He brought Aaron with him. Or part of Aaron. He's lost a lot of weight since I saw him in April.

Michael Jackson was in attendance, and he had the swine flu. Which doesn't matter much when you're already dead, right?

Wider shot of the room. Fun party!

Randall was the easiest person to find with those big eyeballs.

The theme was "Twisted Seasons." Here's some of the Seasons during the costume contest.

Shake it, Seasons!

I have no idea.

Marge Simpson wandered into my shot. She was dressed for her Playboy spread, so I couldn't show the rest of her.

Dancin' Queens.

These tight ends reminded me that Penn State had won earlier in the day. I made the mistake of wearing a Penn State t-shirt through the Quarter during the first half of the game. And, of course, the game was on ESPN and was playing in every bar. So random people kept telling me "YOU'RE LOSING!" Um, thanks... but... the laugh was on them. We won!

Rudolph the Red Nosed... headlight girl? And yes, those are the little press on and off lights for closets. And they were operable.

Rudolph was kind enough to take a photo of me and Marc. With her cigarette smoke swirling around.

Shane spotted me at the same time I spotted him. Dueling flashes.

Jameson didn't eat for a week. But it paid off. It was also his birthday! Halloween must be an awesome birthday to have.

Karl and his rhinestone cowboy.

The place where the event was held is where all the Mardi Gras floats are stored for the year. So there were some festive things out for us to look at. I was doing the Boy Scout Oath here. Scout's Honor.

Flying fairies were everywhere.

And lotsa peacocks gave their lives so this party could happen.

These swine flu by.

Dude's hat says "Dill Weed." He was a twisted season(ing).

This is how you know it's time to escort Sam home.

So I loaded Sam on the shuttle bus to take us back downtown. You put 100 homos on a bus with disco music and costumes, and it's bound to be a good time. Mrs. Dash here had to make a dash to get on the bus at the last minute.

Another photo of Tony. :-)

Sam, rhet to go.

Giant glow balls lit the way in and out.

Sam made friends with the Real Housewives of Atlanta on the way to the bus.

Everyone was hoping the devil would come sit by them.

After the party, we headed back to Bourbon Street at 2am or some such. If you see trash in a box, then that's a trashbox, and you should just throw it out. The amount of garbage that piles up in the Quarter is astounding.

Prolly because of all these people.

Bourbon.

This was a "Single Ladies" dance off that happened spontaneously.

Evlyone tly to make money off Michaer Jackson.

Lan and Bryan were spotted hauling their pirate booties up the road.

Poor Randall's mask became a gutter girl at the end of the night.

With all the other gutter girls.

Marcus and Randall, minus his ginormous mask.

And again, showing off hurricane tongues.

Sam, ready for bed.

An above ground cemetary on the way to the airport. Glad we didn't end up here, that's for sure.

Up, up and away over the bayous...

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Awesome time. Looking forward to next year already!

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But now I'm home and back to my mess of a house. All the granite went in after I left on Friday. Looks good. Hoping to get some tiling done this week, so be on the lookout for progress photos. I went to Lowe's tonight to pick up some new cabinet pulls for the kitchen. I need 43, but discovered that they only really carry like 20 of any particular pull at a time. So I just bought one and did some shopping online. Turns out it was smarter that way, anyway. I found the same pulls Lowe's wanted $4.00 each for on another website for $2.50 each. Score! Now I just gotta wait 2 weeks to get 'em. So much for instant gratification.

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I'm sure more photos from my trip will appear later as others get their stuffs downloaded. Till then... laters.

Happy Halloween

I'm off to New Orleans, by way of a bumpy ride through some storms. Always my favorite thing to do!

Icky weather go away!

Expecting more flooding today in Houston. Always fun. I just want it all to blow through here, and then through New Orleans, before 5pm tomorrow!

Garret's birthday party at Catalan was a success. Yummy food. Fun peeps.

I had a cake made out of a photo of Garret's 5th birthday... it turned out pretty good. This photo is hysterical. I think I've posted it on here before. He's wearing a Bert and Ernie shirt.

Opening gifts.

Like this gift from Peedah. Looks like a little leather change purse, right? It's made out of kangaroo balls!!! Only in Australia.

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Can't wait for my trip to New Orleans. I just gotta find my camera before I leave. If I don't, I guess I gotta buy a new one. :-(