Victory! 🌷💥🎆🎉😎 I'm a Rockstar!

[ChickieD]

My first time ever entering my name for a high score on a pinball machine. I’m been working so hard to learn pinball. I’m super happy about this.

[TobinL]

That’s a fun table. Now go get all the high scores!

[RAvery]

Don’t stop until you are… Number One!

Make it so!

[Nightflyer]

[Wisconsin_Platt]

[RAvery]

[RAvery]

I once read a derisive article about Steve Jobs. In it the author mentions a time when the NeXT offices were being painted and Jobs had to decide between two samples of beige paint. He stared at them on his desk trying decide which was better. The author would have you believe that both paints were interchangeable, and Jobs was just obsessively waisting his time. The author only succeeded in demonstrating his limited powers of perception.

I have been deciding since mid-September how to paint my new apartment. By early October I had successfully determined that I was going to work with one or two shades of a color that could be called “cream” or “warm white.” There isn’t enough time for me to detail all the various painting techniques and color combinations I considered. In the end I decided to be very minimal.

So now I had to decide which shade of cream/warm white to pick. Not an easy choice. There are dozens to choose from, and I needed a color that:

• was not too dark
• was not to light
• was not too beige
• was not too yellow
• was warm in the winter
• was cool in the summer
• had a bit of personality and history behind it

Well this week I have finally decided. It will be from Benjamin Moore and in the color they call “Alabaster.” My paint shall be Regal Select. My walls shall have a pearl finish, so it somewhat resembles old oil paint. My ceiling shall be Regal Select semi-gloss in the color of Anderson Blue. I’ve noticed that a glossy ceiling makes the room feel taller.

And there you have it. Now I just have to do it.

[DaakSyde]

Decisions are hard. Here’s a song to celebrate your paint:

[ChuckV]

And you shall be the belle of the ball…

[Nightflyer]

For the first time in years, I have new glasses! I can’t believe how crisp and clear everything is now.

Only two slight issues-- I probably should have opted for bifocals, as I do have to take the glasses off to read. I’ve got a trial period where I can take them back for adjustments, so I might get different lenses in a couple of weeks, or maybe I’ll get different lenses for my spare pair when they come in. (A spare pair is such an extravagance, but considering the beating my old glasses took, having a backup isn’t the worst idea for me. And it’s been so long, I couldn’t resist treating myself just a little.)

Plus I thought I put my eyeglass cord with my old frames… but I didn’t, so it’s lost. I can pick up a new one, I’m just annoyed at myself for being careless.

But I can see! And my glasses stay on my nose instead of wobbling and falling off! So today is definitely a win.

[Nightflyer]

I take horrible selfies, but, just to commemorate the occasion:

[chgoliz]

Nice glasses!

[RAvery]

[ChuckV]

Softness in his eyes
Iron in his thighs

Wait, I may have gotten mixed up here…

[ChickieD]

Yes please.

[infundibulum]

My son says quite a few sentences now. The other night, I heard him crying and walked into his room to find him standing in the crib, hands on hips. “No no nu-nu,” he said, gesturing to his blankets. He was missing his pacifier. I found it, he took it, said “Thank you!” and passed right the fuck back out.

Such a good, happy boy.

[ChickieD]

Awwww! So cute!

[Nightflyer]

Just got back home after a lovely late Thanksgiving celebration with my mother’s side of the family. It was extra special this year, because it was the first time my sister and her family got to share it with us.

To sum it up-- years before I was born (and before she met my dad), my mother had a child, a girl, out of wedlock. They’d arranged for her to be put up for adoption. After she was born, my mother and grandmother wanted to keep her, but the nuns wouldn’t allow it. She wound up in a good family, but always wondered about her birth family. I knew about it, but my mother hadn’t left me enough info to find her, and after Mom passed away four years ago, I didn’t have much hope of ever meeting her.

This year, she did an Ancestry kit… and it showed a match with my aunt. The tiny amount of documentation my sister had matched Mom’s family to a T, but really, all you had to do was look at her-- she has our mother’s eyes. I got to meet her in October, and it just clicked. Ann’s terrific! And today, I got to meet her husband and my two nephews (but not my niece and her toddler, they couldn’t make it.) I think we were all a little nervous, but there was no need-- everybody liked each other. Of course-- we’re family, but they just fit in, like they’ve always been there. So today was extra special!

I don’t have pics from today yet, but here’s one of me and my sister Ann from October.

(Ann’s on the left, I’m on the right.) Yay sisters!

[ChickieD]

Awww. Thanks for sharing this. It made me smile.

[Nightflyer]

I’ve wanted to announce it (and show off my seester ) for a while now, but couldn’t figure out how to bring it up. Today seemed like the perfect opportunity.