Feelin' the Love

It's been a good week for Robert and me work-wise.

Last week we went to a business card exchange held by the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce where we met some very cool people. Never having been to one of these dealies before, we were a bit nervous, but everyone was so friendly that we were able to shed our shyness (okay everyone, stop laughing) and mingle.

As a matter of fact, Robert and I did so well, that today, he did a photography job for the Alliant Center, Madison's version of the Staples Center, and the Rotary Club here. The picture above is from that event. ( geez, the pictures on blogger come up so dark!)

And that went so well for him that a women he met at the job, who happens to be the president of the Madision Area Technical College, wants him to come in and interview to teach photography and videography there!

In addition to the promise of future work by some people we met there, Robert and I also made the acquaintance of this really nice woman named Amy who is total potential friend material. She lives two miles away from where we're going to be moving to, and she helps developmentally challenged adults find work in places that traditionally have not turned to that group of people for employment. She was beautifully sarcastic and she reads a ton, so I know it sounds like a stretch, but we just may be able to hit it off.

I myself did an industrial in Chicago on Monday. "I may not be a doctor, but I play one on TV."
Yup, just call me Dr. Douglas. I had to work with non-actors, real pharmaceutical reps. It was, if I may be candid, a long, painful day. But. Being employed trumps all, and I am grateful

While talking with the producer from the studio, I mentioned what a great response Robert and I have been getting since we moved here, both with my acting and with our freelance writing/photography/videography, and she immediately asked for my business card. She said her company was always looking for writers, AND her husband owns a small ad/marketing agency and was looking for some additional support.

So we're loving living here, and it looks like where we live is lovin' us! What a freakin' relief.

Shangri-la Chalet

As a lot of you know we're going to be closing on a house come March 31st. I thought I'd post a few pictures we did 360-style for those of you who haven't seen them yet.

We're really, really excited. We've got a few things we're going to do... the kitchen floor and counters need replacing, and the walls need to be addressed as well. We'll do the laminate in the kitchen ourselves (someday when we've got the dough, we'll get a wonderful hard-wood floor made out of this hand-scraped oak I saw) and we'll do the walls ourselves, too.

For the walls we found this gorgeous stuff called American Clay, and that pretty much says what it is, clay plaster that we'll be using everywhere. And, by everywhere, I mean the ceilings, too. Robert's going to be cursing my ass because we've got semi-cathedral ceilings and that is going to cause some serious muscle pain the few days he's Michelangelo-ing those. But, damn, it is going to look GOOD!

Speaking of looking good, we found some lovely granite countertops offered by a local contractor. As of this morning we were going to go with ones from Home Depot, but then I saw an ad in a local pennysaver type-dealie with a coupon for $500 off countertops measuring more than 25ft. So we jumped in the car right away (our appt for measurements with H.D. was supposed to be Monday, and we wanted to be able to cancel our order asap) and went off to the showroom.

Before we walked in the store, I told Robert to shove the coupon he was holding into his pocket and not walk in with it visible.

Apparently, these two guys had just opened the store in the middle of December. The guy we were talking with, let's call him K, said that his partner had just left for a trip to Venezuela. Can I tell you... K was so nervous! Poor soul! It was obvious he wasn't the salesman of the two of them. His voice was a touch tremulous, his hands were shaking, and he only stole shy glances at us every once in a while.

After finding something we really liked, we told him we'd rather support a local business and could he please work up a quote for us. He gave us a price, at which point I glanced at Robert and then at his pocket. Robert gave me the coupon and, feeling so bad for this guy because I just knew he was going to be feeling side-swiped, I asked if he'd honor the coupon seeing as how we'd have about 50sq feet to do up. He looked a little taken aback, like he'd forgotten to factor that into his quote into the first place, but he stayed honorable and said that the coupon was good. In addition, they're going to give us a nice rolled edge, and curve a piece that's a part of a kind of breakfast bar...all included.

It was about $1000 less than Home Depot, the granite was a better match for us, and with all the extras and supporting a brand-new local business, we walked out feeling pretty good.

And then I came up with the idea of working up some marketing material for them to barter for a discount. They don't have a website, brochures, pictures, or anything. When K's partner comes back, I'm going to make a nice, little presentation. We were thinking that maybe Robert might even shoot some video of what they're going to be doing at our house for them to use. Maybe we can get these babies for free!

Crafty, crafty me.

It's in the Genes

My 6 year old nephew, Jeremiah, just marched through the house with my 4 year old son, Max, in tow, and they were chanting, "Hail to the penis! Hail to the penis!"

The first thing I thought as a heterosexual female with a healthy sexual appetite was "Indeed! Hail to the penis!"

The second thing I thought as a mother and aunt was "Good lord! Already!?"

Before I had my kid, I was adamant that my son would be different from the other boys. He would be so zen he would love sitting quietly in the company of his own self. He would never engage in violent gun/war/blood play. He would not fall prey to mere primal instincts (in other words, he wouldn't think with his dick).

And then He, the Grem to Gremmity of all Gremlins, was born.

I swear before all that I hold holy that that child has not stopped moving since then, even in his sleep. And stop him from gun-play? Please! At 18 months he'd gnawed his toast into a shape of a gun and made cute, little p-shoo, p-shoo sounds with his tiny, pursed lips. And, around about the same time, he happened to catch a glimpse of a commercial that had Shakira in it and shouted out, "SEXY!!!" Only it wasn't "sex-ee" it was "SEX-AY!" Wtf? Where the hell did that come from? At 18 mos?!

Recently, I read Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and while it is a fantastic, provocative book, in one passage she talks about how she never, ever let her children engage in gun-play. It was strictly against her family's philosophy.

Yeah? Bully for you, sweetheart. That's because you had TWO girls!

Even now as we speak, Max and Jeremiah are behind me howling and leaping from the couch to the coffee table to the console shooting at each other and dying dramatically on the floor. My 7 year old niece, Arianna, is sitting quietly next to me counting up the quarters she's saved from washing lunch dishes.

Self-penile adoration, a predilection for bloody violence, and an innate, lusty appetite for hot, video chicks.

Wait a minute... was I talking about the boys or my husband? Either way, it just goes to show you, it doesn't matter whether they're young or old, it's that Y chromosome. I'm sure of it.

Y? Y? Y?

More Effin' Snow

Okay... whose bright idea was it to leave Los Angeles just BEFORE winter to move to Wisconsin?

Oh. Yeah. That would be mine.

The bright side's that we were able to sell our house relatively quickly in the still-tanking L.A. market. The dark side's that we're supposed to get another 6-12 inches of snow tomorrow. A "wintry mix." (Sounds delicious, actually.... and that's another part of the dark side... my increased desire to eat everything under the sun. All of you beloveds out there know how much I enjoy my food in the first place. Remember when I was pregnant and put on a healthy 70 pounds because food tasted so flipping good to me? Well, we're sliding back down that slope, friends, and, damn, is it tasty! When you all come out to visit, we're going to Michael's Custard for a turtle sundae. It'll make you wonder if you should move here, too.)

But, I digress, back to the snow. Ladies and gentlemen, not only did we move to Wisconsin smack before winter, but we moved to Wisconsin smack before a RECORD-BREAKING winter. Last week we passed the record for Most. Snow. Ever. In the recorded history of the dairy wonderland. I've seen more accidents here in the past four months than I have the entire twelve years we lived in Los Angeles, and that's counting all those innumerable daily smash-ups on that interstate to hell known as the 405.

I even blew a kiss at death back in December when I hit a patch of ice and slid past a stalled oil-tanker truck by four inches. I'm sure I missed because I was leaning as far to the right as possible, as if that'd lend momentum to veering away from a flaming death.

Record-breaking snowfalls and brushes with fatality, notwithstanding, I'm really glad we moved. People are nicer. The air is cleaner. And I'm closer to family.

But I miss all of you very, very much. That's why I started this blog. To try to stay in touch and keep everyone posted on what's happening for us. If nothing else, it should be good for a couple of laughs from time to time.

Speaking of which, did I tell mention we're getting about a hundred chickens for slaughter this summer? Make the trek for a visit and I'll fry one of those bad boys up for you. Come on back, now, y'hear?