The year was 2008

A year in review…

This year has offered many changes and challenges, adversity to accomplishment, loneliness to acceptance, pain to joy –

Over the year Mom and Dad have grown further apart – they still love each other but find it hard to like each other. The pain in the eyes shows more than I would really like to see. But there is still something there keeping them together…Health wise Mom is doing great – Dad on the other hand is having major difficulties with his back, hips, hands and ankles… not much does hurt on him… but one thing hasn’t changed… he won’t do anything to help himself.

Anne and Steve are doing great with things in Woodbridge – they have helped me update my resume and have assisted in getting applications out… I have since hired a headhunter to find the good jobs… so far I have had 5 interviews with no luck yet – as the new year starts I am going to regroup and dig in hard on finding that job!

The relocation process is well underway… we have met with our chosen realtor to discuss price and marketing for the house… $250,000.00 is well within reach even with the current economy. We have chosen to sell the house as is… of course we will do some painting and repairs but not to the extent that Mom had been taking about.

For me this has been a year of personal growth and the finding of some special people in my life. On a personal note I have found a place of quiet for myself… more than a zen place – an internal peace – a place of great silence… I love spending time there… not much gets me riled up (that is with the exception of family visiting!)… Another area of growth for me has been in my outlook on life… I have come to find it hard to find the negative in life… there is so much good to see… as I found this past Christmas season - looking at life through the eyes of a child give hope to a bleak world… My next growth point was in finding someone that “fit” as a Master… someone that was willing to work with what I have to offer… So often I chatted with Masters that wanted the empty slave… the blob of clay that they could create whatever they wanted… or the “suck my dick” type of slave… neither of which is who or what I am… this Master is a real person… flawed… imperfect but willing to work and do the heard stuff… willing to be real! Have we had our “moments? Of course… it’s called growth… I’m sure we will have more… I’ve also had the pleasure of being accepted by my slave sister… having that special someone to assist and to help out when necessary. What a wonderful gift! Master Larry and slave barb have been a wonderful couple to serve… I look forward to many years of service under their guidance…

This year has also been marked with loss and change in the realm of friends… of most important is the departure of Master Curtis, slave wen and Soon… a move to Phoenix Arizona made a lot of other changes happen… they have all been missed up here in the north… MAsT Southern Maine is the biggest… I ended up Directing the group… but that’s a whole other story!... I’ve lost two close friends from the Maine Gay Men’s chorus this year along with a class mate from St. Dominic’s RHS… I do have to look at the notion that life does come to a close.

So I close out this year and look forward to the New Year… Many projects have been started and will continue to next year… of them are the jobs prospect, the moving prospect, the relocation of Mom and Dad and the continued growth in the service to Master Larry and slave barb!

Day two of the festivities! Madaline - great niece of mine turned 1 today! we had a Polar bear-snow flake themed party complete with a running movie (happy feet and surfs up), polar bear cake and lots of kids... yup more of them! 5 kids all under 4 - 3 more adults added to the 7 we already had here... I found me a little guy (3 weeks older than Madaline) named Phillip... he is a sad sight... you can tell he gets left alone at home... not much attention is paid to him... well tonight I took care of that... he and I pal'd around he loved to just sit on my lap and cuddle which was fine with me... we enjoyed a piece of cake and some ice cream... what a cutie!

Again , tonight goes to reinforce the lesson from yesterday... look at life through their eyes... and see the newness of it all...

So off to bed... tired but happy... (and yes the house is clean!)

as I sit here late on Christmas day looking back at everything that took place, I can't help think how wonderful it is for us all to look at things through the eyes of a child. The wonderful amazement of walking down the stairs to see a tree that once only had a village under it to now have half of KB Toys stock rapped neatly with big bows lining the the floor... the I felt this way at Midnight Mass... remember 5 1/2 weeks ago? I only had two maybe three people singing???? I set up 15 chairs for my choir Wednesday night... with no rehearsal (at least all together) ... the sounds of melodious harmonies filled the cavern of the the church... I was so blessed! so very blessed! I couldn't help but to tear up as we finished with Joy to the World... and to hear the applause from the congregation... what a great sense of accomplishment given from the great Divine!

I feel that as the year comes to a close we should all stop and look at the world and what we do and who we as a child would... what amazement's have we missed by "being adults about it" ... what wonderments are just around that corner ahead??? What love and commitments have been passed on because it wasn't the adult thing to do?

Think about it! then take a walk and look at life from the viewpoint of a child!

As the holiday draws near I find that I am looking forward to it being over and done with... I know that it doesn't sound good after all the work that I've poured into seeing that this goes off without a hitch... but as the time falls short Mom and Dad have started pushing ... finding more and more work that they want done... today I finally said enough and told them to write a list of things to be done and I will get to them IF I have time... I'm only one person after all!

Monday I'm planning a "ME" day... I'm going to need some down time before all hell breaks loose on tuesday when everyone arrives.... the schedule is... they arrive on the 23rd for dinner - 24th I play midnigh mass and 10 am on the 25th - 26th is Madaline's 1st birthday - 27th the Realtor comes over in the AM and mass is at 4pm - sunday Ben is being brought to Manchester NH to fly home and then they are stopping in to see Stephen's parents in Goffstown... the 29th everyone rests! the 30th they all leave! I play the 4pm mass on the 31st and drop the 1st!!! :)

Whew... I think I can breath now... the boxes are done and ready to go... the house is in final cleaning stage... the decorations are up and set... tomorrow I have a funeral in the AM and there is a question about the dinner outing... it will depend on the weather...

Things are finally getting to a point that I can look at other things that need to be dealt with between now and the end of the year...

I hope to have some quality time to review the year as a whole before the family gets here... will have to set some time aside for that....

not much else going on right now... lol... like there would be time for anything else to go on.... lol

Snow? about 2 inches - Check!
Chocolates dipped - white - check
Chocolates dipped - dark - check
Ginger bread "people" - baked - check
Driveways cleaned - check - check

Another real good day... but am currently dog tired!

Have Choir tomorrow AM and a funeral friday morning.... 3 gifts to make yet... ARGH! lol!

Outside - check
Porches - check
tree - check
Village & train up - check
inside decorations - check
Christmas curtains pressed and up - check
Christmas tablecloths pressed and hanging - check
Fruitcakes done - check
breads - 4 kinds - check
candies - needhams - check
peanut butter balls - check
fudge - 5 kinds - 2 batches each (one with nuts one without) - check
Gingerbread dough made - check
house clean - in progress

Lunch date made for Friday - check

Weather - unstable (simply it sucks!)

Breakdown from exhaustion - in progress!

Christmas has a lot of meanings for a lot of people... but this past weekend was the epitome of my Christmas. This last week brought a bunch a storms one that brought a lot of ice to the area... many people were left with no power... we were the luck ones... we only lost power for a couple of hours - so we decided to open our house to as many friends that wanted to come over take a hot shower and share a hot meal... and if they wanted they could stay the night. Sunday we sat 14 down to dinner... turkey, ham, burgers, hot dogs... potatoes mashed, fries and veggies galore it was a wonderful way to spend the day... I was able to finish the village under the tree and clean up the room... then we gathered and sang carols... today as I looked back I saw what Christmas is really about... and guess what... there was no stress... no HO HO HO... no presents... no economy ... nothing like that... just friendship and hospitality... what a wonder gift to give and receive. May we all hold that in our hearts and share it with everyone we meet! Merry Christmas!

Wow... a winter storm... Ice and all that good stuff... what a mess... there are still places without power... luckily we only lost it for about 3 hours! the Tree is up! it was a great party... good food and lots of fun! now comes my job of setting up the villages and the train... but I love being able to be creative and have fun doing it too!

Been feeling under the weather for a couple of days... I think its just being too tired... I've been thinking about my morning routine and have decided that I won't be getting up at 4am anymore... I don't need to... so I'll bedoing a 5:30am morning... 1 hour meditation and 1 hour Tai Chi workout and 30 minute breakfast/dress up- that gets me working at 8am... seems more reasonable... and I'll still get a full days work in before noon! lol....

Monday we start the cooking and final cleaning ... because the following week is Christmas! ARGHHHHH!!!!! I need one more week!!!! lol... JK!

Have a great evening!

Oh the weather outside is frightful... no I take that back... it SUCKS!Icing up and raining... not good! but I did get a lot of work done in the house... the kitchen is almost done, the tree is in and mounted... lights and garland are on.... the small tree on the porch went up today also... choir went well last night... I don't forsee any issues for the holidays!

I also moved the old dishwasher into the garage along with other "stuff" that's going to the free mart at the landfill... time for some more cleaning out on Saturday morning!

but right now I am tired and sore... going to go shower and get to bed! busy day tomorrow cleaning out from the weather and mess!

another busy day today! but today was creative day... I made two hanging baskets for the garage, a basket swag for the light pole, a basket for the back porch and a large swag for the back porch....
I finished up the den and am now full force in the kitchen... the tree comes in tomorrow for pre decorating for Fridays party....

everything will be done and set! I'm sure of it....

well time for bed so I can get an early start tomorrow!

I am beat! today was a multi tasking day..... how many things can I have going all at the same time??? I've completed the decorating and cleaning of the front room (ready now for Fridays decorating party) - the center den is cleaned and decorated... and the kitchen is almost cleaned ... the Christmas curtains are up the winter sprays are up and the table clothes pressed and out... along with that 1 five lb fruit cake is done... that one is sold to a friend .... and two large loaf fruitcakes are done - one for the house and one to be sold... my room is clean and ready as is the spare room ... tomorrow I finish the kitchen and downstairs bath... then if possible finish the rest of the upstairs... I have a few printing things to finish up tonight and they will be ready for delivery tomorrow as well! WHEW! and I wonder why I'm tired!

Master ordered me to get Him up at 4 am tomorrow.... lol... do I hear the bugles again??? :)

Two weeks from today is the Monday of Christmas week! Are you ready?

was a busy - frustrating day! was on the phone for 2 1/2 hours with Dell... seems my AVG Virus scanner had a hickup and allowed 5 Trojan horse viruses to plant themselves in my registry.... I knew they could take care of it... and I was under the misguidance of their sales person that this sort of thing was covered under the 4 year extended warranty..... HA HA HA!!! was I wrong! but in the end the On-Call lead tech called me back fixed the problem and didn't charge me.... lucky for them.... I was ready to climb hand over fist to the president of Dell if I had to!!! Yes I hauled out the BIG GUNS! but I am back online with no spyware! or Viruses! Woohoo!

I did have some fun this morning.... well let me rephrase that.... I may have had fun.... but i don't think Master did... you see... I was instructed to wake Him at 5am... and even if I "had to discuss the mating habits of daulphins" was to make sure He was up I could be a "beligerant bastard" if need be... well since I didn't have a chance to research the mating habits of daulphins I just desided to play reveille for Him.... yup... downloaded it put it on my IPOD and did just that.... and it worked... I texted Him a bout 10 minutes later and He was up.... WooHoo!

I love being a morning person! :)

hmmm.... going to change my name to Dear Abby.... seems like all I did today besides haul up Christmas decorations... was try to answer and/or solve the worlds problems.... funny how there are days that run like that...

Today was non stop decorating... ok so lets all sing.... It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..... or should that be Deck the Halls with balls of holly.... lol.... we are getting the tree on tuesday and it will go up friday! WOOHOO!!

got new glasses today.... Woohoo I can see!!!

Two busy days in a row and many more to come! I picked up a small printing job on the side... I may just be able to clear the books in the black by the end of the month! Thanks the Universe for that! unfortunately that means that Christmas will be slim pickins.... especially with the family coming up! that has really stretched things to the max financially... but we'll all make it through... somehow!

Chatted with a slave friends this morning.... I am so looking forward to moving closer to civilization! Getting involved with the leather community will be a great change of pace!

today was a busy day ... a lot of little things have been put into motion for the Christmas season...
Preparations for Christmas gifts are planned, scheduled and started... that's the biggest hurdle over and done with! now it's staying true to the journey and on schedule...

Filled up my Ipod with Christmas stuff... only have 30 gig left lol! I love that little thing...

well... Ho Ho Ho! it's off to work I go!

Today has been an good day for more reasons than one... First was mom And dad's 55th wedding anniversary... hard to believe they've been together for that long! WOW! Congrats Mom and Dad!
Second was the day itself... December 1st... World AIDS Day... It's too bad more people don't look at this day as being important... Today I took some afternoon time to visit a dear friend that lives with Aids every day... we sat and talked for a good couple of hours about everything ... where he was on his journey and where I am on my journey... it was great... Tonight I plan on spending some reflection time alone thinking about the many close friends that have passed due to HIV & AIDS... and the multitudes of people that still live every day with it....

So, If you read this on December 1st. 2008 Please take a few minutes of your busy day to stop and say a silent prayer for those that have gone and those that still live with HIV/AIDS.