Tio

In my life I have been one of the lucky ones who has had many constants as a foundation for who I am. My mother, grandparents, aunt, and three uncles all contributed to my well being. My partner, brother, and good friends came later and became a part of this foundation. In recent weeks I have been thinking alot about one of them . My uncle Rick. He is the strong willed heir to the head of the family table. When anyone speaks of good men his name comes to my mind. He has worked all his life to maintain his family in the strong tradition he was raised with; never one to stay in the background ,but upfront voicing his beliefs. Because of this I believe in him. What makes him strong is the fact that he does not know how strong he is. Uncle Rick's contribution to my life is one many people do not know. I looked to him as prime example of what a father should be when my own was not around. He is the man at the family gatherings who brings laughter to everyone around him. He stood by me when I came out and accepted the man I now call my partner. He shed tears when I moved away letting me know I was important to him.He is always quick witted, with a cigar hanging out of his mouth, a smile on his face, and a hug ready to greet you with. I think about him now so that he knows I am. I think about all my family, but tonight I focus my thoughts on him. Love you Tio.

The power of Christ compells you!

I am once again on a diet. Everybody knows this is not easy. I'm eating sensibly, exercising and drinkng lots of water. However, during my mother's visit I bought a lemon cake for all of us to eat. Nobody touched it. My partner left for his trip last week and my mother left the same day. After a full weekend of heavy meals, i decided to get back on the wagon while he was gone. Well the other night I was in bed after a full day of low calorie meals. My stomach began to grumble, it was already one in the morning, I said to myself, self, you can wait for breakfast. Then as if an entity possessed my body I floated to the kitchen ripped open the cake container and with bare hand and all began to devour a chunk of cake. No knife, no plate, no fork, just my hand. I strugged with the entity that possessed me. I began to pray, I said hail marys, and I'm not even catholic. The next morning I awoke full and tired, and a couple of pounds heavier.

I's Married Now

My little sister finally snagged herself a man. She plans to wed in California where she is living. She is a very beautiful and intelligent girl and I am very happy for her. My partner and I are planning to fly down for the wedding. She is getting married on the beach, so I have informed her if she does I will be wearing a speedo. She has threatened me with security. Seriously though from what I hear he is a great guy and patient, he would have to be. I love you little sister.

Chicken in Bed

Well today I jumped in and decided to cook a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa. 40 cloves of garlic chicken. It is currently baking. I will say I normally do not like her because she seems like a cooking snob. Her recipes are great as long as you use " the good stuff". Now Rachel Ray theres another story. She is more my speed. Easy and quick. While I'm on this subject have any of you ever watched Sandra Lee, I might as well order a pizza add a little grated cheese and tell everyone I made it. This would normally not bug me, but she has made alot of money opening cans. I'm just jealous. As for an update I lost the bed war last night, my partner read my blog and intentionally hogged the bed, he refused to budge. I've decided to sleep on the couch in protest until he moves to his side of the bed. Yes this could backfire and he may prefer it, but at least I'll get to spread out.

My mother and step-father visited last weekend from Texas. It has been nearly two months since I last saw them. It was a wonderful visit. We went to all the Chicago tourist stops. We drank until we could not walk and talked about all the latest gossip. It was wonderful to see family. I come from a very tight knit one so those of you who can relate realize what a big change moving here has been for me. All my family still live in Texas, I am the only one not there. I believe I am going to start a campaign one at a time to get them to move here. My mother is seriuosly talking about it. Along with her and my step-father I may have an uncle on the fence. Wish me luck.

One of my best friends along with my partner convinced me to create a blog. Now I am hooked. I feel the need to save some unsuspecting novice cook out there the dangers of turkey bacon. I have been cooking alot latley for my partner, and he seems to like it. One exception was my meatloaf experiment. He loves my chipotle meatloaf so I make it often. However the other night I decided to use ground turkey to make it healthier. This was fine until I got the bright idea to crumble turkey bacon in with it. It smelled wonderful coming out of the oven, but when I cut into it the knife almost broke. I said to myself, self,its fine it will still taste good. Anyways I served it. It tasted like a salt lick. All the turkey bacon salt absorbed into the loaf. My partner not wanting to hurt my feelings simply said, " its different ". Hes sweet. It sucked We did not finish it, instead we opted just to eat the veggies I had prepared. Note to self if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Lucky Me

I am one of the lucky ones when it comes to relationships. Especially gay ones. My partner is a giving man. He compliments me daily and he takes good care of me. I hope I do the same for him. He is handsome, 6'4, blue eyes, somewhat blond hair ( I'll tell you about the hair dye incident later) and faithfull. We talk about everything, he is my best friend. We fight like any good couple, but we also forgive. I in contrast am short, black hair ( whats left of it) brown eyes, and according to him handsome. I'm not a troll by any means, but I have my issues. Anyways, we moved to Ill because of work. We are both trying to make friends and adjust. I found that some gay relationships are open and a mess. Ours in not. I came out when I was twenty-five and it was the best thing I ever did. Although at the moment he is yelling at me for not filling the ice tray. He is a great guy. Today we plan to go out for a while. We relaxd all weekend because of his lomg trip, so we are going to have fun today.

It's all about me

Well guys from my previous posts you probably think I'm a shallow guy. That pretty much sums it up. Just kidding. I figured with all the hardships and things going on in the world you might just want to read the superficial rantings of a stranger. It has been my experience that everyone has a story, they are all different but the same. Broken homes, abuse, financial issues, relationship issues, the war, etc. This is just my way of focusing on things that are not serious. I will post serious issues and opinions from time to time, but for now lets just have a laugh.

Don't Pee on my leg and tell me its raining

Here in Chicagoland life is good. The weather has been incredible. Sunny skies and a cool breeze has been the norm until recently. While my partner was gone a severe storm system hit Illinois. I'm talking about heavy wind and rain, lightning, and thunder. I found out that our apartment leaks when it rains hard. So I spent Wednesday and Thursday running around laying down towels and pitchers to catch the rain. At one point the sky grew very dark and tornado sirens went off, at first it was okay, I come Texas where this happens monthly, but then the sky grew almost black. I put on my shoes, leashed the dog, and kept my eye on my cat ready to run to the resturant basement in case something happened. I called my beloved who I know thought I was overreacting to tell him of my plight. I stood in the living room ready to run. My mind was racing! Would all my clothes be ruined? Should I take them with me? If I do I would have to leave some behind. How would I choose? My beautiful boots, or my leather sandles? My favorite black polo, or the white one? It would be like choosing which child to save. I resigned myself to let them all go, if something happened. I could not choose, but then it was like God heard me. The sky began clear and we were saved. Yes I am superficial, so you don't have to tell me, but thats what makes me.....ME.

Sleeping single in a double bed

My partner recently came back from his trip, and I am very happy. Thats a good sign after 3 years. I still get excited to see him. I will say though that while he was gone he grew an affinity for sleeping in the middle of the bed. This was a habit I had broke him of a couple of years ago when I awoke clinging to the edge of the mattress and he was spread out like a bed spread. Now I must train him all over again. Its up to him weather he wants to make it easy or hard. I am not opposed to pushing him onto the floor. Pair this with our dog Misty sleeping at the end of the bed, I believe I may have to take drastic measures. I know he can't help it, after all he is asleep, but I am growing tired of waking up in a fetal position holding on for dear life. I think if I am able to keep Misty off the bed the first battle will be won. Next I believe I will have to take the middle part of the bed when I first lay down. If I hold steady and do not budge, I will succeed in keeping him on his side, but there is a trick. We cuddle before we seperate to our sides, that is how he manipulates the bed, he is very savy.So my plan is to cuddle with him while he is on his side before he reaches over to me, that way I have the upper hand when we seperate. I will let you know how it works.

Like a ton of bricks

I have been in Chicago for 2 months now. I moved here from Texas with my partner Dalton. It has been an adjustment. I was born in 1977 in Michigan and was rasied for 28 years in Dallas. Now I find myself back north. My gifted partner was promoted fairly quickly with his company and I being the devoted husband of nearly three years followed. It has been interesting to say the least. Chicago is a wonderful city, with wonderful opportunities, if I could only move all my friends and family from the south here things would be perfect. There lies the adjustment part. Dalton recently went on a week long business trip leaving me all alone for the first time in my new city. He encouraged me to go out to a bar and meet new friends. I went out one night and met two new people. They were nice, we got drunk and I fell at the club. It was the result of too much alcohol, darkness, and charma. Yes, I laugh when others fall down ( if they're not hurt of course) it is just humerous to me. Well as you can imagine I was embarrassed, but not till the next morning when I woke up and realized what had happened. I was too drunk that night to care. Can you imagine, every little prissy queen who saw me fall, and how they laughed and told the story to thosse who were not there. I would have done the same. I've decided to go back to that same club and trip a queen, this way I can feel better knowing I will not be the only one who faced such embarrasment. And you thought Leona Helmsley was dead.