The Move

Okay blogging friends, I'm doing the best I can here. My computer is working VERY slow as I am "borrowing" a wireless connection from my neighbors and it has a "low" signal, making is slow go for uploading mass amounts of pictures to Flickr.

But here is our move story in pictures:


This is the day we got the keys and HG opened the door for the first time. I wanted to carry her over the threshold, but she wouldn't let me! We wanted to go over and rid the house of "boy energy" before we moved in. I don't think I mentioned that we bought the house from a gay couple, we like the gay energy, just not the boy energy!


Here I am smudging the house with cedar, white sage, and some other crystal type incense that smelled really good. We let it burn in the middle of the house, downstairs and upstairs, and smudged with the white sage in every room and every corner. (boy energy knows how to hide places...)

Empty, clean house. This is the dining room looking into the living room.

Me in the kitchen looking hugely fat. Since being with HG I have gained about forty to fifty pounds. Luckily she likes me however I am.

HG is so freakin cute!

It's moving day!

We know how to start the day off right! Unfortunately these bloody mary's were NOT made by Hottie Mama (HG's Mama.) They were pretty good though!

God bless movers.

Right after the movers left, our friend Darcy brought us pizza and beer, and our first housewarming card!

Ginger and Abby came to the new house later that first day. They were quite excited sniffing everything. Here Ginger just looks confused.

Pictures from this morning:
Shelly came over yesterday and helped us unpack. My goal was to get all of the boxes out of the downstairs, which I achieved thanks to her. Of course I had to listen to teasing from she and HG about how many sets of matching salt and pepper shakers I have. Don't those silly girls know that you need a set for each guest at your dinner party? Not to mention the ration of shit I got for my gold charger plates. Kami, help a girl out here?
Dining Room:

Into the Living Room:

Kitchen:

Yes, those are post-it notes labeling where I want everything to go in the cabinets. I also labeled every room with one as well as all of the furniture, (for the movers.) Yes, I know, don't even say it.

That's it for now. You'll have to wait for the upstairs. The family room is about done, but the bedrooms and the office are a hellacious mess. Goal today: Put away my damn clothes that are all over the closet on the floor and in baskets!

Finally I must make a shout out to new readers. First, my soon-to-be-mother-out-law and my soon-to-be-sisters-out-law. I do crazy things when I drink tequila in Mexico, like give out the name of my blog to people that I SHOULD be being on my best behavoir with. One promise I will make: I will not draw ANY diagrams, charts, or graphs explaining who I am. I will, however, blog about it to the entire civilized world with an internet connection.

Second, to my sweet friend Lauren and her sweet husband Spencer and their sweet baby Ella. They were one of my favorite couples when I was a doula and I found their blog by googling myself, (remember, I'm a narcissist.) They moved far away to Missouri, so I am excited to keep in touch with them again through the blog world. Maybe someday soon, I'll write a post about them!

That's all for now, Shangie is bringing us lasagna later and my Mom is cutting out of work early to come over to see us. The sun is shining in Portland and we are looking forward to another great day!
(I know, it's just gross how chipper and happy I am...)

Whew!

We're exhausted. And unfortunately Jess, it's NOT from breaking in all of the rooms, (we only managed to get to two so far...) HG says not to worry, we have eleven years in this house.

Our house is BEAUTIFUL (although the walls are white, something soon remedied.) I know that the death threats are on their way to see pictures and I promise I will find the camera and upload some later today. Promise, really.

The downstairs is almost without boxes, but the upstairs. Oh my. It's getting there, a little at a time. I find myself getting distracted and forgetting what task I was doing and then I end up in the garage, looking around and thinking, "wow, this is a fucking mess."

If I didn't say it before, let me just state it for the record. HG rocks my world and she is the most awesome, absolutely fabulous girfriend in the history of all girlfriends, (all girlfriends, not just mine...) I came home from work on Sunday evening and she had unpacked, cleaned, vacuumed, mopped, computers set up, etc, etc, etc. Let me tell you how many times that has happened in my life in the past. . . hmm, let me think here, oh, okay, now I know. . .
NEVER.
I heart her.

The move went well, although the movers had to make severall trips which took a lot longer than it should have, (nine hours with three guys moving.) They were pretty good though, and quite entertaining to watch. Although it was exhausting watching them and telling them where to put things while drinking a beer. Honestly, it was hard, mind stressful work!

I promise to post pictures, really I do. Thanks so much for the well wishes and congratulations. It's been a bit stressful, but worth every second of it.
Until later,
Ciao, y'all.

A Public Service Announcement From Shangie!

Hello all.

***Recovering Straight Girl and her Hot Girlfriend are moving into their new house & can't come to the blog right now...please leave a message & they will get back to you when they can:)***

Actually...they will not have internet access for several days & she can't blog.

I'm sure she will have pictures of the new house when she posts next.

We are going to go check out the new place in a couple of days ... We can't wait to see it.

Congratulations Recovering Straight Girl & HG:)

~Shangie

Happy Homeowners!

Yesterday HG and I signed our lives away. We are now the proud owners (well, after thirty years of payments,) of our beautiful home together.

We get the keys tomorrow at five and move in Saturday morning.

Woo-hoo.

And yes, despite Shelly's vicous rumor that I hadn't started packing (I hadn't,) I have been packing my little heart out; probably about half way there and a few more trips to the Goodwill.

Fitting the mold, molding the fit

HG and I went to see Kate Clinton perform on Saturday. She was very entertaining and we had a fabulously wonderful time together, as we always do. Kate Clinton is a lesbian comedian who is celebrating 25 years of doing comedy. One of her more famous lesbian jokes is:

Question: What does a lesbian bring to a second date?
Answer: A U-Haul.

So true in so many cases. Why, do you ask? Well, I believe that it has something to do with the deep connections that women are able to make with eachother that isn't confused with all of the game playing and courting rituals that so many men and women do with eachother. Women, also tend to listen and follow their hearts and may not abide by conventional practical, pragmatic, "rules" of dating and courtship.

That is certainly the case with HG and I.
We have been madly in love with eachother since our very first date, and we been together every day and practically every night since then.

We're such typical lesbians.
I hate being pigeonholed into a stereotype,
but if the Birkenstock fits, I guess you need to wear it.

There's only one difference with HG and me that is very different from the joke.
There will be NO U-Hauls in this relationship;

Willamette Valley Moving Company with three big guys at $95.00 per hour will be arriving on Saturday morning to move us both out of our respective homes and into the home that we are purchasing together.

Yes, tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM, HG and I become the proud owners of a beautiful home where we will spend the next eleven years in, (after that, we will downsize...)

Saturday we begin our life together as a couple.

Sickeningly sweet, isn't it?

Happy Easter!

Christ the Lord has risen today...
Okay, not really but I really like that hymn.

I enjoy Easter. It's right around my birthday and it's all about new dresses, shiny shoes, flowers and candy; what could be nicer? This year is my year with the girls, that combined with the fact that I am also sharing it with the love of my life and my mother and brother, it's a good day.

Life goes through ebbs and flows of good times and bad, happy and sad.

We all experience hard times in our lives and make sacrifices to set examples or because we're following our heart of what the right thing is to do. Easter is a great story example about following your heart, doing what you feel is right, standing up for what you believe in, and ultimately making a huge sacrifice for that belief.

Whatever sacrifices or hard times that we go through in our lives, we have a great opportunity to get through it and then "resurrect" from that difficulty. We posses the gift of being able to pick ourselves up and become better, more perfect people; able to look back at that difficulty and realize that we are better for it.

Yes, it's easier said than done at times, but the opportunity always exists in our hearts, our minds, our souls, and our lives. It's up to us to decide what we choose to do with it.

Happy Easter Day to all of my Blogging Friends. I heart all of you and wish you much love and reflection today. I hope that you are able to looks at the times in your lives that you have felt "crucified" and found the strength and the grace in yourself to "resurrect" from that situation. Or perhaps you have or will in the future find yourself in the position to be able to help someone else who has felt beaten, betrayed, and hung out to die. Perhaps you will be their faithful servant, much like the beloved friend of Jesus', Mary Magdalene, and you will stand by their side, loving them.

I wish you all love and Peace.


And chocolate bunnies, of course!

An open letter

Dear Anyone Financially Dependent on Another Person:

DON'T DO IT.

Yes, you may have a "partnership." You may have an agreement about what is best for your family, you may think and talk about "sacrifices" and helping one or the other achieve individual sucess which will benefit both of you. You may think you have some security in that; even if something happens to dissolve your "partnership." (And believe me, ANYTHING could happen.)

Guess what?

You don't have shit.

Because as soon as money is involved; there is no such thing as keeping promises or "agreements." Even if those promises and agreements are legally binding, court ordered, or signed by a judge.

You could easily be fucked.

I was a Stay-At-Home-Mom for almost ten years. I know a lot of you out there are as well.
I certainly don't regret being there for my children when they were young, but I made a huge sacrifice.

What I DO regret is putting myself in a terribly vulnerable position being dependent on another person for the "greater good of our family," and giving up the best career building years of my life, to keep the home and raise the children, while someone else built their career.

I was a stupid, stupid woman, and if I could go back and do it over again; I would do things very, very differently. I would not lose my independence, I would not make those same sacrifices, and I certainly wouldn't trust my "partner" to look after my best interests and the interests of our family. I would look after MY best interest, just like he has, and continues to do so today.

For all of my friends who are SAHM's:
Be very, very, mindful of what I said. I know it flies off the tongue to say, "Oh, I'd take him to the cleaners..." well, girlfriends, that only works as long as he doesn't change his situation which will then change yours. You can't count on any of that, so don't lull yourself into a false sense of security thinking that you can. Just be mindful.

Before any of you fuckhead trolls even dare to comment some shit like, "Well, RSG, you chose to leave your relationship, blah, blah, blah fucking blah."
Save it.
And I'll just say "fuck off" before you even have a chance to say anything.

And so I end my open letter.

Warmest regards,


RSG

There has never been a time in my life that I have ever been happier. As a matter of fact; I don't think I have every KNOWN happiness until this time in my life. Yes, I have things that I still need to work out and through in my life but I feel for the first time in a very long time completely capable of working out and through all of those things.

There are people in my life that feel that I have achieved happiness at the expense of others. I guess my question is. . . if I hadn't made some of the choices in my life that did indeed hurt other people, it would be at MY expense. Why do they think that their happiness is more important than mine? And were they really happy? Or was it just an illusion of a comfort zone or place that just seemed happy, because I know I WASN'T happy. How could they have been happy if I wasn't happy? Doesn't that seem a little fucked up?

Sometimes when you get away from a situation or feelings you're able to have perspective of just how not so good it was.

That's me right now.

Far away from everything and everyone who ever hurt me; surrounded by people who love and support, honor and cherish me every single fucking day.

I fail to see what is wrong with that.