Is is just me, or does this title fit a good portion of the people that post in the Rant & Raves? Personally, I am a Heterosexual Conservative, God-fearing Christian, but to each their own. Before you get all froggy & jump, I have many friends from all walks of life & that includes homosexual liberal.....well, I don't know any atheists.

Basically, I just wanted a reason to post this pic. Ya'll can Rant & Rave about it. Have fun & I'll enjoy reading.

Thank you MsDad for telling your story!!!

Now, if only people would listen to it and actually learn something from it! I always wonder what certain people would say to you after hearing your harrowing experiences. After all of that, would they still say "I'm sure you can choose to be straight."???

I wish more people who have had your experience would start making some noise about what they've been through. We need people like you to be vocal so thank you again for sharing your experience.

Well I'm a little confused here. You're talking about domestic things I know nothing of. I'm only into the perfecting it part. Setting a lovely table, making the perfect meal, dabbling in the fine arts for home and hobby. I really try not to get too involved in the drudgery part. I've always been very perplexed when I've observed Martha discussing the qualities of a linen soak. I thought we were just supposed to have fun with this. Whitening my linens is not my idea of a good time.

Green, you IRON? I NEVER iron. And I am not exaggerating. You can seriously harm a decent article of clothing with a hot iron. Trust me, I've tried it.

I had basically the same homemaking skills as you Green... me mum was a career woman and never taught me how to cook, clean or iron. Her mother never taught her (they had full time domestic help.) Unfortunately she married my very good-looking but very poor father. He pitched in by teaching her how to cook because his mom taught him. He was a pretty mamma's boy. But I must qualify the "how to cook" phrase only to include things like: country fried chicken with cream gravy, tons of big mashed and buttered potatoes, snap peas, cornbread and pies. Lots and lots of pies.

Hence my need for Martha to refine my skills so as to snag Mr. BJean and to get bailed out of my ultimate physical mess by the lap band.

Heck, who wouldn't want a good wife?

airwayman: No wonder you have a fondness for buying gifts. You obviously know where to shop. Upscale ladies lingerie, perhaps?

I thought we were just supposed to have fun with this. Whitening my linens is not my idea of a good time.

Did you know there are people who wash their pillows? Not pillow cases, but the actual pillows. I was honestly surprised to learn this. I always use mine for a (very) few months, then toss them. Of course, that probably speaks to the fact that I've never used a down pillow.

Did you know there are people who wash their pillows? Not pillow cases, but the actual pillows.

No thanks! I will just throw them away and buy new ones. I would much rather spend the money then deal with that. Ugh!

Nope, BJean, Green never, ever irons. She just thinks about it from time to time. But she also has problems with cooking fer more than one. This comes from years of living alone and after she and her mate hooked up they got into the habit of eating lunch in ethnic restaurants and making their own dinners to take to work. They both worked permanent afternoon shift, not being morning people.

Now that I am retired we still fend for ourselves and do eat at different times. We also eat different things. He was raised by a German mother and has a hankering for cold cuts. He also overcooks steak and lamb. I like my animals to still be squealing if I am going to eat meat at all. Otherwise it ain't worth it.

We do adore each other but we do live in a strange and quite unstructured fashion. Perhaps this is because we lived alone for some considerable period of time before we settled in together and perhaps it is because we are a pair of adults who have never been responsible for children and so have never really grown up. Anyhow, we are used to it and we like it. And it seems to work because even though we are often on such different time schedules we do seem spend a lot of time together chatting. And when we do feel that we really are losing sight of each other we arrange to go on a trip together.

The problem is that making a dinner for two people is still a big challenge for Green. The best dinner parties that I have ever had have been when I have had gay friends staying here. I think I need a gay husband is what!

Wheet: I discovered that both my DD and my DIL wash their pillows. When I revealed my surprise to my DD, she was aghast at the very idea that I have never washed a pillow in my whole life. She's shocked that she didn't die from pillow mite infestation or foam cootie bites. (We all have an aversion to duck feathers up our noses.) (I will probably get drummed out of the Martha Stewart Corps for that!)

I've washed my pillows before, but that's because I am incredibly picky about them and it's hard to find satisfactory replacements. Plus, I have history of having night sweats (so much fun at 23), so it is much cheaper to go to a laundromat every so often to wash them than it is to buy new ones and hope I like them.

Green: My DH's biggest complaint when I make soup (and almost anything else) is that I make enough for 20 people. He hates leftovers. I freeze the leftovers so as not to forget about the starving children in China (as me mum used to tell us) and they become like blocks of ice. Then when I bring too much home from the market that requires freezer storage and I'm out of space, I toss the ancient unidentifiable blocks of ice into the waste bin. Our pocketbooks would be much better served if we just ate out at nice restaurants all the time. I still have trouble not using 8 eggs in an omelet for two.

Yours and Mr. Green's co-existence sounds marvelous - except for the German cold cuts. I have a German friend who thinks that a gourmet meal always includes some kind of wurst. I grew up in Oklahoma where weiners were always followed by s'mores around the campfire.

Devana: Have I told you lately how jealous I am? Seriously it's great to read about your relationship with your sister. My sister and I were so close and so supportive of each other in every aspect of our lives. I miss her terribly. Count your blessings - although I know you do from your post!

The best dinner parties that I have ever had have been when I have had gay friends staying here. I think I need a gay husband is what!

Green, I hate to disappoint you, but not all of us Gay boys got that gene! While our house is decorated reasonably nicely, it will never be on the cover of a magazine. In fact, most of the time it could use a good cleaning. As for dinner parties, unless you count the Halloween party we had two years ago we've never hosted one. And guess what else? Neither of us know how to style hair or arrange flowers and neither of us has ever been in any musical theater productions! I can hear the collective gasp already... :biggrin1:

Green, I hate to disappoint you, but not all of us Gay boys got that gene! While our house is decorated reasonably nicely, it will never be on the cover of a magazine. In fact, most of the time it could use a good cleaning. As for dinner parties, unless you count the Halloween party we had two years ago we've never hosted one. And guess what else? Neither of us know how to style hair or arrange flowers and neither of us has ever been in any musical theater productions! I can hear the collective gasp already... :biggrin1:

Well, now that I know this I am certainly not going to propose to you! So there. To tell you the truth, one of my closest friends, gay, is a fabulous cook and a great host but keeps an absolutely filthy apartment. (You have to examine the cutlery before using it. And this is the private dwelling where I treat the toilet like a public toilet.) He wanted to invite my mum over and I told him that she had never been to the third world.

We sure don't all fall into stereotypes. Before I retired I was building aircraft and was a member of a powerful union. But I never liked country music, did have a subscription to the New Yorker for many years, and blah blah.... You get the picture. Though we can make gross generalisations - this is what sociology, demographics, marketing research, etc is all about - there are ever so many exceptions, aren't there?

Green: My DH's biggest complaint when I make soup (and almost anything else) is that I make enough for 20 people. He hates leftovers. I freeze the leftovers so as not to forget about the starving children in China (as me mum used to tell us) and they become like blocks of ice. Then when I bring too much home from the market that requires freezer storage and I'm out of space, I toss the ancient unidentifiable blocks of ice into the waste bin. Our pocketbooks would be much better served if we just ate out at nice restaurants all the time. I still have trouble not using 8 eggs in an omelet for two.

Yours and Mr. Green's co-existence sounds marvelous - except for the German cold cuts. I have a German friend who thinks that a gourmet meal always includes some kind of wurst. I grew up in Oklahoma where weiners were always followed by s'mores around the campfire.

BJean, I think I am falling deeply in love with you. I adore leftovers! and I adore a woman who makes a nice table. And you share my sense of humour and my politics. Let us and our hubbies all run away together, eh. We can go visit Carlene, Ms Dad, The Airwayman Dude, Wheets, Laurend, Lisah, TOM, and all the many others whom I have left out. Could be a bunch o fun, doncha think?

But we should visit the new lap banders first. They are the ones with the drugz.:heh:

To tell you the truth, one of my closest friends, gay, is a fabulous cook and a great host but keeps an absolutely filthy apartment. (You have to examine the cutlery before using it.)

Eww.

He wanted to invite my mum over and I told him that she had never been to the third world.

ROTFLMFAO!!! I have been to the third world and for the most part their toilets are actually pretty clean. Of course, they throw their used toilet paper into the trash (or onto the floor behind the toilet if there's no trash can) because their septic systems can't handle it. I won't say what country lest there be natives of said country among us... :guess