Green Thumb Green with Envy

They say a man's home is his castle. Well this manly man's home has green grass with pink and white flowers that receive entirely too much attention lately. I attribute this mainly to the wife and my social calendar now limping for activity when compared to 6 months ago when our cup runnneth over with you name it. But back to these days where  i'm   Beginning to think that I wasn't much of a "man" before I became a homeowner.  I really didn't take pride in how a home reflected me and my family. I considered my home as a place to pass out between long weekends and keep my electronics safe from outsiders. But now, my home has become my hobby. Particularly my front yard.  2 weeks ago I slaved (for lack of a better word for a black male working in the yard) for almost 6 hours planting new flowers in Miracle Gro soil and black mulch. All done voluntarily, FOR FUN. Example: I have on more than one occasion woke up at 5 something in the morning to fertilize my yard and prevent weeds. I'm a garden club member (for email and promotion reasons) at Calloway's Nursery. I'm obsessed with trying to get an awesome lawn. So much so that in an attempt to rid the yard of current weeds I accidentally grabbed a weed AND Grass killer which is what is currently giving the lawn a psychedelic cow pattern (pissed face). Regardless it's fun trying to get those patches back and staying on top of what I think will soon be considered one of the better yards in the neighborhood. Which brings me to another driver of my obsession...my next door neighbors. 

With sayings like "the grass isn't always  greener on the other side" I can't help but immediately think of my neighbors, who's grass and landscaping is greener & brighter and with less weeds. They moved in maybe 2 months before we did and have always seemed to be on top of their landscaping. So much so that they had the original sod mowed down to reseed it (I quickly followed suit less successfully). Come to find out the woman who lives there's  ex husband was a landscaper and she seems to have the greenest of thumbs. Allyson and I are both friendly with the next door neighbors and even more so me who is always trying to get the lowdown on the secrets of such a lush palatial spread of foliage. The secret... Miracle Gro...often. So with MY Calloway's formulas of slow release this and that and fertilizers of extra Nitrogen this and that I plan on somewhat giving them a friendly run for their money. Especially since I found out they have been hiring help.I just can't explain why their same flowers (mind you planted a month before mine) look like Barry Bonds needle partners. I'm calling for testing! Its Just Me Against the World... I feel like the 2 PAC of landscaping (a phrase most likely never uttered, ever). Fun hobby I picked up waiting for Mia to consume my time the back half of this summer. 

Before

(After) 

Notice the slightly greener grass next door

I'm going to place stones around the tree beds

 Playing in the dirt. No turning back

Damn Splotches!

'The Mia Network'

This year has been what I believe I will remember as the year my family's generations grew up and out. My sister in mid January gave birth to a beautiful handsomely headed (he got that good Puerto Rican hair) baby boy. In the last quarter of the year Allyson and I surprised ourselves with the news that we would be having our first child, Ms. Mia Lauryn. Besides the fact that she is MY little girl she will be the first female addition to the family since my 27 year old sister. That means in the past 13 years between my big brother and little sister I have had 6 nephews. Needless to say I was pprepared for a girl. Despite the fact my assumption of my baby's sex is far from sscientific in theory it is much stronger of a theory then my childhood logic of what determined a boy or a girl. CHILDHOOD THEORY: whichever of the two adults who enjoyed the sex the best "contributed" the most juices and THAT determined the sex of the child. But I digress. Between watching my sister become a mother and my nephews become teenagers and Allyson and I getting ready to put on the training wheels of parenthood I can't help but think what a difference a year makes. Contemplating have a child has already humbled me.

You see I have always been infected with this disease called 'escalation of commitment', better known as 'hard head'. Ask anyone if I don't believe that not only do I control my own fate regardless of circumstance but in most instances am capable of outperforming others when I make up my mind to expend the energy (pretty inflated). I don't get too stressed out about much and keep a cool head because "I got this". But now with Mia on the way I all of a sudden want BETTER THAN MY BEST effort for my little girl. I want people to pray for her, I want God to watch out for her, I want favor with her and for her and I don't want to think about her only having her parents to provide that. My baby needs a network! That's how I know I'm ready to love my little girl. I'll be honest the sonograms have lost their luster slightly (except for when she's dancing or doing somersaults). I finally can consistently feel her kick in Allyson's belly (Ally's all belly) and that's pretty cool, but I know there will be nothing like seeing her and making since of what I'll be to her. Like most men I have been mentally preparing for the passing of pearls of wisdom and the avoidance of shame geared towards raising a boy. So now I'm scrambling to figure how that best applies to a girl. What I do know is that after a family and friends ridden announcement party in February little Mia will be loved by more than just Allyson and myself. We are so grateful for what seems to be the overused cliche of  "family and friends" but its true. When you see the support like we have we can't take friendship for granted. One of our good friends paid for all of her custom bedding the minute we told them the news of the baby! That's huge.

Great Friends Gather to here the news.

In the mean time I'll be studying another great gift I received which is a  anecdote book on dads and daughters from a friend of ours. This will serve as the best head start I believe I can be
afforded as a new dad. I hear nothing but good things from these veteran fathers so I'm encouraged. And if my daughter loves me as much as my sister loves my dad I'm in the clear. It's only mid April and I'm already thinking what a difference 6 months makes, 3 more to go until everything changes.

HCG Worked for me!

By the time my wife gave into dating me in High school I was a slender 200 or less pound 2 sport athlete in size 32/34 waist jeans. By the time I asked her to marry me lets say I was a bit... hungrier? Somehow I managed to meet my wife and my most fit, go figure. I never have been a natural fit person and to boot I have never been successful with getting fit without the miracle of science. So after ballooning to what I considered my largest as the New Year passed I had to lean on whatever was the hottest craze for weight loss. In homage to the old Sprite commercial asking "whats my motivation?" i came across that easy after reviewing disks of family photos and facebook tags where I looked like I was holding a turkey leg behind my back and favored the worst Saturday night Live actor Keenan Thompson and less Usher Raymond. Iit was time for a change (no Obama reference intended). In highschool I was a product of Xenadrine with the original ephedra (you know the one that almost gave me a heart attack and forced me into use of an I-V during a football game from dehydration) and I saw

VS.

  saw incredible weight loss in 3 months time. The problem was it essentially revved my heart rate up to the point my necks heartbeat was bulging and I NEVER ate. Not a good way to establish "healthy habits". I am fond of activity and working out, but never mastered the art of a sensible diet. You know portion control and common sense (less pizza and cake and less upsizing). So after my mother in law and a good friend lost 25 plus pounds in 6 weeks time through a ritual of a strict diet and drops of pregnant womens urine (see link to webiste below) I figured what better way to start a New Year toward healthier habits!
 So HCG (http://www.hcgheadquarters.com/) is a 500 calorie daily diet that requires you to take hormone drops that mimick a womans pregnancy and curbs cravings and burns undesired fat from hard to get rid of places. It is followed over a course of 21 0r 42 days. I did the 42 day diet and loss 40+ pounds in 6 weeks! I have to have dropped at least 2 pants sizes. What's most important is it really help me put food intake and how I eat into perspective in regards to the amount and the choices I make. Things like not drinking calories, eating less in a sitting and simple self control have really stuck with me. I din't cheat once on this diet either! (save for a valentines dinner riddled with pasta personally prepared by a nosy chef. Long story).
Needless to say I am very proud of myself for showing such discipline in these 6 weeks. What I accomplished in my food choice is a big deal coming from a guy who grew up shutting down the buffett line. I felt energetic throughout  the diet and slept better than ever. Let me state " EATING 500 calories in not NATURAL FOR A MAN" 6 oz of meat total a day and half a grapefruit is why the make bikinis, men don't wear bikinis, but I needed to gain some respect by completing this diet. I am determined to continue to make better choices and hopefully the pressure of holding the stigma of one of those people who lost a bunch of weight and ATE it all back will keep me from falling into old habits. The biggest reward  of my weight loss may be buying a new suit for my brother in laws wedding  and the other 2 or 3 weddings we have left in the year for me to embrace my vain obsession of clothes and dressing. A generally new wardrobe is in order as well. I can now fit in those european cut H&M shirts my wife always made frightful faces at. All in all despite controversy of the diet and skeptiscism of the science I can attest to a 40 plus weight loss, better eating habits, discipline and a manual to live with (gluten free is a big deal). Now that I've lost so much weight its time to start tipping the scale closer to the Usher side, don't hold your breath Allyson!

Askmen.com: 12 Days to a Better Man

http://www.askmen.com/

We've all met people that we instantly like and want to get to know more or do business with."

 Askmen.com is doing a series of "How To" articles and informative sections on How to be a better man in various ways. No these instructions don't so much focus on the inner workings of a man and it is more aesthetic and vain in its nature than lessons from the Bible or the Dalai Lama, but its what most people want when it comes to the tools to achieve a desired lifestyle. With Sections like, "The Art of Taking Over a Room" and "Proven Ways to Impress Your Boss"  the articles are strong resources for putting yourself in to position to have a more successful 2011. Enjoy...


That means show up last without being late, and always smile like you just did something mischievous...

Putting Stock in Experience

I took a recent vow to myself to FORCE my wife and I to enjoy more experiences together. Anyone who knows us knows that we have accumulated our fair share of "stuff".This would.t be  a concern of mine but for decisions to pass on the college experience of leaving the metroplex, the decision to pass on a long and rewarding search to find our first new house instead building so quickly, and our inability to participate in any  impromptu trips. All of these experiences were replaced by nice TV's, clothes etc. Well I had an epiphany! I suddenly realized that those things make for crappy framed pictures and we have none on our walls. So I decided as a way to get our feet wet we would start first with my new hobby of lawn maintenance and landscaping. Scoping Calloway's and Hardware stores for winter flowers and pots we began to get a small education in what we needed and what we need to know about successfully changing our landscaping. Next on my list was a tour of the Dallas Cowboys new stadium. The tour comes with a picture and something we can look back on doing together. That activity is pending as is a free trip we won for letting an EZ Water rep invade my home and hold Allyson and I hostage for over 2 hours (long story). Let's see how this goes because are walls are looking empty and this TV only holds other peoples experiences. I need my own reality reel. To be continued...

Christmas Starts on the Roof

Both Pissed and slightly petrified high a top an 8ft ladder I throw down the strand of lights in my hand, red and clear bulb glass everywhere, doing my best not be what my mother in law calls "being ugly" to my wonderful wife.  That was the scene an hour and a half  into a new Combs tradition, hopefully minus the shattered glass and frustration. In line step with many firsts this year for my wife an I, as new home owners we (more my wife) decided to embark on the tradition of hanging Christmas lights. We have done this previous years on a much smaller and less dangerous scale at our past apartments where scaling the side of the roof was not an option or consideration. But now the opportunity has presented itself and well you guessed it, too late for Halloween I'll playing spider man for Christmas! So the plan was  to do a red and white themed Christmas exterior (my language during the project was colorful enough) that involved me climbing on the roof of our home and meticulously positioning our lights to the satisfaction of my wife's expectations.  This would be slightly less eventful if I didn't HATE heights. How much do I not enjoy heights, Example, I considered the Bobsled and Mini Mine Train at Six Flags so thrilling that it took the "love conquers all" heart tug of my wife's big blue beautiful eyes to even get me to attempt a larger roller coaster at the age of 20! Now its 2010 and here I am 7 years later with The Batman roller coaster, judge Roy Scream, and The Flashback under my belt crawling up the side of my roof. Why? For two reasons, reason number one, I love my wife and want to prove she can count on her man. Number two, I know for a fact a friend and several other neighbors had climbed their roofs, and me hiring someone was not an option as a two scrotum carrying male. So I braved the project with a slow pace warming up to the height of the roof while still accurately installing our lights. I used these new shingle clips as opposed to traditional stapling of the lights which saved me precious inches when installing the lights.Inches from a slip and broke you name the bone. Fast forward to the job  complete with chest and head held high Allyson and I discovered our original mapping out of the lights had been "changed" due to our urgency to finish.  Here's the fun part, we managed to not only position the lights end to not use the PAID FOR AN ADDED OUTLET built into the roof with the house but we had 2 FEMALE ENDS left to connect for power. For those of you who don't know what that means try to plug in both flat ends of an extension chord and tell me what happens. With this new circumstance at hand a refulsal by me to rectify the issue (HELL NO I'M NOT GOING BACK UP THERE) I head to the local hardware store to see if I can make 2 male ends safely relieve me of embarrassment frustration and "being ugly". Well I came to the realization that they don't MAKE adaptors that can achieve what I needed (which means I can't say it happens enough to other people) so I was shown how to make it one. So I successfully and safely made the 2 male ended electric adaptor before my wife got home. Saving me from a safety speech and her cringing looks of distrust and fright but instead received her excited expression when she her eyes saw her perfectly straight illuminated Christmas lit home. That's one more win in the experiences of 2010 category.  

Date Night: Basketball and Chinese

This past Saturday after 7 plus days off  in a row from an extended vacation I found myself trying to pry Allyson off the couch and into a whirlwind of motivation to finish the week strong on what we had yet to accomplish. The main project to tackle was Christmas decorating. For some reason I was more amped to get it done and over with than she was, and there is nothing like rallying the troops to help you do a project for them that YOU don't look forward to doing. it seems the day would be full of errands and slow starts with her and I picking at each other as we go through waves of frustration and enthusiasm.

Errand #1: Hobby Lobby. After purchasing specialty clips to hang the exterior Christmas lights we decided to take them back because I wasn't OK with trying a "No Ladder' system of hanging lights with an 11ft. pole (BAD). So on the way in to the store I get a call from one of my life long buddy's who calls to tell me not only does he have Dallas Mavericks tickets for Allyson and I on a Saturday night but it for the coveted Miami Hear game. The most talked about team in sports that comes but once to Dallas all year, 16 rows from the court (took the above picture from the seats and was about three quarters of full zoom), for FREE! What a surprise since Allyson and I were just pricing tickets the night before and speaking about how we weren't willing to part with a mortgage payment to enjoy the game in descent seats. What a blessing! Basketball was my first love and I love anything that has to do with it on any level especially a live NBA game with Wade and Lebron! While Allyson's enthusiasm was on par with mind I can't say the motivation was the same. She is a HUGE fan of Mr. Dwayne Wade (not for his ability to get to the basket but more standing at the free throw line, just standing). So what was once an uneventful Saturday with our extended vacations drawing to an end had now turned into a full fledged date night with the wife. We had a great time and really enjoyed each other with us both taking shifts on the 3 B's, basketball, beer, and the bathroom, oh and people watching. People watching is very fun lower level at a sporting event. People watching sometimes will get you hit in the leg if you watch the wrong people, or at least accused of it. Allyson also managed to sit in the unofficial Dwayne Wade cheering section where we were position between 3 black girls who were competing with Allyson for Wade's attention that night (Ally was more of a fan of them then them her) :). After the game was over we made an ashamed late night stop at PF Chang's and ate like it was 6:30 in the evening. But it was nice since the restaurant was very low key and pretty empty. We talked and laughed and got full. I bet for most its not often enough we get dressed with our spouses and enjoy a true date night dressed and smelling good just for each other. My date looked great that night! Of course it makes easier when you have the hottest ticket in town...for FREE! Great night