Tag: projects

A Deck of a Mess

Jamal Miller

Home ownership is the most frustrating thing at times. Our only goal today was to pressure wash our deck and clear it of old paint the weather had already begun to peel up. The plan was simple: Get to Home Depot right when the tool rental counter opened, pressure wash the deck, and return the washer with plenty of time to spare within our 4-hour rental window.

I don’t like housework that involves anything on the outside of the house. When it comes to the inside of the house and decor, it’ll always be on and poppin’, clean and sparklin’. Both our moods shifted when we realized this was going to take longer than we’d planned.

The plan never goes like it should, though. S and I of all people should know this with all the adventure we’ve had with our condo already. The tip we needed, for the spray nozzle,  to make the most progress removing the paint was broken. Not wanting to waste too much time, we immediately packed the washer up and returned to the store.

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We didn’t know the tip was the issue before the customer service rep tested our machine and the replacement in the store. Deep down we were thankful, because on the car ride over, we both thought “If something is wrong with our water pressure and this house, we will rage.” We ended returning home with our original rental and a new tip.

Sadly, the new tip made no difference in the rate at which the paint was coming off the deck. We imagined the paint would just fly off as the water made contact, but this was far from the case. S and I spent a good amount of time switching roles on the project. Scraping and spraying, we longed for larger pieces of paint to come up, but found we were barely making any progress. Our good friend, Google, ended up informing us that the machine we’d rented from Home Depot was only half the power required to execute a project like ours.

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This made sense. Why in the hell were we spending ten or more minutes spraying one spot, only to see a speck of paint chip off at a time? This couldn’t be right. We confirmed gas pressure washers were stronger, but were also instructed not to go that route because there’d be a high risk of damaging our deck. S called his dad and we’ll be borrowing his pressure washer next weekend. It’s the right amount of power, and our deck isn’t huge, so we should be able to get the work done in a decent amount of time.

Sigh… maybe we can hire some eye-candy to do this for us. Probably not, but a dude can wish, can’t he?

Adulting: It’s the little things.

Jamal Miller10 Comments

A couple weekends ago, S and I cleaned up the garage in hopes of using it on a regular basis.  The garages in our complex run on the smaller side – leaving only enough room to squeeze your car inside right in front of your washer/dryer – so Tanya should fit perfectly.


When we first moved into the place, the garage was mainly used as storage and the garage door openers didn’t work. The washer and dryer are in there and we’ve always managed to keep things fairly organized. At the start of summer we’d hit organizing hard in this area, so getting my wheels parked inside was way easier than anticipated.


When you stay as busy as S and I do, it can be difficult to find motivation to get into any project around the house. Thankfully, we’d done the bulk of the decluttering in the garage some months back, and now we can utilize the space just in time for the cold months. Betty the Bucket – my old car – had an autostart and Tanya doesn’t, so we’re pretty psyched about this (haha).

What’s next on the list? Getting some pictures on the walls and more decorating inside.

Ceiling Fan Thoughts 

Jamal MillerLeave a comment

(Written using the Flowstate app, 5 min setting.)

What’s on my mind? Headphones on, I lay here playing with music options and staring at the fan go ’round above me. I’m thinking about how I need to get out of this lazy funk I’ve been in lately. It’s not even cold outside, yet, so I can’t blame winter. Work life has calmed down, although S still has a little bit of school left. I can’t wait until that’s done. I’d like to have my hubs back, please.
I’ve taken some time off from posting on the blog. That’s mostly because I’ve had to evaluate how much I’d like to have on my plate. I started the blog as a way to keep my writing chops polished and conditioned; experiment with my voice and see how I developed. This was only to help me prepare for the writing of a book I’ve had outlined since 2010.
Now the blog is becoming a life of its own. What to do? I may need to consider taking time away from one project – that’s obviously not the blog. I can still write and work on the book, but that production is about to slow down. Juggling too much at once could harm my intended goals more than aid them. I wonder what this will turn into; Gays in the Life. I’m anxious to see.

Y E A R O N E .

Jamal MillerLeave a comment

It’s been one year since I posted Sparks on Gays in the Life – my first post for the blog. Where did the time go?! I’m so happy with the progress I’ve made, amazed at the unexpected lessons I’ve learned through each post, and stunned that people actually still read this little project of mine.

So much has happened in the past year, and it’s been a welcomed creative challenge to keep the ideas fresh and flowing. I appreciate all of you so much, and thank you for your time and attention. Your presence as an audience keeps me motivated, and the result has been the production of forty-seven posts on Gays in the Life to date; there are fifty-two weeks in a year. I hope all of my readers have been able to apply every message that’s been downloaded into each entry, grown with me (and S), and have learned a little more about our everyday lives as a pair of husbands.

Some highlights within the past year include: Reaching a number of communities with GITL, learning more about myself and my husband (through planning each entry), hitting almost two-hundred views in one day, collaborating with fellow bloggers, our first marriage anniversary, NATIONAL MARRIAGE EQUALITY, substantial growth professionally, getting our puppy, and yes… FINALLY starting my book.

Most of me still wonders how I actually managed keep up with the blog, a fairly busy life, and a number of hopeful side projects I have stored in my head; why can’t I just pick one thing and stick with it? I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every brainstorming session, editing hour, and growing the project with each week. I wholeheartedly believe that none of this would be possible without any of you. If you’ve read one, or all, of my post(s)… thank you. If you’ve shared any entry with a friend or your followers… thank you.  And if you’re currently reading this jumbled mess of thanks… THANK you.

Love,

J.