Helping mom shop

Helping mom shop
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

No story. Lisa just sent me this and I thought it was hecka cute so I had to share it...

Start of Spring '09

Finally a dog-proof gas grill!
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

Lisa and I had a nice weekend. Friday after work, I stopped by Lowes with a battle plan to resurrect our gas grill. The one where the dog ate the propane hose and the ignition button. I'd already bought a new hose, but I needed to find a way to protect the hose from his clutches, and I did. An hour of walking back and forth between the BBQ department and galvanized pipe department at Lowes, I'd created it: a collection of 1" pipe fittings that would perfectly latch onto the hole on the side of the BBQ and curve up to the gas inlet underneath the side-burner. Another hour later and we were home laughing at Marley knowing he couldn't touch the hose any longer!

Saturday her dad and Olaya wanted to be able to spend some time with the baby so we headed up to Galt in the late morning. We visited a while with her grandparents; her grandpa was there to help lay a concrete foundation for a fence they were putting around the pool pump. All doing well.

Later, leaving the baby with Olaya, we had a spectacular lunch at Macaroni Grill: salad, entrees, wine, dessert, coffee... the whole enchilada. It was one of those sublime meals you don't want to leave from. Afterwards we went to the UnitedArtists16 theater in Elk Grove and watched Nicolas Cage's latest film, Knowing which was really great as well.

So then Sunday Lisa had a work meeting early in the morning and I went shopping for the BBQ we were planning for the evening. Mikey and Lindsay came over with Ayden. We all had a good time catching up. The BBQ worked great and made kick ass burgers and cheesy sausages. It's always interesting seeing Ayden and getting the preview of what Andrew's going to be like in two years. Yikes! :o)

Birthday weekend blitz...

I had a great birthday weekend. It's been nice having Cathy come and stay with us for the weekend, having the extra helping hands taking care of the baby and such. Lisa took her back to Manteca this morning where her, Justin and Andrew are spending the day. Justin gets the next two weeks off from school, which is also Lisa's last two weeks of work off.

Saturday night Lisa and I got to have dinner at Rosewood with Mike and Jennifer. I had a rockin' French Dip sandwich with garlic fries and probably more wine than I really needed. :o) Back at home we played some Apples to Apples before hitting the sack.

Then Sunday Lisa and I enjoyed a day at the spa. She had received a gift certificate for Wine & Roses spa for Christmas and so she scheduled us for a couples massage. We'd never been to this spa before but it was really great. They had locker rooms with everything you could want including swimsuit driers and steam in the showers. They had two hot tubs outside, a steam room, and a Tranquility Room with cushioned chairs, granola and water to chill out in. It was great; a little pricey, but highly recommended!

After the spa, we wanted to take advantage of Cathy being in town one last time, and we took Justin out to see a movie. We saw Race to Witch Mountain starring The Rock. For being a kids show, it was actually really good, and kept us on-the-edge-of-our-seats through the whole movie.

Another year older

We picked up Lisa's step-mom from the Stockton airport Wednesday night, who's staying with us though Monday.

Yesterday was my 32nd birthday and we went out to dinner at Habanero Hots. It was Lisa, Justin, Andrew, Cathy, Mary, Cheryl, my mom, grandparents and I. We had some killer eats, a couple pies from Phillips Farms, and I enjoyed a Cadillac Margarita. I got FarCry2 for PC, and a bunch of muchies from Michael David winery. We all had a pretty cool time.

We have more birthday plans for the weekend, but I'll save that for Monday's post...

Pizza and Wine Party

So we had a pretty chill weekend.

So knowing we'd be having Lisa's mom staying with us for a week, and that we'd be having guests Saturday evening, Lisa spent much of Friday cleaning house. That evening after work, Lisa and I did a Food4Less run with the baby, then when we returned I did some hardcore cleaning of the guys bathroom. The shower ceiling had a bunch of mildew buildup and I bleached all the walls clean, then after they dried painted two layers of KILZ primer/sealant on the walls and ceiling of the shower. I damn near passed out a few times from the bleach and paint fumes, but I survived and we have a good looking bathroom once again.

Saturday was a bit more house cleaning, and I did some work in the backyard. I'm slowing trying to re-surface much of the ground in the back to improve rain drainage. Then Lisa gave me a haircut, and around 6 we had Kimi, Chris, Christina, and Mike over for a wine a pizza night. We had a really good time. We BSed through much of the evening, then played Apples to Apples until about midnight as we hammered through 4 bottles of wine and a small bottle of Capt. Morgan Tattoo Rum.

Sunday, as you can imagine, we slept, and slept, and slept until about noon or so. Watched some TV. Slept. A movie. Slept. Then about 6PM, starting to feel normal again, we packed up the baby, who'll be 3 months old next week, and went for a nice long walk. We ended up at Starbucks where we had some food and coffee, then enjoyed a long walk home. We 'sprung forward' this weekend too, so Sunday seemed really short, but we enjoyed some extra daylight for the walk.

And that's about that.

Dog Proof Garden Hose?!

Dog Proof Garden Hose?!
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

So after going out back last night after hearing a loud, "CRASH!", and finding that Marley (our adorable lovable Lab), had completely knocked over our ~60lb. BBQ grill, I soon also discovered he'd chewed through not one, but both garden hoses in the back yard.

Having returned the grill to it's full upright, and locked position and patting Marley on the head for being such a fun enjoyable dog, I started Googling 'Dog Proof Hoses' and came across the Armadillo Chew-Proof Garden Hose. Could it be that such a cool thing exists?! I know I'll be ordering a pair come tax refund time!