Family Visit

So my family is in town visiting right now. It's very nice to see them, especially in my environment and not theirs. That said, it's a bit trying at times because I'm not used to having to deal with other people's special needs (or mess)... only my own and David's. No big deal though. On the first day, we all decided to go to Ft. McHenry in Baltimore. Ft. McHenry is the fort that protected the city of Baltimore in the war of 1812 against Great Britain. It was very nice going there because in the five years or so that we've lived here, I hadn't been there yet. One night, we decided to have Maryland crabs at our place. I don't think that I'll ever have crabs that good anywhere. It has everything to do with the spices that they steam the crabs in. Everywhere else that I've gone in the States, it's just boring old butter. BLAH. Coincidentally, we celebrated Dave's and my birthday that day... he's 37 and I'm 32 now. Our friends, Suzie and Joe along with their daughter Isabelle... and Dave's mom were there.

It's very nice seeing Juanita again. Unfortunately, seeing her makes me realize that she is getting a lot older. At 89, she still gets around pretty well, but she's so much more weaker than she used to be and thinner as well. I just don't like seeing people get so old that they're incapable of taking care of themselves... nor do I want that to happen to me. *sigh*

On a different topic, Dave and I have started using a personal trainer. I would love to put a picture of him up on here but he might think that was sorta weird if I asked him if we could take a picture of him. At any rate, the guy seems like a top-notch trainer and he's put David and I on some dietary guidelines that we have to follow... and he's also going to be putting us on a weightlifting schedule as well. Hopefully in a few weeks of this crappy eating, we'll see some results. :) Actually, the eating isn't all bad. I had a hankering for some Oreo cookies the other day though. It might be tough, but hopefully it'll be worth it. That said, the weekends, within reason, are my time. My time to go out to restaurants and order whatever I'd like. I'll still follow the dietary guidelines during the day, but am not going to hold back too much when going out to dinner and having a 'tini or two. :) It was actually disturbing when the trainer did a body fat test. Turns out that I have 23% body fat. That equalled 41 or so pounds of fat. Ugh.... and 131 pound of other (good) stuff. David was 14%. Hopefully that will come down with just some of the healthier eating. The trainer said that he was going to check once a month. Cross your fingers.

Short but Sweet Weekend

This was a nice weekend... short but sweet.
I spent some time at the rental unit clearing out the garden. Unfortunately, I have to go back and rearrange some plants because they're getting a bit too big for their surroundings. Perhaps I'll bring some of them over here because they'll have more room here. They're sorta packed in where they are.
Earlier this week, Dave and I planted 5 of the hydrangeas that I've been growing in pots. We finally were able to put them in the ground. Today, (Sunday) we also went to Lowe's and got some shrubs to put in front of the Hydrangeas. We were also thinking about planting some 'Mums in front of those shrubs too... for the season. I'll try to include a picture when we're done with the 'Mums.
On Saturday, we drove down to Centreville, VA to visit Dave's sister Laurie and her hubby, Mike. Our friends Chris and Becky came too and we had Greek Burgers. All they are is a regular burger with some kind of spicy meat sauce on top of the patty. I put the meat sauce on the hotdogs too... kinda like a chili-dog. Very good. We had thought about going to a martini bar that was not far from their house, but we were all very tired from doing nothing, that we just stayed in. We had a good time though. It's always nice to see those kids.
Today, I washed the pick-up for the first time. This last week, some jackass that works around here, whose responsibility it is to sweep the street after a lot of mud has gotten on it, came by and swept. Well, the sweeper is attached to a bobcat tractor type thing... and invariably kicks up a lot of dust. Well, I didn't see it but you can see by the tracks that he came within a few feet of the back of my truck, swerved around it and went on his way. My truck was no longer silver. It was nice to wash it for the first time. I'll try to include a picture of that too.

Early Alzheimers

This last weekend was Labor day weekend and I must say that it was an especially good weekend. On Saturday, we had a bunch of people (to include our friend Rachel and her g-friend Dina, Dave's clients Greg & Loren, Suzanne & little Izzy and Rae & Erin joined us later) over for chicken on the grill. Unfortunately, the grill ran out of propane halfway through the 2nd batch of chicken. Not to worry, we just tossed it into the oven to finish it off. I bought a cocktail shaker and some martini glasses and we had some appletinis and had a grand old time chit-chatting and enjoying eachother's company. On Sunday, the weather was beautiful so I decided to go outside and finish the gardening bed on the side of our house that I had started the previous weekend. Later on, we went to a tapas restaurant called Pazo in Fell's Point with our dog sitters. On Monday, the weather was even more beatiful than on Sunday and we were invited over to our friend Agisi's 33rd birthday. They were talking about ages and I told them that I was going to be 33 on the 24th of this month. Dave then proceeded to say that he was going to be 37 on the 22nd. This threw me for a loop because I've always known him and I to be 5 years apart in age, almost to the day. I insisted that he was going to be turning 38 and that he must've forgotten. So, the people there asked what year he was born in... 1969. They did the math, and indeed, he was going to be turning 37 this year. Naturally, all eyes turned to me and asked which year I was born in... 1974. Mathematics indicated that I'm going to be turning 32 this year. No one's ever been so dismayed to be a year younger than they thought they were. All this last year, I've been thinking that I was 32 and that I was going to be turning 33 in September. Somewhere along the line, I fooled myself and I can't figure out how. So, now it only seems like I'm going to be 32 for two years. Even now, I doubt the results of our discovery. I've always had a poor memory, but really... :)