Weekend in Review

After the long work week, you always want to reward yourself with a nice relaxing weekend, right? So, Friday afternoon I shock treated the well (water supply for you "Cul-de-sac" people) since it had started to get a sulfur smell. I had treated it with a chlorine solution last weekend, but a faint odor remained. This meant no use of the house faucets for 18 hours. The relaxing weekend had begun!

Next, what would be the ultimate in relaxing, romantic friday night for my wife and I? How about shelling lima beans? Yup, that sounds good! I can't believe that when I was pursuing Laura that I didn't break out this date night idea! In all honesty, it was not bad, and it was somewhat relaxing sitting on the sofa next to Laura, talking and shelling. It was a date though. After all, we were watching the movie "Date Night". It's safe to say that our date night was less eventful than Steve and Tina's.

Saturday morning found us blanching beans and getting them in the freezer (it's the date that keeps giving!). Once that was done, we got a call from Mom and Bruce who were on there way to his mother's birthday celebration, and were making good time, so they wanted to swing by and see us. After a frantic rush to get the house in company-worthy appearance, they arrived and we had a nice visit.

The afternoon plans were to meet our friend Michelle at the local car dealership to test drive some vehicles with her. The vehicles she was looking at were the Ford Escape, Mazda CX-7, and Hyundai Santa Fe. While any new vehicle is appealing, it was clear that the Hyundai was the best option for our friend. After that, she asked if we would got to another dealer and go for a ride in a vehicle she had test-driven the week before for a second (and third) opinion. The last test drive was the Kia Sorento, which pleasantly surprised both Laura and I. It will be a tough decision for Michelle, but in the end I think both are reasonable vehicles.

Sunday morning started with sleeping in, and then church. After church, it was back to the house for lunch, football, and lawn mowing for me, and to school for Laura. Fortunately, we were able to get everything done, and manage to actually "relax" while watching The Amazing Race at night.

And that is our weekend in review. Back to work tomorrow.

De-Linked?!?

So, a funny thing happened on the way to blogging... I stopped updating. Ok, so maybe that isn't very funny, but my serious blogger of a wife (one of the things I love about her) threatened to "de-link" my blog on her blog site if I didn't update it. Of course I was probably calling her bluff since she made her threat about a month ago. I felt bad for not updating more often, but I never think about topics during my day, and I am one who believes that a blog isn't very exciting without pictures. I need to learn to document my life a little bit better with my new camera.

Obviously, a lot has happened since I last blogged. I will skip to the most recent events.

Did anyone notice that football started? I know that I did. Unfortunately for my wife, she also noticed. Last Sunday I spent the afternoon watching football ALL AFTERNOON. I believe that it was around eight o'clock at night when I finally changed the channel, and Laura states "I never realized how much I don't like football". Hmmm... is this marriage doomed from the start? I am only kidding!!! There are only a few times that I absolutely MUST watch football on Sunday. If the Patriots are being televised on local TV, or if there is some playoff implication, I can normally make watching the games a priority. All other circumstances I can justify doing something else (maybe more productive) with my time. I'll have to make sure that Laura is able to flex some "polite assertiveness" on Sundays.

Transitively, when football starts, so does fantasy football! I am a member of only one league, and it is a free league, so I might be considered a novice at the hobby, but it can certainly monopolize a lot of my free time. My lunch hours at work can almost entirely be devoted to research. This year, the research might have paid off. My lineup is highlighted by #1 pick Chris Johnson, Miles Austin, Jamaal Charles, Matt Forte, Jermichael Finley, and Joe Flacco (who has since been replaced by waiver-wire pick up, Michael Vick). Wish me luck!

On a relationship note, marriage is going wonderfully. Laura and I have enrolled in the local gym's biggest loser contest. We will weekly weigh-in and partake in some competitions for small prizes. The big prize in the end is a fairly sizable amount of cash ($350?), with a smaller pot for second place. We both entered the competition understanding that neither one of us really had a shot at winning money since we have both already lost a lot of weight over the last two years, but we needed a jump start to losing again. One week in and we are both off to a good start. I lost seven pounds and Laura lost three! I am very proud of my wife! Despite being ill all last week, she managed to fit in exercise when she could and ate sensibly. Hopefully, after our three month competition we will be on our way to our desired weight, and most importantly, healthy!