Out In The Grapes Again

Another weekend, another wine tour.  Not a bad pastime really, mostly if just to get outside and enjoy the weather.  We met some friends for lunch at one of our favorite local wineries, hit one more, then they continued on the the trip while we headed back home.  In a rather…  “unique” twist to the afternoon, their baby came home with us and we (errr…  Donette) did some babysitting while they enjoyed a little alone-time.  Granted, the babysitting essentially consisted of Donette taking a nap with the baby while I sat on the back porch and watched tv, but it seemed stressful at the time.  (OK not really.)  When they got back from their trip we headed over for a bbq at their house, more than enough payment.

Saturday and Sunday were sort of a blur.  I remember a lot of errands Saturday, a delicious dinner at a new (for us) place in Folsom, and then an excellent brunch at Sienna on Sunday afternoon.  Man that brunch was good, I tore that up.  Unfortunately after that, we broke our own strict rule of No Costco On Sunday.  Bad, terrible, horrific idea.  Quite possibly the worst lines I’ve ever seen there.  But, we were perilously low on staples at the house, it had to be done.  Next time maybe we’ll plan ahead a little better.  But we all know differently.

Warming Up

Wow it’s getting hot here already.  The A/C kicked on yesterday out of the blue, sort of surprised me.  It’s in the mid-80’s though, pretty toasty.  The good news is our solar system is loving the longer, sunny days.  Most of this month it’s put out over twice what we use, leading to a quite attractive negative bill.  I’m sure that will change when the air starts running regularly, but I like looking at it now.  Overall we’ve been really happy with the solar, it’s definitely paying off.  As an added bonus, we got to claim a healthy chunk of the cost on our tax return, which was looking pretty grim after renting all last year.  That’s me, saving the planet and a few bucks.

That was a hit-and-miss weekend.  Mostly hit if I had to weight it though.  Friday we went over to a friend’s house and took it easy on their back patio.  While we enjoyed the nice weather we came up with a fine plan to go wine tasting on Saturday.  In a rather shocking decision, we headed the opposite direction from our standard Amador County staples, opting instead for Toogood.  We’d been there a handful of times before, but not recently.  One of the driving factors was the free cookout they sent me an email on.  I’m always up for a free lunch.  It was a great deal and pretty tasty, especially if you overlook the $20 in gas it likely cost.  Eh, it evens out somewhere I suppose.  We made a quick stop by one other spot on our way home, then headed back to their house for some awesome carne asada tacos.  After a while I had to head home and work, which definitely put a cramp in my day.  It was an all-nighter too, which I’m getting far too old for.

Sunday was an off day, at least for me.  I was out of sorts from the long night of work, so I hit the back porch and watched TV for the majority of the day.  Doni went to a brunch with some friends at Sienna, which she gave high marks;  We’re planning to hit it again next weekend as a matter of fact.  I did manage to struggle up to the grocery store and pick up some chicken and corn on the cob for dinner, which made for a nice little bbq.

Company Again

Another weekend of company, we are just entertaining fools recently.  (No comments please.)  I apologize for my lack of posting last week, but we had guests coming in and I was absolutely overwhelmed with preparation chores.  There’s also a strong chance I just forgot.  Shame, because it was a good weekend too.  But, on to this weekend.  Friday our friend Todd showed up, visiting from Houston.  He’d been on a whirlwind trip around the country, starting at Float Trip last weekend, then on to his sister’s in Sausalito, then he drove up and stayed a few days with us.  Hopefully he was worn out by the time he hit our house, as we’re not exactly entertainers.  We put a bunch of food out on the counter so he could survive, and then sort of retired to the back patio like we always do.  Donette did come up with the rather original idea of visiting the Folsom Prison museum on Saturday.  We’d been meaning to go there since we moved, and what better time than when company is in town.  It was a very small display, just a few rooms.  Interesting though, and we could say we took him to a local attraction.  Outside of that we didn’t do a whole lot.  Caught up on all the recent Float Trip stories, and relaxed on the patio for no small amount of time.  Good times though.

Four-Day Weekend

We actually had visitors this weekend!  The Martins & Greers made the trip west to stay with us a few days, and we had quite a time of it.  It took a lot out of me though, I’m definitely struggling to get through this day.  That entertaining stuff is hard work.

Same Ol’

That was a particularly quiet weekend.  Both of us are still right on the edge of being sick so we’re sort of taking it easy.  That’s not particularly remarkable I guess…  I should probably say “Taking it even easier than usual.”  We had some fun though, such as it was.  Any day not spent in a cubicle is a good day I suppose.

Briefly, we spent the weekend the in the same fashion as countless others, if on a slightly smaller scale.  Friday, if memory serves, I ran by the grocery and bought some store-made burger patties for dinner.  (Good grief, I AM getting lazy in my old age.  The whole thought of buying a package of burger and shaping it into burgers just seemed like way too much work.)  They provided an adequate dinner.  I think I was more interested in grilling something than actually eating it.  After dinner we sat around the patio and watched basketball games until it got too cold, then we went inside and watched basketball games.  Woo hoo, as they say.

Saturday we ran some errands, mostly buying supplies and stuff.  Did a little light housework, mostly in the yard.  Fun fun.  Watched still more basketball, some of the games were actually rather exciting.  I had to work later on in the evening so mostly I just stared at the tv and waited.  Sorta ruins a whole day.

Sunday was a lost cause for the most part.  My sleep was all off (as if it was ever “on,”) and Donette was feeling pretty sickly so she napped a remarkable portion of the afternoon.  I watched a few thoroughly entertaining games, and managed to hang two ceiling fans while I did so.  Efficiency at work. As an added (and not altogether unsurprising) bonus, both even come on when the switch was flipped.  Major victory as my home projects go.  And that was the weekend.  I do have a few pictures from Teagan’s birthday party.  No, those aren’t our kids, we rented them from a local party store so she’d feel like she had friends.  It was a combo birthday/St. Pat’s party, so a few adults came too.  A rather enjoyable time was had, and the dog is still sleeping.