June 25, 2007 at 10:32 am
- After some, um, engine issues, our lawnmower died a quiet death last week. The mourning was brief as I went right out and got a new electric lawnmower, which I’ve wanted to get for a while. Our year is small enough to be able to use one, and I won’t miss coming in from mowing the lawn smelling of gasoline and oil. The new mower went on its maiden voyage yesterday, and it was a great success. It’s nice and light and easy to maneuver, easy to adjust the height, much quieter than a gas-powered mower, and goes a great job cutting and mulching. I’ll have to work on my cord management a bit (at least I didn’t run over it, yet), but I was very happy with the results. Now our lawn is truly green.
- Suddenly, Boston is the cool place to move as Dan and Mike will soon be moving up to the Bay State. We just need a few more people to have a game of FU Dan or Sip See Bottom Slam.
- It’s strawberry season, so we have strawberries up the wazoo. It seems like we’re buying another pint or quart of them every few days. You might as well get them while you can. They won’t be around for long.
- Speaking of which, we’re very happy that the Belmont Farmer’s Market opened two weeks ago. George and Tess have made the rounds and have already made lots of friends. There are some new vendors this year, including the Farm School, which has some incredible looking produce already. This past week, we vowed to make an all-market dinner, which only things that we picked up that day. We succeeded by buying some hot Italian sausage from Stillman’s Farm and broccoli rabe from the Farm School and had a nice Italian dinner. We will definitely be doing this again, hopefully on a weekly basis.
- A fond farewell to Jason at Formaggio. Over the past 2 years, he’s turned the Saturday BBQ into a weekly party, and has elevated it with some amazing ‘que. What began with a modest selection of hot dogs, BBQ chicken, ribs, and the occasional brisket, he’s added pulled chicken, pulled pork, pulled lamb, carne asada, grilled peaches, BBQ’d burritos, slaw, beans, jumbo 1/2 pound pearl hot dogs, corn dogs, and a variety of seasonal treats. He will be missed, but will soon be opening his own place in his hometown of New Haven.
- These surreal photos of Harvard’s move of 3 historic houses. More photos are here.
- I know I’m old when my email conversations with friends revolve around kids and removal of unwanted body hair.
- I’m going to be honest with you: I spent some time in a fabric store on Saturday. The Lovely Suse is going to begin learning how to sew, and there are already two projects lined up. I get the feeling that this is a very slippery slope. It will begin with some drapes and pillows, and I’ll end up with custom-made monogrammed underwear.
- We ordered Tess’s baby announcements from Vistaprint.com, and they arrived just a few days after ordering them. The quality is great, but they have to work on their cutting skills. All of the announcements were cut incorrectly so that you can see some one else’s cards on the very edge. As a testament to their customer service, a new batch is already on the way.
- We’ve been leaving George out in the backyard on a lead by himself, and he’s happier than a pig in sh*t. He’s almost overwhelmed with the freedom, and sits there and eats sticks and digs holes and lays in the grass. We’re completely paranoid that he’s going to break free and run off or that he’ll be dognapped by some one, but he’s just so damn happy out there.
- This baby has the most incredible head of hair I’ve ever seen. It’s like an ad for baby toupees.
- OK, quick survey: who actually knows what I do for a living? $5 for the first person to get it right.
Tags: 2007, topten
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June 18, 2007 at 9:38 am
- The new season of Man vs. Wild. My favorite TV show is back! More scenes of eating live animals and bugs, squeezing water out of elephant dung, and grabbing live baby alligators!
We fired up the rotisserie for the first time this year. A whole leg of lamb rubbed with garlic, thyme, and oregano, olive oil, and lemon. I think I overcooked it slightly, but it was still damn tasty.
- Yesterday was my very first Father’s Day. The kids chipped in and got me a pair of old-skool Jack Purcell’s. I love the timeless classic look of these, and I get the feeling that I’ll be wearing these for a very long time.
- Father’s Day breakfast at the Deluxe Town Diner, with their most delicious blue corn pancakes. I have to figure out how to make these at home.
- The Tess Gallery is constantly being updated. This past week features her first real bath. Yes, these will be the pictures that we show to her future boyfriends to completely humiliate her. Luckily, she has at least 30 years until she’s allowed to date, so she has some time to prepare herself.
- I’m utterly shocked at how good Adobe Photoshop Lightroom fixes my photos. By shooting in RAW format, it automatically corrects exposure, fill light, white balance, sharpening, etc., completely saving pictures that I thought were worthless. It’s as if all of a sudden, I have twice as many good looking photos.
- Tess has cooperated and allowed us to eat out at restaurants. By timing it correctly, she’ll sleep through the entire meal in her car seat. I know that this won’t last forever, so we’ll take advantage of it while we can. We’ve also discovered that at 6pm, every restaurant is filled with parents with little kids.
- What are the odds of breaking two different pairs of sunglasses in one week. It’s not that I sat on them or something, but they just broke from fatigue and they cracked. Luckily, I learned by lesson years ago and refuse to pay more than $15 for a new pair.>/li>
- The lovely Suse and I played some Guitar Hero 2 in Best Buy last week. I’ve heard a ton about this game, but this is the first time I’ve actually seen it in person and played it, and I can see how it could become completely addicting. It took a few plays before getting the hang of it, but once you catch on, man, is it fun. I used to be a huge video game freak, but no longer have the patience or interest in most of them nowadays. But I think something like this could keep me entertained for hours. Our friend just got a Wii, and I think I might have to spend the summer at his house.
Tags: 2007, topten
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June 11, 2007 at 12:11 pm
- Week three, and the house is still standing. Our lives have yet to fall into complete shambles, we’re both getting enough sleep, still cooking every night, Tess has been behaving herself, and George hasn’t been pooping on the rug. Well, just once, but I wasn’t paying attention to his jumping at his leash. I’m back at work this week, so I expect things to change a bit now. Let me tell you, I’m really good at staying home.
- We’ve spent more time in our living room in the past two weeks that we have in the past year and a half. Despite the fact that our biggest TV is there, we spent the majority of time watching shows in our bedroom. That has all changed, and the reality of watching TV without Tivo was not a fun experience. Of course, that didn’t last long as we added our third Tivo to the house last week. I know it seems totally excessive and ridiculous, but it cost us nothing for the box, and only another $7 a month for the service. How could we say no? I love our living room now.
- I had to watch the Sopranos finale at 5AM this morning before I heard anyone talk about it or before I was tempted to read anything about it.
- I slowly started running again last week. I ran twice without incident, and it actually felt pretty good. I used to run about 25 miles a week, but age and injuries have made it tougher and tougher to get back into it. Plus, the fact that there are huge hills in every direction near our house makes it so that the last mile of any run is practically straight uphill. Not so good for easing back into things.
- There’s something strangely satisfying about cleaning the garage. Man, there was a lot of crap in there. When the hell did I buy all of these fertilizers and weed killers and yard tools?
- I learned the hard way not to stand in the direct firing line during a diaper change. Although I tried my best to jump out of the way, I wasn’t fast enough to avoid the shrapnel from a projectile poop. Seriously, that thing shot like 3 feet straight out. Consider it a lesson learned.
- I’ve always been a Jamie Oliver fan, but they stopped showing any of his newer shows in the US a few years back. Luckily, thanks to the internet, it’s possible to get a hold of these series. I now have about 30 episodes to work through, most of which will be viewed at 3 in the morning.
Tags: 2007, topten
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June 4, 2007 at 10:08 am
- Well, to say it was an eventful week would be a bit of an understatement. I’m not really even sure where to begin or how to describe things without it sounding like a total cliche. Let’s just say that watching Tess be born was the most incredible and overwhelming thing I’ve ever experienced. I don’t know how much of the actual labor and delivery I want to describe, but I’ll try to hit a few highlights for posterity’s sake
- The Sonic Blade infomercial is a great distraction for a woman in labor at 5:30am. Seriously, that thing looks amazing. Just like it looked 30 years ago when it was called an electric knife.
- Drugs are a very good thing, if that’s your thing. Instead of one of those labors where the woman is huffing and puffing and sweating and screaming, we watched about 5 of those HGTV shows about how make changes in order to sell your house, Legally Blonde, and National Treasure. I didn’t get to see the last 15 minutes of National Treasure though because we had to, you know, deliver a baby. Oh, and The Lovely Suse got to take a nap.
- The Lovely Suse pushed Tess out in 15 minutes so she didn’t have one of those squishy pointy alien looking heads. Nice work Suse!
- Yes, I saw everything, cut the cord, and surprisingly wasn’t the least bit grossed out by anything. Once you’re there, you might as well experience it all.
- Nothing quite prepares you for the first poop. Watching black tar come spurting out of your little baby’s butt fills you with a combination of fear, disgust, laughter, and sheer pride. That’s my girl.
- Tess has been a very easy baby thus far (and I’m knocking on wood as I type this), eating lots and sleeping lots. She’s handled her first trips to Formaggio, Whole Foods, and Russo’s with great success. We figure she might as well get used to the routine early on. Are you supposed to keep newborns inside for a while? We’re just taking her wherever we go, as long as she’s cooperating.
- Yes, we’ve continued cooking every meal at home since we brought Tess home. Many of the meals have been simply ones, but trying to keep some semblance of normalcy during all of this has been important. It’s actually been really nice, and Tess is an excellent sous chef. She has mad mad knife skillz. And on Saturday, she experienced her first of many many pizza nights.
- The crib finally came. Five days after she was born. So much for “it will be delivered around mid to late April.” And despite what tv shows and movies would lead you to believe, it was really easy to assemble and set up.
- Our pediatrician looks and sounds exactly like Kelly from The Office.
- I’ll be honest, it’s sort of more fun shopping for baby girl clothes than baby boy clothes.
- I’ve had pretty good luck with TV at 3am. Yesterday I watched Fight Club and This Old House. This morning, I watched Three’s Company. That is one great show. I don’t think I got half of the jokes when I watched it when I was little.
- Many people have asked where we came up with the name “Tess”, and to be honest, we have no idea. I think we picked it the first day we started thinking about names, but without any real reason other than we really liked the way it sounded. It sounded like a classy and sassy chick from the 1930’s. Lo and behold, Tess Trueheart was the name of Dick Tracy’s wife in the comic strip. The only other Tess that I knew was Julia Roberts’ character from Ocean’s Eleven, and because of the PR for Ocean’s Thirteen, that and Ocean’s Twelve are on constantly this week. Coincidence? Um, probably.
- There is no louder sound in the world than the sound of a shrieking baby at 3am.
Tags: 2007, topten
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