Celebrating My Wife's Birthday

Al's Garden Center

9/8/04 - Birthday Trip to Al's Garden Center
My wife turned 58 today. We got off to a slow start but wound up driving to Salem and then up to Al's Garden Center. What a beautiful place. Check out these photos . After leaving the nursery, we happened on some interesting bushes trimmed to the shape of several animals.

Then we went to Red Lobster and had a great meal. She has a tradition of ordering Lobster on her birthday.

9/11/04 -New Vacuum and Hot Tub Awning
One of our Chihuahuas turned 3 today, coinciding with the third anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy. This morning I listened in on a Sportron team meeting via conference call. There was about six of us discussing ways to help each other in the promotion of Sportron products and the home business opportunity.

We drove up to Washington Square in Beaverton to get some new glasses for my wife. We stopped into Costco for a couple of things and found a Dyson vacuum cleaner on sale. We have been looking at these great new vacuum cleaners for quite a few months and ours was showing enough signs of age that we decided to get one. They are kind of expensive, but I once spent more than twice as much on a TriStar vacuum cleaner which has served us well for many years.

While at Costco we also ordered a retractable patio awning to go over our hot tub in lieu of a gazebo which doesn't seem to be happening quite as we had planned anyway. This is a fairly simple and inexpensive solution which will allow us to soak under the stars when they are out and be covered when it is raining.

We ate dinner at TGI Fridays, celebrating my wife's birthday for the third time. This time we even got the waiters to sing to her, something we had attempted the night before her birthday and at Red Lobster unsuccessfully. I like TGI Fridays, especially the service, hamburgers and decorations.

9/12/04 - New Garage Shelves
Today I built some new shelves in the garage. I will build a heavy duty set of shelves in another part of the garage another day, but these are medium duty, and will hold cleaning supplies and some extra canned food. The project went pretty smoothly once my wife and I decided on the final dimensions.

9/13/04 - Driving School
My wife attended a driving school for senior citizens today which continues tomorrow. She reported that it was very informative and worthwhile, especially considering how new we are to the state. She did pass her driving test the other day with flying colors, but still learned a lot at the class.