Early-Late Housewarming

It's hard to believe, but we are already halfway into September, over three months since we moved to LA. We have been Californians for a whole entire quarter of a year! Can you believe it? So, Don and I finally got our act together, and organized a housewarming party. Which we sent out to all 10 of our California friends. Six people made it (plus me and Don makes 8) and the others were mostly excused for being out of state at the time. We had a really nice time and loved the opportunity to introduce folks to our new home who had not been out to see us yet. Thanks Cindi and Dave and Ed and Jill for making the drive! We had plenty of games for entertainment but ended up spending the time relaxing and visiting and eating - lots of eating. Don and I grilled up some super tasty salmon on the weber (the first decent fish I've had since we left Washington) and Matt and Camille brought some awesome gourmet bratwursts which were voraciously devoured. We also had a nice greek pasta salad and some tasty garlic bread. We finished off the meal with a hearty slice of cheesecake and I followed Jill's bright idea to sprinkle it with mnm's which was awesome! And of course, let's not forget all of the appetizers and finger foods. I don't think there was a person there who did not reach the pleasantly full state of being.

After our lovely Saturday get together, Don and I lazed most of the morning and leizurely took care of the after party cleanup - an easy job since we were bad environmentalists and opted for the evil paper plates and plastic cups. But we were sure to recycle all of the pop cans and beer bottles! Sunday, having fulfilled all of our social needs for the weekend, Don and I were in the mode to lay low and enjoy each other's company just the two of us. So we had an at home date day where we spent the afternoon organizing our D&D miniatures collection. Don found a website where you can enter your collection and it will randomly generate warbands for you. This was a very exciting discovery as it can sometimes take an hour or more to organize a team just to play a 20 minute battle. So we got in two quick games in half the time it takes us to usually play just one. Plus it adds another element of chance to the game that is kind of exciting. The first game I creamed Don, and the second game was a bit closer but Don was definitely in control of the board from start to finish and his strategy definitely won out. The warband generator aside from saving time is also quite intelligent. It really puts together teams that play off of each others strengths so it is exciting to see what it comes up with and I can't wait to play some more games when we get a chance.

And of course we finished the day with our well named "couch portion of the evening" - our time of night where we sit on the couch with the dogs and watch our programs. Our current shows that we are watching are Heroes, Supernatural, and the 4400 - all on DVD so don't spoil the newer seasons for us! Heroes is pretty catchy and we are definitely getting into it. The 4400 has some interesting things happening but I'm not addicted yet. And I'm still not sure about the Supernatural. I think it's an interesting idea but not very well executed so far. I'm told it gets better so I am waiting it out to see what happens. Personally, I can't wait for the new season of Battlestar Galactica to come out. I thought it was going to be in October but somebody the other day said it's December now. Ugggh! Battlestar is the only show we like enough to watch it in it's current season. Since we don't have cable, we download the shows off of itunes which works for me because then we still don't have to bother with commercials.

The countdown continues to Seumas' surgery this Friday. I'm feeling a little better about things but mostly because I'm just trying not to think about it. Jeremy and Katie's dog Max (three legged beagle\yellow lab mix) stayed the weekend with us while they were out of town. The dogs mostly get along but Seumas is always having to fight that biological urge to make Max his girlfriend. He always did go for the blondes. I think his relationships with other dogs will be much more relaxed after his surgery. He is naturally a social dog, always interested in other animals and other people. However, other dominant dog types don't always appreciate his overly "friendly" behavior. So maybe now he will be able to relax and socialize easier without having to overcome the mating drive.