Catching up

Ugh, I didn't expect it to be a week before I caught up on an entry. It's been a crazy week, kicking off the holiday season in its usual fashion.

Thanksgiving was quiet and relaxing. My turkey recipe absolutely rocked. (and yes, I'll post it sometime in the next week, in case you need holiday recipe goodness). I'm seriously going to challenge my mom's turkey with this recipe. I may even beat her. :) There were only three of us for Thanksgiving dinner-- Erich, his dad, and myself. So several of the things I'd planned to make were put off to the side. It seemed pretty pointless to make so much. We had plenty of leftovers as it was.

I honestly loved it, though. It didn't quite feel like Thanksgiving since it was such different surroundings and nothing routine from what I'd done in years past, but a good start to the new house.

The day after Thanksgiving, Erich had to work. I spent the day getting some stuff done around the house and going grocery shopping for the weekend. By around 4:30 p.m., both of us were on the way to Cape Cod from completely different directions-- Erich from Boston and myself from Providence.

All day on Friday, though, the warning bells were sounding-- I was getting an increasingly irritated throat, signifying the impending cold that would hit me like a hammer. Erich had been sick the previous few days, even having to take a day off because he felt so lousy. As it looked, I would get slammed at the LAN party on the Cape. *sigh* Joy.

LAN parties are always a weird experience. It's basically a group of people huddled in a somewhat darkened living room with headphones on, shooting at each other or working together toward a specific goal for hours on end. Junk food abounds. Soda is drunk by the gallons. And if you hadn't gained weight at Thanksgiving dinner, the couple days afterwards were sure to pack on the pounds.

The cold hit me on Saturday afternoon, forcing me to crash out in bed by around 10:30-- which is really shitty for a LAN that usually goes to 4 a.m. each night. But I did have a good time for the limited amount I did play. Call of Duty 2 seemed to be the hit game of this year's LAN. It is a beautiful game graphics-wise, and even I was able to do a fairly good job. :) I still am an Unreal Tournament 2K4 and Ghost Recon fan, though.

We came home late Sunday afternoon and promptly went into slack-off mode to unwind and get sleep. I felt like shit, but I knew I had to go work Monday because I was taking my last couple vacation days later in the week. Bleh.

My mom and Jim came up on Wednesday night, driving a small U-haul trailer full of used furniture, paintings, and decorative knick-knacks for the house. We have matching furniture now! :) Every room has something. I can already see that the sunroom will become my favorite stitching room-- it's going to be so cozy and relaxing in there. I can't wait to get it painted and finished!

Mom agreed with an idea originally suggested by Kevin that Erich took to: move our TV in the living room to another section of the room. The problem has been that we brought our big green comfy couch with us to the house when we moved in-- but it's one of those long 92" ones. It was simply too long for the dimensions of our living room, but we dealt with it by putting it in the only space it really would fit. THe problem was that it blocked the beautiful large arch between the dining and living rooms. I knew it had to change, but I didn't like the idea of the big couch moving into the space Kevin suggested.

Mom solved it in two ways-- she brought up a loveseat and large chair w/ottoman that DO fit into that suggested space. We moved the green sofa out into the sunroom-- it's a sage green color, so it will fit in with the sunny, earthy feel of that room anyway. The loveseat and chair can be spaced now to open up that arch, and when we move it, the arch will be completely free so we'll be able to set up our gaming tables or extend a long dining room table as needed.

For now, the TV isn't moved. We need to drill a hole in the floorboards of the living room to run the TV cable over in the cellar before we can move anything. My mom also had some great ideas for curtains and colors to decorate. I'm a bit wary of some of them, but she's offered to send samples of the wallpapers she's thinking of so we can see them-- and I'm willing to at least consider them before we make final decisions.

We did a ton of shopping the past two days. My feet hurt like hell. My mom is an insane shopper. I'm honestly thankful I skipped this development as I grew up.

Erich and I are having a big birthday party for one of our friends tonight who really needs all of the love and emotional support from his friends as he can get right now. Mom offered to come over and play around with what we have in the friedge and make some munchie plates for us (yay!). We'll get some lunch together. She'll give her furry grandkids some last minute love before she and Jim get on the road. And Erich and I will be getting our tree so we can hopefully have it up and decorated by the party tonight. :)

Wedding updates are coming next entry! :)