Weekend!

Ah, Monday morning. The one time of the week when staying in bed until noon actually sounds like a good idea to me. Still, 7 was probably more than enough, and thus I find myself at work, not having run, nor having made breakfast or any snacks. I can't really describe how pleased I am that I can wake up at 7:00 and be in my chair at work by 7:30 having taken a shower, cleaned the cat box, etc. Anyway, we slept in this morning because we were up pretty late last night playing our new RPG and then getting the house in order afterward. That's the end of the weekend, though, which is an odd place to start. Let's start at the more traditional starting place, shall we?

Friday we were supposed to leave right after work and go to Denver Fabrics to get fabric for our chair cushions, but I had to stay late to finish up some stuff and we missed our window. Instead, we went to a place near our house to hang out with Jenna's former boss and some of her current and past coworkers. Over the years, i have come to the conclusion that hanging out at a bar is the single stupidest idea ever created. Here's a recipe for fun: Put a bunch of people in a dim, loud, crowded environment and watch them try to talk to each other. Hilarity ensues! So we're sitting in a loud, crowded, dimly-lit bar, yelling at each other for about 2 hours or something. I can't hear a word of what anyone's saying, so I'm amusing myself by counting the whiskers on this stuffed moose's chin (174) while Jenna and her coworkers apparently talk to each other using their radioactive super ears or some such. Fun! Afterward, we were both super hungry and decided to head home and look up a new place to get steak. There's a place called "The Dusty Boot" that opened near us, and was kind enough to send us a coupon with their announcement. We headed over there, ordered steak, received uncooked flesh slabs and didn't see our waitress again until we left. Sweet! In what world does a medium-rare steak whimper when you cut into it? I know that people probably have various definitions of what medium-rare means to them, but in my view, it never means you have to keep it from escaping. We've had this issue a few places now. Do people just not know how to cook steak or something? Bah, I say. So we went home, disappointed, but inordinately proud of ourselves for having tried something new.

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful, which meant I woke up before 7 and played Fallout 3 while my lovely wife slept in. We had a lot of errands to run, so when she did wake up, we got ready, went to the fabric store, the army surplus (which she hates for entirely valid reasons), the library, and Costco. We just recently got our membership there and the place fills me with strange glee. I don't go to a normal store and get excited about the sheer size of the products. At Costco, though, it's like a shopping safari. You're not seeing a little bunny (1 pack of gum) or even a raccoon (3-pack), you're seeing a damn Cape Buffalo (12 packs of gum?!). The quantity imbues the stuff with a quality it would not otherwise possess. I feel like I'm failing to explain it properly, but if you've been there you probably know the feeling. In any case, we got some steaks there (under $6/lb for thick USDA choice ribeyes. Glee!) which we are planning to fire up in the oven per a friend's suggestions. If that works, my access to a never-ending source of meat and a means with which to cook it will make me feel like I'm not entirely bereft of my grill. On the way home, we got churros from Del Taco and Blizzards from Dairy Queen. If you're thinking "Wow, that sounds decadent," you're totally right. I have only recently discovered the glory that is the Lactaid caplet and it has reopened the world of dairy-based desserts to me. I'm still getting used to the idea that I can eat ice cream again, and hadn't thought to indulge in a blizzard until this weekend. I'm just hoping that I won't go overboard with it, now that I do know.

Sunday was cleaning day! We actually accomplished a lot. Vacuumed, wiped, dusted, etc. Even organized some things and moved some furniture around to make it a little more open. great stuff, though. I also made my pulled pork for the RPG we hosted Sunday night. it worked quite well, though I was right about not wanting to put the broth in the mix. I thought since I was using my bigger crock it would need the extra liquid, but it ended up just being too much so I laded almost all of it out anyway. Still, successful meal, I think. The game was very fun, too. I've come up with a character I tend not to play, in that he's a reall open, warm-hearted, friendly guy, while I tend to play mostly witty, sarcastic folks. So that experience is proving to be challenging and fun.

That's it, really. It was a good time, vaguely productive, plenty of fun, and quite a bit of good eating.