Okay. Yesterday was my birthday, and a bunch of people were nice enough to throw me a nice little party. We had sirloin steak on the grill, baked potatoes and steamed broccoli for the meal, and I got some beer for myself because dammit, its my birthday and I wanted a beer or two. :)

joshuwain was the prime mover behind the party, with foeclan, phineus and our friend Todd supplying food and labor. khirsahdrgn and feezlekahn were also in attendance. Thanks to you all!

A few more details about my campaign were hammered out, and the creation of characters has begun. Some of the players and I will be getting together on Friday, and whomever is left I'll work with on (probably) Monday to get things squared. Mostly it will be me approving builds and back-stories. Once I have all that information, I'll go back into the adventure and tailor some of the bits, and I'll also distribute the goodies to the characters- additional cash and the ever-popular magic items.

As once again I didn't sleep well yesterday, I've taken a couple of cold-caps to make certain I get at least some sleep today. I'll finish covering my windows later this week, when I can get together with the folks and get the black foamboard and brads (teeny nails) to put it up with. The lack of light will definitely help. I'm also stripping my bed and remaking it before I crash this morning with fresh bedding and such. That sometimes helps as well.

I missed yesterday's daily! O well, it was an uneventful one anyway.

Today though... It started drizzling while I was at work. Being as this adds to the problem of ice and snow on the roof (and oddly also helps with that situation), I went up there this morning and dug a trench in the snow and much around the periphery of the flat roof, then salted the hell out of that area. Hopefully, the roof will drain better now, and the section where the flat roof abuts the peak won't flood, freeze and get inside. By the time I was done my back was screaming- shoveling wet snow sucks.

Before next Friday I need to clean the house some- nothing real hard, just a general picking-up-of-things and the usual sweeping and vacuuming. The party approacheth! I'll be going out today and ordering the subs from Cousins in a bit- four of them. There will be a LOT of food, and more than likely a lot of leftovers! I definitely don't mind that. As usual I'm gonna recruit people to help get the munchies (chips, pop, cheese and such), and I should make those calls tonight too.

Lastly, in an odd twist of fate I'm back on City of Heroes- Going Rogue was on sale on Steam for $10, and given that the price includes a month of play, I couldn't pass on it. I'm having fun in Pretoria with my new Energy Melee / Willpower Brute. :)

Oh- the New Years plans aren't fixed as of yet, but I should know whats up tonight, and we may be gaming in the Sunday Group this weekend. Woot!

Bleah. I got about 2 hours and woke up. Oh well. In any case, all my orders have started showing up, and I kinda feel sorry for the mailman, who is gonna have a TON of books to get to me this coming week. My brother FINALLY got me a thin-and-pathetic list, but it'll help me with him and Sam- she wants a tea strainer for loose tea, so I'm gonna get her that, and a teapot, and a selection of loose teas. Hah! For Maggie I'll get the one thing he listed for her, and bug the hell out of him til he gives me more so I can keep the gifts even- they're sisters after all.

With those three dealt with, I have four left. One is a stop tomorrow and quick, and the other three... Yeesh. I've no idea really. I'll figure it out though. I hope.

As I think I mentioned before, the Xmas party is going to be on the 7th of January. I'm currently thinking some sub sandwiches from Cousins as the food- prolly a beef, italian combo and turkey for the selection. I may bother someone to bring soup, and I may also make chili to round things out. Of course the usual snackage will be available, and firecatmn has offered cookies. Who am I to refuse? ;)

In other matters, I've seriously started on the editing process of the novel. Simply put, this is gonna be a pain, and I'm going to have to do some pride-swallowing (like sword-swallowing, but it hurts more), to get things right. I have a final target of 100,000 words or more, and I'm currently at 67,400. A ways to go, I know. Especially since there's one entire chapter that has to be rewritten.

I've already got about 3 or 4 new paragraphs for the first chapter, so woot there. Later today I have gaming, and as far as I know its the Desert World AD&D game- Of course, given that what I got done for the writeups was for the Western game, and even THAT isn't done. It'll be a fun night either way.

Went very well. A goodly number of people attended, and an insanely vast amount of food, both supplied my me and brought by others was available and consumed. The turkey was likely the best bird I've ever done- meltingly-tender meat for the win! There are leftovers of course, and most of the cleanup is done- I really like disposable tablecloths! I am now relaxing afterward, 5 of the six carved pumpkins still lit out front. I'll put up pics on my FA site shortly.

Once I'm clear-headed I'll start my NaNoWriMo story... But I dunno if it'll be before I sleep. I WILL do 3000 words today!

Cleaning the microwave. DONE!

Cleaning the back room, vacuuming it and steam-cleaning the traffic areas. DONE

Get candles for the pumpkins and maybe some cheap paper tablecloths. DONE

Making the brine for the turkey. DONE

Pick up the pumpkins, Ham and Cheeses from foeclan DONE

Clearing cobwebs and dusthangers from the stucco'd ceiling areas. DONE, kinda

Reassembling the front room. DONE

Cleaning the bathroom. DONE

Cleaning my room (When I get to it...)

Setting up the long table and dining room tables for the food and snack areas. DONE

Prepping snackfoods (cheeses and veggies) and carving some of the pumpkins. (This evening)

Brining the bird. (Soon!)

Carving a few pumpkins (Also soon!)

The front room is now cleaned. I just have to wait til the carpet dries to reassemble. Tonight I'll mop the kitchen floor and clean the cabinet tops, and prep the back room for vacuuming and steam-cleaning. The steam cleaning will happen tomorrow morning just before I go to bed. I don't think I'll get my room done, but I'll at least get it picked up and vacuumed.

God I hate cleaning.

Tomorrow's agenda is getting the brine assembled for the turkey (which will go in late Saturday night), and any other food prep (like cutting the cheeses into cubes or slices, cleaning and cutting the celery and similar. Also tomorrow is the bathroom, which shouldn't take more than an hour at the worst- its mostly just normal cleanup there.

Sunday is the party, woot. And after the party I start writing for NaNoWriMo. Eek.

Okay. Its on the 8th, starting at 5 PM or so. Menu IS meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy, and the meatballs will be done in 30 minutes from right now, and frozen to be thawed and reheated on Friday. They're real good, I think. Hard to not keep nibbling...

Anyway, that's dealt with. The only 'hardcore' cooking that should be going on AT the party will be the mashed potatoes and any side dishes I come up with. I'm considering getting some Mrs. Smith apple pies to make just before we start, so they'll be cooled to an eat-able state by the time we want dessert.

The usual munchies (crackers, cheese, fresh veggies and such) will be available, and I plan to have a selection of pop and beer; just what is still uncertain. I'll hopefully be getting some help to obtain stuff, so we'll see.

That's the party update- See those of you coming then!

Oh- I made about 130 meatballs, roughly 16 to a pound or so. We should have enough. :)

Here's the recipe, before I forget- Note the modifications below, and that this is HALF what I made for the party.

( Mike's Meatballs )

Saturday was my parent's 50th anniversary, so I was there all day. The day began with me waking at 10 AM for natures call, then crashing or what I thought would just be dozing for another two hours. Nope, I was out cold- If my ma hadn't called (as had been arranged just in case) I wouldn't have woken at noon- as it was it took six rings for me to realize the damned phone was ringing!

Anyway, I got up and hauled myself out to the Coon Rapids American Legion hall, where the initial gathering took place. This was the first time in over 30 years that I'd been in there! Anyway, it was a quiet success, and at 6 PM about half the gathered people (mostly relatives) headed over to my parents house.

Things continued there til the last of those leaving (my uncle Mike and aunt Trish were staying over, as was my cousin Jake and his girlfriend) bailed around 9:00 PM. I remained and helped in the cleanup, leaving at about 9:30. All in all, I actually had a good time- usually I hate family gatherings. However, they've all quit smoking, amazingly enough, and a lot of the behaviors that drove me away long ago are also gone. So... Maybe I'll start attending more often.

One thing more. For the last 10 years or so my parents have had this crabapple tree in the back yard. It was there as I grew up, but for the aforementioned decade it has been dead. As in, slowly losing all its bark and limbs randomly snapping off from rot, dead. Mom wouldn't let dad take it down, so this woody corpse stood hideous for all those years. As of this last June, it was STILL there. However... When we got to the house for the followup gathering, it was finally gone! And in its place was a fire pit! Now, my parent's yeard is huge- like half a football field huge. I told them, "If you go out of town sometime, I AM having friends over here."

And I'm NOT kidding. They won't care if we don't make a mess. So there will be a party with barbecue and a firepit sometime. :)

edit: I forgot to put down what happened today!

Today I got home from work, and joshuwain was there waiting for me. We went off to get zxizaraxii's new bed, a HORRIBLY delayed Xmas gift, from Ikea. First tho, he took me to the Farmer's Market and we had a bit of breakfast- a caramel roll and orange juice for me, a 'loaded brat' for him. Basically a bratwurst in a bun with fried peppers. We wandered there for a bit as he picked up a few things, then we went off to Ikea. By this point I was utterly fried- I'd been awake since noon Saturday, after all- and was seriously in zombie mode. In any event we got the bed, crammed it into his car (it BARELY fit, and likely the way we got it in wasn't safe or legal), and got it back home. I was nodding off the entire drive home, actually falling asleep a few times. We got the bed (a futon-thing) into the house, and he headed home. Me... I kinda just passed out.

And now I'm awake, and have a kinda scratchy throat. I'm hoping its just allergies. But the groceries are bought and put away and other chores done, so I have a few hours to screw around before work.

Its now the day before the day before Xmas, and this year we DEFINITELY have a white Xmas! ataramos and khirsahdrgn are off at their respective familial locales, while I, mirrdae and zxizaraxii are still around here. I have the get-together with the folks, brother and nieces tomorrow, and the Xmas Party at Plague House will be here on the 5th of January. :)

Right now I'm just sitting about chatting on FurryMUCK, considering either a nap or some City of Heroes, and wishing the Vikings hadn't fucking choked so bad in the game that I changed channels. :P

Other than that, I got all my shopping done early and fast, all the wrapping is done, and that's about it. :)

Merry Xmas!

Well, the damn bird is in the brine now, and sitting on the porch out back. The temp won't get above 50 today, and the porch is in permanent shade so it'll be fine there in its salt-and-ice bath. I'm gonna frost the cake later, cos I'm bloody tired. All that I'm doing else this morning is eating something fast, having a cup of tea, typing this entry and falling over. I'll hopefully be up at 2:30 to start the cooking. If I have the timing right, the bird should take just under 4 hours cooktime, which means I should be able to time it to come out at the same time as (or close to) the ham.

Whee. God I'm tired.

Oh- remember my comments about the steam-pressure release valves? Well, nothing has changed and last night I had to reset the fucking thing 8 times... When someone gets burned or falls off that rickety ladder the lawsuit is gonna be terrifying.

And I'm damned well gonna be there to point and say "I FUCKING told you so!"

I hate stupid people.