Oh my goodness, what a weekend! We were graced by the presence of fordshepherd and kai_darkwolf this weekend, and I had a blast.
I was expecting that we would be having roho, genet, and linnaeus over for dinner and to play the new game that Roho picked up in Rochester last weekend. I made a nice big pan of baked ziti (recipe courtesy of the newest Cook’s Illustrated, and it’s a winner!) and supplemented that with Italian sausage on the side as well as some spinach sauteed with garlic and balsamic vinegar.
I had been told that tozier_wah would be joining us as well, but then Dan got a text message and said he was cancelling. That text message was really Ford and Jack letting him know they had arrived, and a few minutes later Ford emerged from downstairs in fursuit to wish me happy birthday! It was a wonderful surprise, though I had some suspicions something like that might happen. What can I say? I know my husband too well 🙂 Dinner was excellent and though it was great to see everyone, we were all pretty tired and we crashed early that night.
Saturday started slowly, which was fine for me. We chatted a bit around the house with Ford and Jack, then the four of us went out for sushi (well, sushi and teriyaki chicken) at Bento Cafe around the corner from our place. Then we relaxed back at the house, watching some Tivo and geeking on laptops. It was a nice, laid-back afternoon. That evening, we headed out for dinner, Dan refusing to tell me where we were going. After a few misdirections, we pulled into Northbrook Court mall to our destination: Di Pescara.
Even though it was Valentine’s Day, the place wasn’t completely insane. Dan had a very thoughtful card for me (with lovely artwork provided by Ford). We had a fantastic meal (my Firecracker Mahi Mahi was excellent), then walked around a bit after the meal. It was a great meal with people that I really care about, which made for a perfect evening.
Sunday morning I cooked up some pancakes, then Ford, Jack, and I drove down to the Midwest FurFest storage locker to pick up a few items and to gauge the state of the locker (it, um, needs some work). While we were out, Dan did some shopping and made homemade pizzas (pepperoni, chicken and bacon, fajita, and carne asada and bacon). That evening Roho, Genet, Linnaeus, steviemaxwell, magicpaw, and Axel came over and we enjoyed tasty drinks, excellent food, and the premiere of the new season of The Amazing Race. Afterwards, folks played a few rounds of Say Anything, and after the crowd left we all stayed up far too late chatting.
And here we are back at Monday. Dan is sick but working from home and I’m at work feeling very tired. I’m sad that I had to miss Ford and Jack leaving this morning, but I suspect they’re glad I didn’t wake them at 6:30 AM to say my goodbyes! I’m going to run home and have lunch with Dan (yay leftover baked ziti) in a short while. Tonight should be nice and quiet, and we’ll probably be heading to bed early. This weekend should be relatively quiet too, which will be a nice change of pace!
I’m glad you guys had a great weekend!!!
And yes… Believe it or not, there was a method to the madness of the storage container, as emailed to you immediately after MFF. If I remember correctly, everything in the front, left was in need of being thrown out or otherwise dealt with. Everything immediately after that is old sponsorship items which need to be gone through… And the back 2/3 are all boxes from every department, sorted mostly into color-groups. (Con Suite, registration and Art Show, in that order.) If I didn’t need to be at the store on Sunday, I would have met you there. Sorry about that!
Had I known that you needed a printer or anything else, I would have put it in the immediate front with the other items that needed to be “dealt with”.
Please don’t think that was meant to be a critique of your work! I actually did review your email before we left, and I would have printed it out except that, um, our printer was in the storage locker 😉
The biggest problem is that the access we need to the storage locker between conventions is not the same as what is needed when emptying or filling it. We never discussed it, so I guess if I’m going to fault you for anything it’s your complete and utter lack of mind-reading skills. Damn you!
I do think that it would be good to get a couple of folks together to at least partially disassemble the storage locker, spread stuff out a bit, get rid of what needs to be gotten rid of, and put it back in an order that both gives us the access we need before the con and yet is still convenient for emptying and hauling down tot he truck. Maybe some time in March or April we can schedule this?
(Be sure to ask Ford about the Pharaoh’s Curse that was left behind, too)
We will not speak of the Pharaoh’s Curse.