Thanksgiving

We had a very full house for Thanksgiving. This was the fourth year the Trelevens' came to celebrate with us (Terry, Teresa, Lucas and Merriam). That has become a comfortable tradition which I hope continues forever. Cara's folks came, David and Darlene. For some reason Hazel was very intimidated by David. As far as I could tell he didn't make any overt aggressive communications to her. She just didn't like him (I'm not sure he liked her either and I think she could tell). Darlene's sister and family came- Donna, Ruben and Paul. And Laura Beth from small group also came. Leesha was at her dads for some of the evening and joined us as we were eating. Lucas is smitten with her. I think she was getting irritated with him following her around. Jack was passed from lady to lady and was charming them all as he does so well. Even when Darlene doesn't host, she does. So Cara had plenty of help.

Our house was very very cozy.

After everyone left I took a short nap and then got up to go meet Robert outside the Egan Best Buy at 2 AM to see if I could score a new computer for $200 (a $650 or so value). We got in line, chatted for about an hour and discovered shortly after 3 AM that we were out of luck. There were a lot of people there before us and after us. Rob was there pretty much to keep my company. He didn't even really want anything. What a nice guy. Rob was also how I found out about the deal. Perhaps he felt bad about getting me into it. I've never gotten involved with the day-after-Thanksgiving-sale frenzy. I always thought it was silly for people to do what I did. I guess I was right all along.

I got home and realized I was completely jacked up on coffee. D'oh. Went to sleep around 7 and got up around 10:30 AM.

We are dog sitting for a couple who has just joined our small group. Hazelnut is with us for a week and a half. She is a very good dog. At two and a half years old her behavior is incredible. She seems to have a strong understanding of pack order and is a very good listener.

Not sure what breed mix she is. There seems to be some yellow labrador and what I suspect is some collie. She is real lean, but has a thick coat. Her ears don't stick up like they are in the pictures. She is a very good dog.

Its been a busy week. My folks were up last weekend which means there will be hundreds of new photos to look at. We had a great time and spent every moment at Willis West (Greg and Mandy's in Maple Grove). Mom got a good chunk of baby time which should tide her over till Christmas. It was fun to have Jack and Simon interact with each other. They're both more aware of their world and of each other now. We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday night which works out well considering we get two Thanksgivings this year! I love food.

Dad and Greg got to watch their Packer Game. Leesha did relatively well considering she was in competition with the babies for attention and had no one else her age to play with. She enjoyed seeing Cogswell and Eddie.

We skipped church on Sunday morning for a Bible study lead by dad. It was fun and full of discussion (as well as baby and dog distraction). I would love to do more of that.

I had a gaming book with for when conversation got stale. It lead into gaming as a topic of discussion resulting in dad kind of dissing the hobby (which he knows little about). He later called to say he felt bad about that so I offered to run a game for he and mom (and Cara and Leesha) over their stay for Christmas so he could get a feel for what it actually is about. So I've been starting to gather ideas for a miniature campaign to run for my family. I'm excited about this.

Jack rolled over yesterday!

Here is video of Jack in action

Cara's grandmother died today. Her dad, David, and his sister were with her grandmother when she passed. It was said to be very peaceful.

I am Where I Was a Year Ago

I think it was more than a year ago that I finished a huge book called Clash of Kings and swept right into the next huge book of the series called Storm of Swords. It proved to be too much and I got bogged down about 1/6th of the way into Storm of Swords. Well, about 2 weeks ago I picked up the book again and tried to read from where I left off. I was so lost. Starting from the beginning again, this morning I reached that 2nd bookmark that held my place for over a year. What a fantastic book, too. If you haven't read the Song if Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, you should. Best fantasy series of our day, perhaps.