Mishaps and other haps

Kitty photos!

We cleared Morose and the Opera for the first time last night in Karazhan. Since we have most of a week until the raid resets, we can move on to the Maiden and the Curator and hopefully make several attempts on them this week (unless, perchance, we should actually clear them without too many wipes).

Jlinth noted that five people picked up epics last night, including pants for Minni. Apparently, they are one-size-fits-most-Grandmothers/Big Bad Wolves, as they dropped off of the Big Bad Wolf at the Opera.

It was a good run. We had some extra healing from outside the guild (I’d really like to see Pheam and Opis back as DF healers) and some awesome DPS from a couple of new guild members. Also in random chat, I found out that Sabbath has the same professor for Russian/Soviet history that I had … like a decade ago. Yes, we have a few active guild members who live in Florida, which is kind of odd since we have such a small guild, but anyway …

I think there is going to be massive interest in doing multiple Karazhan runs this week/weekend. Hopefully we will have something like the original group from last night so that we have a good shot at clearing more bits of the dungeon and getting people geared. There is talk of content beyond Karazhan … exciting!

The weekend, so far, has been fantastic. Well, we did not have enough people to run Karazhan yesterday. Apart from that, it has been fantastic. I was lying in bed last night going over how many different instances I ran yesterday, and I counted four, three of which were heroic. We also ran Shattered Halls. Among other items, I picked up two very nice, rare staves that will round out my spell DPS and feral DPS gear sets.

Running heroic instances is not the best way to make money in-game, though, so I hope we do some questing this week to work on funds for our epic flying Netherdrakes. Yes, we have a long way to get there, including a series of daily quests to complete … and we’d really like to be running Karazhan, but we have had some bad luck with getting a full group together.

Apart from WoW, I shopped for produce yesterday and made tacos for four people for dinner. I was excited about the tacos because I incorporated chives, cilantro, and salad greens from our garden into the meal. I have been throwing chives into other things I have been cooking over the past week, but it was the very first harvest of cilantro and salad greens from the garden.

One of our tomato plants has a little green tomato growing on it now and we desperately need to stake the plants before they give up and completely slump over. Hopefully that will happen today.

I woke up about an hour ago and put on a roast and vegetables to cook in the slow cooker during the day. I will probably season it with the Sunny Spain (lemon pepper) mixture from Penzeys later in the day. PhysOrg left a little while ago to take Onlyunjeu home. I am hanging out with the kittens and considering actually getting dressed so that I can so outside, water the plants, and collect a few herbs for a loaf of bread. Hmm … Lavender-Rosemary bread … it SEEMS like a good idea … I’m not sure how it will pan out.

We have a tabletop game in a few hours and I think the rest of the day is going to be great. Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

It’s unbelievable how time is flying and how little time I have had to write about much of anything lately.

I had a great time visiting with my parents while they were here. The weather was fairly good, so we were able to get out downtown and tour the Capitol and several museums. We skipped the zoo because a few year-end field trips were taking place last week and parking was a nightmare. My family had dinner with PhysOrg’s family one night and the two sets of parents were finally able to meet, which was fun.

We saw our friend Larry for the first time in months a couple of weeks ago and it sounds like he would like to have a biweekly game of some type going. He is now a father-to-be, so there was a lot to chat and catch up about.

Artie and Mr. Guff dropped by yesterday afternoon and we went to dinner with them and watched Ocean’s Eleven on DVD. They have just signed a lease on a place and will be moving to Madison in July. It sounds like they will be living fairly close to us, so we are excited about having them nearby.

Garden plants are growing. After going to the Farmer’s Market with Onlyunjeu, Althea, Andrew, and PhysOrg yesterday morning, I came home and moved a few lettuce plants around to space them out a little more. At least a couple of basil plants have sprouted, also. They are tiny and don’t really look like basil yet, but they are identifiable by smell. We have at least seven squash or pumpkin plants that have survived the seed pallet, so we need to add another row to the garden and transplant them there soon.

The kittens are also growing. They have had a lot of visitors and admirers since they arrived at their new home and they seem to be thriving.

We have a new Sunday game, so I need to run off to that in a few minutes. I have a couple of days of class at the beginning of this week, so it will be another short work week for me, which I am looking forward to.

My parents are in town visiting, so I am off most of this week. Apart from spending Sunday morning at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, we have been spending most of their time here doing “inside” things since the last few days have been a little rainy. Today looks a little brighter, though. Later this morning we’re hoping to get downtown for a while and do some walking and sight-seeing.

The kittens are doing well and I think they have even grown a bit in the two weeks or so since we adopted them. None of the trio is particularly shy. They like people a lot and alternate between being playful bundles of energy and collapsing onto a soft cushion, the ninja blanket, or a lap for a while. Sometimes all three collapse into a pile together to snooze for a bit.

The Guffeys brought some toys over for the kittens when they came to visit for the 30th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope at the end of May and Mlitiagrl’s parents brought over some toys when they came for the Memorial Day cookout, so they have been well-stocked with playthings. They especially love the fuzzy catnip mice, the dangling fleece “string” toy, the laser pointer PhysOrg pulled out of his desk the other day, and shoes.

Shoes are not a toy, per se, but we habitually leave several pairs of shoes in the foyer and they are fascinating to the kittens. When we’re downstairs in the evening and we hear a godawful racket upstairs that sounds like a giant clomping around, we can safely bet that one or more of the kittens is dragging around or tackling a shoe.