Happy Halloween!!

Earlier this week the boys fell asleep together. They haven't shared the bed in ages (they just take turns) so I had to take a picture. :-)Fall is suddenly upon us! Today was a Blustery Day; the kind of day you only get in the fall. Only it wasn't cool and crisp, it was warm and DUSTY. Never was it more apparent that we live in a bowl of farm fields. Dust in your eyes, your mouth. . . it was so hazy it looked stormy. We shut up the windows when we realized we could taste the grittiness of the air. It became warmer in the house than out, but we couldn't open anything! So weird. When I went out later, I dumped out the pets' outside water dish (covered with a layer of grime) and pulled the cover back over the fooseball table (covered with a layer of dust). Blech. But it IS supposed to cool off! They are also apparently predicting rain, which would be hard on the trick-or-treaters. When you can count on your hand how many times it rains in a year, how unfair does it seem that one of the days should be Halloween??? Ah, well. We'll see.

Anyhow, tomorrow is Halloween! So we carved pumpkins tonight. The seeds are drying on the counter so I can bake them tomorrow if all goes as planned.This is Erik with Bartholomew & Essie. Who do YOU think is the scariest? ;-DThe pets also donned their costumes, likely for the only time ever. It was not the most pleasant half of an hour we've ever spent, but now I can go back and giggle over the pictures whenever I want! Dread Pirate Pip was a slightly better sport than Jester Samwise . . . that is NOT a happy cat. :-/ Pippin and we say, "Happy Halloween! Happy All Saints Day! Happy Fall!" (the cat just glares)

We are Such Geeks ;-)

So, it's been a little while--I'm SORRY, Kirsten!! ;-)

Actually, I didn't realize just how long. . . when I was putting this together, I realized that the little set of pictures I'd put aside for the last entry never got posted, so this is Two Posts for the Price of One!!

On October 11 we went to see a production of Twelfth Night at the community college. It was pretty good, but it was in an outdoor amphitheater and it was COLD!!!! I mean Really Cold. We had fun but came home freezing. I don't think it's been as cold again since.
In other news. . . our new living room furniture!!!!! (discretely celebrates furniture store going-out-of-business sale) Yes, I take too many pet pictures. . . Sam kickin' it in a shoe boxPippin doing his best to look obedient and deserving of a treatSam, who jumped right into the garbage can when Erik pulled the bag outSo, this last weekend we went to a geek convention; my first one ever. Hero-Con. And it was pretty fun! Plus we won new graphics cards!! Woo hoo!! And got "free" t-shirts which I made Erik pose in when we got home. I had to take several to find a good background. . .
Was the last picture worth all the rigmarole, you ask? No. Of course not. But did you look at all the fun pictures I got in-between?!?!!? :-D

Our good friends Theresa & Anthony were also at the convention, and put us up for the weekend.Anthony (well, all of us--but he was MOST excited) got to meet "The Defuser" who won on the second season of "Who Wants to be a Superhero". Jarrett is cop from Texas and listening to him talk about being on the show was very entertaining! Now I want to see the show!I'm laughing here because Theresa almost fell off of her chair as she scooted back to take our picture--just so you have some context! ;-)Anyhow, the convention was fun, and we got to spend the rest of the weekend hanging out and visiting with Theresa & Anthony and going to church with them. We headed out after a yummy chili lunch on Sunday for the long drive home.

Anthony & Theresa's cat O'Malley (MauMau) watching us leave--how about those gorgeous baby blues?!?Silky kitten waiting for us at home. . . as yet unaware what treats were in store later in the week. Ha!Yesterday Ben & Pei came up for the afternoon and brought their two kitties to meet Sam & Pippin. I was remiss in taking pictures, but did snap one of Sam & Itchy meeting on the cat tree. Yes, we got a cat tree... and have already had our money's worth of entertainment, let me tell you!! The cats did okay; we were amazed that they all hissed for the first time ever though! Pippin spent most of the time outside; a new place and a new cat were enough stress for one day. We had lunch outside (yes, it's still warm enough to do that in the middle of the day) and then played fooseball! First Ben & Pei beat us 2:1; then Ben & Erik beat Pei & I 2:0! Don't worry, I beat Erik 3:0 later that evening!! Anyway, we had lots of fun hanging out and playing and talking and watching cats. :-)

Love & Laughter

So, just a quick update from our weekend. We went down to Northridge on Saturday afternoon (about 30 minutes from Ben & Pei) to see the Smothers Brothers!!! It was a great show; they are really such funny guys. It was fun to be back on a campus too. I didn't realize how much I missed it! We had a great time. Tommy is really something to see with his yo-yo!!This was a sign for a coffee shop on campus that cracked me up:
Ben & Pei were off at a wedding, but kindly let us stay and keep their kitties company! The last time I saw the cats, they were tiny, scared little things. They've gotten so big and soft and sweet--we had all kinds of fun with them. Meet Itchy & Scratchy, respectively.Sunday morning we took a little time in the morning to walk some of the old stomping grounds in Altadena. Believe it or not, there is some fall color! Then we had lunch with Ben & Pei before heading home.
And we took something home with us. Erik finally got his dream computer! He's been yearning for ages and we asked Ben to help us put one together. . . and it was all ready to go. It was set up FIRST THING when we got home. He isn't that excited or anything. . . can't you tell?I hope your day is wonderful and your tomorrow a pleasant dream!

Noelle Came for a Visit!

Woo hoo!!! She came in Andy's fun little MR2. And we had her for a whole week!! It went by really fast though.On Saturday afternoon we met Ben & Pei at Pyramid Lake for a picnic lunch. . . The lake is almost exactly an hour from each of us and I've been wanting to go since the first time I drove past it to go to Bakersfield. Until fairly recently however, it's been closed due to some dredging or something they were doing in the lake. We'd seen it was open again, so we finally went!After lunch Ben & Pei drove home to study, but we stayed to swim.Yay for a freshwater swim in California!!

Erik & Noelle with their chili, ready to watch the old animated Clone Wars.Erik serving up brandy slushes with a smile.On Sunday afternoon we met some friends after church and had lunch at Noriega's, which is a Basque restaurant that has been around since the late 1800s. They have a set menu, and open the doors to the boarding house style dining room at the appointed time; everything is served family style. It was delicious and such a fun atmosphere! It felt like another time, and not at all like Somewhere in the Middle of California. Very neat. Come visit--we'll take you! ;-DThen we took Noelle to play her first Dungeon's and Dragons game! Erik and his friend Sergio have been helping me play and we've been having lots of fun. Picking out a pretty set of dice from Erik's bucket is fun too!

We had such fun just hanging out and running errands and watching movies and cooking and talking and simply being together. Noelle & I watched all the Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea movies!! :-D Then came our Exciting Package! Noelle got to help me put together our fooseball table while Erik slept! We've been having lots of fun with it (but Erik & I clearly need practice!)We may not be able to play fooseball, but there are other talents in the world. . .
Even the pets were amazed!Thursday night we went to our favorite Thai restaurant (ok, the Only Thai Restaurant we go to in town, but it's My Favorite Restaurant, hands down!) They make AMAZING food! And the best Thai tea ever. Soooooo yummy. We rather spoiled ourselves with the eating out this week, but it was a fun excuse!! Friday morning we played a few more games of fooseball; Erik & I lost badly as partners against Noelle, but did manage to score FIVE in one game before she hit the winning tenth point--we were so proud!!! Then it was time to see her off, so she could beat the traffic going into Sacramento. Time went so fast. :-( Everybody came out to say goodbye.We had a LOVELY visit--hope she comes again soon!! We like visits (hint, hint!)

In the meantime, we'll have to practice our fooseball skills. ;-D