Category: NaBloPoMo

Average Jane, RPGer

Yesterday evening I hosted a role playing board game night. Kanga brought over a selection of games including Battlestar Galactica, Dune, Warrior Knights and Last Night on Earth.

We'd been having trouble getting enough players, so I'd gone into recruitment overdrive and added some new people to the group, including my cousin Travis and @february_seer_j. We ended up with eight, which would have been perfect except that most of the games work best with six or fewer players. We teamed up some of the newbies and ended up playing Battlestar Galactica.

Setup takes a while.

We had to use two tables. Next time I think I'd bring my laundry table up from the basement.

The rule booklets really come in handy.

Cylons!

I made a big pot of chili, some cornbread and an Apple Honey Bundt Cake. I'd forgotten how much a group of men can eat, so later on I heated up my last pan of enchiladas from earlier in the week and fed them that as well.

Even though my living room is small, we managed to make it work and I think everyone had fun.

Once we wrapped up the game (the humans won!), some of the group left and the remaining players broke out Last Night on Earth. My cousin played as the zombies and killed all the human players quickly and relentlessly, as zombies do.

Now that the weather is cooling down, I think we'll be having game nights more often. The next time we end up with eight or more players, we'll probably split into two groups. There are so many more games we could play—between Kanga and two of his buddies, I think we had about ten options just yesterday. Even though we especially love BSG and Dune, it would be fun to branch out.

If you're interested in joining us sometime, just let me know!

November 13, 2011
5 Things Average Jane Has Noticed About Dog Ownership
1. People are rather ridiculously happy for you. I always used to joke that we never had kids because we couldn't even get to the dog stage. Well apparently that wasn't a joke after all. Ever since I said I was getting a dog, my friends have evinced the kind of excitement usually reserved for pregnancy announcements. It's as if I really have reached some kind of milestone. Nevermind that I've spent more than twenty years raising long-lived cats. (I'm still not going to have human kids, though. The dog stage is not literally penultimate.)
2. You meet a lot more people. I've been walking the same route around my neighborhood for a couple of years, but until I had a dog I had probably only spoken to about three people. Now I speak to several people every time I go out. Strangers want to pet Toby and ask about him. He's a living, breathing conversation starter.
3. You become aware of the neighborhood dogs. Most dogs won't bark at a person walking, but they are very interested when a dog walks by their territory. I had no idea there were so many dogs on my block, much less along my 3.4 mile route. I even know some of their names now. Heck, I've learned that the dog next door is named Dolly and yet I still don't know her owners' names after living next to them for sixteen years.
4. It makes you get exercise. I was already walking a lot when we got the dog, but my husband was not. Since he's the one home during the day, he ends up walking Toby at least up the block once or twice a day. He told me that he was initially sucking wind by the time he got to the top of our hill, but he was already finding it easier after the first couple of weeks.
5. You become more in tune with the seasons. This fall has been fascinating for me. One of my neighbors has a tree that sheds a carpet of beautiful golden needles that covers the street for half a block, but only for a day. Some of our neighbors have trees that drop dark brown, twisty pods full of seeds. Being outside every day gives you a front-row seat for all of the seasonal changes. I don't know how I'll feel about that when it starts snowing regularly, but I'm sure I'll learn to cope.
November 12, 2011
Average Jane Goes To the Theatre

Last night my husband and I went to see Avenue Q at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. The performance came highly recommended by someone who had also seen the show on Broadway and said that this one was quite comparable.

If you're interested in going, there are five performances left and the tickets are only about $20 each. We sat in the third row despite the fact that I'd only bought my tickets a couple of days in advance, so Thursday night is obviously a good choice.

It was nice going out and doing something other than sitting in front of the TV, as we tend to do on most nights that we're both free.

Tonight for 11-11-11 we're considering going to the Screenland Crossroads to see a showing of This Is Spinal Tap and a Spinal Tap tribute band. Then again, we might just watch the DVD at home. As much as we enjoy getting out and about, our budget only stretches so far!

November 11, 2011
Average Jane Entertains

Yesterday I hosted about a dozen friends for dinner. I made a double (and then some) batch of these enchiladas, which are absolutely delicious:

Beef Enchiladas

1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup diced green pepper
1/4 cup diced onion
1/3 cup taco sauce
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 can refried beans
1 sm. can chopped black olives
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 10-oz. can mild enchilada sauce
1 10-oz. can hot enchilada sauce
1 package corn tortillas

Brown the hamburger and add green pepper, onion, pepper and garlic powder. Stir in the refried beans, olives and taco sauce and simmer lightly. Remove from heat.

Combine the enchilada sauces in a medium saucepan and warm on the stove. Dip each tortilla in the sauce, spoon in beef mixture, sprinkle with some cheese and roll. Place in a 13" x 9" pan. Repeat until pan is full (single layer). Pour the remaining sauce over all and top with lots of grated cheese. Bake at 350°F until sauce bubbles and cheese melts. Let sit about 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with sour cream and sliced green onions, if desired.

Note: I find that this recipe usually makes several more enchiladas than will fit in the pan. A double recipe with one extra pound of ground beef and an extra can of enchilada sauce will make two 13" x 9" pans and a 9" square pan. Another reason I like to double the batch is because the fresh corn tortillas at my grocery store come in packs of 36 and I don't like to waste any. The enchiladas are really rich, so one or two per person is plenty.

I also made a double batch of the Mexican Rice II recipe from Allrecipes.com, which my husband says is a lot like the rice his grandmother used to make. I like to add some frozen corn before I bring it to a boil. Yesterday I also added some chopped red bell pepper and a couple of small sliced jalapeños.

One of my friends brought over a spicy batch of fideo, so we all ate very well. Best of all, the cleanup was pretty minimal and by the time most of my guests arrived, I was finished washing the pots and pans. The dishwasher took care of the plates and utensils afterward and I only had to hand wash the crystal wine glasses.

Now I need to decide what to make on Saturday for game night. I'm thinking chili. Or maybe we should just eat the last of the enchiladas. I have plenty left!

Photo credit: Clay Hackett

November 10, 2011
Average Jane Takes Vacation Days

Well, this vacation thing is going swimmingly so far. I slept until almost 9:00 a.m. today and awoke to a gorgeously sunny fall day. I also awoke to dog poop on the kitchen floor, but that's what happens when you sleep four hours past your dog's walk time. That's okay – I needed to mop today anyway.

On today's agenda: house cleaning, a late lunch, grocery shopping, and a dinner party at my house with a big group of girlfriends. I'm making enchiladas and Mexican rice.

Tomorrow I'm going to lunch with another group of women and in the evening my husband and I are going to a highly-recommended performance of Avenue Q. Friday's plans are a little lighter, but my husband and I will probably have lunch together and hang out all day.

The weekend includes Toby's first trip to my vet (we'll walk there as long as the weather is decent), a role playing game night at my house, and another charity 5k. I'm still taking donations that will go to lung cancer research.

As I sit in my horribly messy office, I'm hoping I can find some time to at least tidy up in here while I'm at it. I should have at least a couple of hours to devote to that if I can tear myself away from the computer.

I'm telling you all this stuff now because, barring sudden inspiration, the next few days of posts will probably be mostly photos with minimal commentary. NaBloPoMo or no, I have some vacationing to do!

November 9, 2011
Average Jane vs. Standard Time

I'm pretty sure I wrote a version of this same post last spring. It's just that I have an unexpectedly difficult time adjusting to the time changes these days. I think traveling across time zones is easier than trying to shift an hour at home.

On Sunday morning, I forgot to set my clocks back but woke up around 5:30 a.m. anyway. Once I adjusted the time, there I was wide awake at 4:30 a.m. with nothing to do but goof around online until my agenda kicked in.

Since then, I've been going to bed each night around 10:00 p.m. but waking up in the area of 3:00 a.m. and then fighting to go back to sleep until at least 5:00 or 5:30.

It doesn't seem to have affected my productivity or energy during the day, but it's just not very satisfying to get such fragmented sleep. I'm hoping everything settles down as soon as possible.

November 8, 2011
Average Jane’s Beautiful Autumn Day

Fallen leaves, gourds, puppies, apple cider and warm sunlight. Yesterday at my aunt's house was pretty much perfect!

November 7, 2011
Average Jane’s Dog Goes on a Play Date

On Friday night, I was invited to a Pampered Chef party at Cagey's house. My husband had a gig that evening, so it occurred to me that it might be fun to take Toby with me for the two-fold purpose of giving him a chance to play with another dog and not leaving him at home alone longer than his bladder capacity would indicate.

It also gave me the chance to try out the dog restraint harness I'd bought for car rides.

I already knew Toby hated to ride in the car. It makes him very anxious, upset and whiny. He spends the entire ride lunging toward my lap, panting and crying. So basically, no fun for anyone.

This trip was no exception. I was kind of hoping he'd be better because I was considering taking him on a longer trip over the weekend, but it only took one leg of this trip to make me firmly rule that out.

We got to the party and Toby was a hit with both Team Chaos and Cagey's dog Lucy. He spent far more time sitting on my lap than he ever would at home, but he and Lucy did run around and play, which is exactly what I wanted to see.

I need to befriend someone in my neighborhood with a small dog so Toby can play more often but not have to be driven anywhere. (Do not even dream of suggesting that I get another dog. My house is overrun with small mammals as it is.)

In the meantime, I'm glad he had some fun, even if it was overridden by the stressful car trips. For the time being, Toby will have to be satisfied with Dr. Jones as a playmate. If he can ever catch him awake.

November 6, 2011
Average Jane Does Something Resourceful

There's a fluorescent light fixture on our kitchen ceiling that started to be rather unreliable about producing light last year. I had the switch replaced (more because it had a tendency to shock me than because I thought it wasn't working), but the decline continued and eventually the light stopped turning on at all. It was safe to say this meant that the bulb had burned out.

The problem was that I couldn't figure out how to get into the thing to access the bulb. I had an extra bulb on hand, but it didn't do me any good if I couldn't get it in there. No amount of standing on a stepladder fiddling around with the light fixture was doing any good, so I had to temporarily give up.

It seemed ridiculous to call an electrician out just to change a light bulb, so it occurred to me that I might be able to track down some information online about the light fixture and how to open it.

I starting searching my Gmail account and quickly found the receipt for the two light bulbs I'd bought to go with the fixture. That nailed down the purchase date as late November of 2006. The email receipt for the fixture itself did not include the search keywords, though, so I had no choice but to look through all of the emails from that month until I figured out where I'd made my purchase.

It turned out to be Home Depot. The receipt did not link to the online product page, but the store name at least pointed me in the right direction. I searched their site for indoor fluorescent light fixtures and found out that the one I had was made by Hampton Bay. Narrowing the search, I found my fixture and, lo and behold, within the product description was a link to download a PDF of the installation instructions.

This morning I applied what I'd learned, got the fixture cover off, replaced the round fluorescent bulb and (kinda, mostly, almost) put the cover back on. So I might have to go back and make it more snug later, but it stayed up and I didn't need to be making that much screeching metal noise with my husband asleep in the next room.

Then I put away the stepladder, flicked the switch and…LIGHT!

So now I know that the five-year life promised by the bulb packaging is fairly accurate. I also know that it's not such a big deal to replace the bulbs after all. Sometime soon I will know exactly how to slide the cover back on so that all the clips hold, not just some of them. Baby steps.

November 5, 2011
Average Jane Plans Ahead

It's kind of unbelievable that we have less than two months left of 2011. There was actually snow in the forecast yesterday, but we lucked out for a little longer with just some rain.

Yesterday I decided to schedule my last five days of vacation for the year, which means I'm taking Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off next week. It'll work out great because I'm hosting a dinner party on Wednesday, I have what is sure to be a long lunch with other friends on Thursday, and I figured I might as well take Friday while I was at it.

I'll also be taking off my wedding anniversary and the day before in early December.

My next big planning target is Thanksgiving. I've decided to cook dinner at my house, but so far it's for three people: my husband, my dad and me. If you have no Thanksgiving plans and you live nearby, consider this your official invitation to come over to share our overly ample feast. I'll be making all of the classics.

If you're cooking your own Thanksgiving dinner, perhaps for the first time, here is a link to my recipe booklet. I always like to be helpful that way.

As for Christmas, we're already affirming that this will be another year in which we only buy gifts for the children in the family. The adults are perfectly content just getting together for family time.

How are you wrapping up your year? Are you taking any last-minute vacation time that you needed to use up?

November 4, 2011