I can't sleep.

It's almost midnight and I am wide awake. I want to go to bed, but I don't want to wake hubby up. I want to watch TV but I don't want to fall asleep on the couch and make hubby feel bad that I slept there all night. I want to play WoW but my keyboard sounds so loud in the quiet house, and I'm right outside the kids' rooms. Don't want to wake them up either.

It is a quandary.

Goodbye BRK.

I will never forget it. The day I saw my first WWS report and was generally appalled at how poor my showing was. I frantically messaged my class leader. Is my DPS always like that? What can I possibly do to get better? And general other freaking-out type things. She responded, well, I've never played a beast master hunter, but here are some other specs you could try. I tried them, but they didn't feel right. There was something wrong with pulling threat from my pet, who was supposed to be my partner. So I went out looking for help, and that's when I found the Big Red Kitty blog. Here was someone who understood how I wanted to play the game, and was REALLY good at it too. I waffled, I hesitated, but finally I sent him an email. Help! Please!

He responded with a list of thirteen things that I could do RIGHT NOW to fix my spec and gear. I got down to it, and found forums and other things, a shot rotation macro... and suddenly I was roaring to the top of the meters. Beast Mastery is still reeling from the kick in the teeth it got from Blizzard, but now, now I know where I can look, what I can do, to continue putting out as much in the way of MQoSRDPS as I can, given the tools I have in-game. I have you to thank for that, Mr. Howell, and I shall never forget it. Even if you never return to the game, or the blog, you showed me the way to awesome huntering, and I won't ever lose that.

Thank you, and farewell.

Hakuna Matata!

The Lion King was awesome. The music, the costumes, everything was amazing. One thing I loved in particular was how they made use of the whole theater. People and animals would walk down the aisles on the ground floor, and at one point there were cast members at different spots in the theater with cloth birds on long poles, and they were swinging them around, making them fly, as they sang. It's hard to describe, but the effect was really neat. I got goosebumps more than once, and I cried more than once. There were quite a few scenes added in that were not part of the original movie. Some added a lot to the whole feel of it, others, not so much. Overall though, I really liked it, and I think I'd see it again, given the opportunity.

One other short story for you before we start packing up. We were out and about yesterday on the hunt for a Western store that hubby had found on Google Earth. We were driving down the highway, and got off on an exit for business 127. There's no sign at the top of the ramp as to which direction is which though, so hubby turned right, hoping he was going the right way. A little farther down the road he tells me he's lost, that he only paid cursory attention to the actual distances and whatnot to where he needed to get off the highway. So we travel down that road for a bit, but when we don't find what he's looking for, he takes a left on another road, going back in the direction the first highway had been traveling. We're practically in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farms, on a road that seemingly isn't going anywhere fast, when we see ahead of us some cars on what looks to be a more major road. We get to the intersection, and hubby sees a sign. It's the road he was looking for in the first place.

I told him, only you could get lost and still find the place you're trying to get to.

Take that, big bark of a dragon!

The guild hit Naxx on Wednesday, and I guess they finished it, because it was H. Malygos on the bill last night. A number of people were off, but we managed to scrounge together 25 and headed out to Coldarra. I was thankful to have had at least one night of this fight under my belt, though I still felt a bit lost when it came time for the dragon part. We wiped a few times at 3/4%, mostly due to losing too many dragons too quickly. The first two attempts I did pretty well, living until almost the end. The next two, not so much. One of those times he focused on me twice in a row, and I'm just not on top of that whole mechanic enough to keep up with that yet, so down I went.

 

After about an hour and a half, the raid leader said, ok, last attempt guys. And we pulled it off, by the skin of our teeth. We hit the enrage timer, but we had just enough DPS up to bring him down. I had lived through to the enrage, but was one of the first victims of it. Still, it was nice to finally see that fight finish. No hunter loot, unfortunately. A caster trinket, a healy trinket, some healy plate, and some sort of snowy robes, that were anything BUT white. Supposedly they're going to try Sarth +3 on Sunday, and I'm on standby for that one. I have screenshots of us winning at Malygos, but of course they're on my computer at home.

 

I also used some Badges of Valor to pick up a new ring and the Superior achievement (which I wasn't expecting) after the raid. Yeeha!

 

Tonight we're off to Lansing. I don't know how much internet time I'll have while we're gone, but I'll be sure to pop in when we get home on Sunday and do a little review of the Lion King for ya. Have a great weekend everyone!

 

 

It's almost here!

Tomorrow we leave for Lansing, yay!

If anything, I think I'm even more excited this week than I was last week. That might have something to do with the fact that we really ARE going this week, but... yeah. :)

Last night's dinner was Culver's, and if you have one near you, I totally recommend it. It's a little pricier than most burger places, but the food is tasty, and the ice cream is completely worth it. I had a mint oreo Concrete Mixer for dessert, and it was amazingly yum. Tomorrow will be the big dinner though. One thing they have in Lansing that we don't have here is White Castle, so it's always a treat when we're over that way to order up a Crave Case with cheese and OD on tiny burgers.

Other than that, just a bit of WoWing last night. Mezzaluna and Rhonson are now level 35. Our current plan is to get them to 60, then roll some hordes on another realm, and try to get them to 60 as well before our RAF bonus runs out. We'll see how well we do, considering that I'm still trying to fit raids in once in a while also. I'm signed up for tonight, but I have no idea what's on the menu. I know the guild was in Naxx last night, but I logged off before I found out if they finished or not. If they did, it'll be Sartharion and Malygos, if not, maybe we'll finish up in there.

That's about all... If you'll excuse me, I have to look up some pet return macros. I'm tired of my pet dying to lava walls because I didn't click Passive soon enough. Have a great day everyone! :)

Om Nom Nom

Hubby surprised me last night with dinner at Olive Garden. Turns out they came out with a new "limited time only" dinner, and of course we had to try it. Last time it was mezzaluna, moon-shaped cheese raviolis. This time it was Tuscan Garlic Shrimp or Chicken. I had the shrimp, hubby had the chicken. It was pretty tasty, though I wish I had asked for no peppers in mine. The salad and breadsticks were delicious as always too! Emily got a big bowl of macaroni and cheese, and Andy got his own little cheese pizza. We left there a very full family!

 

By the time we got home, it was going on 8PM, so I hopped in the shower while hubby and the kids watched some TV. It's Ben 10 week on Cartoon Network, so that's what they were watching when I joined them. Apparently there's going to be another live-action Ben 10 movie coming out soon. I may actually watch this one. Hubby said the last one wasn't very good, but this one is based on the Alien Force season, which I like pretty well. Older, not-so-bratty Ben is much more interesting, in my personal little opinion. :)

 

Once the kids went to bed, I found Miss Congeniality on HBO, so I watched that until it was time for me to go to bed. I've seen it like a million times, but it's one of those movies that still makes me laugh, even though I know what's going to happen. I love Sandra Bullock in movies like this. She and Drew Barrymore are two of my favorites.

 

That's about it for right now, I'm starting to get excited again for the weekend. This time we're going for real, wahoo!!! :)

Not much to report today.

I got out of work terribly late yesterday, so there wasn't much time to do anything when I got home. I ate dinner, and then it was bedtime for the kids. Hubby and I took turns running our RAF alts through Scarlet Monastery, and got some nice boss drops for a few levels later. We're both level 32 now.

When I first logged on, I got a whisper from my guild leader asking me if I wanted to raid. They were setting up for Malygos, and 2-drake Sartharion. I kind of wanted to go, I mean, I'm not going to earn back my DKP by not raiding, but hubby and I had plans to play together, and I wasn't going to ditch him for a few points of DKP. I told my guild leader I didn't want to go, and got a bit of a guilt trip back. He asked when the last time was that I had raided. I told him I had signed up for last Thursday, but that raid had gotten cancelled because there was some issue with Comcast internet for a lot of people, and they couldn't get enough together for a decent raid. So the last time had been two weeks ago, the Sartharion/Malygos wipefest. I asked him if I didn't go, did it mean that they couldn't raid, and he said not exactly. Then my class leader asked me if I wanted to raid. I finally told him that hubby and I had planned what we wanted to do last night, and raiding was not a part of it.

It was a little frustrating for me, to be honest. It reminded me of all the reasons I had asked to get demoted in the first place. I didn't want to be made to feel bad when I declined raid, no matter why I declined it in the first place. I am comfortable with one night a week, maybe two. So I always sign up for Thursdays, and this week I'm on standby for Sunday's raid as well. When my class leader talked to me about returning to member/raider status, he said "just decline raid when you don't want to go". That's what I have been doing, and that's what I intend to continue to do. Had I put myself on the wait list and changed my mind, that would have been a different matter entirely.

It ended up not mattering in the end. One of the initiate warlocks logged on, and they went instead. And raid was done about two hours later, Malygos and Sarth +2. So I would have gotten 20 DKP if I had gone. I'm currently about 150 in the hole. And odds are something would have dropped that was an upgrade, which would have cost me another 100. It's just a slippery slope, and because we're down to two raiding hunters, and one of them probably already has all the gear he wants, I'm going to dig myself a deeper and deeper hole.

Of course, the guild leader says that DKP will be reset when the patch hits, so I shouldn't worry about that too much. *sigh*

On the plus side, two of the people I really didn't like got a /gkick yesterday. So at least when I DO raid it will be with a much improved attitude. Silver lining, right? :)

Back to the grind. *sigh*

That was really a great zoo, I highly recommend it to anyone in the area. One thing I didn't get on video was my favorite exhibit out of them all, the manatees. We were going through the exhibit, and there were a lot of little aquariums, then we walked into a room with a big one over to the side. I thought it was just a big aquarium to mimic like a river bed or something, then all of a sudden, a manatee swam over from the other side. It was HUGE. I'd never seen one up so close before, and it was really beautiful.

 

Another thing I wish I had gotten on video was the polar bear exhibit. There were three of them, one was swimming, and the other two were on land just wandering around. The swimming one was funny, he would go from the deep end of the pool to the shallow end, then flip over and swim on his back out to where he had come from. He would use his paw to push himself off the rocks that were sticking out into the water from the side of the pool. Then we moved along down to the next section of the exhibit, just in time to see one of the other polar bears back up to the edge of the rocks and let go a #2. I'm -glad- I didn't get that part on video!

 

There were some other cats there who were just adorable. One in the nocturnal house had his own little hammock bed, and he was laying in there just like our cat at home does, staring lazily out at the people walking by. In the cat house with the Pallas cat (which -is- in the video), there was one cat who looked just like a kitten, but that was as big as he was going to get. He looked much too adorable to be a fierce predator!

 

One of the last things we saw was the insect house. That's something I could have done without. I'm not a fan of spiders, and of course there were tarantulas and scorpions in there, but the creepiest ones were the big ones. Bugs should NOT be allowed to get that big, seriously. The walking stick bugs were kind of cool, and some of the beetles were really pretty, but other ones.. oog. In other cases, it wasn't the size of the bugs themselves that creeped me out, but how many bugs were in one tiny exhibit. It gives me the creeps just thinking about it.

 

Yes, I can hold a snake, but bugs give me the flying heebie jeebies. Sue me. :D

 

Other quick news, Mezzaluna and Rhonson made level 30 last night and got themselves some ponies to ride. Look out Wetlands, here they come! :)

Video, as promised!

A quick hello!

After the rental car fiasco, we were stuck with a car, and no plans to go anywhere. So a quick search around, and we hit the road anyway. Our destination? The Cincinnatti Zoo. They had some really cute pictures of animals on their website, and it looked like a very nice zoo.

On the way, we stopped at a rest area. Hubby went in, and I waited in the car. Someone pulled up next to us and tapped on the window. They wanted to know if I knew if there was a gas station nearby because they had just run out of gas. I had no idea, but I said, wait for my hubby, he used to drive this highway all the time. So when he came out, they asked him. It was about ten miles, and they didn't think their car would make it that far.

We offered to take one of them up to the gas station so they could get some gas in a container and bring it back to the car. Very uneventful trip there, just up and back, and they were very grateful. It felt good to help. :)

We made it to Cincinnatti, and just got back to the hotel from the zoo a bit ago. I don't have pictures, because the battery died on the camera, and we didn't bring the cord to charge it. Oops! However, my sister-in-law lent us a small camcorder, and I should be able to upload the video when I get home.

So look for that tomorrow, and in the meantime, I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Things that make you go... d'oh!

The (highly paraphrased) scene:

At the rental car place, 11AM, Friday.

 

Rental car guy: Hi, do you have a reservation?

Me: Yep!

RCG: Name?

Me: (gives name)

RCG: I don't have a reservation under that name.

Me: What?

RCG: Nope, no reservation.

Me: But my husband set it up, we always rent from here. We're supposed to be going to Lansing!

RCG: Well, I have an extra car, you can rent it.

Me: Ok, cool!

 

...Later...

 

Me: Honey, they didn't have a reservation for the car.

Hubby: What? I checked it this morning, they should have! Did we get the cheaper rate?

Me: I don't know, I don't know what it was supposed to be.

Hubby: Let me check it again. If it's different, we're going back to get it fixed.

 

...Later, hubby is at home, checking the reservation...

 

Hubby: So... yeah.

Me: What?

Hubby: The reason they didn't have the reservation... is because it's for next weekend. The tickets are for the 28th.

Me: D'oh!

 

 

We're going out driving anyway, maybe even stay at the same hotel we're staying at next weekend. We'll see. And we'll definitely be better about double-checking calendars from here on out!

Ding!

Last night it was finally time to sit down and get to work on our Recruit-A-Friend characters. I'm proud to say Mezzaluna is now level 24, up from 17 when we started. The one thing I'm finding most difficult in all of this is keeping her in level-appropriate gear. Everything on our server is insanely overpriced, there was nothing even at level 22 for less than a gold. Thankfully she's a tailor, and can more or less make her own stuff. Hubby's isn't so easy, his paladin has no trade skills at all, so he's going to have to take his miner/blacksmith death knight out and gather some stuff when we're not playing together.

 

We had some fun running Stockades to get those quests done. Hubby brought in his Death Knight, ran into all of the rooms down the middle hallway, and gathered everyone together, then dropped them all at once right in front of me with some Death and Decay. He did all three halls that way XD, then we switched, and I brought in Saraabi to do the same thing. I think it took only like fifteen minutes, and most of that was from the time it took to loot each and every one!

 

In other news, it will be a quiet weekend around here. Hubby and I have tickets to go see the Lion King in Lansing, so my parents are taking the kids. I know I don't usually blog much on the weekends anyway, but at least this time it's for a good reason! :) The hotel where we're staying has free internet, but we may not bring hubby's laptop. If not, I'll do a post about it on Sunday. We've been looking forward to this for a long time. I think the tickets were bought back in December!

 

What are you all doing this weekend? :)

Wahoo!

There you have it! :) Three achievements at once, and Asara is now sporting the Argent Champion title. I would have done a screenshot when I actually got them, but it was in the middle of looting Baron Rivendare (still no horse, gosh darnit), and the actual achievements were covered up by his loots. I also dinged exalted with Ironforge after turning in all the runecloth I got in Strat and doing a few quick dwarf/gnome starting area quests. I picked up all 6 ram mounts, for a grand total so far of 35 mounts. I figure that if I can make enough money, I'll buy the Nether Drakes and Rays that I don't have yet, and if I can get Exalted with Gnomeregan, I can pick up enough Mechanostriders to hit the magical 50 number and get an Albino Drake. If I get some other mounts in there somewhere, I can also buy some more gryphons from the dwarves in Shadowmoon too. It'll take something like 2000 gold to do that, so first on the list is farming up some more of that!

To that end, Saraabi spent a half hour or so in Sholazar last night doing some mining runs. She ended up with about 5 stacks of Saronite, and a bunch of Titanium as well. Asara is also going to be a bit more diligent about dailies (besides the cooking one). Hubby is interested in getting the Guardian of Cenarius title, so we may spend some time in Silithus as time goes on as well. Busy busy busy! XD

No Argent Champion yet...

Nope, didn't happen. I got home from work yesterday and my sister-in-law was over, playing Rock Band with the hubby. I hopped on Asara for a few minutes, and managed to at least knock out my Dalaran cooking daily and the Shattrath one, which (finally) got me one of the two achievements I needed for my Chef title. Just a couple of weeks more of cooking dailies in Dalaran, and I'll have that done. Then the siren song of Rock Band (and a mushroom pizza) called me into the living room, where I spent the rest of the night singing along while hubby played guitar and Beth rocked out on the drums.

 

Oddly enough, I managed a 100% on Medium for "That's What You Get" by Paramore. At least Rock Band likes my singing!

 

I have to mention some cuteness too. The other day when we were at the park, we went for a walk down a wooded path they have there. On our way back to the playground, the kids were walking together holding hands, which was adorable. I kicked myself multiple times that day for not having the camera along. Then last night when I was singing, Emily came and sat next to me, and was singing along with me. I was singing "Still Alive" from the game Portal, and she was right there with me on the "I'm still alive" bits at the end.

 

I snuck back onto WoW for a few more minutes before bed, because my little druid Numae had some auctions up that I wanted to check on. She's currently level 49, thanks to an ST run hubby did for her over the weekend. She's my Inscriptionist (Inscriber?), and I'm leveling her when I have time so that she can eventually (hopefully) make Asara a Nobles Deck. Tonight I'm guessing hubby and I will spend some time on our Recruit-A-Friend characters, as we're running out of time to get the most out of their boosted experience, and they're still only level 17. But I'm also hoping to get out of work a little early, because the weather is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous today, and I want to spend some time outside with the kids and hubby before it starts to get colder again tomorrow.

 

Oh, and before I forget...

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What a gorgeous weekend!

Busy Busy Busy, that was us this weekend. (translation: this is going to be a REALLY long post)

 

On Saturday we made good on a promise to ourselves that we'd take the kidlets back to Chuck E. Cheese so they could actually use the tokens and tickets we had left over from Emily's birthday party (yes, way back in January). We left a bit abruptly the last time, due to people being sick and having to arrange who was going to leave with what kid, and who was going home with who.

 

They had a great time, and ended up with almost 900 tickets. They each got a nice prize, Andy got a set of toy tools, and Emily got a tiara made of pink plastic crystals and pearls that she has been wearing almost non-stop since. Afterwards we went over to Bob and Sara's for a round of Mario Party. We haven't done that for a while either, so that was really nice. Bob won. :)

 

Then it was home for the next round of Spanish Inquisition Idol. I sang "That's What You Get" by Paramore, but I didn't make it to the next round this time. I think I'm done trying with that one. I didn't make it the first time either, but that time they made a runner-up category with a lesser prize, which I did in fact win later. This time it seemed to be more of a competition to see who could sing the funniest song, as one person did "Yeah, Toast!" by Heywood Banks, and another did "Slaughter Your World" from the LFG comic.

 

It seems to be a trend with that game lately, trying my hardest only to come in last. I'm back on the fence regarding raiding because of that same feeling. Raiding last week and failing repeatedly on void zones or flame walls, losing my pet too many times because I was trying to focus on DPS instead of where he was. Things like that. I'm getting a lot of encouragement, but I think until I actually see good results, and feel confident again that I know what I'm doing.. it's going to be rough.

 

After the competition I was pretty sad for not doing as well as I'd hoped, so hubby decided to take me to SSC and help me get the achievement for fishing up Lurker. That was an adventure and a half, and ended up with four out of five of our high-level characters in a raid together, and a lot of switching people in and out to finally get to the point where we could run across the water and do the actual fishing. I brought Saraabi and he brought his death knight, Clanta, and Saraabi bubbled Clanta so he could get down to the water without getting nommed on by fish. With that out of the way, I got Asara out there with her Skyguard rep cloak, to float down to where Clanta was waiting. Unfortunately, something gave out early, and Asara ended up dead in the water. Clanta also ended up in combat, which meant he lost Path of Frost, and pow, dead in the water there too. So in the end I decided to try to make it to the little ramp next to the second group of naga, and just walk out into the water instead. I made it past the first trash group, but I pulled the big mosswalker guy, and died halfway down the second ramp. Hubby brings in his druid, who stealths past those two and down the ramp, where he rezzes me. Then Saraabi and Clanta do their bubble trick again, and Asara logs back in to run across the water with Clanta. Lurker is fished up on the second try, and ta da, achievement!

 

It really was an achievement-filled weekend. My Zhevra arrived from the Recruit-a-friend, which gave me that particular achievement, and it was my 25th mount as well, so there's another one. I'm two achievements away from the Chef title now, though the one will still take some work, as I need to buy quite a few more recipes and I'm out of cooking awards to do that. I ended up in a group for ZG at one point, and got the achievement for fishing up Gahz'ranka as well.

 

Yesterday we spent some more time with the kids, taking them out to breakfast at Perkins, and then to a local park for a couple of hours. They had a blast there, and the weather was almost perfect (a little chilly/windy, but not bad). I wish we had at least brought the camera, but oh well. Once we got home, they spent most of the rest of the evening resting in the living room and watching TV. So it was back to WoW for me for a bit.

 

I'd decided that the next thing I was going to work on was getting Exalted with Argent Dawn, for the Argent Champion title. I was at about 7% into Revered, and figured it wouldn't take that long. Plus it would be my 15th exalted reputation. But before that I wanted to get a couple of mini-pets out of the way from quests in LBRS. Hubby decided to help me, so off we went to Blackrock Spire. Hubby got there first and started clearing out some trash, just to see if he could, then he wanted to see UBRS, so he wandered over there, where I finally caught up to him. We killed the first boss, and I thought, well, maybe we could try for Leeeeeeeeroy! since we were right there. It took three tries, but I am now Asara Jenkins at last. Then it was back over to LBRS where we finished our pet quests, and got the achievement for finishing the dungeon. In the meantime, the rest of my guild was one-shotting H. Malygos, and working through Sartharion +2, which they also finished.

 

After LBRS, we had dinner (hubby made chicken enchiladas, which were absolutely delicious), and after dinner we started to run Stratholme. We did the dead side first and dropped Baron (no horse though), then hubby wanted to see the live side, so we kicked that out too, for another achievement. Turned in all the quests, and went back in for a couple more tries at Baron's horse, with no luck. At the end of the night, I was over 70% through revered, thanks to a monopoly on the scourgestones, four or five quests, and a bunch of bone fragments and dark iron scraps and such that hubby and I had gathered. Not to mention a metric ton of runecloth, which I brought to Ironforge to turn in for rep there. Tonight will be a bit more Strat, which will hopefully end with my rep at exalted, and a spiffy undead horse in my mount tab.

 

Phew, that was my epic weekend, how was yours? :)

It's almost the weekend, yay!

Morning blogland :)

 

A very happy Friday to everyone! This will be a bit of a short post probably, because my boss is out for the day, and we've got an inspector person coming in to the lab to look things over this morning. Nothing serious, we usually do well, and I don't think today will be an exception.

 

We had a nice calm night last night, I got home and hubby was playing his new Elder Scroll game, which I named wrongly yesterday. It's Elder Scroll: Oblivion, not Morrowind. He has Morrowind as well, but that's an older title. Anyway, he let me play it, because he wanted to see what class I would be. It's pretty interesting, you get to pick how your character looks, and then they put you into the game before you pick your class. There's a whole sequence you go through of escaping out of prison, and at the end, they suggest a class for you based on the sort of things you did while you were playing through that sequence. Like the game gets an idea of your preferred gameplay style, and offers up a class choice that incorporates that. It suggested Bard for me, and Acrobat for hubby. He created his own class in the end, but I decided to stick with Bard. We'll see how that goes.

 

Then last night was raid night, for me anyway. Hubby is taking a break for a while, at least from raiding. Originally last night was going to be Naxx night, but once again the guild cleared it on Wednesday instead. So last night was Sartharion +2 and Malygos. We wiped on Sartharion for about two hours, then decided to move to Malygos to work on that, since we weren't really making any progress on Sarth. Our first try on Maly was good, we got him to about 15%, but the enrage timer caught us. We tried a couple more times, but couldn't get past Phase 2 for some reason. So in the end we called it. Sarth was frustrating for me, sometimes I made it through without getting tagged by anything, one attempt I got killed by a void zone, then battle-rezzed, and hit almost right away by another one. It seemed like it was just a bunch of little mistakes adding up to one big mess. At least I earned some DKP, and an emblem of valor from the one drake we did kill. I may sign up for Sunday to try again, we'll see.

 

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great day, and I wish a happy weekend for you all too! :)

Presents are good

Good morning blogland!

 

Hubby and I got our tax returns back the other day, and what's a bank account with extra money for, if not to buy a few presents for yourselves? Hubby got a couple of new Xbox games, and I got a new DS game and a FM broadcaster for my Ipod. So now I can listen to my podcasts in the car and not get pulled over for having my headphones on. Pretty sweet! I think we're going to take the kids out to Chuck E. Cheese or something this weekend too. We still have a bunch of tokens and tickets that we didn't use at Emily's birthday party, and it seems like a good time to use 'em up!

 

That was pretty much our evening, we went out for dinner to a local buffet (which was very tasty), to Best Buy, and then home. Hubby got Halo Wars and an RPG.. um.. Elder Scrolls: Morrowind. The newer one. He played Halo Wars last night, and he said he was going to play the other one today. I have to call him at lunchtime and see how he's doing with it. ;)

 

I got a Kirby game for my DS, which absolutely fascinated the kids. At one point I had one on either side of me, and the cat on my lap. They kept asking, "What's that?? Can you get that one? What does that do??" I had to tell them, I don't know, I'm just learning how this works, you sillies. I played through a few games, and it was pretty fun. One thing I like about it is that there are several different little games, instead of one big one. So if I get tired of one thing, I have other options.

 

We haven't played WoW in a couple of days, at least not while I've been home. Tonight is supposed to be Naxx, though, so we'll see if that's going on or not. The guild is still working on Sarth +3, unless they got it down last night. I'm looking forward to it, I haven't raided in a few weeks, and I think I'm finally ready to get back in the game. Last week I was signed up for the Naxx night, but they didn't have the right group for Sartharion the night before, so they ran Naxx that night instead. Here's hoping!

Just one of those days.

(picture from Hollywoodstandups.com)

Times they are a changin'

Things might start looking a little different around here, for those who actually load up my blog. People around here have been abusing their internet privileges a bit, listening to the radio all day and watching videos and things. I know this because I got an email saying so, and also had it mentioned to me by one of the managers. I don't listen to the radio on my computer, but I do use the internet a bit more than I should. So from now on if I post from work, I'll be posting by email instead of using the internet to load up Blogger. It shouldn't make too much of a difference, but it's been so long since I used email blogging, I'll have to wait and see.

 

It's been a while since I posted anything.. let's do a bit of a weekend recap, shall we?

 

On Saturday hubby and I and the kids headed up to Sparta for the afternoon, for hubby's grandmothers' (on his dad's side) 80th birthday party. I don't know his family very well, beyond his immediate family, that is. So we pretty much just sat with them and the kids. They had a nice little buffet of Mexican style food, taco salad, enchiladas, tamales, that sort of thing. And some little ham and cheese sandwiches for those who didn't like that stuff. It was all pretty tasty! Of course there was a huge sheet cake too, yellow with lemon filling and whipped cream frosting. Yum! Afterwards we headed home and played some Rock Band with hubby's brother and his wife. Good times there :)

 

On Sunday we bummed around the house a bit, played some WoW, nothing earth-shattering. Saraabi tanked Gun'drak, and dinged 78 from quest turn-ins after. That was fun, but I got a little tired of all the knockbacks! Still, we finished it, and the hunter in the party got a couple of upgrades, so that was good.

 

Monday was a bit more WoW, as I had the day off from work, yay! Asara is now honored with the Sons of Hodir, and well on her way to the Chef title. She is still missing one cooking daily from Shattrath, and a few recipes from the Dalaran vendor. But she cooked up all the recipes she was missing from Outland. Now she just needs to do a few battlegrounds, and bring a Great Feast along to each one, and of course a few more cooking dailies to round out her collection of recipes. I also checked out what she needs for the Salty title, but that one is going to take quite a bit more work yet.

 

Later in the day, hubby's sister stopped by, and we played.. some more Rock Band! :) I swear, these people only like us for our Xbox 360! (kidding!) In the mean time, our WoW guild is working on Sartharion +3 on Heroic. Hubby and I have been sitting that out, because our computers really do not handle that fight very well at all. There's just too much going on, with AOE and the fire walls and void zones and whatnot. The graphic load is too heavy, and we just can't keep up with what's going on AND not stand in stuff. We're looking into upgrades, but they're a bit low on the totem pole of where we need to spend money right now.

 

I think that's about all for now. Things are busy busy at work, ramping up for the summer and barbecue season. Hope everyone is well!

Storytime with Asara and Saraabi

Saraabi's Tale:

It was a balmy evening in Northrend, something you don't get every day. So I thought, since I'd recently purchased the cold-weather equipment for it, I'd take my trusty gryphon out and let him stretch his wings. He was overjoyed to get into the air again, having spent much too much time cooped up inside while I scraped up the funds to let him fly in this new climate.

We trekked across Icecrown, and off into Sholazar Basin. I had heard that Sholazar was "the" place for mining, so why not kill two rocs with one stone, so to speak? We began circling the edge of the basin, with a few forays into the middle of the jungle, and sure enough, my ore pouches were filling up at an amazing pace. I was traveling south along the eastern edge of the crater, and saw yet another vein below. I signaled my gryphon to land, but as he was spiraling down, I noticed a strange beast prowling among the primates not far away.

There is only one person I know who would have the expertise to identify this thing, and deal with it if necessary, so I sent a message to my friend Asara through a mutual friend who was nearby, urging her to make all speed out to my location. She would know what to do.

Asara's Tale:

I was in Westfall when Saraabi's message arrived. I had been helping a young shaman friend who was just beginning his adventuring career, and doing his part to help eradicate those damned Defias. I swear, no matter how many of those bastards we kill, their numbers never seem to decrease for long.

At any rate, I teleported myself back to Dalaran, and flew as fast as my nether drake could take me out to Sholazar. I stopped at the first bunch of white primates I saw, but there was nothing out of the ordinary there. Could Saraabi have imagined this beast?

I wasn't sure, so I flew a bit farther south, when I saw another herd of white primates. And sure enough, there was a long white shape stalking among them. It seemed almost incorporeal, a spirit among mortals. I landed cautiously, and crept toward it. It continued to wander, oblivious to my presence. I watched it for a few moments, and when it turned toward me, my hunch was confirmed. This was the legendary Loque'nahak, Spirit Beast, and mate to the goddess Har'koa.

I had searched for this beast before, whenever my travels took me near to the Basin, where it was said to haunt. Yet I had never sighted it before this. I knew then that I needed to make this great beast my companion in the hunt, though it was obvious that it would require much effort on my part, to bend its will to mine.

I approached as close as I dared, and began my taming ritual. The beast put up quite a fight, but in the end, I wore it down, and it submitted at last.

And there was much rejoicing.

I think I killed my brain.

I'm having an issue with general brain power lately. The past two days at work have been kind of a blur. I think I got maybe two hours worth of work actually done. Someone asked me today, "What day is it?" I said.. Tuesday! Completely sure of myself that it was Tuesday. *sigh*

It's Wednesday, by the way, for those who are reading this later or whatever.

I'm mad at myself because I had a whole bunch of things that I wanted to blog about, and I can't remember even one of them right now. I've been catching up on my feed reader, and started and quit comments on three or four blogs, simply because I couldn't seem to put three sentences together in a way that would convey what I wanted to say.

So I think I'll just sit here for a few more minutes and watch the Whistler get water everywhere, just from washing his hands. The faucet has more range than "off" and "full blast", dude.

I'm Flying!

Saraabi dinged 77 last night (finally!) and spent some time zooming around Storm Peaks with hubby's druid Lumae. It's so great for her to be back in the air! Saronite and Titanium veins everywhere.. beware! ;)

Tagged again!

This time the tag has come from a WoW blogger and buddy of mine, One Among Many. From what I can tell, these are meant to be RP-style questions asked to your WoW character. So since Asara is my main character, she will be answering. :) Here goes!

1. What is your name, and where did it come from?
My name is Asara. I was named such by my mother Nirina. I guess it was an old family name, it's been around for eons.

2. How old are you, and when is your birthday?
I was born on December 12 of 2005, that makes me a little more than three years old.

3. Are you in love, and with whom?
There's a young human Warlock who caught my eye a few years back. His name is Alainds, and we're basically inseparable these days.

4. What is your favorite mount, and why?
My Winterspring Frostsaber. It took a great deal of work to convince the vendor that he wanted to sell me one. To be able to ride it is a point of great personal pride. Also my Chopper, that thing is just awesome.

5. Do you prefer a certain type of Azerothian meal, and where do you get it from?
I love to fish, so I cook all of my own food. I prefer Blackened Dragonfin or Poached Northern Sculpin. I also make Firecracker Salmon for Alainds, when he asks nicely. *wink*

6. You know those giant mushrooms in Zangarmarsh? What is your theory on how they came to be, and why are they so huge?
I blame Lady Vashj. Girl spends all of her time in a huge sewer with a bunch of fungal giants and some huge fish and other weird monsters, and you expect the rest of the environment to just be fine with that?

Seriously though, the number of spore-type creatures around there should speak for itself.

7. If you saw the Lich King walking toward you, what would you do?
I'd wait patiently for him to finish whatever pompous speech he had prepared for the occasion and wave goodbye to him as he teleported away. That's all he really does these days anyway.

**Bonus Questions from Syrana's page!**

8. Be honest, how many times have you used the Grizzly Hills outhouse without any real reason?
I actually haven't spent a lot of time in Grizzly Hills. Alainds and I passed it by in our journeys, and never really went back. It's on my list of things to do though, they have the most gorgeous wild horses there!

9. Would you steal ice cream from a Human child?
Oooh, probably not. There are a few bratty ones that run amok in Stormwind though... if one of them had some, and I was hungry enough, it could happen!

I'm going to tag Dechion and Softi for this one, if they haven't been hit already :) Have fun guys!