Games

We've had such a terrific weekend so far. In fact, I'd almost love to just re-live yesterday - it was that much fun. I wanted to post in the morning before kicking off our day, but that didn't work out because we ate bagels, drank coffees and watched Weeds (we LOVE that show...it's really competing for my Dexter affections but doesn't quite aim high enough, by a very narrow margin, though) and then I launched right into my whole "make football food for CB while he watches football" tradition. I went to Key Food for the necessary items - raw vegetables, a block of cheddar, sour cream, black beans, pork tenderloin, beer, and so forth, and man, it was quite the goat rope (I just learned this term earlier in the week at work - it's allegedly Midwest native and all my time there, I never knew). There were people moving like turtles down the aisles, taking up way more space than they should have, stopping mid-step to stare up at the rows of canned goods, etc., and I just wanted to shove them out of the way...in fact, once I even muttered, "PEOPLE" (all caps) while squeezing around a handful of pokey persons. But whatever - I endured. And I proceeded to come home and fill the fridge, empty the dishwasher, and begin my afternoon of Kitchen Therapy. I chopped up vegetables to initially satiate Craig, then concocted a Lime-Spiked Black Bean dip (won't make again but it was edible enough, and healthy) then threw together Alabama Pulled Pork with White Barbecue Sauce (pictured above) and while the pork simmered, I picked up some mac salad at Bagel Express upon Craig's request. Shredding pork is really satisfying. I don't know. It just is. Anyway, the sandwiches were awesome, and seriously satisfied Football Food Tradition during Purdue v. Notre Dame. It isn't chilly enough for chili, but I do look forward to chili season because I already have a group of chili recipes that rock on hand, and always delight in finding new ones. Chili is so plain yet can turn exotic in an instant, depending on the risk one opts to take.*After eating we were hanging around really not doing or saying much - Purdue lost, and Craig became "bored". He's adorable when he's bored, because he plays with his toes and looks around restlessly and announces, "I'm bored" in between pregnant pauses. Previously, he had been researching Guitar Hero on the Internet. We all know where I'm going with this now - no narrating necessary. We went to Best Buy, completely on a whim, bought a Wii, and Guitar Hero. And a guitar controller. It was all too funny. I laughed the whole while. We literally walked to Best Buy at 86th and Lex, marched right in, rode the escalator down to the basement level where the gaming devices are housed, and just went for it. It was so awesome, maybe the most reckless thing we've done since renting a car and driving to Mohegan Sun a couple of months ago (not sure if I posted about that but that was WEIRD, random and reckless, indeed). We came home, and for some reason I found it imperative that I speak to Craig's best friend Chris, who lives in Indianapolis. He's so kind, such a nice person and so very funny and candid and smart. So, I phoned him and we chatted about The Wii while Craig hooked it all up. There is this "sensor" thing that is placed somewhere and I was all, "Craig, I'm asking Chris where to put it!" while Chris voiced his opinion on where to put it in my ear through Craig's phone, and while Craig was muttering stuff like, "This can't be that hard, why am I not setting this up correctly" and I was a liaison. Skipping over a lot of boring in between, finally Craig figured it out and before long, he was ROCKING Guitar Hero. I mean ROCKING. He had shoved the coffee table out of the way and I watched while he rocked and then we bowled...Wii bowling is FUN FUN FUN. Why I am over 30 and loving a gaming console is beyond my comprehension, but I am full on admitting that a Wii is good times. We stayed up until 4.30 this morning!!! We haven't done that since we were like 20. I don't know. We had so much fun. And today, we are both super bleary-eyed and currently Craig is eating more raw vegetables and I'm contemplating organizing my closet, although, Craig just informed me, "We might take a break from football for some bowling" which just pumped some adrenaline into me. I would like to also note that the size of a Manhattan living room is not exactly conducive to comfortable Wii play. But we make it work.*Today is monumental for Shea - Last Day - Shea Goodbye. It's a rainy one in New York this afternoon, but they're plowing through. It's like overstimulation, today...NFL, MLB, Wii, DEXTER tonight (I'm going to NEVER wish it were Sunday night except for during Dexter's new season, at which time I'm going to RUSH through my weekends to get to that THRILL) and overall just a lot of lazy Sunday stuff. I'm cheery, I'm grinning. I'm happy. And I'm ready to face whatever comes this way.*One last note: Paul and Karen were gifted with a new baby last week, quite prematurely - 9 weeks early. His name is Ivan and from what I understand, he is doing very well - just hanging at the hospital for a while to gain a few pounds and to be under observation. Congrats to the new parents! Ivan officially enters my universe as the First Baby I've Ever Known Born in Wichita, Kansas. Nice.