my toes might fall off...

...because it's so SO SO cold in our house. Lol. Oops. This morning when I got up around 8:45 it was a frigid 64 degrees. It's inched its way up to 65 or 66 by now, but still...it's dang cold in our house. I can't really complain - I made it that way. I have this thing about turning on the heat - I just hate doing it. It always smells funny when you turn it on for the first time that year, and it makes me feel slightly like I'm suffocating, so I avoid it like the plague. No one told me how cold it was gonna' be last night though! Goodness! I think I've succumbed to Chance's wishes and will probably turn it on tonight, but I'm sitting here in big fuzzy slipper socks, fingerless gloves, and sweats and eating oatmeal to avoid doing it right this second. I know. I'm crazy. But how many of you have turned your heat on already? Eh?

Well - we didn't mean to fall off the face of the earth - or...quit blogging, but somehow we just totally stopped for 4 days after NaBloPoMo ended. That wasn't our intention. I kinda wanted to keep it up. Oh well. Here I am now - that's what matters, right? (:

As you all know, our Thanksgiving week was a blast...and the weekend following was great as well. Our house is all ready for the holidays, and we've gotten to have a few friends over since then. On Monday night, we celebrated Natalie's birthday (better late than never). Some of you might remember Natalie - she's the precious friend who made me one of the best gifts ever.

I got the table all decorated for Christmastime - I even finally put something in our photo coasters that have been empty for 2 years (still not what I WANT to do with them, but good for the holidays).


Chance made his yummy turkey (leftover) enchiladas. I craved these things ALL year long, so it was great to finally have them again!


We had so much fun talking and laughing with Natalie,

and then we had her birthday pie (Buckeye Pie, sans Buckeyes).

I forgot to get candles, but oh well. I think she liked it anyway. It was actually slightly too rich for me (which may be a first), but it was relatively tasty. I think my chocolate icebox pie is better though...(sorry Nat)!

Chance took some goofy pictures of us, because I realized it'd been about 4 years since we had a picture together. Dang. We needed to fix that, and we STILL need to get some better ones (note to self : don't wear hoodies in photos).


And I got to give Nat her present I'd been working on - a scarf! I got the idea from Beth's blog and just edited it a little. Nat's got it on in the pictures...over her other beautiful coral-colored scarf from Europe. Lol. But here's what it looks like on its own:


We had a pretty awesome night - which was only followed by a relatively good rest-of-the-week-so-far. We had lunch at Obee's on Monday with (and provided by) Emily and Charlie, Tuesday was a lost day (I have NO CLUE what happened), Wednesday night was small group at Howie's, and Thursday Nicole came over for lunch, and Tiffany came over for Dinner/Grey's Anatomy. So - it's been pretty great (minus all the errands and appointments of yesterday, but those weren't TERRIBLE either). I'm ready for the weekend, even though ours technically doesn't start til Sunday...but we might get to see my sister tonight - so that'd be pretty cool! That is...if my appendages don't freeze off first.

thankful for friends

I think Claire and I are in full agreement when I say Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever. Those pilgrims really did a good job with that food agreement they worked out with the Indians. I can eat as much as I want...in fact I had two slices of pie today. I will probably have one more before bed.

After working 45 of the past 75 hours I was ready for Thanksgiving. This year's Thanksgiving was just what I needed. My store and my managers did a great job. We had the best labor % in the city, as well as a solid gain over last year. So I have to brag a little about our success. When it was all said and done, I was very ready for it to be done. After I got off work at 2 today, I headed over to Charlie and Emily's who were kind enough to open their home for Claire and I to enjoy the festivities.


With a plethora of food, no one went wanting. We had sweet potato soufflé, green been casserole, broccoli rice casserole, sweet corn casserole, shrimp diablo, a cheese ball, crab dip, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy, rolls, brussell sprouts, Greenberg turkey, and fried turkey.


It was all amazing. Charlie's fried turkey was great and all the casseroles were perfect.


It was a spot on traditional thanksgiving with great friends. Afterwards we had our fill of pecan, pumpkin, and Claire's chocolate ice box pie. We bummed around, took naps, and watched football. I won't speak of the sadness the Aggies have left us with. Maybe someday they can turn around the program and actually have a decent season. Just maybe. Until then I will enjoy my Thanksgiving holiday and food whether we win or lose.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you ate way too much, took a long nap, and can enjoy some delicious left-overs tomorrow!