Nice weekend...

Thanksgiving is tiring... Lots of cooking - and therefore, cleaning...

Similar to my aunt Janet, we dragged out all of the china and silver and crystal - it is tradition to whoop it up on the holidays. I was brave this year and even set the kids table with the finest... I think the girls were excited. One thing I noticed - my table linens are lacking. I did not have a nice Thanksgiving-fall-worthy tablecloth. I did have a smaller cloth that my grandmother L'Hote made - and just threw it on top of a white so it would fit better. Dinner was fantastic. Turkey was perfect. We brined and stuffed with onions, carrots, apple and celery (that was the new push in trends this year). Oodles of sides. A little too much bourbon in the sweet potatoes and Derby Pie - if that's possible? I loved it - the kids claimed to be drunk.

The table linen revelation prompted my need to Black Friday shop. So - 5:30 am - mom, AJ, Mellisa & Nequan headed out. Best Buy first. Wow - long line - but super organized and took no time at all to get thru that. Next - the mall. Found a parking spot right by the door. The parking gods were smiling on me :) Lines were not bad - people were not bad - UNTIL we went to Victoria's Secret. What the hell? Meesie and I waited over an hour and a half for a dang bra? Ridiculous! They had NO organization. AND who the hell fills out a credit application at 7am??? And why did we get stuck in the line behind this woman!?! And I love Meesie - we are the scene queens. We had the whole line complaining about our check out clerk by the time we were done - it was great. Why a manager did not pull this super high maintanance woman aside and finish her questions about underwire or how to get the discount after $100 or if someone could throw away her coffee cups (the list goes on and on) - argghhh - very aggravating. Target - no problems - super fast and organized. It was actually a very pleasant morning - and I went home and took a nap.

The rest of the weekend was eating and watching movies... Uneventful and peaceful...

UNTIL my stupid brother thought he should attack me in Mafia Wars. Payback is ugly little brother...

What a good hubby...

So - picked up Nequan yesterday. He is so much fun!

We went to Meesie's bball game. They lost - she didn't play much but she looked good! Then we discovered that NC (Kiel's nickname for Nequan - he's from North Carolina) had not ever had Steak n Shake!?! Well, that floored me so Meesie, NC and mom had lovely greasy burgers, chili and giant calorie-laden shakes. His only complaint - fries are too skinny. (I agree - I like some potato on my fries too). We car-seat-danced to Beyonce all the way home - completely embarrassing Mellisa - which made us dance even more!

My dear sweet husband had been to the grocery - put them all away - and cleaned the kitchen while we were gallivanting around town!

And to top it off - he got up early before we had to go to work and put my turkey in the brine!

How lucky can a girl get?!?!

Prepping for Thanksgiving...

Taking some PTO from work today...

Lincoln's dorms close today around noon. Sadly enough, I am not picking up Kiel. He will be leaving today for a tournament that lasts until Sunday in Iowa. Not sure how I feel about that. Part of me is every excited that he is out and doing fun things and independent. The other part of me is completely selfish and wishes he was home with me eating his favorite pretzel salad...

I am, however, picking up NeQuan (Kiel's roommate) today. Poor guy. His family is all the way in North Carolina and he can't get home and back for classes - not to mention that it costs a small fortune. So, he is my surrogate Kiel for the Thanksgiving break. I have no idea what he usually eats for the big meal - so hopefully, he won't hate everything!!!

Chris' dad and his girlfriend are coming. And of course, Uncle Lou. So - pretty full house and it should be fun.

Turkey brining and pie making start tonite!

Here we go again!

Mellisa gave her verbal commitment to attend Lincoln College in the fall and play Volleyball. That is one excited coach!

And the door is open for her to play basketball as well - not a scholarship offer but Volleyball took most of that responsibility already!

I think this HUGE weight has been lifted from her shoulders. Decision is made - whew...

Now the fun paperwork part starts.

Go Lynx!!

Money - or lack thereof

Rarely do I get upset about money. I don't have it - I can't spend it - so why worry about it? But lately Chris has been upset about it. Now, this bothers me.

Chris is one of those guys that is not sexist but yet, still has some of those lingering old-school ways. He feels he is the Provider and is not doing a very good job at it.

First husband provided beyond providing. But you know what, Mel couldn't do anything else other than make money.

There is a whole lot to be said of the value of love, compassion and companionship. That 'providing' is worth more than any amount of money....

Hubby Chris is a PRO at keeping me happy and that's all I need!