Ahhh, the days after Thanksgiving. You’re full of turkey, you’re full of shopping, and so exhausted that you can barely move. So I figured we’d extend the weekend one more day, catch our breath, and gather in the rec room for some conversation, snacks and a video game tournament.
So pull up a couch, settle in, and share your stories. Our usual rules apply. Be nice, or we pitch you out into the snow.
 | Nunniabiness B on Magic Eye |
 | neomama on Cheeseburger Soup |
 | Shelley on Cheeseburger Soup |
 | Dyahn Darvey on Salisbury Steak from Paula… |
 | irene trammel on Magic Eye |
 | Julianne on Cheeseburger Soup |
 | Vanna on How long do you shower? |
 | Michelle Colpus on Your children |
 | Tanya on Cheeseburger Soup |
 | Heather on Cheeseburger Soup |
 | Donna Dillard on Cheeseburger Soup |
| Donna Dillard on Cheeseburger Soup |
 | Sharon on Cheeseburger Soup |
 | JoJo on Cheeseburger Soup |
 | Ellen on Cheeseburger Soup |
Us Girls..Our Views 
Boy, that’s a great room. I love the aquarium. I’ll be back tomorrow in more detail but LOOK EVERYONE, we’ve gone over 500,000 hits. I can’t even believe it. Thanks everyone for coming back all the time.
CONGRATS on all the hits, Joy & the girls!!
Happy dance! Thank you everyone! 🙂
Well this past week we had my parents and sister up visiting for Thanksgiving/Christmas. It is always so nice to see them(since we only see them twice a year), and I am sure they were happy to come up and see us, Hunter mostly. It is nice to get our house back, but then again it always feels so empty to me once they leave. Luckily my brother will be coming up after Christmas. Also some interesting news Joy, Sue, and Vicki rumor has it that if we keep up the light program Meeker Co-op will have to put a substations to keep up with all the electricity we use!!! J/K 🙂
I know Jason. Can you imagine how fast those meters are circling???
I feel bad for your parents to have to leave Hunter. I loved seeing all the pics and you could see the love they have for him and you’re lucky to see them that much. I also loved the video of Vicki playing the dance game!!!!
I bet Hunter is really going to miss them. Just an idea, but they make those books for kids that you can slide pictures in….may help him to remember them.
I’d give anything for a fireplace. I’ll be back tomorrow!!! Nighty night!
Congratulations on the hits!!
I would actually love to pull up a couch right now. I think it’s time for me to have a “real” day off. One that doesn’t involve chasing my kids or worrying about work. Just lounging around being a vegetable would feel great right about now.
I was feeling pretty uninspired about my work last week. Theoretically I was working my usual hours up through Wednesday night, and then worked some on Thursday. But I didn’t get a lot done, so I had that hanging over my head during the holiday. I put my phone far away and didn’t check it, nor did I open my computer, but I still had that feeling of doom.
I went to my parents’ for Thanksgiving dinner, which started early in the evening – very unusual (we are usually just carving the turkey at 8pm or later). Everyone came other than my oldest brother and his troop. (Did I already mention that?) It was nice to bond with most of the adults in the family without being overwhelmed by a tribe of overexcited young’uns. My dad seemed a little bummed that my oldest brother didn’t come and that he didn’t have turkey “on the day,” but I still think it was a nice holiday.
My sister opened a 1000 piece puzzle after I put the girls to bed Thursday night. I love puzzles, but this one was really hard – it was a Thomas Kinkade and it seemed to have only 3 colors, especially in the bad lighting we had. My eyesight isn’t what it used to be, either. But I’m a little obsessive about these things, so I stayed up until 4:30 with my sister, working on it. Then we finished it the next day. I took a nap on Friday, but I’m still behind on my sleep. Was planning to catch up tonight, but I was just informed that I need to be on an 8am conference call AND drive to work in the morning. Blah. Anyhoo, the 1.5 days off were refreshing. I got some good work done on Saturday and today. My daughters had a great time and the grandparents appreciated the time with them also. We drove home Friday night and tried to get back to “normal” over the weekend.
I am trying to get on a better schedule, but this early morning work stuff is not helping. I was planning to get a decent night’s sleep tonight, then get up at 7:30ish. I’d do therapy with my daughter and read the girls a library book during breakfast, before dropping them off at school. (The library books are overdue because in 4 weeks I haven’t had the chance to read them 4 picture books.) Then I’d come back home and get to work. But now, I have to get up at some ungodly hour to get a shower before getting my kids ready, slap breakfast in front of them and go upstairs at 8am for a conference call, and then assemble a freakin’ carpool while trying to get the kids ready for school. See, if I’m driving to work, why waste parking fees? Everyone else who doesn’t have an early morning meeting can pile in with me and the girls. (I hate that! I like to do mornings with just me and the girls.) This also means that Mr. Houseguest will be in the downstairs bathroom (nearest the girls’ room) the entire time the girls are getting ready. They will have to go upstairs to use the bathroom, but the upstairs bathrooms will probably be occupied too, since everyone will be getting ready for the carpool. And most of the time, the carpoolers aren’t ready on time anyway – or they change their plans and neglect to inform me. Ugh. Forget reading a library book; I’ll be lucky if I’m able to rush through my daughter’s therapy, while she’s half asleep and crabby. So yeah, I’m being negative about it! Sue me.
Well, I think I will go to bed pretty soon anyway. Just need to send out a few documents which I hope are done . . . .
Tomorrow’s in-person meeting is with some foreign dude who wants to set up a factory nearby, and we’re doing the financial modeling to help him get some cheap money. These kinds of meetings are stressful for me, because I know I’ll be called upon to give quick answers and “make a first impression.” First impressions aren’t my forte. On the positive side, I get to leave work early to take my kid to vision therapy.
This week, my kids and I are supposed to bake Christmas cookies for a party we’re going to on Saturday. So let’s see, when will we do this baking? Monday – vision therapy. Tuesday – dinner with an old friend who was in China for the past few years. Wednesday – museum. Thursday – we usually go swimming. Friday – we usually go to dinner, plus that’s too late to bake and decorate for a Saturday party. SO, I plan to go to the grocery store on Monday night and look for some ready-made cookie dough, so all we’ll have to do is cut, bake, and decorate. We can try to cut and bake on Tuesday after our dinner date, then decorate on Thursday or Friday. Sound like a plan?
We also still need to get our Christmas tree up . . . maybe next Sunday . . . .
I am not a fan of Mondays. Especially when I had Bailey and Jason home for the last 5 days. It was so nice, we didn’t really have many plans. Thanksgiving was nice. No arguing, no drama….I’m still shocked, given the company! LOL The food was delicious if I may say so myself. 🙂 Friday we went and cut our Christmas tree down. It was so cold. The tree farm was empty, other than us and one other family. We got it up and decorated, and it looks so pretty. It just makes the whole house happy. That’s probably my favorite thing about Christmas, far more than the gifts…the decorations, the colors!
Saturday our college football team, the Gophers beat the Hawkeyes (sorry Laura!) But we were so excited. We got our pig back….it’s been many years since we have beat Iowa, so that was exciting. And of course Sunday the Vikings won!!!! Good weekend for MN football!
I didn’t even realize we got Floyd back until we were watching Rosen Sports Sunday last night. That’s great for those kids. Isn’t it just amazing what happens when you fire the coach??
Do you know how many times…F*CK BREWSTER was yelled in my house this season?! LOL
I’m thrilled for them, I had goosebumps from head to toe. I can’t wait for next season!
Yeah, I knew I was gonna get guff for that one! You’ll be happy to know, though, Josh has a Golden Gophers t-shirt, and does NOT (yet) own an Iowa Hawkeyes shirt!!
Hey, did you brine the turkey? How’d it go?
I did brine the turkey and it was delicious! Everyone said it was really good, hope they weren’t lying! LOL
Way to go Josh…smart kid! 😉
We had a pretty good weekend I guess but 4 days is a long time for us to be cooped up in this small house together. I’ll admit I’m very happy to have a quiet house this morning. Paul and I spent Thanksgiving alone this year and we had king crab and lobster, asparagus and baked potatoes. It was delicious. Then pretty much the rest of the weekend we tweaked the decorations and lights in the yard. We’re still not completely done but we’re very close.
We’re in the path of a big storm which is supposed to hit late this afternoon so yesterday Paul and I went out and filled every single bird feeder in the yard and he got me another bird bath heater for the bath in the back so he hooked that up for me. The birds flock for water and food before a storm and you should see them all out there now. Mr and Mrs Cardinal even graced us with their presence. I don’t see them very often but they sure are beautiful.
I’m not even sure what I’ll end up doing today. I have a couple of movies or I might start bringing up my Christmas stuff. I was so busy up and down the ladder last week doing the lights that my back couldn’t handle doing the tree. It’s very rare that we don’t put up our tree the Fri after Thanksgiving but with the warmer weather we wanted to work outside. I might start that today.
I hope everyone has a great day.
Oh mygosh!! I forgot the birdseed!! Heading out right now to get a refill bag!! thanks for the reminder!
I’ve been “winterizing” all morning, which is why I haven’t been around. Got the snow blower running, the salt all ready to go, and found the snow shovels. So I’m guessing that we’re not goign to be getting any snow for a while yet. But at least I’m ready when it comes…
Oh, we also drug out the deer feeder and put food out for them and I got to watch them eat like mad last night. The one Jason missed might have been one of them!
The 2 that Jason missed?? LOL
LOL!! I only heard about one of them!! Poor Jason. Where was he hunting?
He saw one lastnight back behind our house again. Probably the same buck as the night before. Didn’t shoot at this one though
I probably shouldn’t tell you my neighbor’s story, then… Last season (this time last year), he walked out his front door, took ten steps, and there was an 8-pointer. One shot, ten minutes, and he’d filled his tag for the season.
I had 2 cross the road in front of me this morning right past Sarah’s house. Cute little buck and the other one I didn’t see what it was. Not big enough to make your freezer full, but cute!
I seen a little 4 pointer that I missed on Sat. and on Sunday I watched one that was at least an 8 pointer and he snuck out behind me, he got pushed out of the swamp by some pheasant hunters.