I don't have a good title...

We made it through Thanksgiving! And I think we found the trick to enjoying ourselves. We cleaned on Wednesday night. Thursday morning, we woke up early (8 a.m. is early for me on a day off) and started the turkey after having some homemade coffee cake. We had the table set and everything ready to go by the time people started arriving around noon. It was awesome.

We served 14 people dinner in our modest townhome this year. The tables stretched from the dining room into the living room. But I think this was a plus for Joey, he got to keep an eye on the football games. This was the first year we were able to all sit at one table, which was pretty cool. I really enjoyed being able to talk with everyone at dinner.

Of course, we busted out the board games later for more fun. We tried out Wheel of Fortune first. I think that's a hard game to play with lots of people. I don't think Eric and Julie really liked either. Maybe if there was a "Hot Sauce" puzzle it would have been more fun. Susie, Peter and Kathy Bdot won that one.

We moved onto the more traditional Trivial Pursuit after the Wheel. This went pretty well, but seemed to go on FOREVER. I think it was 11:30 by the time we finished. Steve, Aunt Colleen and Nan won that one.

I have some cute pictures, but due to technical difficulties with the digital camera, I can't post them yet. The Canon has trapped my photos!

So Friday Steve and I slept most of the day. We did get up early to take Breyer to the vet. She hurt her back right foot. The pad was cut up. She got a nice little bandage though and had to wear her booty for a few days. The booty is so cute; I wish she would wear them normally. She usually just kicks it off. She was great about the whole thing this time(except the removal of the bandage, but who likes taking a bandaid off of a hairy spot?). She was pretty healed up by Sunday, and she's finally back to her normal self today. Lots of energy, lots of head shaking.

This is turning into a long blog, but I was waiting to blog until I downloaded my pictures. Since that's not going to happen anytime soon, I decided I better get this stuff down before I forget it all.

I started Christmas shopping early this year. I've already bought three gifts! I think Steve has started his shopping too. I had a lot of fun shopping with my mom, Cathy, Susie and Nancy on Saturday. I forgot how tiring shopping gets though. Thank goodness Woodfield wasn't too crowded on Saturday. I don't think I could have handled all the crowds with the pushy sales people too.

So now we're back at work, trudging through until the winter break. Yea break!

Thanksgiving is almost here...

Thank God!

I am so ready for an extended break I can hardly stand it. Of course, the long weekend will go by way too fast, but I am fully aware of this and still want it anyway.

This weekend was pretty nice after another hard week. I think the trip to Nashville took a lot out of me. Friday night, Steve took me out to dinner and we went to the bookstore in West Dundee. It's called Steeplejack, and the owner, Kim, is awesome. Being the book-nerd that I am, I really enjoyed going in there, smelling the scent of old books, and just talking about the fun things we've read. We also got a great deal on two books to add to our pile of reading.

Saturday was pretty fun too. Gena came out and we went shopping at Huntley. I found a bunch of cute new stuff, and I didn't spend our entire savings! We (me, Gena, and Steve) also went to see Ike Reilly play at the Double-Door. There, we met up with Kurt and Alex and ran into Michelle and Joseph. It was a really fun show.

Today, Steve and I went to Alex's christening. It was a really nice ceremony, just really long. There was knocking on doors, some water pouring, lots of standing up and then sitting down. I think it went well though. Alex didn't cry at all; she is such a great baby!

Now, it's back to work. I didn't get much work done this weekend. I have a ton of stuff to do for grad school; I have a grading piling up; we have our family coming over for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. I think I'll focus on dinner, that's way more fun!

A tough week

I thought this week would be a little easier. Finals were over, the grades were in. I knew I had grad class on Monday and Pasteup on Tuesday, but I thought if I made it to Wednesday, it would be smooth sailing.

For the most part, it was. I've got school somewhat under control. I have new methods for keeping myself organized and staying on top of grading. I've still got my student teacher working with one of my classes too.

It was still a long week. Wednesday, I got my hair colored, and Steve and I had dinner at Emmett's. We saw Tim Burns, and he let me give some menu suggestions. I don't know if he'll actually take them into consideration, but it made me feel really good! After dinner, I was in bed pretty quick.

Then Thursday came along. After work, I thought I had no plans except to go to the bookstore with Steve. But I forgot that I had promised Cathy I would help her find a digital camera. So once I finally left school (at about 4:30), I went with Cathy to Best Buy. It was a successful trip; she has a really cool digital camera now. So I came home and met up with Steve. He was pretty tired, as was I. So it was off to Luke's for a gyro and a hotdog. Then back to the couch.

Steve has been a little bit more productive than me this week. He's run twice and walked the dog a lot since I had late nights early in the week. He also had to man the candy bowl on Halloween.

Tonight, my mom is over and we're scrapbooking. And by "we" I mean my mom. We ordered a pizza, chatted a lot, and then finally started around 7:30. I decided to blog instead. I don't really know where to start with my scrapbook at this point since I have so much to do and no organization. The blog is much easier. My mom, on the other hand, is much more organized. She's made a page for Susie and Peter's scrapbook. And she's done several pages for her scrapbook of my and Steve's wedding. She's pretty awesome.

So the general theme of this week has been eating out. I'm feeling very unhealthy and sluggish. Next week, I really want to make sure I eat better, just take better care of myself. I think that's a pretty doable goal.

So I think that's all the excitement for this week. Next week we head to Nashville for the journalism convention. That should bring some excitement for us.