Gobble, gobble

Wow, Sunday already? After having four and a half days off, we are definitely not looking forward to getting up early and going to work in the morning. Especially since they're predicting two inches of snow!

On the plus side, we had a great Thanksgiving, and we hope you did, too. We headed to B-N to spend Turkey Day with Eric's family, and since we took a half day on Wednesday we were able to get there at a decent hour and beat the traffic. Yay.

Unfortunately, Peanut was not a happy dog on Wednesday night. I don't know if he heard people stirring around the house late at night or if he was just protecting us from the resident squirrels in the neighborhood (since clearly IL squirrels are different from the ones at our house)...but he was up all night long. As in we couldn't even attempt to fall asleep until after 3:30 a.m. And then Peanut was awake for the day at 6:30 a.m. Ugh. To say we were in a zombie state all day would be an understatement.

At any rate, Thanksgiving itself was wonderful, and we were so glad to spend it with the extended family. We also got to spend time with our niece, Addison, and we had lots of fun with her. Kim also was a bit shutter happy and took over 50 pictures of her. Oops! (Melissa, we'll get you a CD.).



Friday night, we went to see the 4A IL high school championship (and were frozen by mid-way through the third quarter). In continuing the sports theme, we also cheered the Flyers on to victory as they won the Chicago Invitational!




When we got home, Peanut slept for about 15 hours straight. Apparently being a watchdog is tiresome! We, on the other hand, were very busy getting our Christmas decorations up. The outside is done except for putting lights on the tree, and the inside is done except for putting ornaments on the tree. Guess we'll be busy tomorrow.

Current gas price: $1.75/gallon (though we saw $1.49 before the holiday).

"Potpourri" best describes the week

There's no good theme to this week...just a lot of unrelated events.

On Tuesday, Kim met her friend Erin for dinner, and she didn't feel well when she got home. Not an hour later she felt really not well, and she spent the rest of the night with a terrible stomach virus. Turns out that a bug is running rampant in town, and over half of Kim's office was out sick the next day. Eric, fortunately, has avoided catching it.

On Thursday morning, we took Eric's car to the shop since it was making a funny vibrating noise. The shop couldn't find anything wrong, but Eric hasn't noticed the noise sense. We're hoping they fixed it without realizing it!

Kim spent Saturday Christmas shopping (I know, I know, it's a little early...but I have to mail packages!) while Eric tried to avoid hearing score updates on the OSU vs. Michigan game. That night, Eric went to a friend's going away party (and saw people we haven't seen in awhile) while Kim curled up on the couch with hot cocoa and watched Christmas movies.

Since the weather was decent today (upper 40s), we went ahead and put Christmas lights on the two highest peaks of the house. We decided we'd much rather get that done in warm-ish, sunny weather than the cold, sleeting weather that's expected for the next two weeks. Don't worry...they're not plugged in yet (or even connected to anything.) We have to hook up the rest of the lights first, and we won't be doing that until after Thanksgiving. We also raked the yard and were surprised to rake up two huge bags of leaves.

This afternoon, we went to the Flyers game and watched them crush the other team to win by 40 points. GO UD! Kim's dad then came over for dinner, and the new recipe we tried (Italian chicken in the crockpot) was quite tasty. If you're looking for an easy fix for dinner, let us know!

Current gas price: $1.66/gallon (which is one cent more than it was in the fall of 2003. We remember refusing to fill up for more than $1.65 that year).

Who ordered the snow?

Even though winter is technically still a month away, we got our first taste of it this weekend. It flurried all afternoon yesterday, and again this morning. Fortunately, the ground is still warm, so nothing stuck...but I guess it means it's getting to be that time of year. Brr!

We met our friend Danielle for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on Wednesday night. We were smart enough to split a piece of cheesecake (peanut butter with chunks of Butterfingers and Reece Cups...mmmm.), but we were still awfully full when we left!

Thursday night, we were looking through recipe books at the kitchen table to decide what we're bringing to Thanksgiving. (And we're not telling what we decided...so family, you'll have to wait another two weeks to find out!). Before leaving for work on Friday, we made sure we pushed all the kitchen table chairs in so Peanut couldn't get up there. (True to his beagle self, he likes to sit up on high things).

Eric got home from work on Friday and noticed small bits of paper in Peanut's water dish. Strange. Then he discovered that the vegetable section from the cookbook had big chunks missing from it. The chairs were all still pushed in, so Peanut must have jumped up straight from the floor (we're waiting for him to be recruited by the NBA). We're not sure if this means he really likes veggies or really dislikes them, but he clearly made his point.

On Saturday, Peanut went to the doggie spa for a bath and nail trim while Kim and Danielle hit up the outlets. Christmas season must be upon us, because it was packed! Danielle then came over, and we hung out and watched movies for the rest of the evening.

Today we went to the Flyers game (yay! a win!) and tried to forget about the Bears loss (ugh).

Current gas price: $1.98/gallon.

Our first taste of cool weather

This week was yet another reminder of how ridiculous the weather in the Midwest is. We went from low 70s to mid 40s (with temps in the upper 20s at night). How does that happen!? We're supposed to warm up to the 50s this week and dip back down into the 40s by the time next weekend rolls around. Figures.

Anyway, on to our week. Kim's parents were in town this week (well, her dad is officially in town now and her mom was here visiting until she makes the real move), so we enjoyed spending time with them. Our dishwasher also got more use than in a normal week as we had them over for dinner several nights!

Both of us had very hectic weeks at work, and we were very glad when the weekend finally rolled around. We spent most of the weekend just relaxing. On Saturday, we went to visit our friend Barbi. We played with Evan (2) to keep him busy and also got to hold Laura (2 weeks and adorable).

Today we just had a lazy day around the house....watching football and not doing much else! It was a nice change from our last few weekends. We're also trying to decide what projects we want to work on this winter to keep us entertained...but we haven't decided the answer yet.

Current gas price: $1.91/gallon (though we did see $1.77 yesterday by Barbi's!).

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Yes, that's right. Christmas. It's hard to believe we can now say that Christmas is next month. Where is the time going!?

This has been a pretty quiet week, although the weather has been ridiculous. We had highs in the 40s early in the week, and it's been in the 70s since Friday. Gotta love the Midwest!

As for what we did this week... On Tuesday, we carved our pumpkin (well, technically Kim carved the pumpkin while Eric watched TV).

Thursday night was trick-or-treating, so we had lots of neighborhood kids stop by. We had a smaller turn out this year, which meant that we ended up with a lot of extra candy! Kim's parents also arrived Thursday night, and helped corral Peanut when the kids rang our doorbell. Poor dog thought all the kids were coming to play with him!

On Friday, Kim's office had a costume contest, and nearly everyone in the building dressed up. It was hilarious to see everyone in costume, and we were all definitely amused!

We spent the weekend helping Kim's parents move into their apartment (temporary living quarters until they find a house they like). It will be nice to have them so much closer!

Current gas price: $1.99/gallon. What a difference a month makes!