Since the last post...

Well, a happy stomach stretcher day (got that off another blog - so true!) was had by all! It was sooooo good to see my family! The trek there was a little nerve racking - we saw a LOT of cars in the ditch on Wednesday night but THANKFULLY we made it safe, sound, and hungry as ever for lunch the next day! On the menu by Chef Jackie Rae (Rachel Rae):

Turkey Breast w/Cranberry Dressing
Honey Baked Ham
Roasted Garlic Smashed Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes in orange cups
Cranberry and Apple Stuffing
Cheesy Green Beans
Oreo Salad
Dill pickles
Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart
Some type of Apple Crisp Apple Pie
Rolls

Man, just typing the menu makes my mouth water. ( Jackie: send leftovers!) Ok, I can't even begin to tell you how YUMMY this all was! To die for really! My favorites: smashed taters, sweet taters, and the stuffin'! Well, maybe my favorite was the apple pie...it was all soooo good it's really quite hard to choose! Oh, and now that I'm almost 35 (did I just admit that?), I tried green beans for the first time in 25 years and LOVED them. Don't worry...peas won't be in the near future or EVER for that matter. Anyway, we lazed and grazed the rest of the day by fitting in a nap, savoring the details of the shopping ads, and then playing Monopoly until the wee hours of the morning! I'm totally up for a re-match Nick! (I'm pretty sure he cheated while I was putting Nathan to bed! HA!)

Friday, the girly's were up at 8:30 -- 3 hours before the boys (including Nathan! I told you we stayed up late!) We got ready and headed for the ever-so-NOT-busy stores! It was unbelievable! Everything we wanted was still there and we found parking spots and no lines at the checkouts. Newsflash: Denver does NOT know about the sales the day after Thanksgiving! I even ended up getting stuff on my list at Target late Friday night and a DVD player (that was suppose to be on sale from 5-11 on Friday morning ONLY) on Saturday afternoon at Wal-Mart! It was AWESOME! - well, that is if you ask me...to Jackie - it was shopping!

I'm so proud of Jackie. She surprisingly found a TERRIFIC store she knew I would love -Patina. IT WAS BETTER THAN ALL ELSE! I got an old sled that will adorn our front entryway for the winter, some old flash cards, a cool old square frame, and some other small goodies that totally rock my world! Jackie - you did so good...keep looking for more goodies!

Oh, did I mention the ambiance on Friday while the 3 girly's went shopping? A light blanket of snow cautiously falling the entire day. We dined at a remarkable Italian restaurant for lunch and just simply enjoyed our precious time together. So...it totally got me even more in the holiday spirit! It wasn't doing much for Jackie (totally annoyed her actually) until we left and she decorated for Christmas on Sunday while I have yet to! That's because I'm so smart...I decided that before I dug through boxes to find our holiday stuff that I would unload the storage area and paint the basement floor. Oh, that was the easy part...it's sorting and organizing that is WAY more than I ever bargained for! Poor Nathan. Poor Me. Decorating will have to wait until this weekend. UGH...and it's suppose to snow. Can I hold out?

Came across a good holiday quote while shopping my little heart out:
“Don't get your tinsel in a tangle!” I could so live with Santa at the North Pole. Can't you just see him and I using that lingo with the elves and each other?! Hee-Hee!

And a Thanksgiving-y one too:

“Lord, grant me the patience to deal with my blessings.” (This one is from a different blog – love the blog world!) And let me tell ya, I was quoting this one today. It's so hard to have patience when you have an entire basement calling your name! So, it was a good thing Nathan interrupted me and we played Batman UNO all afternoon. And, let me tell you this too: It was WAY more fun to play that than clean the basement! Tonight we went to the Y and now he's snoring beside me. I know, I know, I should be working downstairs BUT what could be more important that updating my blog?! :o)

The picture above is of Zoë, my parent's dog. They went shopping without me on Tuesday and came up with some adorable clothing for both pups! I'll try and get a picture of Basil in his fleece on my next post. Could she or the sweater be any cuter?

Can you believe the mail lately? Does anyone get as many catalogs, in the mail, as I do? And, I can't throw them away until I look at them so I have a stack of about 150 to go through - and that DEFINITELY takes precedence over the basement! Ok, gotta look through some of it...G'night!

P.S. No mountain lion sightings this trip...darn it!