It's a bit chilly in my computer area, which is in our "sunroom." I suppose a temperature of 34 combined with windows that are not at all insulated will do that. It was a lot warmer yesterday morning at this time, about 64, and I know this because I was awake before sunrise to go out Black Friday shopping.

I only went to Joann's, but if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it right. To me, this means setting an alarm for 4:30am, getting up, throwing some clothes on, and arriving at Joann's at 5am. I wasn't first, there was another woman sitting around outside, but at one point she left, so that made me first in line. Whoohooo! I've never been first in line outside Joann's before. The hour wait was kind of lame. It rained for a little while, but I was under a huge overhang. I sat outside the door and goofed off on my phone. People started arriving at about 5:30am and the line grew. Some people grabbed carts from outside, which was a pretty good idea. I didn't. There are carts right inside the door, so I decided to go for those.

There was a little chitchat. Some of the people in line had been up all night shopping at Toys R Us or Target. It made me glad we decided on a trip for our Christmas gift instead of having to fight the crowds to buy stuff. No one had any really good stories.

Anyway, the manager opened the doors at 6am. We all rushed in, claimed our free pair of scissors (free to the first 100 customers), and scattered through the store. I went right for the flannel, passing by the cutting table to grab a ticket. There wasn't anything specific that I wanted, my plan was 16 yards split into 4 girly prints and 4-5 boyish prints. I grabbed bolts that looked good, more than I needed, and took a minute after that to decide for sure what I would have cut. It only took me about ten minutes. By that time, the cutting table lady had started, but was somewhat delayed by her computer system not working.

I had the second number, but I ended up trading with a man who had the third number. He only had one bolt and I totally would have traded numbers with him anyway, but when he started hassling the cutting table lady I gave him my number to shut him up. He was upset that he was in line before me but didn't get his number until after I took mine. Not worth listening to him complain. The cutting table lady was grateful.

There was a huge line at the register, but I suppose on Black Friday you're bound to wait for something. I got stuck next to one of those CD displays for a few minutes, that was fun, until I figured out how to turn it down. After checking out, I went home and walked in the door just in time to have Eli and Reese wake up and start hollering about how hungry they were.

After kids had food, I took a look at my fabric score. The receipt claimed that I saved $73 by shopping the Black Friday Sale. Sounds good to me! I'm set for pants for the kids and birthday gifts for the year.

Anybody out there in blogger land have a good Black Friday story?

Thanksgiving is Freaking Awesome!

That's right, I said it. Are you ready for some pictures?

Here's some maple oatmeal scones. It was a last minute recipe. They got a little dark, I think, but people said they were tasty.

Sorry this pic is sideways. :( It's an editing fail. But you can see the sweet potato casserole that my friend Becky brought (it was delicious). There's also some vegan jello, cranberry sauce, and vegan glorified rice.

Here's me shaping some chickpea cutlets. I don't know why this picture is here, but I'm not moving pictures around today.

A plate of vegan Thanksgiving deliciousness! Green bean casserole, potatoes, gravy, chickpea cutlet, and cranberries.

I think the green bean casserole was my favorite. Or maybe the stuffing? Mmmmmm.

Chickpea cutlets, stuffing in the crock pot, mashed potatoes, and mushroom gravy.

A picture of the cold salads. The glorified rice is a recipe I found in Vegan Lunchbox Around the World.

The kid table, and Reese and Eli eating pumpkin pie.

I tried to make some vegan whipped topping, but it was kind of a fail. It still tasted pretty okay. The pumpkin pie was good too, nice and smooth.

We had a very nice afternoon. Lots of food, great friends. I had a lot of fun cooking a big meal, I don't do it often enough. Yay, Vegan Thanksgiving!

Day In Pictures

So periodically I do this thing on one of my messageboards called Day in Pictures. Yes, it is what it sounds like, you take pics of your day. So on Tuesday, I took these pictures.

Reese, busily doing her math.


We tried to play a math game, a variation on War with subtraction, but it was lame and we quit.

We went for a walk, too. Reese brought her bunny in a sling, and Eli wouldn't show his face for any of the pictures.

Not much going on. Still writing novel. It still sucks (haha). Kids still learning. Dinners being cooked. Sewing accomplished. These things are the reason I'm not blogging as often. Do you miss me? ;)

Oh shoot.

Did you think I forgot you? I didn't. This NaNoWriMo thing is exhausting. And I really must sew. I thought I had so long because Christmas isn't until December 25th, right? Well then I remembered that I not only have to MAIL THINGS but we're going on vacation and leaving before Christmas. Whoops! I'll get things done, it just means that I can't lollygag around (don't you love that word, lollygag?).

And how can I get things done around here when my family is doing silly things to distract me???


On the homeschooling front, we learned about Thanksgiving. Books were read, crafts done, and we all had fun. Here's Reese's Thankful Tree and her turkey:

And here's Eli's Thankful Tree and turkey.

Let's see. Nothing else fantastic enough to write about, and House is coming on any minute. So. I'll try to be back more regularly. :)

I've been busy sewing stuff. That is what I like to do. This fun pile of stuff is for my secret santa person on a cloth diapering message board. I know, I don't cloth diaper anyone anymore, but the people there are awesome, and we talk about much more than cloth diapering.

Here's some of the stuff laid out nicely. My person wished for placemats and cloth pad liners. My friend Denelle dyed the bamboo velour, which tops the pads. It's awesome. I included a travel kleenex holder because they are fun. And I also threw in some sewing goodies, like Diva tags. There's some tea in the package too. I'll be shipping early this week. Yay!!!

The kids and I went for a walk (well, we walk just about every day) the other day. Eli started doing this thing where he makes his hands into binoculars when you ask him to smile nice. I suppose it's better than seeing the back of his head all the time. That's the pool closest to our house. It's still open, but man, that water looks cold.

Let's see, what else has been going on? I've been sewing, mostly Christmas gifts. I'm also 10,000 words into my novel. That's right, I am 1/5 of the way through! Impressive, huh? And there's the usual homeschooling and hanging out with the family.

I am loving the "fall" weather here. Today it was 60 degrees and sunny. We're a good chunk into November and I'm not feeling the seasonal blahs like I have in the past. I miss my friends and family, but I do think this was a good move for us.

Well, time to think about dinner! I'm hoping I can talk Eric and the kids into eating chips and salsa or nachos or something. What do you like to have for dinner on weekends?

Are you scared by this mess? Me too. Gah. This is what I get for suggesting that instead of Mom writing down everything the kids think they want for Christmas, they cut pictures out and paste them on a piece of paper. I have to admit, it keeps them busy. But the mess...sigh.


Oh well. I'm busy in the kitchen. These are the last three pie pumpkins in Georgia. All right, I don't know that for sure. However, when I went to Marvin's Market, all the pumpkins are gone.

So these three are it, I think. I cut them in half, scooped the seeds, and baked for about 45 minutes. The last batch of pumpkin I baked I turned into pie filling. We used that for smoothies and pumpkin waffles and pumpkin muffins. Mmmmmmm.

I suppose we still have squash even if the pumpkins are done for the year. I bought a spaghetti squash the other day, and I have a butternut squash to use up as well.

Do you like squash? What do you do with it?