Turkey Trails

Ok, I have no idea why I chose my title. No turkeys leaving little deposits around here.

Unless you count the two turkeys that came from my womb.

Cuz then we can talk about all the deposits around here!

Just needed a catchy phrase to discuss the Thanksgiving break and all we did.

For posterity.

And cuz my memory is shot!

And for all you fellow list-makers out there, here is your fix for the day!

Tuesday:
* Arrived at in-laws that night.

Wednesday:
* Ran some secret errands with FIL.
* Had a secret lunch date with another man.
(Relax, totally on a professional level.)
(NOT THAT KIND OF PROFESSIONAL LEVEL!)
* Hung out around homestead and ate all meals presented before me. Although I did pretty good and tried to keep it healthy for the most part. I think I might have escaped without gaining weight or at least just a pound or two over the course of 5 days. My in-laws live on acreage where they built their home over 3 years ago. L was in my tummy at the time which is the only reason I remember the time frame! There is a barn, a fire pit, a sand box, a deck, a big pond with a dock and a island, and lots of windows to enjoy the scenery. The kids always have fun cuz they can fish, hunt down the stray cat Felix, ride Papa's tractor, and go in endless circles around the big driveway on their motorized vehicles. And, of course, have doting grandparents who feed and cater to them.

Thursday:
* Ate and piddled.
* Started going through my 3 big bags of stuff that needed my attention. Papers, mail, little pieces of paper with important info that needed to be put in the right place, kids' books to read, my books to read, my organizer that needed updating, etc.
* Started my Christmas to-do list in its very own spiral notebook.
* Visited with friends they had come over.
* Disregarded ALL over-rated football (oh, all you college and professional football lovers just stop foaming at the mouth!) which took up WAY too much TV time from the men.
* Missed Oprah's favorites show AND the NEW Grey's Anatomy that night. Thanks to football.
* Finally got to watch "Music and Lyrics"; my Netflix movie that has been at my house a LONG time! So, so cute! I love Hugh Grant. It almost rates up there with "The Holiday". And don't tell me you haven't seen that one!
* Scoured newspaper ads and prepared list breakdown of all items to be purchased the next morning. I was uncommitted about shopping on Friday morning. I have only done the early morning thing twice. I have shopped on Black Friday before, just not before 5 AM! But in a small town, what else is there to do!
* Went to bed with clothes on.
(Just kidding!)

Friday:
* Left the house at 4:15 AM to arrive at Wal-Mart. It takes about 3 minutes to drive there from their house. The parking lot was deceptive because it is a 24-hour super store. So, everyone was already lining up INSIDE the store. You can read about my shopping experience here.
* Collapsed for awhile.
* Cleaned and organized my MIL's pantry.
* Cleaned and organized my MIL's fridge. Bless her heart. She can cook a mean meal but what gets trapped in that fridge afterwards with just the two of them is a wonder! It is a well-known fact (and running joke) that my FIL has cleaned out the fridge numerous times with results once being 15 salad dressing bottles and another time being almost 10 jars of pickles!!
* Prepped for holiday pictures.
* Finished holiday pictures.
* Fiddled with and ordered cards from Shutterfly. I took forever. I only had about 6 card choices prepped before finally making a decision. Results coming later for your viewing pleasure!
* Realized that tomorrow was only Saturday, not Sunday since it felt like the longest week ever. Not in a bad way.
* C and his Dad worked on bringing down a rotted tree with the tractor. The kids thought that was the coolest thing ever as they watched from the window. As the tree came down, they were screaming for "Daddy" to run and get out of the way! Yea, we would have firewood.
* Went to bed at 8:30 pm!! We all did!

Saturday:
* Have I already mentioned eating?
* Took the kids to a dollar store to shop for the Shoebox Project our school is participating in. It was a nice opportunity to discuss kids that have so much less than we do. They enjoyed picking out stuff for a boy and a girl each around their age. Of course, they were not to be left out. They had earned $2 each from Gigi for "napping" the previous two days. I would say that was questionable napping!
* It was pretty much rainy and yucky so the rest of the day was spent inside.
* Enjoyed a fire all evening.
* The kids convinced their Daddy and grandparents to a rousing addition of Go Fish.
* I worked on finishing up some projects that needed done before next week.
* And snuck in some laundry to prevent the pile-up for next week.

Sunday:
* Church
* Went out to eat. Poor Gigi was probably so tired of cooking!! And my kids like "mesican" food anyway!
* Packed car.
* Headed home in the rain with two drowsy kids in the back!! L did not even make it onto the main street out of town before he crashed! Poor Mommy was tired too!

Here are the projects I worked on:

This is for A's Christmas dance performance on Friday. If you live near me, the holiday festivities are being held in our town square with lots of activities for the kids. The last pic stinks b/c of poor lighting and I left my digital camera chip at my in-laws so was stuck with camera phone again!!





This is the class basket donation I put together for my son's class. It is being donated for our school's auction tonight! It is a SPAlicious Basket!



And if you hung in through the end of this post, YOU deserve my sincerest gratitude!!

Stacey

p.s. DON'T miss my nomination for Friday Fuzzy tomorrow! That is right, ONE BIG nomination!