I’ve been busy having fun & frolic with my family this weekend. This is the main reason I haven’t been updating my journal.

When I last left off, it was still Wednesday and we’d only just had naps. We had a few chores yet to do before Thanksgiving, including a booze run and the search for “real” cranberry sauce (the Ocean Spray variety in a can). Amy showed the folks the cottage they’ll be staying at most of the them they are here (they’re here for another week after I go). We also picked up Rachel at her apartment and got to see her little kitty, Charlotte.

We had Wine Time in lieu of supper where I had a pear hard cider (Fox barrel, so far my favorite pear cider). The cheese assortment was excellent, except for the sheep’s cheese that Amy had gotten from her cheese CSA. Ah well, they can’t all be winners. Amy, Rachel, and mom worked on baking the pies (sweet potato, apple, and pumpkin respectively) and I made my thanksgiving cheeseball. When everyone was back to their respective locations, Amy and I cleaned the turkey & let it soak in brine overnight.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and Amy and I got up at a reasonable hour in order to get things going. The cheeseball was finished, the turkey was prepped & stuffed into the oven, and the stuffings were prepared. Amy picked up mom and Rachel biked over while we were doing all of the rest of the work. Mom got the table set and it looked ecclectic and interesting.

Dad called later, looking for a thanksgiving dinner to be paternal over, so mom picked him up. And by 2pm, Amy’s friends, Jim & Carrie, arrived. Time to EAT!

The food was wonderful, the company excellent. I am very thankful for my family and our friends. And I’m really glad we got to come & visit Amy for the holiday.

The evening was closed with a game of Apples to Apples, which, frankly, is a little boring after playing Cards Against Humanity. Amy won the game. I had only 1 card at the end. Alas!

Rachel spent the night with us that night, and Charlotte was picked up because she’s still very young and hasn’t been alone all night yet. Curtis, my sister’s cat, tolerated his little cousin. He’s probably glad when she finally goes home. 🙂

The girls and I had decided there was one Black Friday sale that we had to attend. A local business had donuts and coffee, 10% off, and a free gift for $20 purchase (a $50 value). So we took advantage of their sale. I had two of their donuts (they kept insisting) and we each bought enough merchandise for the free gift. Rock on! Here’s to small businesses that take care of their customers!

We picked up the folks and then headed to Brit’s Pub for lunch. I had half a BLT and cock-a-leekie soup along with a Strongbow (on tap). We had a great time at the pub and I picked up the tab. It seems appropriate to eat there since it was Doctor Who‘s 49th anniversary.

Our only big box store visited that day was Target for a couple of things that we needed. It wasn’t overly crowded, whih was nice. Then we went to Depth of Field, the futon store that Amy got her futon from. She was determining what fabrics to get her bolsters and pillows in. Dad, meanwhile, investigated what on him kept setting off anti-theft devices in stores. To everyone’s annoyance (and my amusement), he kept removing stuff until he finally discovered it was something in his wallet. He eventually discovered a little RF antenna in it.

Our final shopping spot of the day was Midwest Mountaineering. This allowed us to have our parking ticket validated and both of the girls found useful purchases. Looking at the price of the Smartwool socks, I realized that my $9 Fox River socks weren’t too expensive after all. Heh.

We returned to Amy’s for pie and coffee. We finished off the apple pie (now with ice cream). Then we headed to mom & dad’s cottage in order to watch Brave on the nice TV there. Turkey sammiches were the snack of the night. Then Amy and I dropped Rachel off at her place (Charlotte had been dropped off earlier) and returned home for bed.

Yesterday (Saturday), we had several things planned in advance. To start with, Amy and I made breakfast. She made “refrigerator clean out” eggs in a tortilla wrap and I fried potato cakes from leftover mashed potatos. The breakfast was a success, if we do say so.

Next, we walked to the library so she could return some videos and get her books that were on order. Sadly, we were too late for her to avoid the late fee on the DVDs, but the fee is pretty reasonable.

Then we picked up the parental units and headed to the chicken coop. It was Amy’s day to feed & water the chickens. I helped! Sadly, the outdoor water faucet was frozen, but Amy discovered that after she dumped the water (whoops). So a short trip to Rainbow to buy 2 gallons of drinking water, and she was done with the coop chores.

I have a number of people I’ve known online for years and yesterday had the chance to finally meet one of them. He’s a member of the Greater Midwest Lego Train Club and they had an open house in the Brickmania Toyworks display room. So we went there and were awed by the train displays, and I got to meet Michael. I took lots of photos.

We had hopped to also visit an antique store in that area, but the frozen tap had other ideas. So we just hopped on the 35W and headed south to Bloomington to meet a friend of dad’s at Sawatdee for lunch. The lunch was good (I, of course, had tofu pad thai), and it was nice to see Bill again.

Since we were down in Bloomington, we decided to visit Ikea. I love shopping at Ikea. I think I need to visit my “local” next weekend. Heh. But I managed to refrain from putting stuff in the basket. Amy, meanwhile, scored a number of nice things. A Poang chair, stuff for her soon-to-be remodeled bathroom, and a few other odds and ends.

We dropped the folks off at their cottage, then put Amy’s purchases into her house and got snack foods, and finally picked up Rachel. Then it was Game Time at mom & dad’s cottage. Mom popped popcorn and we munched on that and cheese ball and crackers. We started with Euchre, where Rachel and I won after a slow start. Then we played Rumikub, where I won after a slow start. Heh.

So now Amy and I are relaxing on a fine (but chilly) Sunday morning. NPR is on the radio. We had a cinnamon roll (from Ikea, dad’s purchase) and steel cut oats (I doctored mine with brown sugar, almond slivers, butter, and banana). Tasty tasty. Dunno what we’re doing today other than eventually taking me to the airport. Gonna miss hanging out with the family, but will be glad to see the kitties again.