Stay-Cation Day 3 : Chillin'

When you leave the house and go directly into the garage, you don't always have a sense of what the REAL weather feels like. 

This was me running errands this morning. Without a winter coat. Or jacket of any kind. People probably thought I was nuts. Or maybe that I was tough. 

In reality, I was dumb.

I survived though. Do you know who else survived?

Apparently this brood. Not that most people hunt for their Thanksgiving meal, but these guys (or gals, don't ask me) have lived another day. And have stopped traffic another day. Not sure how long their luck will hold up.

So even though I was physically chilling with the temperatures, I was also mostly relaxing today. I had one major thing to do....

Bake my pies. And even though the crust got a little too dark for my liking, I think they'll be fine tomorrow. I will eat them if no one else will!

I also managed to get one Hallmark movie in (so far) and went to my Hair Artist for my 6-week check-up. Happy Thanksgiving to me!

Side note: This stay-cation week is going way too fast!! Hope you all can relax tomorrow and enjoy the blessings in your life.

Today's Dress Code :: Thanksgiving Pants

Today was a FULL-FILL-ing day! Thankfully I didn't base my attitude on the images from the first light of day.

Yup. Our first measurable snowfall and Mr. Deck Chair and I were not happy. But there was no way I was going to work from home today. Our Marketing Department was having our "Progressive Thanksgiving."

No, thoughts weren't necessarily progressive. But like a "progressive dinner" you may have heard of, we wandered from area to area within Marketing to eat all day. And I mean ALL DAY.

Breakfast was provided by our digital team – those who do the behind the scenes work on our websites, e-newsletters, SEO, and social media. Since I've been on the stomach mend, I just had a half bagel with cinnamon-brown sugar cream cheese. Oh, and a slice of bacon. Because it was there.

Starting at 10 a.m. our creative team of graphic designers and videographers plus our customer experience team (who do all kinds of surveys) provided appetizers. I volunteered to bring home a deviled egg for hubby, but he declined. I don't like them so I couldn't even enjoy one for him. But I did have some meatballs and surprise Pumpkin Pie-looking snack.

If it's not really miniature pumpkin pie slices, what is it?

Turns out it's sliced cheese on top of a triangular cracker with some cream cheese dip that was a Cool Whip look-a-like on the edges and top. My mind was blown! Just the perfect putzy type of snack I'd try to make! Cool.

Lunch time was on our team of writers. The turkey sandwiches were provided and we were in charge of the sides. Thus the reason I had to drive slowly and carefully to work to protect my crockpot of cheesy potatoes. Yes, it arrived safely. And no, there isn't any leftover for me to show you a picture! (I take that as a win.)

Around 2 p.m., our brand management team and events team provided dessert. Are you full yet? We sure were. And wishing we all wore our "Thanksgiving Pants."

But I managed a pumpkin spice cupcake and piece of cheesecake. The sacrifices we make for work!

After that I had to stop at our clinic at work and get my previously scheduled COVID shot. Not a fun way to end a FULL and FILLING day at the office for sure. Especially after just getting over being sick. I'm feeling a little "off" this evening but hopefully the reaction doesn't develop into anything more than that.

Just going to take it easy and pray I'm back to my version of normal by tomorrow so I can do hunter's widow shopping this weekend. And no, my husband doesn't hunt. But I can pretend for certain circum$tance$.

Why, It's Pi Day

Without knowing the history of made-up holidays, I can almost guarantee it was someone in America who declared March 14 (3/14) as Pi Day... and ultimately Pie Day!

What is Pi for real? Pi (often represented by the lower-case Greek letter π), one of the most well-known mathematical constants, is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.  For any circle, the distance around the edge is a little more than three times the distance across. Typing π into a calculator and pressing ENTER will yield the result 3.141592654, not because this value is exact, but because a calculator’s display is often limited to 10 digits. Pi is actually an irrational number (a decimal with no end and no repeating pattern) that is most often approximated with the decimal 3.14.

Also the date March 14. 

I saw a funny today (mocking Hallmark and other greeting card companies) that said Pi Day was a holiday made-up by mathematicians so they could sell more math!

That's good.

But all the talk at work was the PIE version of Pi Day. 

So someone went down the street to Perkins and suddenly we were observing the holiday like true mathematicians.

I sincerely apologize for ever mocking this made-up holiday, because Peanut Butter French Silk Pie from Perkins is to die (or Pi) for!

Hope you found a delicious way to celebrate this deliciously fake holiday!

October-Fest Eve

If you look at the calendar, we still have a few hours before October. Yet, there sure was a lot of October-Festing going on. I guess since most of my day was seasonally related, I was festing, too.

Took a road trip to Waupaca with my friend Marigene. I didn't have any furniture shopping advice to give her, but sometimes it's just fun to have someone along for the ride. After visiting Stange's, where I got some inspiration for next home improvements, we headed north of town to Christiansen's Orchard.

This wasn't a pick-your-own gig.

They had lots of interesting varieties bagged up, along with various jams, jellies, and apple cider.

All I could think was that I don't have a kitchen right now to do any baking. So...

I bought one of their fabulous-looking apple pies. Still gotta get some vanilla ice cream tomorrow. Then I'll dig into it.

Jim had choir up in Rudolph this afternoon, but when we got home we headed to Whiskey Rapids Saloon to meet some friends for their Oktoberfest celebration.

Caught a few tunes from the Ultimate Polka Band from Stevens Point. Then it switched over to a country band.

Blame it on Waylon is an amazing regional band. Could've listened to them all night but my stinkin' allergies are still messing with me. Still don't fell 100% so wisely called it an early night. Maybe instead of fall allergies, these are just September ones.

I guess it's time to welcome October! Everybody's doing it.

Turkey Eve

Today was actually a vacation day I had scheduled several weeks ago. I knew I'd need to get 2 things done before serving Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

Number 1 was bake my pumpkin pies and number 2 was set the scale back 15 pounds – at least 5. It's tradition, right?

I was glad I had time to get the almost perfect pies done plus whatever other food – and house – prep I could do, plus a few creative projects, plus run what errands I could. I had hoped to get my car washed since it was 40+ degrees out. But everyone else had that idea. Add that to another day's to-do list.

For now, it's time to rest up so I can join everyone else in overexerting ourselves to eat as much good food as possible tomorrow until we need a nap. Come on. We've all trained for this!

Happy Turkey Eve! And count your blessings with gratitude tomorrow!

Seasonal Distraction Disorder

It's bad enough the weather is messing with our minds with the fall one day and spring or summer the next. Now we've got the retail sector rushing seasons.

Saw Walmart had its Christmas section started yesterday. Today, our local Pick 'n' Save had this sumptuous seasonal selection.

It appears we have Cinnamon ice cream (upper right) to go with fall apple pies and crisps. Then in the center, we have Pumpkin Pie flavored to transition us from October fall to November fall and Thanksgiving. Then, bring on Candy Cane (top shelf) and Eggnog (bottom).

And which one did I choose? I went with Pumpkin Pie. For now. And yes, I only chose one and cross my fingers there's still some at the store when I crave the next season.

I also didn't want to stand there too long deciding on a flavor. I had to get home and get a few things done. Packing for sister weekend should have been one of them. I leave tomorrow right from a post-work activity and head to Minneapolis, where my oldest sister is flying in from Phoenix. So yes, I should get my stuff in order.

But that ice cream was distracting (and delicious) – and I'm not quite sure what season to pack for. I can tell you we are North Shore bound (there's a lot of lake so it could be anywhere up there, ha). So I know to pack layers. And warm ones at that.

And everything else is just going to have to come together during Pumpkin Pie ice cream hour – I mean lunch hour – tomorrow! 

Church Music

What starts with a polka and ends with beer, burgers, and bingo? A good old-fashioned church picnic, of course. Make that Catholic church picnic. We Lutherans haven't ventured too far beyond our Jell-O salad potlucks yet. But I see potential.

This afternoon we ventured up to Rudolph for their 100th anniversary church picnic. Since it also served as a fundraiser, there was not only the toe-tapping live music of not one, but two different polka bands, but also a beer tent, bingo and other games, burgers, pie and ice cream, and raffles. With the sun out and the weather in the mid-70s, it was a perfectly pleasant day for a picnic. 

We saw plenty of people we knew so our stay extended into a few hours. That's fine. It was relaxing and fun and I will now have polka and waltzes running through my head for at least the next 48 hours!

On a side note, I did get back to my own church this morning in person for the first Sunday in over a year. Great to sit in "my pew" and see everyone again! We've had services online this entire pandemic period, but nothing beats those in-person hugs!

They might not make me dance like a polka, but I do smile a lot and kind of skip a little! 

Hope we all have good things to carry us through the week – or at least Monday!

Wonderful Wizards

Happy Thanksgiving! Alphabetical gratitude month continues today in the final stretch with the letter W, which is a shout out to all you wonderful wizards!

A = Autumn, Austins, Assumption
B = Ballots, Books, Book Club, Bible
C = Casey, Clay, Carter, Church, Creativity, Camera
D = Dad, Daughters, Deck Chair, Dar, Design
E = Eggs, Election, Energy, Empty Nest
F = Family, Friends, Faith, Flu Shot, FastForward
G = Games, Golf, Guilty pleasures
H = Hugs, Hurricanes, Humor
I = Ice cream, Impromptu Invitations
J = Jim, Jokes, Job, Java
K = Kindness, King Cone, Knock on Wood, Karma
L = Laughters, Love
M = Mom, Masters, Musicals
N = Nieces, Nephews, Neighbors, Norse Force
O = Outage
P = Pigging Out, Passport, Phone
Q = Quiet
R = R People
S = Scandi-hoovian-ism, Sisters, Sylvester
T = Thanksgiving, Tree, Teachers, Turkey
U = Unicorns, U.S. University 

Whirlwind: Today I was blessed to be part of a whirlwind of my own making. There's a crazy amount of prep that goes into holiday meals. Anyone who can synchronize the completion of the turkey, potatoes, and dressing is a wizard to be sure! 

I had to cheat. Pies yesterday. Turkey breasts in the oven this morning then crockpot. Made the Apple-Snicker Salad while those were cookin'. Potatoes today in the crockpot. Dressing in the oven. (Yes, I tried my mother-in-law's recipe and it was passable!). Somehow it was synced enough that when Carter and his girlfriend showed up at 4 p.m., we could deliver Thanksgiving Meals on Wheels to Jim's parents and then to Clay and his girlfriend. They were wayyyy appreciative. And then come home to eat our meal. I told everyone to eat in slow-motion because no way did what felt like 24 hours of prep work deserve to disappear in 8 minutes.

Walk: So glad I took a walk in the early afternoon to pre-emptively burn all these Turkey Day fat calories. That's how it works, doesn't it?

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving! It was different to not be surrounded by family. How we wish things were different. But it was the smart thing to do. Plus more pumpkin pie and whipped cream for me. Wow.

#gratitudemonth #gratitudealphabet

V-V-V-Very Nice

Alphabetical gratitude month continues today in the final stretch with the letter V, which could be very, very good!

A = Autumn, Austins, Assumption
B = Ballots, Books, Book Club, Bible
C = Casey, Clay, Carter, Church, Creativity, Camera
D = Dad, Daughters, Deck Chair, Dar, Design
E = Eggs, Election, Energy, Empty Nest
F = Family, Friends, Faith, Flu Shot, FastForward
G = Games, Golf, Guilty pleasures
H = Hugs, Hurricanes, Humor
I = Ice cream, Impromptu Invitations
J = Jim, Jokes, Job, Java
K = Kindness, King Cone, Knock on Wood, Karma
L = Laughters, Love
M = Mom, Masters, Musicals
N = Nieces, Nephews, Neighbors, Norse Force
O = Outage
P = Pigging Out, Passport, Phone
Q = Quiet
R = R People
S = Scandi-hoovian-ism, Sisters, Sylvester
T = Thanksgiving, Tree, Teachers, Turkey
U = Unicorns, U.S. University

Video: Thanks to COVID, the winter sports season is going to look a bit different than usual. But not so different from football and volleyball. Limited spectators – like 4 tickets per athlete – and video viewing of the games via lifestream for the rest of us. I'm so grateful for that! Last night we got to watch our Assumption girls start their season up at Edgar. Since we got a few inches of snow during the day, I was fine with not driving anywhere. It's just not the same as cheering them on in person. But that's life in a coVid world. Very vexing at times!

Vacation: Since we did awaken to this scene, I'm so grateful I'm on vacation. Not that had a commute anyway, but still, I can only call it "pretty" when I have no place to go! And I didn't have time. It was not meant to be a relaxing vacay day. Not the day before Thanksgiving.

I do prefer this "snowman" to the ones outside. Yup, got 4 pumpkin pies baked today. Potatoes peeled. Bread cubed up for dressing. And house cleaning, too. Very productive! Can't wait to act as the Austin Meals on Wheels tomorrow! 

Veterinarian: I'm grateful the vet could put up with Princess Hiss-A-Lot today. She doesn't like strangers. Or being out of our home. But it's just once a year. The vet said she was healthy as a kitty though! She did have to get a rabies shot in her backside somewhere. I think she's still holding a grudge against her favorite human. I mean he grabs her while she's napping, shoves her in a box, makes her ride in a moving vehicle, then thrusts her into the arms of someone who just poked and prodded her and inflicted pain. Sylvester is literally napping on my office floor right now while I type and while her human is in bed. Total cold shoulder move. Hope she forgives him by morning! 

Hope you find a variety and vast amount of blessings on your Thanksgiving, too!

#gratitudemonth #gratitudealphabet

P is for Plenty

 

We're more than halfway there! Alphabetical gratitude month continues today with the letter P which means I have Plenty of blessings to be thanks for.

A = Autumn, Austins, Assumption
B = Ballots, Books, Book Club, Bible
C = Casey, Clay, Carter, Church, Creativity, Camera
D = Dad, Daughters, Deck Chair, Dar, Design
E = Eggs, Election, Energy, Empty Nest
F = Family, Friends, Faith, Flu Shot, FastForward
G = Games, Golf, Guilty pleasures
H = Hugs, Hurricanes, Humor
I = Ice cream, Impromptu Invitations
J = Jim, Jokes, Job, Java
K = Kindness, King Cone, Knock on Wood, Karma
L = Laughters, Love
M = Mom, Masters, Musicals
N = Nieces, Nephews, Neighbors, Norse Force

Pigging Out: I never said that every blessing that brings me joy is good for me. By sheer coincidence, I have been Pigging Out this week on pizza (Monday night dinner) and popcorn (today's lunch AND dinner) not to mention Pumpkin Spice coffee. And, next week, here comes Pumpkin Pie! Perfect! 

Passport: I will never take for granted my ability to travel "wherever I want" thanks to my passport. Because, what good is a passport 2020? No place to go abroad and nobody wants us. That's why I'm so grateful I got two trips to Europe stamped on my passport – Norway, Sweden, Denmark two summers ago, and Germany and France 18 months ago. So amazing to expand our horizons! It has opened my window to the world. Cannot wait until this global pandemic is replaced by global travel! 

Phone: I do panic a bit when I leave the house and realize I forgot my phone. It's not like there's that many people besides telemarketers that actually call. But I get plenty of texts. And yeah, I what if a photo op comes up and I don't have my phone (aka small camera)? Guess I just picture it in my mind, right? (Unless I'm traveling somewhere a passport's required. I need share that image somehow!) I am grateful that smart phones especially have made it much easier to stay in pretty constant contact with my siblings and, uhm, parentally persistent contact with the boys.

Hey, it all pleases me today. 

#gratitudemonth #gratitudealphabet

Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours

We all know Thanksgiving is the F-word holiday: family, friends, football, and feasting!

Also the word we say when we step on the scale – which is really why it's called Black Friday. To match out mood.

Hubby's sister hosted the Austin Thanksgiving this year. She told us she'd heard the average American will consume a hefty 3,000 calories on Thanksgiving – for dinner alone. Drinks, dessert and appetizers can bring the total calorie count to 4,500. "So who's ready to dig in?"

It was a great meal with the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing and apple-Snicker salad (remember when the Pilgrims made that?). Plus, three choices of pie for dessert. Yum!

How come my tryptophan food coma doesn't look this cute on ME? No one can compete with a 1-month-old on her first Turkey Day, that's for sure.

Besides little Mya and her parents Colin and Amy, Carter, Clay and Becca, and Jim's parents all joined us. It was nice to get together for some family time. And football. And feasting, of course.

Feeling full of food and blessings. Hope you all can say the same. Happy Thanksgiving!

It May be Monday...

I love this saying. It's right on the money. Any time you can end a week – or day even – with pie and shopping, you're winning.

Work-wise, I'm thankful for a short week. As in tomorrow is my Friday. Health-wise, though, it's already been a long week.

I have nagging, dry cough that's been keeping me up at night. And hubby, too, by default. Last night, I got out of bed at 11 p.m. so I could give him some peace. Figured I try to sleep in the recliner. Maybe sitting up a little would ease the cough. It kind of did, but I couldn't fall asleep. Who knew the teeny tiny ticking of the kitchen clock could echo through the living room like the Vikings' gjallarhorn! Finally, at 1:22 a.m. (because I was counting sheep and minutes), I went back to bed. Slept with a cough drop in my mouth and that helped. I know. Not smart.

Tonight I am armed with some nighttime anti sniffling, sneezy, coughing, so you can rest medicine. That'll kick in shortly so I can get some sleep (hubby too).

And try to fit four days of work into one tomorrow. Who's with me?! We got this!

Think pie and shopping. Pie and shopping.

National Nerd, er Pi, Day

Math is not my strong suit anymore. Yet, just like a lot of other common folk, we think we're mathematical geniuses on Pi Day. If the nerds among us hadn't started observing it years ago, we wouldn't either. We pride ourselves in knowing the first numbers after the decimal – 14 – even though there's an endless stream after that.

So what? It's an excuse to have pie! Or some other treat if none of your co-workers celebrated it with you by bringing one in. My treat came later...

My friend and former co-worker Colleen and I had vowed after I left Renaissance that we'd try to get together once a month for a yummy Pineapple Express Burger (pineapple, sriracha and peanut butter) at Jennings downtown. Well it hasn't been monthly. In fact our last month burger was right before Thanksgiving. But hey, we're trying. At least we're not giving up!

Was great to catch up over one of our favorite treats. Will always treasure the time we worked together but I wouldn't trade my current situation for anything.

Except, maybe, some coconut cream pie. Or Andes Mint pie. Or warm apple pie with ice cream... The pie list could be as long as Pi!

Playing for a Piece of the Pie

Does eating pumpkin pie qualify for stress eating? It does if it's the Packer-Viking game!

I don't stress eat often – over sports, that is – but when I do, it's the Border Battle. Last time we played, Jim and I were in Minnesota, visiting Casey and hoping having all of us in Vikings Territory would help. The game ended in a tie. Maybe we have no influence, after all.

Still, I wouldn't dream of watching the game without my Viking socks, pants and shirt on. Under a Vikings blanket on my recliner.

It's halftime now and we're tied. Again.

So far I am one piece of pumpkin pie, a bag of popcorn, and two Christmas cookies into the game. No matter who wins, I know I will not be a loser on the scale tomorrow, that's for sure.

Game back on. Good thing there is still half of that pie left!

Stuffed Like a Turkey

Not sure what's worse: the pile of dirty dishes or feeling more stuffed than a turkey on Thanksgiving.

At least the dishwasher can handle the pile. My body, though, has eased into a food coma since 5 p.m. Will try to type this without falling asleep.

Was a very nice Thanksgiving.

Took a good chunk of the morning to get our pre-Black Friday smart TV hooked up. Initial plans to mount the 65-incher on the wall didn't quite work despite the efforts of hubby and neighbor. So we cursed our way through at least getting it connected to our cable, etc. We both admit the smart TV is smarter than us. Thankfully, Mr. College helped with a few glitches later.

Had a nice dinner with Jim's folks, his sister Sherry and husband Baird, Clay and his girlfriend, and Carter. Just enough to require a "kids table." Had plenty to eat, but more importantly, some fun sitting around talking stupid and watching football we didn't care about. It was great to have a quorum!

Tonight I ran over to ShopKo for one Black Friday thing. Just one. Not bad crowds since their sales started this afternoon. That will be it, though, unless Carter wants to go somewhere tomorrow for some of his Christmas shopping.

I don't think I'll be moving very fast tomorrow. Might have to Google how long trytophan-induced comas last.

Hope you found plenty of people to be thankful for today!

Pumpkin Pie Eve

You know it's a good day off when you don't get around to showering until 5:45. That's P.M.

Oh, don't think I sat around the house all day. I cleaned. I baked three pumpkin pies (hope they taste as good as they look). Did some freelance work. And ran errands.

Yup. No shower or hair style (other than pony tail) and no makeup. And I ran errands. And naturally, I saw someone at every. Single. Stop. Oh goody. As I hugged my one girlfriend in Wal-Mart, though, she said, "That's OK, I haven't showered yet either."

I felt compelled to clean up for church and the Thanksgiving Eve Pie Social. I'm sure they're all grateful for that. Came home and hubby and I headed downtown to celebrate a friend's birthday. College Boy pulled into town after 9 p.m. so we had him stop by, too. I needed that hug! Sooooo wonderful to see him again after nearly 3 months!

Now he's off to see friends (yes, they do start plans at 11:30 at night) and we're hitting the hay. Just one more sleep 'til Pumpkin Pie Day. Oh, and I have to remember to do this...

I found that hilarious and entirely accurate. Pumpkin Pie is healthy. That whipped cream, though. Gotta have it!

Three Point One Four Something Something

March 14 is such a fun day. We all walk around like we're mathematically gifted because we know today – 3/14 – is consider Pi Day.

You know, Pi. That number that starts with 3.14 and goes on and on. You know, Pi. The ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Duh.

It has nothing to do with "pie" but it sounds like a good excuse to have some!

But no one brought any to work. And we don't have any kind of pie at home. Not the good pumpkin or apple or Schwan's Andes Mint kind. And not a pizza pie either. Though a slice of sausage and pepperoni pie sounds pretty delish about now.

My challenge, though, is that I can't eat it. No. Not a diet. I went to the dentist after work and even though the allotted two hours have passed, I still don't have 100% feeling back on the left side of my mouth. I tried some rice cakes but I bit my tongue.

That's would never happen with a mushy piece of coconut cream pie. Ohmigosh. I'm suddenly starving!

Anyway, I opted not to go to choir practice tonight. I still look like the Joker from Batman when I smile. And I couldn't open my pie hole all the way.

That's a national holiday in itself. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Football, Food and Family

Hosting Thanksgiving is not that stressful when you think about the nice rubdown and time in the sauna. Not stressful for humans anyway.

Actually, the day went smoothly. Got up early to get turkey breasts in the oven. Found my blaze-orange hat and took a walk. Watched the Vikings lose to the Lions in a close one. Took Turkey breasts out of oven, sliced them and put slices into the crockpot.

Everything else had to wait until later. Even then, it wasn't too stressful. Got the corn, mashed potatoes and gravy all done about the same time. Jim's sister brought buns, our brother-in-law made rice pudding, Jim's mom brought coleslaw and her famously yummy dressing.

Good stuff followed shortly by a food coma.

We were so full, I almost forgot to serve the pie!

It was a nice, but small gathering. Jim's parents, sister and her husband, their son Colin and his fiance Amy. Oh, and Carter, too. Casey had to work yesterday and has to work early for Black Friday so that just wasn't going to work for him to make it home. Clay has a DJ gig of sots in Fargo.

While the numbers at the Kids' Tables are dwindling, Carter and Colin definitely did their part!

After the guests left, Carter and I did a little pre-Black Friday shopping at ShopKo and Wal-Mart. Now he's got a few high school friends over and my coma is about to set in, big time

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thank you, God, for blessing the food before us, the family beside us, and the love between us.

Make Room for Stuffing

On the eve of National Overeating Day, there was surprisingly little to do. When you think about it, pretty much everything from cooking the turkey to the mashed potatoes has to wait until the actual day.

Not the pies, though. I had to make the pies. Considering I only make pie once a year on average, I was OK with the result. My biggest concern was not burning the crust. And I didn't! But since I was squeezing my Martha Stewart project in after work and before kickboxing, I think I shortchanged the baking cycle a bit. I'm hoping they'll taste OK tomorrow. If not, just add more whipped cream!

I actually got out of work a little bit early and timed it – I thought – to when Carter was getting home for the weekend. Just like last time, though, he wasted no time hopping in his car and going off to see friends. So I just missed him. Now it's 9:30 p.m. and I still haven't seen him yet. I have to keep reminding myself that when I was home from college a hundred years ago, spending time with my parents was not high on the list. It's just typical. Remind me of that when I forget!

Since I was home alone, I got the pies done and went to kickboxing class. Our fitness instructor called it the "Annual Make Room For Stuffing" class. If we burned enough calories, we could eat guilt-free on Thanksgiving! And we did. Definitely burned some calories!

I don't know if it will be enough to compensate for the turkey, my mother-in-law's amazing dressing and whipped cream, er, pie. But I definitely made room for it.

Bring on the self-induced coma. Right?

Fraction Action

You know what makes me hungry? Math. More specifically, fractions.

Today about a dozen of us from work got to go on a little field trip to the Catholic grade school about 5 minutes from our office. It was a chance to see our company's math and reading software in action.

And, since the school is part of the Assumption school system, it was a chance to see a few kids (and teachers) I know.

Great to see our products in action. Great to not have to do math anymore, as well! A whole lotta fraction lessons today. Uff da. I forgot about the headaches of mixed numbers. I also forgot that staring at fraction "pie charts" long enough makes you hungry for pie or pizza or doughnuts.

So I was game for going out for pizza tonight! Jim and I went to The Ridges, where Carter washes dishes. He had the night off but it was sort of "opening night" for the golf season so we figured we should attend the eating part since we worked through the golf hours today. I opted for chicken strips but Jim had one-half, or 4/8, of his pizza and took the rest home.

I guess you could say we were tailgating since it is State Hoops Eve, after all! I hope the next fraction I see is a whole number in the shape of the Gold Ball on Saturday. I'll let you know how tomorrow shakes out. I guess we have a 50-50 chance of winning since the teams in round one of the state tourney are so evenly matched.

That's 50/100. I better stop eating pieces of the "pie" so we have better odds!