Turkey and Vinyl Planks

I love Thanksgiving. I don’t stress about dishes or cleaning for company. I don’t thaw the turkey for 3 days in the fridge. I press the easy button and order from Bob Evans. I’m telling you that’s where it’s at. My mom still made her stuffing and my husband still did his sweet potatoes but everything else was provided. Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, green beans, cranberry relish, pumpkin bread, rolls, pumpkin pie and an apple pie.

Black Friday has always been a pretty big deal for me in the past. I would get the newspaper on Thursday and after dinner I would sit down and go through all of the ads. I loved the hunt for a deal. Now everything is online. There were maybe 3 ads in the paper this year. Looking at ads online is not the same as physically turning the page. I did a lot of shopping online early this year. There is one stop on Black Friday that my kids insist on going to. They load up on T-shirts and sweatshirts for the entire year.

Addie and I went out Friday afternoon. The only request she had was to go to 5 Below. That store is a close second to Claire’s for me. If you want to torture me, make me go into Claire’s. Even to this day I will send Addie in alone with a time limit while I stand outside. She was a trooper this year. Usually Brogan is my shopper but this year she really stepped up.

Chuck and I decided that this extended weekend was going to best spend installing our new vinyl plank flooring. We had gotten an installation quote done in the summer. After that we knew that we would be laying it ourselves. We are by no means professionals but we’ve gotten pretty good at faking it. There were only 2 times that we lost our shit. The great thing was we lost it at separate times so the other one was able to keep calm and process the situation. It was about the 1/2 mark that I was regretting not just paying to have it done but one we jumped that hurdle it was much smoother sailing. Painting and baseboards will have to wait until after Christmas because Addie was adamant that we decorate for Christmas.

I love getting out the Christmas decorations. I’m an end of season shopper. I usually load up on clearance after the holidays. That way when I open my bins I have a bunch of brand new stuff that I completely forgot about.

I thought I’d spruce up some chocolate chip cookies with some marshmallows. Bad choice. Next time I’ll stick to the original recipe. They turned out way better in my head.