Happy Thanksgiving

It has been a wonderful day with a houseful of family and friends. I feel very blessed that everyone brought delicious food, all of our favorites, and that the weather was nice. My mother in law, Margaret, made three pies! Yes, I had a bite of each one and her pecan is still my favorite.

Some new pages

I found some time this past weekend to work on a few scrapbook pages. Of course, I chose to do those that I'm most thankful for.



I used the November Cocoa Daisy kit! I have ordered their kits for the past two months and have been so pleased! The sneak peak for the December kit looks awesome and would definitely fit into my stocking! *hint*



I'm really looking forward to spending time with family tomorrow. Be safe if you're traveling for the holiday.

Commuting

My drive at the new job isn't that bad at all! It's mostly interstate which is a nice change for me.

On my way to work this morning I saw this license plate. If you're a nerd, like me, you've seen this before. Do you know what it means?

Saturday Randomness

Today was my last day at work, at my current job. I felt a mix of emotions today. They had a cake and a nice card that everyone signed for me which really meant a lot. But I was also a little sad leaving many friends and co-managers behind, not to mention one of the best sales teams. Now I get to build a new team all over again.

I was offered a promotion to manage one of the largest volume Sears Home Improvement departments in the Dallas area. I already drive about 45 - 60 minutes and I was concerned about going to this location because of the additional 20-30 minutes. Money talks though and boy did it! I am excited about this opportunity and the money, but I know I will be earning every penny. If you're ever in the Hurst area, that's where I will be.

Thomas has already charged up his GPS for me to borrow on Monday. Plus, he printed from online driving directions of all the different ways that I could possibly drive to get to Hurst. Isn't he the sweetest guy? He knows I'm directionally challenged and that I'd be calling him at the first hint of being lost.

I downloaded an excerpt from the first Twilight book onto my ipod last week and listened to it on my way to work one day. It was only a 40 minute excerpt, but I loved it and went the very next day and bought the books! Yes, it's so close to Christmas but I had to have it! I ended up buying the boxed set and I'm enjoying it so much.



Thomas and I are spending the rest of our weekend getting ready for Thanksgiving. His parents are coming up along with his younger brother and girl friend. This will be the first time that we've ever met or heard of a girl friend and they will all be staying with us. My parents have also decided that they will make the trip back to Dallas for us to have Thanksgiving together. They will actually be staying with Nikki and just joining us for lunch. I have also invited a couple of people from work that do not have family or friends in the area. We will definitely have a houseful of guests. I'm thankful that they are all making the trip to us since this is a busy week at work for me. I've also managed to get the easy dishes to make: Deviled Eggs, Cranberry Salad (which I ordered from La Dolce Vita) and drinks. I feel guilty about not cooking more, but I'm already tired thinking about how many hours I'll be working this week.

Looking good

Thomas is typically a jeans and tennis shoes guy. This is a rare occasion to see him all dressed up!

Best burgers in Dallas

On Tuesday, Mom and I took Dad to his doctor's appointment and we met Nikki afterwards for lunch at this great place in downtown Dallas called Twisted Root Burger Co. I loved how right outside on the glass window it said "Get your butt in here!"



Oh and there were silly phrases in the bathroom too!



We ate big, juicy burgers and their famous homemade sweet potato chips and laughed at all the silly names they called out on the mic when the orders were ready. Our silly name was SweetJane.

Nikki had just come from school and she brought her class project of the day for us to have for dessert! It was apple-cranberry pie! Delicious!



Mom and Dad are both back home now after staying with us for over a week. We tried to have an enjoyable week in spite of them both feeling under the weather and Thomas & I tired from working. I know they are glad to be back home too. We had big plans for Thanksgiving...lots of cooking and shopping with them staying another week at our house, but at this time I am unsure if they will make it back up here. You know what that means? If they don't come, I'm going to have to cook. Maybe we should just go out this year.~

Monday late night

Today has been TIRING, it was my 6th day of working.

It's also been EXCITING, I was offered a new job today!

I haven't been able to sleep yet, I'm ANXIOUS for my day off tomorrow.

Tuesdays make me HAPPY!


Enjoy yours,
Deana

You're Invited!

Sunday, Nov 16
6:00 - 9:00 pm



Sears is having an unbelievable Friends and Family Night! You'll get Friday After-Thanksgiving sale prices + an extra percent on almost everything! There will be a 28 page ad available at the store, it's HUGE!

Print this flyer and drop off the entry for a chance at a $50 gift card too!

You don't want to miss this!

This little box

This box has been around for the past 17 years. To most it would appear to be just an ordinary clear acrylic box with hinges. It's been sent through the mail many times. It's traveled by car, sometimes a few hundred miles at a time. It's been stuffed into grocery bags, purses and luggage. It's been filled and emptied, only to be filled again.

My sister, Nikki, sent me this box for the first time when we were both in college, but in different states. I honestly can't remember what it had in it the first time. What I do remember, is putting a little happy in it and immediately mailing it back to her. That's how it all got started and we've been doing it ever since.

Sometimes it gets set aside and forgotten about for a few weeks or months. But sooner or later, it's found and then it's sent off with goodies inside once again.

Nikki and I met this past Sunday for lunch and shopping. I had mentioned to her that I needed to get some makeup. (She sells Mary Kay.) I was very excited when she pulled the box from her car and handed it to me with makeup inside!



It's a wonderful little sister tradition that we have enjoyed for so many years. I know if the box ever broke, we'd just patch it up with some tape and keep sending it back and forth. This little box represents love.

We're done!

Finally! We have completed all of the Hague training that is required for our adoption. We've only been working on it for the past year. Federal legislation requires 10 hours of training on specific topics. We had to watch the videos and then pass the quiz for each. It feels good to have this done.

Scrap Store Heaven

I was on my way home from work last night and traffic was extremely bad so I called Thomas to see if he wanted to meet for dinner in Denton. He had just gotten home from his Kansas trip. He happily agreed to meet me and I ended up beating him there so I stopped into the Michael's store to look around while I waited. I usually don't shop there because they typically don't carry any of the new latest and greatest supplies. I was intrigued when I first noticed their new sign!



I was completely floored when I walked in and noticed that they had remodeled. The scrapbook section got promoted to the middle of the store and there was a large round cylinder spelling out scrapbooking that had a counter running all the way around where you could work on your scrapbooks or color match your selections while you shopped!



Oh wow, they have all this great new stuff! I even found thickers letters made by American Crafts! I have been searching for these for months! Save your coupons every Sunday, you're going to need them! I know I'll be making a weekly stop there with MY coupon.



Happy Weekend!

The agony of defeat

Have you ever lost a bet?

My co-manager at work, Cole, and I lost a bet....and we had to wash cars!

Leaf it to me

While driving to work this past week, I noticed all the leaves on the trees were turning yellow and orange. There were even some areas along my drive where the leaves were literally falling onto the roadway. Usually in Texas, our trees go from green to dead and we never see the changes in color. This fall is definitely more colorful than years past.



I took these pictures although I'm more of a camera-dabbler than a photographer.



This closeup picture shows the true colorful essence of the fall season. I walked down into the woods to get this shot and all I could think about was, "Lord, please don't let a snake bite my ankle. Thomas is in Kansas this week and my cell phone is in the car." It all went well, I only saw a silly grasshopper.

I'm off to curl up on the sofa with a scrapbook magazine to watch the election returns. Hope you voted!

Soup's On

Well, almost....

I came home from work tonight to see this pyramid of cans that Thomas had built on the kitchen counter. He was going to make our favorite taco soup, but I think he decided to watch football all day instead.



Perhaps we'll be having soup tomorrow...