And now, we wait

B submitted his final college application tonight. The deadline is Dec. 1 so he was cutting it a bit close. We're just glad he's done with the application process and the essay writing. Now, we wait for the universities' responses.

Christmas cats

L couldn't believe how cute this jingle pet collar and scarf were when she found them at Five Below on Black Friday. She had to have them. The cats seem to like the scraf; the jingle bells, not so much. At least she didn't buy the pet leg warmers.

Back to school

L rode along as we drove E back to school today. I took this picture after we had lunch in downtown Champaign at Big Grove Tavern. L was styling in her sweater leggings, sandals (!) and socks. Quite the outfit. When we dropped E off at her dorm her roommate was already back. We'll see E for winter break in three weeks!

Christmas transformation

L and B helped us haul the Christmas decorations in this afternoon and put up the Christmas tree. E was out with boyfriend P, enjoying her last full day home.

Our completed tree.

Decorations for the dining room.

And a new addition this year ... a trio of light-up wax Christmas trees.

Black Friday

Andy, L and I did a little Black Friday shopping this morning. We went to Costco, Kohls, Bed Bath and Beyond and CVS where L found this interesting elf hat. No, she didn't buy it. She did buy a scarf for the cat, though. B stayed home to put the finishing touches on a couple college admissions essays and E was out with boyfriend P.

This afternoon we went downtown to the Christkindlmarket. It was really crowded, but B got his hot chocolate and E got hot cider. We didn't really get close enough to look at any of the booths. L bought some caramel cashews then had to stop by Starbucks for her drink.

We were trying to get a nice picture of the kids for our Christmas cards. Neither one of these is it, but we think we got one that works. After the market, we went to Pizzeria Due for dinner.

Thanksgiving

The table is set, my new tablecloth and plum napkins ...

... and the appetizers are ready.

Andy carves the turkey. Then it's time to eat.

L sat down, picked up the white wine, didn't realize it was open and poured some on her plate, her napkin, the tablecloth. At least it was the white wine, she said. Hmmm. Once we got that cleaned up, it was time to take a picture. We took a selfie of all of us at the table last year, so we knew there was a way to do it, but it's still hard to get us all in. Here's the angle on the one cousin C took from her end of the table ...

... and then one from Andy's end of the table. We had quite the feast - turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn casserole, Hawaiian salad, cranberry sauce, stuffing, carrots and rolls. And a couple hours later, pumpkin and pecan pies for dessert. L was disappointed I didn't make macaroni and cheese, but how much yellow/orange food can you have at one meal? She made up for it by eating lots of appetizer meatballs and Hawaiian rolls.

Just for fun, here's a look at our Thanksgiving five years ago. Time flies.

'Friendsgiving'

B was busy in the kitchen Monday night, making curry for his Japanese class. The class celebrated "Friendsgiving" with a potluck. He made a lot of curry (using the same recipe as when he made it for us in July) and some white rice and took enough to school Tuesday to give each classmate a sample. I was wondering how he was going to heat it, but sensei said it can be eaten cold. I guess so, as B had cold curry for breakfast Tuesday morning. And we have two containers of curry in the refrigerator, so if we get tired of Thanksgiving leftovers this weekend, we have curry.

New fall decor

The harvest tea light holder is another new addition to my fall decor this year. I ordered it from Yankee Candle through a fundraiser for E's sorority. It arrived just in time for Thanksgiving.

Happy 85th!

We went over to see Grandma yesterday afternoon to help her celebrate her 85th birthday! We brought fall flowers and a cake. Allison brought a Bohemian feast.

And, of course, I had to take a few pictures with an 85 on the cake. L added the chocolate candy decorations that she made herself.

Couldn't resist

Ever since (or probably before) Andy bought a new TV stand, he's been wanting a new TV. With the early Black Friday ads out, he was pushed over the edge yesterday and had to get a new 55-inch TV, replacing our 46-inch one we've had since 2008, I think. E went with him to buy it and here she is showing it off.

Andy put the TV on its stand.

And finally, it's all hooked. B, who said he didn't want the old TV, promptly changed his might, brought down the tube TV that he and his friends found in an alley (!) and put the 46-inch one in his room. Surprisingly, the new TV doesn't look much bigger than the old one.

Thankoffering dinner

We went to church tonight for the annual Thankoffering dinner. B wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home, but E's boyfriend, P, met us there. We took mashed potatoes and carrots.

Andy saved the day when he got to a call this morning because the deacons who were cooking the turkey (two whole turkeys and four breasts, and none was left at the end of the night) couldn't get the oven to light. Luckily, Andy had been there last week when the serviceman showed him how to light the oven so he was able to do it this morning. Then, at the dinner, he saved the day (or night) again by having a corkscrew on him. He brought a bottle a wine and I suggested it might be a good idea to take a corkscrew. He used it to open the bottle he brought, then helped someone else open a bottle because we couldn't find an opener at church.

And she's home!

Not sure what happened to our 70-degree weather, but it's gone. We took B with us to Oak Brook this evening to pick up E. Doesn't she look cold? She took a charter bus home. L was at a friend's house.

E and B. It took seven tries to get a picture with B's eyes open. This is as good as it gets.

Toppled turkey

So I went to the doctor this morning, was gone for about three hours and when I returned I saw this. My turkey and candle, which were both on the round mirror on the dining room table, were knocked away, the turkey was on its side, and the leaves I had brought in from my walks were scattered everywhere. I'm blaming a cat.

But what a day for November! High temperature today was 73.

Thanksgiving work lunch

Andy's office had its annual Thanksgiving lunch today. He planned to bake one of the apple pies we bought from the church's fundraiser, but he forgot to take it out of the freezer last night so he ended up stopping by the Jewel before work to pick up a couple of desserts. Then, he finds out later, that instead of a potluck everyone pretty much decided to pitch in money to have a variety of side dishes catered in. That would have been easier. He said there was a lot of food there.

Bye, 'catfish'

L and I bought this fish-shaped cat house at a craft show over a year ago. She had to have it. The cats will love it. We tried everything, putting their toys in it, putting catnip in it. They would never sit inside. Finally, I gave it to L's cousin C for her cat to use and guess what? Her cat loves it. At least it's out of my living room and it's being put to good use.

Playing with Prisma

Playing with Muffles' photo.

Top seller

After church today, we hauled home all the pies L sold. She asked the youth minister who sold the most, as the top seller earned a $25 Starbucks gift card. She replied that L was the winner! Then, she said, none of the other kids put their names on their order forms so she had no way of knowing who turned in which orders. So, perhaps by their carelessness, L won. And since I was the one who wrote her name on every order form, L said she'll buy me a Starbucks holiday drink. We think she sold 10 pies ($250 worth), four of which were sold by Andy at his office. Maybe she owes him a drink too.

Pie-making

B, L and I headed to church this morning for the first shift of the youth group's pie-making/baking fundraiser. The kids sold apple, sweet potato and key lime pies for $25 each.

Everybody had jobs to do. I started off the morning opening 40 cans of sweetened condensed milk by hand then spent the rest of the time zesting limes and mixing up the key lime pie and sweet potato pie fillings. L zested limes and peeled apples, among other duties. B carried apple pies to the freezer and mashed the sweet potatoes.

Here's B overseeing his friend, A, and L as they lay out the crusts for the apple pies.

By the time B's shift was over at 1 p.m., the refrigerator was pretty full of apple pies.

And L had zested and juiced a lot of limes.

This picture was taken to show the fire department if, by chance, we blew up the basement trying to light the oven. It's a used, but new-to-the-church oven, so no one was sure where the pilot light was. We ended up calling a serviceman who unscrewed a panel under the oven and carefully lit the pilot. No fire emergency for the first shift, though there were quite a few cut fingers. I accidentally grated off part of my thumb nail. Ouch.

After our pizza lunch, B and A decided to whip up a batch of key lime filling. They were doing enough for three pies at once so they were putting their math skills to good use! B was not a fan of separating the egg whites from the yolks (too messy). I think he did like the trick A showed him how to quickly crack an egg by using another egg.

'I still have hope'

Andy finally removed the election signs from our front yard, but L wasn't about to see it go. She saved the Clinton one before Andy took out the trash and hung it up in her bedroom.

Finally!

I emailed the village Oct. 20 about a large limb that fell from one of our parkway trees. They picked it up, but neglected to remove a limb that was dangling in the tree. Cars park on our street all the time and kids walk by on their way to school. Imagine if this would have fell. Because it was dangling up there and my car already had been damaged by a fallen branch, costing me $1,000 to repair years ago, I haven't parked on the street since I noticed the limb. But today, B and I came back from a dentist appointment and the village had placed the dangling limb in the parkway and was ready to mulch it. That took three weeks too long, I'd say.

This is the one that fell, unprovoked, on Oct. 20, that prompted my initial email:

I think it was damage left over from a heavy storm that blew through on Sept. 7.