Tis the season....

...to be busssyyyyy..... Fa la la la laaa la la la laaaaaa.....

*Sigh* Another two weeks of slacking and I finally find my way to the blogging world. This is becoming a VERY bad habit. Oh well. I've embraced it.

Motivation from reading my dear friends' blogs (see links at left of page) and a very well needed break from figuring out the 2009 budget for work has landed me here. I just have to say that I am just amazed at the creativity and talent my friends have. Not only do their blogs make my blog look like a boring old newspaper column but they are SO much fun to read! Now I just need to gather them all in a little room, lock the door and force them to help me get my page running correctly. Ok, so maybe having the 3rd child syndrome I am hoping they just do it for me because I have skimmed the pages and nothing stuck out as to WHY my pictures are not attaching or the google calendar is not updating.... (Sidenote: a good read is "Birth Order" by Kevin Lehman)...and I have yet to find a book called Blogging for Dummies although I am sure it is out there.

Anyway.

Turkey day has come and gone minus the few extra pounds that are still lingering that I keep telling myself it is just water retention "from the baby". I recently was reminded in the midst of eating the most carb-loaded dinner that the average Thanksgiving dinner is 4000 calories. 3500 calories equals a pound.....that is like a pound of butter plus one stick just melted, poured down your throat and stored into the fat pockets of your hips and thighs...mmmmmm....yummmyyy. Blech.

Thanksgiving, as always, was a lot of fun! The dinner party we had went well but most definitely too quickly. Dinner went off without a hitch thanks to all the help from family and friends that aided with their expertise with everything from the old Polish-style turkey to the Costco purchased pecan pie. *smile* I do have to say that although I did not eat the turkey, I heard it was fabulous. I managed to burn the pie because my pregnancy brain had me doing something else while it was 'warming' on um...broil.... BUT it was to die for. It is amazing what a tub of cool-whip will do do a slightly charred pie....

The drive to South Dakota went too slowly and Sunday we couldn't get back fast enough with the snow, ice and rain we encountered. I swear people forget how to drive in these conditions...we saw semis barrelling down the interstate and people weaving in and out of traffic sliding everywhere. Then at the gas stations people are rushing in to buy milk, bread, and sand tubes like they are preparing for armageddon. Better safe than sorry I guess!

So turkey day has come and gone once again with Christmas just around the corner. Speaking of which, did anyone else wake up feeling crazy on the day after Thanksgiving and do some shopping? I don't know what I was thinking with the mass amounts of people out there being pregnant and all (sidenote: there is NO sympathy for pregnant mamas while shopping the day after Thanksgiving...) but we braved it with coupons in hand and trudged through the mayhem. My mother-in-law and I had a fabulous system going where if we went to a store for a certain purpose the one that was not shopping, perse, would immediately get into line. The lines were wrapped around the store and by the time one was finished looking the other person would almost be to the check out and the other would jump in line with her to check out! It was heaven. It was the way shopping was meant to happen. Had we not done that I would have went back home and shopped online... I am a very patient person but too many things would have been going through my mind had I been just standing there for 45 minutes waiting like "do the kids REALLY need this toy?"; "is it REALLY worth the $20 savings?": "I could REALLY be making better use of my time right now"... AND I wouldn't have gotten ANYTHING done. So, kudos to my mother-in-law for jumping in line at Toys R Us which started the whole process!

So it's hi-ho! Hi-ho! Back to reality we go with work and school... Noah had his first chess tournament the weekend prior to Thanksgiving, which I believe I forgot to mention, and he did a really good job. I have to commend the little guy, I had never played chess before Thanksgiving weekend and once Dad Jorgenson convinced me into letting him teach me "a few basic moves", 2 hours later and my first game won I was hooked. There is a LOT to remember and for a 6 year old to play like that is just awesome! I accidentelly broke Dain's chess board during our last move (who has a glass chess board ANYWAY..I mean REALLY...) which he loves to remind me of and we are looking forward to replacing very soon so that we can play. Board games are a touchy subject in the Jorgenson household....I will admit that I do not like to lose and if I do lose it is because I have let you win out of sympathy... (Hey. If you think that is bad you should see my brother and I play....we will play Scrabble and Monoply until either one of us starts crying or one of us gives up because it is 8 hours later and we are dying of boredom.) Needless to say, Dain doesn't like to play with me...I personally think he is scared but I will let him explain that one. He will forever try to convince you that he is the reighning Monopoly champ but I will take him in a game of Scrabble ANYday.

Anyway. I am very much looking forward to our Christmas celebration so that we can get the board games out and have some hap-hap-happy times playing board games!