Life Update...and Thanksgiving

Lately, life has been super busy! Nothing like starting a new job and immediately being behind in EVERYTHING. And then having a second job to keep up with. It gets a bit overwhelming, but it's been almost a month at the new gig, and I'm still hanging in there! I took a couple of days off in between jobs to ease the transition - and get extra snuggle time with my kitties. But since we've started running the fireplace, they vastly prefer to spend their time basking in its warmth.

My office was kind of a disaster zone, so I spent a good chunk of time just trying to get things organized there. It's nice that I actually have my own window for a change!

We had our first snow in Cincinnati in mid-November. It stuck around for a few days and reminded me how lucky I had been to sit out last year's winter when I was still job-hunting. I actually really like snow - fresh, pretty snow that blankets everything, but I don't like being on the road with people who are scared to drive in it and trudging through it during the freezing 0.5 mile walk to work. :-P

The husband has been working nearly every weekend, which had freed up my weekends to focus on my second job, but we were able to enjoy some time together over Thanksgiving weekend. We drove up to Chicagoland Wednesday. We ended up just crashing at a hotel for the night because apparently, some of our plans had gotten confused as far as when and if we were coming up. That was a first - I've never woken up in a hotel on Thanksgiving morning. I'm such an awful sleeper in alternative environments though, so I definitely did not wake up well-rested.

We scooped up the rest of my family and then headed into the city. We made a quick stop at our favorite vegetarian restaurant in Chicago to pick up our carry-out order of Beefy Wellingtons. My cousin only lives 10 minutes away from here, so it was a short drive to her home.

We gathered most of my mom's side of the family at my cousin's new house in Chicago.

It was hands-down the best Thanksgiving we've all had together in a long time, thanks to these two wonderful hosts (below) for opening their home to all of us.

My mom has started having weekly sister dates with her sis that lives nearby, but she doesn't get to spend near enough time with these lovely ladies. They are a hoot when they all get together!

Grandpa and his daughters :)

It was definitely some grade A family bonding time...

...and we ended the night with games!  

We ended up driving home that night since our plans had been changed for Friday when we thought we were going to be having our second Thanksgiving dinner with family.  Which meant we didn't get settled back at home till 2:30 AM, and we were tired. Which meant we didn't leave the couch much on Friday. :-P  Which meant we saved all of our Christmas decorating till Saturday! Francisco started out by cleaning the kitchen (wearing his spiffy Batman apron) and then preparing a small personal Thanksgiving meal for the two of us.

 We heated up the Beefy Wellingtons we'd brought home from the Chicago Diner and had a side of Lemony Garlic Mashed Potatoes, some delicious homemade mac and cheese, and asparagus.

I was wrapping up some work before diner, and of course, Zharo always stops by to see if he can assist. ;-)

We spent our evening decorating, enjoying Cranberry Cosmopolitans, and playing games together.  

So, our Thanksgiving plans didn't exactly go as planned, and we didn't end up seeing as much family as we had hoped, but we still had a good time together - and had some much needed time off of work!