jumping in.

Well, K told me to write more since I’m going off the train as far as gchat goes. In fact, I finally switched to using my married name email because I didn’t want the temptation to go back.

So this is the post where I want to talk a little bit about what my thanksgiving week looks like. In fact, I conveniently made a fake calendar to show you:

I know, it looks a little halloween-esque down there at the bottom. Oh well. But, my real point is that I get three thanksgivings and one of them is with my Clemson family – my best friends. I am so, so excited.

You see, my Clemson thanksgiving usually has way too much food and way too many people crammed into way too small of an apartment. We all cook for hours usually (one year Chad made a ham that we bought at Kroger here in Athens since we were visiting – that’s kind of a cool connection right? yeah.. i know, it’s not really) and it took about 5 hours to slow cook to perfection. Another year, we went to my mom’s family pre-thanksgiving thanksgiving and ended up late to Clemson thanksgiving… so Mandy made tea and pumpkin pie for us to all take. It’s usually cold, rainy and there’s college football playing in the background. Basically, it’s thanksgiving with the family that you choose – the happy, non-awkward thanksgiving.

I love my Clemson thanksgiving and knowing that everyone will truly be gone from Clemson next year means that this is it, the last one. It’s bittersweet but, since Adele and Chad will be off starting the friday before thanksgiving, we are all cooking up a massive feast to celebrate and inviting “home” some people who have moved away. Since I started finally considering the fact that we won’t end up in Atlanta after this year, it’s getting easier to cherish the memories and harder to truly say goodbye. I can (and do) drive to Clemson, run errands and drive home [side note: this is for a bank that does not exist in Georgia. I am not actually THAT attached to doing errands], but even that will be gone soon enough.

Do you have any friend-based holiday traditions? Have they changed? I’m curious to see how we will all celebrate next year. Since we’re currently looking at three and four bedroom houses with large finished basements in Cincy – my Clemson family is all welcome to come to my house. In fact, I’d like to take this opportunity to tell them to please do.

 

putting off a cold slumber. (t minus six hours until wake up)

it is downright frosty outside. the mountain areas of our local tv coverage are getting snow. that is still foreign to me that you have two different areas, different CLIMATES, covered by the same “local” channels.

so we are still going heatless. our electric bill was $21 less this month! I know, it seems kind of dumb–it’s $10 a person so why not pay it, right? But last month we left a LOT of lights on all night, or when we left. We’re trying to see if we keep the lights off, unplug the things we’re not using and keep the heat off if we can bring it down to $35 less per month. it helps that we’ll be gone for three or four days. (For comparison purposes: we have a two bedroom, two bath apartment with about 900-1000 square feet of living space. Our normal monthly bill is around $65-$72 dollars. This month’s bill was $50 after last month’s bill being $71.) It really doesn’t feel like a drag to have the heat off until you’re really cold, but mandy and I bundle up. We’ve gotten used to wearing socks around the house, to cuddling up under blankets. Two things make it really warm in our house (without using the oven or dishwasher for extra heat–we do that anyways): one thing is to burn candles! they do put out a lot of heat. Create a nice candle garden on your coffee table and keep your hands and feet toasty–and it doesn’t suck out heat like a standard fireplace. another thing we do is to keep the halogen track lights on for about 2 hours before bed. those things heat up a room like nobody’s business.

So anyways. We’re having a “college family” thanksgiving–all our friends are contributing food and drink and we’re meeting up at Chads/Nathans/Justins to chow down, i do believe. It’s nice to get together with them since I’m missing thanksgiving with my extended family. I mean, I could go down, but there’s really no point in going if i have to leave again on sunday then come back tuesday. LAME. But i’m making green bean casserole and bringing rolls and mandy is making an apple pie… yum! and betsy is bringing brown rice and nathan’s doing the turkey and kel is bringing pecan pie and some sort of pineapple casserole (i hope its the one i was going to make) and kit is making sweet potato souffle and carmen is making stuffing and gravy! I might throw in an extra veggie dish or something because i think we’re going to have a carb heavy meal if i don’t… some corn or baby limas or a squash casserole. haha. i’m excited. thanksgiving is such a relaxed and fun time.

also! I am baking pumpkin cookies this week so that chad and I can take some home to our respective families. I’m excited, I do hope they turn out like Granny Zuercher’s. (It’s a fabulous converted house bakery in Pendleton, SC not far from the square downtown! Stop by after a delicious lunch at Pendleton Cafe if you’re ever around that area!)

finallyyyyy. we put the tree up! again, stupid camera problems, so no pics yet. i didn’t do major ribbons flowing from the top this year, but it looks good anyways–i made a LOT of bows with that little roll of $3 ribbon! I bought two boxes of candy canes from Ingles for $.98 each and with that, the tree is done. My sewn ornaments don’t even have room on it, so instead of making those, I am making rustic stockings for the walls! At least it will make it a little more festive. I also think i’m going to tie ribbons around the mirrors on the walls, red and gold or red and white, and instead of poinsettias for my silver vases–a candy cane display! Not to mention the wreath and the snowflakes for the windows, and of course candles too! It’s going to feel a lot warmer decoration-wise than real-life, hehe.

okay. computer is dying, clock is reminding me i have six hours left, and i am refusing to plug in my charger until i use the computer tomorrow… so i’m out of here! peace!

 

ps: three things: I really want a good gyro, my computer charger gets so hot i use it to warm up (it’s another trick!) and i am posting the recipe for really really good hot choco right now.

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup milk choco chips
• mix above things together in a saucepan on the stove over medium heat until combined. then…
• 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
• 1 packet hot cocoa mix
• stir these things in, let marshmallows melt, and then pour into mugs. Makes two mugs, but you have to top it off with a little cold milk (it cools it down so you can drink it right away, and also means the mix makes two drinks!)

ok, now i’m gone.

It’s a little brisk out there!

Fall has flourished. Autumn has arrived. Insert another alliteration here. (wait, that was an alliteration. good.)

We carved pumpkins, yay… mine turned out a little lamer than I thought it would though. Oh well. And I never did try the roasted pumpkin seeds… hopefully I will soon.

I have started my christmas shopping for you all, and I hope you all will love it (how would you not? I am definitely finding pretty awesome gifts)… it is REALLY early, I know, but I want to have more time to spend this year on decorating, baking and enjoying the holiday. It kind of gets cut off when you split your time between your two “homes” and your school family and real family.

Record time for having the air off! We’re going three days strong! (And I reheated instead of cooking tonight–so it’s not unbearably hot!) Mostly because I don’t like paying $35.50 a person for electricity, that is such a waste for us. I think we can get it down to $25 a person if we just try a little harder, like using the lights with CFLs instead of the bright oh-so-unappealing track lighting provided in our apartment. And running the oven less. Also, i feel better about the environment. We’ve had our windows open, breathing the fresh mountain air.. I was sitting on the couch this morning just thinking, THIS is fall in the mountains. It’s terribly exciting!

My aunt and her fiancee and his daughter/daughter’s fiancee and her kid i think will be coming for Thanksgiving. I’m thankful for the chance to see my family, but this means I’ll be sleeping on the floor, pretty much–I think I’ll bail early and come back to school a bit early. It’s Clemson/Carolina that weekend anyway, I need to figure out how I’m getting a ticket!

So, yeah, that’s what’s going on in my life. I really should be working on some reading so I can finish up a class before fall break.

Oh, before I go, interesting story here — college athletic programs are suffering just like everyone else in these economic hard times.