A bowl of bacon, my take on Thanksgiving sales, and peeing on sticks.

1. Besides U.S. Thanksgiving, it's also National Game and Puzzle Week...what game have you played most recently, and who were you with? Have you worked a puzzle of any kind in the past week?
Blokus.  We love this game, and if it weren't for the fact that I'm carting our luggage around NYC today in the rain/snow, I'd be bringing it with us. We splurged on it while in Seattle ($27 for a board game!?), and haven't pulled the trigger since. Board games have gotten way expensive in the recent years. 

2. What is one place you were thankful for this year?
Emergency room. I've gone there a few times, and each time I'm glad we have a place to go when we have something go wrong. Don't know what I'd do had I just needed to 'make it through the night' to wait for the shared doctor with the rest of  my neighborhood in the morning.

3. Take a nap, watch football, go for an after dinner walk, or hit the stores...which ONE is on your must-do list for Thanksgiving day? For those of you playing along who aren't in the US, answer as it relates to any big holiday meal.
Hit the stores. We don't buy Christmas gifts though, opting instead for more expensive items that we hope to get on sale. 2 years ago we bought our TV for $200, and last year we bought winter coats. This year, we don't really need anything but I know we will be picking up some holiday decorations.

4. Besides Thanksgiving, what's your favorite home cooked meal?
Wedding chicken. I sent this recipe to our caterers for our reception, and it was amazing. And, since it came from Internet, I can recreate it.  Check out the "stuffed chicken breast with parmesan and basil filling" recipe at www.dishingthedivine.com

credit: http://www.dishingthedivine.com

5. What product from an infomercial would you most like to own?
NOT the Aeroknife. I hate that thing. It scorned me. But, the As Seen on TV Perfect Bacon Bowl does seem ridiculously wonderful. A bowl made of bacon. I didn't know I wanted one until I saw it existed.

6. Christmas shopping? Have you begun? Finished? Will you shop on Black Friday? How do you feel about stores opening on Thanksgiving Day? What percentage of your Christmas shopping is done online?
I'm done with gifts for the women, but not with the men. Tom needs to help out here, since I've no clue about what men really want. As for stores being open on Thanksgiving Day, I'm not going to be up in arms about it. My mother is working Thanksgiving, and we plan on having dinner Saturday. Being a nurse, she's never been guaranteed ANY holiday off, and I grew up understanding this. If you take a job working in retail, this shouldn't be a shock and will likely be an expected job duty.

Black Friday hasn't always been popular either. Wiki states that the term was 'coined' in Philadelphia in 1961, where a public relations newsletter from 1961 stated "Resulting traffic jams are an irksome problem to the police and, in Philadelphia, it became customary for officers to refer to the post-Thanksgiving days as Black Friday and Black Saturday. Hardly a stimulus for good business.." But people got over it. They just didn't drive or go to the stores/downtown on that day to avoid the crowds. Since the whole 'stores open on Thanksgiving' controversy only began 3 years ago, we haven't grown accustomed to it just yet. Give it time, and we'll adjust. Capitalism isn't a beast anyone can tame.

7. What are you most grateful for that adds beauty to your everyday life?
Makeup. which is shocking to even write (I should've answered this question with family, right?) I never wore it much until after college, I'm only now getting used to the idea of lipstick vs. chapstick. Contouring and makeup brushes are still new concepts to me, but I'm making great strides, thanks to YouTube. 

8. Insert your own random thought here.
Certain things, like implantation-type cramps last Tuesday and Wednesday, sore breasts (and an "oversensitive nose" as mentioned by my sister) suggest that I might be pregnant, but none of my tests have come back positive yet.

And then this week, I began having monumental breakouts on my chin, cheeks and even a few on my forearm. The last time this happened was when I had miscarried the second time and my hormone levels couldn't figure out where they wanted to stay. And, as I had written in March on this very subject, I will quote myself here: "my skin is just on a angry woman hormonal rampage". Only swap out the "angry woman" with "angsty teenager" since it's not yet to the level of my January breakouts.

So tell me...
Any boardgames that you'd recommend? What do men in your family like for gifts? 
And why are pregnancy tests so expensive?

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