Now to get around to the updates that are sorely needed. We had a lovely thanksgiving.  We went to dinner at Matt's Grandma and Grandpa Covalt's.  The turkey was delish and I definitely filled my plate too full :)  Afterward, we played Bingo.  Prizes were involved.  I got some little bungy cords, and Matt got a package of three rubber balls (which worked out perfectly because Cinco, aka Illegal Kitty, loves them - we had no toys for him when we got him...)  After Bingo, we headed to Spanish Fork where the Wilson side was congregating.  There, we had pie and visited with more family.  Toa brought the kids up from Brazil - I can't believe how big Meleseini is now!  We also looked through the ads to prepare for Black Friday.

My intent was to be there early - we're pretty broke at the moment (soon to be remedied - woot!), so deals were of great import.  The plan was to awake at 3am to get to Walmart and try to get a couple things at the 5am deal.  Well I was up late playing Assassin's Creed.  Matt finally went to sleep.  It was to the point that if I went to sleep, I wouldn't wake up, so I kept playing (my contacts were bugging me so badly!). I opted to let Matt sleep a little longer since he fell asleep pretty late, and I knew he'd have the same problem.  So at 3:30am, I went to wake him up.  It wasn't happening.  Then I fell asleep.  We did venture down to Walmart at like 9 or something and got a few things that I was hoping for, and some I wasn't planning on (Black Friday is the best day for movies...). 

Then Matt decided he needed to get me a birthday present, and GameStop had a deal on the New Super Mario Bros Wii with two qualified trade-ins.  I told Matt he didn't need to trade his games in (out of the relatively long list, we owned 3 for Xbox 360, and one I am still playing... should finish that, eh?), so he decided to get rid of his non-compatible Xbox games - and then the Xbox since we obviously don't use it and it struggles.  So we go stand in line at GameStop to find out they don't deal in stuff that old, but Mario's in the Provo mall does.  So we opted to drive up there since we had all the stuff in the car.  She took all of the games and three of the controllers for around $30 (they give you a little more if you do in-store credit, but there was nothing of interest there).  One controller was aftermarket, so she didn't take that.  Then she couldn't take the Xbox either because Matt and his brothers had opened it to try to fix the laser when it was going out.  It worked better for a little bit after that... So now we have 1 Xbox and 1 controller and some Xbox games (the ones that are compatible with the 360). 

I had told Matt that I'd rather Assassin's Creed II than Mario Bros. at some point during the day, and on the way back to GameStop, Matt said he thought he had enough to make up the other half of Assassin's Creed II.  So that was my birthday present.  At first, he wasn't going to let me have it until my birthday (the 5th), but then he really wanted to see it played, so he let me have it early.  However, I was not quite done with the first Assassin's Creed, so he and Garth had to wait until I finished that a few days later.  (Since it was my birthday present, I wasn't allowing anyone to play II before me :) )  And yes, I have finished Assassin's Creed II also now . . . like a week ago :)

Though for anyone who checks the actual blog page - you'll notice that I did come in and update it with my adorable Christmas background and header.  I made those, thank you very much.  And those stripes were a pain! I used shapes in PS to make my holly - so I can't take full credit there.  Then the stitching came from a scrapbook download.  But other than that - it's all mine! Just wanted to point that out ;)

So my mother-in-law kindly hinted that I need to post.  This I know.  For awhile, I didn't feel I had anything blog-worthy.  Then a week or two later, I thought of some things I should post about, but I was feeling the ennui and didn't want to.  Then I mostly either haven't had the time or haven't taken the time (like finishing up my life insurance test... sigh.)  So I promise I'm around and will blog . . . eventually.

I should have posted this a couple days ago when I was all giddy and excited over this stuff . . . and when I remembered them :)

400 South is open! Woot!  It opened Thursday at 5pm.  I got off early that day, but I still got home a little after 5pm so I could drive on the new road :) 

Even more exciting - the lights on the interchange were working! I thought the interchange would still be a mess, but it's not :)

Friday I got through 2.5 chapters for my life license.  2 more to go!

Saturday, Matt was able to go with me to training.  That hasn't happened ever since Matt was always working Saturdays at the shop :)

Hopefully more good things come our way this week.  I guess they always do, it just depends on how strong your microscope is.  That probably didn't make sense to anyone.  Oh well, that's okay.

I just thought I'd share how annoying I find playlist.com or any other site's streaming music feeds on people's blogs.  Don't worry, all of my followers who are at fault, I still come to read . . . but it's so obnoxious!  Especially if the player is near the bottom of the page (conveniently located near the top in the right column is acceptable).  I have to scroll past, typically 7, posts that may be who knows how long - just to shut the thing up.  It's not so much that we have different tastes in music (though, Nicole, I love the music on your blog, and I generally don't pause it), it's mostly that there are other things going on in my house when I read others' blogs - and the sudden burst of music is a pain.  If I'm home alone, sure, I'll probably let the thing play, but I hate having to either turn off the speakers, adjust the volume of my speakers, or go find the player to shut it up.

Even more annoying?  MORE THAN ONE PLAYER!  People, do you realize these things just start playing when I get to your blog?  If you have TWO players, I get TWO different kinds of music (which, of course, are TWO different genres that don't even go together!)  That makes it IMPOSSIBLE to read your blog without either turning off the speakers or scrolling to the bottom and shutting them both down. 

PLEASE visit your own blogs to assess your current layouts and music.  I love you all - and, like I said, I'll still read your blog - but consider your readers, please :)

Friday, my boss's boss's boss came back from lunch . . or a walk . . I don't know . . with a kitten.  Apparently the poor little thing was partially buried under stuff (leaves and what else, I don't know) and just meowing his little heart out.  So Tim brings the cutie in, we all gawk and get him some milk.  I knew I was taking the kitty home.  Marie mentioned if no one else would, she would take it, but she didn't really need another kitty.  So I totally jumped on this.  (For the record, we are only allowed birds and/or fish in our apartment.)  I figured I would figure something out, or maybe convince Grandpa to let me keep him.  HA! Boy howdy - I don't know what I was on.  I heart my kitty.  Matt won't let me name him yet until something is figured out.  Things may end up that he goes to live with someone else.  So if anyone knows of a cheap ($600 or less monthly), pet-friendly apartment in Utah County - please leave a comment!  However, the Boulders has already been scratched.  But anything that might be not listed on the net anywhere (I check KSL and Craigslist and any complexes I can find websites for), please let me know! I don't want to give up my cute little furrball.

New season = new blog decor :) The background is my creation.  The leaf bouquet is pulled from some free download - as is everything in our header (less our picture, of course :) )

Thanks to Halloween being on a Saturday, I was able to take down Halloween and put up Thanksgiving on November 1st - I'm quite proud of this fact :)

As for Halloween itself - it was rather uneventful.  Training was fun because everyone was dressed up.  I wore my corset and fangs etcetera because I figured that would elicit a better reaction.  Then I came home and changed into my poodle skirt and spend the day cleaning.  We went to Matt's parents' for some dinner, then came back home to hand out candy to our 2 trick-or-treaters.  Aw well.  Matt's family came over to visit, and our Xbox got some good use (not like it doesn't usually....).  We also managed to finish rearranging our living room.  Nothing too drastic, but it sure was a hard thing to figure.  I like it - now if I could just finish getting it clean!

And now for the fun part - pictures!