I have to say my whole weekend was great! Wednesday night we enjoyed the new movie - The Blind Side.

We changed things up a bit for Thanksgiving Day with regards to the schedule. Instead of having lunch in the afternoon we moved it to the evening. This allowed me to watch the whole Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade without having to worry about food yet.








Around 6 our bestest friends, the Baylors, came over 'to share dinner with us. We ate more amazing food and shared our thoughts and laughs with each other over a bountiful table. Pie and the black friday ads followed. Julie and I got up and out the door by 4:30am- we made our way to Old Navy for the $5.00 fleeces and T's and $15 sweaters. Then to Target for 700 count sheets (with 4 pillow cases) for only $30.

Next up - dunkin donuts,

which was a mistake because when we got to half price books hoping to be one of the first 100 in line there was a guy pushing a coffee cart with mini donuts!!

We got our free $5 gift card from half price and then we said our goodbyes.
I was on to Ohio. Sadly, Tim was off to work that afternoon.
Friday night my sister Patti, my brother Eddy, and his wife Autumn and I went bowling. Fun times! I didn't want to watch a movie, Patti didn't want to talk, and I knew we'd never play a board game. So, bowling actually turned out to be pretty great. We got freckled lemonaids afterwards from Red Robin.


Saturday was a lazy day: sleeping in, video games, oh yah - and then we dyed Patti's hair and I cut it. We had a moment of uncertainty, but thankfully everything got snipped appropriately and we're happy with the results.

We took had a random photo shoot which made us laugh so much. I finally got to bed a little after midnight and then left Sunday morning about 4:30!

The weekend was great! And now, it's almost time for another weekend. My brother-in-law will be here to hang out with us.

brotherly love

what happened to October? And what about November?

Seriously, what happened to October? And for that matter where did November go? It took me until last Monday to realize that Thanksgiving was this week. THIS week? So - I guess this is where October went. . . We went to the Church bonfire. It was the first thing we did at Grace last year - so it was kinda like a one year anniversary at Grace!

Tim and John (both in school at TEDS)


Katie and Amy (hot dogs and donuts)



Katie and Leslie and Daniel (trying to stay warm)

Babysitting Maddy

Dinner out with a friend from Korea - Rachel

When I used to walk downtown through Greektown on my way to UIC last fall, I would always walk past this great looking bakery: Artopolis. So, Rachel and I went down early before one of my UIC classes this fall and had dinner. The desserts looked amazing; but time was short, and my belly was already full from dinner. I would definitely recommend this European style cafe. In warmer weather the front windows are wide open to the street and you can sit there, or on the second story balcony.
The tree's outside the apartment were fun to walk under once they turned yellow.

I re-potted several plants that I got from Tim's mom and Aunt T. after his grandfather's funeral.
I took my students to a historic working farm in Glenview. Wagner Farm had cows, chickens, horses, a couple pigs. It's a small farm, but it's not just a petting zoo! It was strange to see it right in the middle of the neighborhoods and shopping centers.

We celebrated Halloween by giving Maddy candy and putting an adorable little black nose on her face!

Tim and I grilled hotdogs and I made myself a roasted marshmallow.
More cooking and baking experiments. Some people take pictures of the messes their kids get into. Me - no kids yet, so I take pictures of my own messes. Somehow the entire container of oats spilled. . . oops!
The caramel bars with chocolate, and caramel, and pecans however, turned out fabulous!!!
Tim came home on a random Tuesday night with a rose for me! And a calendar he made at work, with pictures of us from all around the US and the world! I loved it! And. . . he said in his note that he was sorry we were living such a crazy life right now, but that he wanted to go on a date on Saturday night to P.F. Changs. So, this is us the night we went out. We had such a nice time hanging out, plus - awesome food and drinks!



So I guess that's October and November.
I'm super looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend and December.

45 items = $4.00

4 paper towels
4 cereals
3 gardettos
6 progresso soups
2 dove shampoos
4 boxes of yoplait
1 chex mix
2 cotonelle wipes
1 betty crocker cookie mix
13 knorr rice sides
2 hellman's mayo
2 wishbone dressings
1 bettry crocker frosting
45 items! for just $4.00

(i did 2 $60 transactions. the 1st total was $2.24 the 2nd total was $1.74) What's crazy is that several of these things like the mayo, the dove shampoo, the cereal, the salad dressing are almost $4.00 by themselves. I love a good deal!! Today's the last day so I'll have to see if I can squeeze in one more trip.

Awesome Jewel Deal/Catalina

Right now I don't have the time to be entirely devoted to coupons, ads, and websites, BUT I do make time for these awesome catalina deals that come around every once in a while. If you have a Jewel near you, you've GOT to look into this deal to see if it's for you.

These 2 websites www.chicagonow.com/blogs/frugalista/ & www.mashupmom.com/ have been super helpful and I definitely want to say thanks Mashup Mom and Frugalista since they've been so helpful by including deal scenario's, lists of items, and links to printable coupons.

So - this is what I got for $2.02!

The progresso broth, the Knorr sides, and the Bryers icecream all work out to be nearly free without coupons. Happy shopping. Let me know if you have any specific questions or if you get any great deals!

The Family Visits Chicago (and me)

I'm so glad that my family got to come down for a weekend. It was nice that it wasn't a holiday - in the sense that we didn't have traditions to follow. We got to just relax a little bit more.

Friday night, I had a roast, potatoes, and swiss green bean casserole waiting for them when they got in. My mom and I also did a shopping trip to Jewel to take advantage of the $10 catalina (after $25). I love getting stuff for so cheap, you don't want to know how many brownie mixes I have, or how many cans of veggies, or well, rolls or Pillsbury dough! But when you can get 11 boxes of brownies for $1.00 how can you not stock up?! Anyways. . . it was fun to be able to go with my mom.

Saturday morning, we had some of those Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then took the train downtown. Everyone had so much fun on the train. It was Timmy and Rosie's first time on a train,
and my dad was rehearsing when he last rode the train when he was in the Army in Germany!

What trip to downtown would be complete without completing wish you were in a cab instead of walking? Of course we walked "miles" and "miles". We hit all the free walking highlights, skyscrapers, the ABC news building, the Chicago theater sign,

the Daley Plaza - which was surprisingly kinda boring. I had never been there, but I knew stuff happened there. Apparently, when nothing is happening, it's not too cool. Well, I should really take back that entire thought, and restate it as nothing too cool for the majority of the public. I however LOVED that I got to see the Picasso! Ah – it was amazing.
On to the bean and the face fountains, where we stopped to enjoy our packed lunch.

Next up –was the long walk up Michigan Ave. Destination: American Girl Place! Along the way we did of course, cross over the Chicago river, see the American Gothic, and ya know –whatever anyone else saw that was interesting. I still enjoy the trip every time. I just like being out, walking with the crowd.

The highlight of the trip was the American Girl Place. Even my dad, when later asked what his favorite thing of the day was – replied that his favorite thing was seeing Rosie get her doll! Ah…if that doesn’t melt your heart! He wondered if I wanted a doll too. Of course I did, but I felt it was probably super impractical. I know adults who collect Barbie dolls, but ummmm. I think I’m just going to wait to hope that my girl might have an AG doll – or just live vicariously through my little sister at every Christmas and Birthday as I continue to give her outfits and accessories.

After we got back to the suburbs, we went out to dinner to Red Lobster. I was glad that Tim could join us, and take full advantage of the all-you-can-eat Shrimp. We ate a lot of shrimp!

Sunday was church and just more relaxing. We got to go through some of our pictures from our travels this summer and hand deliver a few gifts that we brought back from Israel. We threw the football around and then it was already time to pack up the car and say our goodbyes. But I’m glad it was just a regular weekend in October.

Top 10 most expensive paintings ever

While doing a search for some artists- I came across this list of the most expensive paintings ever sold.

1. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt ($135,000,000)

2. Garçon à la Pipe by Pablo Picasso ($104,100,000)

3. Dora Maar with Cat by Pablo Picasso ($95,200,000)

4. Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh ($82,500,000)

5. Le Bassin Aux Nympheas by Claude Monet ($80,451,178)

6. Bal Au Moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir ($78,000,000)

7. Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens ($76,700,000)

8. Portrait de l'Artiste sans Barbe by Vincent van Gogh ($71,500,000)

9. Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier by Paul Cézanne ($60,500,000)

10. Femme aux Bras Croisés by Pablo Picasso ($55,000,000)

I was interested to see that Picasso made the list 3 times! Someone else (marvin) has included images of all the paintings here.

I was originally looking for other artists that I might want to consider buying art books about.

I was trying to prepare myself for the sales at Half Price Books coming up - since I know that I'll get to get a couple books at 40 and 50% off the half off price.

So - I was encouraged to see that I had individual books on everyone except Klimt and Reubens.

And I'm not really that interested in Rubens, so maybe I'll see what they have on Klimt.